WASHINGTON NAMED OFFICIAL UFO CAPITAL IN THE U.S.

If you want to see a UFO, live in Washington. Newly published research ranks the state first in number of sightings, with more than 88 per 100,000 residents. The analysts at journoresearch.org (http://journoresearch.org) reached this conclusion after obtaining data from Peter Davenport’s National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) between January 2000 and December 2021.

Photo by Daniel Schwen, Wikimedia Commons License

Journoresearch.org said in its press release, “Washington is home to what is often regarded as the first UFO sighting of the modern age, which marked its 75^th anniversary in June this year. On June 24, 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen a string of nine shiny objects flying past Mount Rainier at impossibly high speeds during his flight from Chehalis to Yakima.”

Although the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database was not included in the analysts’ calculations, Washington MUFON receives and investigates more than 200 sighting reports annually. According to Maurene Morgan, Washington MUFON State Director, approximately 20%-30% are given the disposition of Unknown by MUFON’s team of certified UFO Field Investigators. Morgan states that the number of sighting reports in Washington consistently places it in the top four or five states in the national organization. She believes that the number of sighting reports will continue to increase every year as the UFO taboo lessens.

Because of footage of unexplained aerial phenomenon (UAP) captured by high-ranking jet fighter pilots, UFOs are being taken more seriously than ever before. Mike Gallagher, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin, has stated that funding is needed to study UFOs. “What is crazy is that presenting this kind of data 10 years ago might have been a concern, but now it seems that politicians and scientists are looking at the data a lot closer.”

Anyone wishing to submit a sighting report to the National UFO Reporting Center can do so online at nuforc.com, by calling the center’s hotline at 206-722-3000 (generally reserved for recent reports), or by emailing director@ufocenter.com.

Those wishing to report a sighting in Washington State can do so online at mufon.com, or by calling 360-670-4213, or emailing mufon.investigates@gmail.com. Dan Nims, Washington MUFON Chief Investigator and Director of Eastern Region, welcomes reports of events occurring east of the Cascades. Contact Dan at 509-301-9350 or email nimsdf@charter.net.

 # # #

What is MUFON: MUFON is a non-profit volunteer organization established in 1969. It is the world’s oldest and largest UFO investigative and research organization comprised of individuals who seek the truth about UFOs.

MUFON’s Mission: The scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity.

MUFON’s Goals:  Investigate UFO sightings and collect data for use of researchers worldwide. • Promote research on UFOs to discover the true nature of the phenomenon. • Educate the public.

Web: mufon.com

 

Media Resources: “The United States has a New UFO Capital” first appeared on July 20, 2022 on the online site Giant Freaking Robot, https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/?s=ufo.

Fairy sighting at KCI Airport

Tony Degn is no stranger to unexplained phenomena. He is a primary witness to the Mothman sightings in the greater Kansas City area, having encountered the creature at least five times. Tony is also a UFO witness, with his first experience at age 17, and he's seen a few ghosts, too. Now he claims to have seen a fairy.

Photo of a fairy from video. Credit: Travel Channel

Tony is an entertainer and a driver for Uber. At the time of this event he was living in Independence, Missouri and often worked at the Kansas City International Airport where he would park on standby until a call came in for a customer. 

While waiting in the taxi area at KCI Airport in the mid-afternoon in May of 2021, Tony noticed something luminous with wings flying down in front of his windshield. At first he thought it was an insect, but it was all white and very bright and he thought that was odd, so he took a closer look at it. 

The creature hovered at about mid-way of the windshield, fluttering its wings, while staring at Tony for a few seconds - long enough for him to get a good look at it. It was a female fairy with a human-like body and face dressed in a long white dress. The most amazing part of the description is that it was only about 1 1/2 inches tall!  Tony said "I was just shocked, and sat there with my mouth open, staring into the eyes of this tiny being. I still can't believe what I saw, but I know I saw it." Tony always has his cell phone ready to photograph anything anomalous, but he was too shocked to think about picking the phone up this time. That is not unusual - many people react the same way. 

Tony insists that the creature could have been nothing other than a fairy. The diminutive size of the creature is most perplexing, however.

I've taken reports from other witnesses who claim to have seen very small fairies under 1 1/2 inches tall. Two couples in Oklahoma who are unacquainted with each other have seen the same type of fairies along the same park. A man in California who says he has seen tiny fairies at the same location since the 1970's claims to see them on a daily basis. A witness in Georgia claims to have seen small fairies in his backyard since he moved into his new house in 2020. 

It is my hope that someone will eventually get photographs of these elusive tiny creatures. 

____________________________

Margie Kay is a paranormal and UFO investigator living in Kansas City, Missouri.
Her book "Winged Aliens" covers all types of cryptid winged creature sightings. www.margiekay.com

Want to Know More about UFOs in Missouri? Look no Further.

In case you were wondering if there have been any significant UFO sightings in the State of Missouri, look no further. The following is a list of books that cover the subject. And watch for a new book coming out in 2021 by Missouri MUFON field investigators who will publish their best cases.

The Kansas City UFO Flaps
By Margie Kay, 2017, Un-X Media Publishing

Kansas City is a major UFO hot spot and has been since the early 20th century. In this book, veteran UFO and paranormal investigator Margie Kay presents many of the fantastic UFO sightings and close encounters which occurred during UFO flaps in the greater Kansas City area, focusing on the nationally covered 2011 - 2012 flap, the October 2011 mass sightings and close encounters, and possible abductions. Kay also covers the infamous and unexplained Kansas City Lights, which are still going on to this day. Margie also presents her theory as to why Kansas City has multiple unexplained paranormal events. Kay is a MO MUFON investigator. 

The Fast Movers: Evidence of High-Speed UFOs/UAPs
by MO MUFON Investigators Margie Kay and Wayne Lawrence, and Bill Spicer, 2020, Un-X Media.

New Evidence that UFOs are among us…Prepare to be amazed at stunning proof the UFOs not only exist, but they are among us on a constant basis. In this collaborative effort, three seasoned UFO investigators share their independent investigations, experiences, and opinions, along with photographs of multiple high-speed UFOs that Kay coined "The Fast Movers." These objects are normally invisible to the naked eye, but can be captured on film, and with practice, the viewer can learn how to see them.The reader will learn techniques for capturing these extremely fast-moving inter-dimensional craft using the Quantum UFO Observation Technique with a video or still camera, and find out how to see the craft using Quantum Telepathy or Remote Viewing with the naked eye. See photos taken by Bill Spicer and Wayne Lawrence along with other witnesses, including NASA and the U.S. Navy. The proof is undeniable, and the conclusion is clear - we are not alone, and THEY ARE HERE.

 

"UFOs in Missouri: True Tales of Extraterrestrial and Related Phenomena
By Lee Prosser, 2011, Schiffer Publishing LTD.

See the state of Missouri as you never have before — as a hotbed of UFO activity and paranormal phenomena. From time slips and vortices to extraterrestrials and inter-dimensional beings, the Show Me State appears to be a haven for all things supernatural. Hear about residents who have been "implanted" or experienced missing time. Learn what to say to an extraterrestrial and how to call down a UFO. Visit the many sites of UFO sightings, including Excelsior Springs, Harrisonville, Marshfield, and Northview. Travel to Missouri's own Bermuda Triangle — Joplin, Springfield, and Branson. New perspectives on UFOs, mysterious phenomena, intriguing tales, and scary UFO revelations are just waiting to be explored, as the extraterrestrials beckon. Will you answer their call?

Weird Missouri: Your Travel Guide to Missouri's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
by James Strait, Mark Moran (Foreword by), Mark Sceurman (Foreword by) 2008, Sterling

GET WEIRD!"Best Travel Series of The Year 2006"--"Booklist""" What's weird around here? Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman asked themselves this question for years. And it's precisely this offbeat sense of curiosity that led the duo to create Weird N.J. and the successful series that followed. The NOT shockingly result? Every "Weird" book has become a best seller in its region! ((Series Sales Points)) This best-selling series has sold more than one million copies...and counting Thirty volumes of the Weird series have been published to great success since Weird New Jersey's 2003 debut

The Cape Girardeau 1941 UFO Incident
by George Dudding, 2015 GSD Publications

A Southern Baptist Minister is drawn into a bizarre, strange, and intriguing mystery when he agrees to lend a hand at an airplane crash outside the city of Cape Girardeau, Missouri during the Spring of 1941 just before the United States enters World War II. There is something strange about the whole incident and the reverend finds himself taking part in a possible military and government cover-up. The events that night will haunt him and his family for years to come.

MO41: The Bombshell Before Roswell
By Paul Blake Smith, 2016, W&B Publishers

MO41, The Bombshell Before Roswell” by Paul Blake Smith, might well be the most exciting, shocking, and impactful event – and now book subject - not just in American history, but all of human history. Did three extraterrestrials really crash-land their circular spaceship on a farm just outside of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in mid-April of 1941? Was this stunning recovery then taken to a secret hiding place beneath perhaps the most recognizable building in the world? Was an aspect of the scientifically examined alien craft’s propulsion system applied to the U.S. nuclear weapons program to help win World War II? The serious, amazing pre-Roswell claims and quotes, rumors and insights, opinions and documented facts are all examined here, in proper chronological, easy-to-read order, the only book to ever comprehensively explore perhaps the wildest nonfiction story of all time.
The results make up a case that could win in a court of law, or at least in the court of public opinion. You, the reader, decide!

UFO Cold Cases: Missouri: Secret USAF Files, 1952-1968, Declassified
By Dave Toplikar, 2018, davetoplicarbooks.com

Warning: These cases might upset your reality. Straight out of Project Blue Book, these are UFO cases the U.S. Air Force couldn’t explain — real-life X-files from Missouri.They baffled the military and were labeled as "unknowns." Using outside analysts and military personnel, the USAF treated these reports of strange lights, flying saucers and other UFOs seriously. From the late 1940s through the late 1960s, Project Blue Book received more than 12,000 reports. Most were explained away as common everyday objects: planets, tricks of light, balloons, birds, meteors, helicopters or planes. But not all could be identified — 701 reports are still listed as “unknown.”

My Trip to Mars, the Moon and Venus, Buck Nelson, 1956, self-published. 

"We Met the Space People: The Story of the Mitchell Sisters," Helen and Betty Mitchell (Address delivered at the Buck Nelson Convention, June 28, 1959), Saucerian Publications. Out of print, however there is a good article about Buck Nelson here.

Pterodactyl like creature spotted in Jackson County, Missouri

On January 27, 2020, I received a report from a woman regarding several sightings she has had along with her sister.

The sisters live near an undisclosed lake area in Jackson County: R.H. and her sisters have seen a giant bird four times since 2016. The first time it was spotted sitting out on the ice on a lake at some distance from their location. It never moved. 

The next two times they saw the same creature in flight and it looked like it was the size of a small plane, but it flapped its wings like a Pterodactyl. 

The fourth sighting was in January of 2020 when the women were looking for eagles with binoculars and saw this creature flying so high they couldn't see it with the naked eye. 

The women don't want to disclose the exact location because they don't want any harm to come to the creature. One woman feels that it may be something supernatural. 

_____________________

Margie Kay is a paranormal investigator living in Independence, Missouri. Contact her at www.margiekay.com. 

Possible Sasquatch Calls Heard Along the MIssouri River

Investigators working on multiple UFO sighting reports in Sugar Creek, and Independence, Missouri have occasionally heard what are possibly calls by Sasquatch in the area.

Jean Walker and Margie Kay have been working on multiple UFO reports in the Sugar Creek and Independence, Missouri area along the Missouri River for approximately five years. Some witnesses have described hearing very loud screeches and screams that come from two or even three creatures at the same time, who seem to be communicating with each other from different directions. Both Margie and Jean have heard the calls as well while on site for investigations, but the witnesses who live on the sites have heard these yells on numerous occasions.

Location of Sasquatch sightings or screams

Three men saw a Sasquatch walk out of the woods and look at a stream in the Sugar Creek Conservation area a few years ago (see my previous article on this subject), so we know that Sasquatch are in the area.

The most recent event occurred in November of 2018 east of Independence, Missouri along 24 Highway in a rural area with farmland and houses. A family was having dinner when they heard what sounded like a girl screaming very loudly. They ran outside to see if they could find the girl, but didn't find anyone. Luckily, the event was captured on audio on their HD security system, and it has been analyzed by investigators, who believe that the scream was most likely a Sasquatch since it could not be identified as any known animal.

Seasoned Sasquatch investigators say that it is typical for Sasquatch to sound like a girl or woman screaming, although louder than what you would expect from a human.

All of the sites in question are near heavily wooded lands and are located close to the Missouri River. There would be ample food and water supply for Sasquatch in the area. Investigators plan to search for signs of Sasquatch structures in the area in the spring of 2019.

Anyone who has encountered a Sasquatch or heard unusual loud screams is encouraged to contact Margie Kay at margiekay06@yahoo.com. 
__________________________

Margie Kay is the author of The Kansas City UFO Flaps, Gateway to the Dead, Haunted Independence, and other books and publications. She is a paranormal investigator residing in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Strange Chupacabra-Like Creature Reported in Western Missouri

The Kansas City Chapter of Missouri MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) has received six reports of a chupacabra-like creature from different witnesses in western Missouri. Investigators request that witnesses to any unusual animals report their sighting to Missouri MUFON.

Each of the six sightings involved one to two witnesses who report seeing a similar animal which either sits on its haunches or walks. The front legs are shorter than the back legs, it has a long snout with fangs and short grey hair. Most witness report that the creature is approximately two feet tall when sitting, but two witnesses say the animals they saw were as large as a small deer.

One animal was spotted near Woods Chapel Road in Blue Springs near Lake Jacomo. It had mottled dark and light gray hair, a boxy large back end, and short front legs making the body shorter in the front than in the back. This particular animal was approximately 40" - 45" long and 28" high.

 A similarly sized creature was seen near Rich Hill Missouri in 2010 by two witnesses driving north on 49 highway. The creature ran across the road in front of the vehicle.

Two witnesses visiting a park at the Missouri river saw a small strange animal sitting on its hind legs in the middle of the road. It did not move and they needed to pull the car off the road to get around the creature. The creature was described as small, with short front legs which reminded the witnesses of a kangaroo, and with a long snout.

The sightings were reported in mid 2010 to August of 2015. All of the locations were in Independence, Blue Springs, Rich Hill, and Clinton, Missouri. No one has yet been able to obtain a photograph.

A call to the Missouri Department of Conservation yielded no explanation.

The reports of this chupacabra type creature come in the wake of a rash of Sasquatch sightings near a wooded area in Belton, Missouri and Independence, Missouri near the Missouri river, and an undisclosed location in Northeast Missouri. Missouri MUFON and other groups are investigating.

Missouri MUFON urges people to carry a camera and take a photo of anything unusual including UFO's and cryptid creatures. Missouri MUFON investigates UFOs, Sasquatch, cryptid creatures, animal mutilations and crop circles, and has trained investigators across the state.

From Wikipedia:Chupacabras can be literally translated as "goat-sucker", from chupar ("to suck") and cabra ("goat"). It is known as both chupacabras and chupacabra throughout the Americas, with the former being the original word,^[4] and the latter a regularization of it. The name in Spanish can be preceded by a singular masculine article (el chupacabras), or the plural masculine article (los chupacabras).

Nat Geo Wild produced a program on the topic in 2013. The show information is available at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/the-monster-project/galleries/chupacabra/at/beware-the-chupacabra-2074274/ 

H2 the History Chanel aired a chupacabra episode on Monster Quest, available at http://www.history.com/shows/monsterquest/videos/chupacabra-evidence

Visit www.missourimufon.org for more information.

Contact Assistant State Director Margie Kay in Kansas City at margiekay06@yahoo.com or 816-833-1602. 

Recent Bigfoot Sightings and UFOs

As a paranormal and UFO investigator over the past 30 years I've taken reports from witnesses to other events who happen to mention that they've also seen a Bigfoot or two either in conjunction with another event such as a UFO sighting, or alone. After a while, I began to notice two things: 1. Most people don't report Bigfoot sightings to anyone and 2. Many of the large Bigfoot organizations do not have these reports posted on their sites. As far as Missouri goes, there is a LOT more going on here than many people realize, not only as far as UFO sightings and paranormal events go, but also Bigfoot sightings.

Is there a connection to UFOs and Bigfoot?  After taking witness reports from people who have either seen a UFO in the area at the time of their bigfoot sighting or shortly before or after in the same location I have to say that in my opinion, yes, there must be a connection. I watched one witness' video taken just three days after his son saw a Sasquatch in the Four Rivers Conservation area in western Missouri. The video shows flying orbs and unexplained lights everywhere in the wooded area and finally a huge UFO appears in the sky above the group. Coincidence?  I think not.

And the connection doesn't end there. Other strange cryptids have been reported to me including a Chupacabra-like creature and a human/wolf man creature. I saw something myself that I can't explain - twice. This animal was large, approximately 48" long, walking on all fours but with noticeably shorter front legs and a long snout. The back legs were strange, the joints were in the opposite position of a dogs and the back end was large and boxy. The hair was a mottled dark and light grey color. I saw this same creature, or two that look the same in southwest Missouri and in Blue Springs. A call to the Missouri Conservation Department resulted in the explanation that "there is no animal like that in Missouri."

A Kansas City area woman said she recently encountered something more sinister in the woods. She saw a tall creature with a human male body and a wolf head with large fangs - being held back by not one, but two bigfoot. She believes that the bigfoot were protecting her from this vicious-looking creature. I interviewed her several times and believe that she is a rational person and did not imagine this event. She wishes to remain anonymous.

So stay diligent when driving Missouri's highways and back roads and if you see anything out of the ordinary, take photos or video if possible, and record the time and location of the event. Also search the skies and ground for anything else unusual such as a landed craft that may be there in conjunction with a cryptid. I urge you however, not to go camping or hiking in our Missouri woods since more reports are coming in of large unexplained animals that would have the ability to harm or kill a human easily.

-----------------------------------------------------

Margie Kay is the editor of Un-X News Magazine and host of Un-X News Radio Show. She is a UFO and Paranormal investigator living in Kansas City, Missouri.
www.unxnewsmagazine.com
www.unxnews.com

This blog welcomes reports of bigfoot and other cryptids. Please send your report with as much detail as possible to: margiekay06@yahoo.com. 

Bigfoot sightings common in Four-State Area

As published in the Joplin Globe

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Bigfoot sightings common in Four-State Area

By Josh Letner
The Joplin Globe

---

Woolly corners of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma may support more than just black bears, mountain lions and wild hogs, according to one group of researchers. They believe the region also could hide a population of the legendary Sasquatch.

They cite dozens of unexplained encounters in the Four States going back 150 years. But their search for a 7-foot tall beast has run up against more obstacles than bigfoot’s shy nature.

‘Old Sheff’

Loren Coleman, founder of the International Museum of Cryptozoology in Portland, Maine, says some of the earliest reports of sasquatch sightings in the country came from Missouri and Arkansas.

Coleman says there are reports of a “monstrous wild man” in the swamps of the Missouri Bootheel dating to the 1840s. A decade later, hunters in Arkansas reported seeing a creature that was “gigantic in stature, hairy, and having footprints that measured at least 14 inches long.”

“What we have to look for in terms of old reports are people talking about hairy wild men and there are many, many of those coming out of the Ozarks. It was a real hotbed for reports of these creatures in the 1850s,” he said.

A similar report emerged out of Crawford County, Kan., just after the Civil War.

“We of the Arcadia Valley, in the southern part of Crawford County, are having a new sensation, which may lead to some new disclosures in nature history, if investigated as it should be. It is nothing less than the discovery of a wild man or a gorilla, or ‘what is it,’” stated a report that first appeared in the Journal Free Press of Osage City, Kan., in 1869, and was soon reprinted in the St. Louis Democrat. “It has so near a resemblance to the human form that the men are unwilling to shoot it. It is difficult to give a description of this wild man or animal. It has a stooping gait, very long arms with immense hands or claw; generally walks on its hind legs but sometimes on all fours.

“The settlers, not knowing what to call it, have christened it ‘Old Sheff.’

“It cannot be caught and nobody is willing to shoot it.”

The letter was signed by M.S. Trimble.

SOUTHWEST CITY

Since then, there have been more than 200 reports of Bigfoot encounters out of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas, according to the Bigfoot Field Research Organization.

Ron Boles, who lives in Springfield and is senior regional investigator for BFRO, said they are a volunteer group that catalogues, investigates, and rates Bigfoot encounters across the nation. A Class C encounter, for example, is non-visual evidence, such as a track; a Class B encounter may involve a vague or blurry sighting; the rarer Class A sighting, said Boles, involves a sober-as-Sunday-morning contact.

One such encounter occurred in Southwest City the morning of Sept. 6, 2010, according to Boles and BFRO.

It was Labor Day, and three fishermen were driving home at about 12:50 a.m. when they allegedly spotted a large creature hiding behind a trash can on the north end of Main Street. When they approached in their vehicle, the creature stood on its hind legs and fled. The fishermen pursued briefly before it escaped into the night.

The incident was reported by the driver to the BFRO and Boles says he investigated it, along with Larry Newman, a current candidate for sheriff in Jasper County.

“I was never more convinced of a Class A sighting than that one,” Boles said.

“Never in my life was I prepared for what I saw,” the witness told investigators. “It had long hair about 5 or 6 inches long and turned and looked at us twice to see if we were on his tail, I guess. This was a face-to-face encounter with this thing. He had his head in a trash can eating something. That’s how we got so close, he didn’t see us coming. He left a footprint behind and the police took a picture of it.”

Boles says the driver willingly gave his account but the others were reluctant to talk.

“I trust apprehensive witnesses a lot more than I do willing ones,” Boles said. “In some rural areas, people would rather go to their graves than lose face.”

Newman and Boles, who conducted their investigation six days later, described the witness as “genuinely frightened” by the experience.

“The footprint was 16 inches long and 8 inches wide,” Newman’s investigative report states. “They described a creature about 6 1/2 to 7 feet tall with a shoulder width of about 3 feet. Very heavy muscular legs, arms and body. The face had a wide flat nose, black around the eye area and small ears. The hair (not fur) was a reddish-brown color and not messy and matted as often described. The face was black.

“After this lengthy and detailed interview we believe this to be a close contact Class A sighting,” Newman wrote.

Boles and Newman said they did not want to release the name of the witness, citing the stigma surrounding those who claim to have sighted Bigfoot.

Newman has conducted other investigations for BFRO, and says he was contacted by the group because of his experience in law enforcement. He says he has investigated several reported sightings in the region. He says some seem legitimate while others are clearly false.

Newman says he has never seen a sasquatch himself, so he remains unconvinced of their existence. Boles says it is good for investigators to have a healthy dose of skepticism..

“We have been taught to be more skeptical of these reports than anybody,” he said. “If we’re not the most skeptical people out there, then that takes away the integrity of our research.”



Chetopa Hoax

Skepticism is warranted, too, because the Four States is not only noted for its woolly corners, but also for its practical jokers.

Such may have been the case in Chetopa, Kan., in February 1978.

According to BFRO and media reports at the time, the Chetopa Police Chief was alerted to more than two miles of tracks, with footprints that measured 17 inches in length and nearly 6 inches in width. Thousands of people came out to see them.

“After a while the chief supposedly found what was making the tracks, which was a 6-foot-6 kid named Chuck Bentley,” says the BRFO.

Bentley later admitted he made large wooden feet and stapled them to his boots, and created large strides by running while friends served as lookouts.

“I was just trying to add some excitement to Chetopa,” he said after he confessed.

However, the BFRO website implies the chief may have concocted not the story of the tracks, but the story that it was a hoax, to get people to settle down and to keep the curious from stirring up the town.

Bentley never returned telephone calls.

SCIENCE OR FICTION

Clever tricksters aside, Coleman says there is still much in the world that remains undiscovered. The growing field of cryptozoology, derived from the Greek word “krypto” meaning hidden, is the study of creatures that are not known to science, but are hypothesized to exist.

While some people might scoff at the notion of cryptozoology, new species are still being discovered. He points to a new species of monkey discovered in Burma, giant lizards in the Philippines, and giant squid in the Pacific Ocean, which were first photographed only a few years ago.

“In our society today everything is instant, but people forget that it took 67 years to find the giant panda in the 1930s. It took over 50 years to find the mountain gorilla in Africa in a concentrated search area,” he said.

Coleman says he believes it is possible that a sasquatch could survive in the Ozarks. He says, although the area’s population has grown, it has become more concentrated in towns and cities.

“We go from one place to another on these strips of asphalt and we are increasingly ignoring the places that are green,” he said. “There are a lot of animals out there that people are absolutely ignoring.”

Boles says there is currently more forested land in the United States than at any point in the last century. He also points to skyrocketing populations of deer, turkey and feral hogs as a potential food source for sasquatch.

But Coleman says he is concerned that a recent activity — charging to search for sasquatch — could undermine the scientific integrity of the quest to document cryptids.

A WALK IN THE WOODS

In late February, the BFRO ran afoul of the National Park Service after an expedition of more than 30 Bigfoot enthusiasts — who had each paid $300 to attend — was stopped by park rangers in the Buffalo National River south of Harrison, Ark. The group was fined for leading an expedition without receiving a vendor’s permit.

Chief Ranger Karen Bradford said the group was acting as a concessionaire without the proper permits. She said that even if the group had applied for a permit, it is unlikely that the Park Service would have approved of a Bigfoot expedition because there was “no evidence of any Bigfoot, sasquatch, or yeti living in the Buffalo National River.”

Boles said the issue the Park Service was “an oversight, nothing more, nothing less.”

He says he is alarmed to hear that the BFRO would not be granted a permit in the future. He says the Park Service allows guided ghost tours at its Civil War battlefields, so why not Bigfoot expeditions in the wilderness?

“The Park Service is willing to acknowledge the possible existence of Civil War ghosts, but not an undiscovered primate?” argued Boles.

He also said the BFRO doesn’t guarantee that participants will have an encounter, but it does provide “the potential to have an encounter.”

“We offer an opportunity for people to come together to learn the signs that we look for and the things we do to draw them in,” he said. “You can’t go looking for them and hope to find one; you have to draw them in. You have to become the bait. You’ve to peak their curiosity and have them come to you.”

Coleman says BFRO guides have encouraged expedition participants to beat on trees and set off fireworks in an attempt to attract the reclusive creatures.

“The most wrong-headed ideas are coming out of the BFRO,” he said. “You’re just not going to find animals like this primate if you go into an area with 30 to 50 people looking for it. The noise and the camping activities will scare these creatures to the next valley.”

Coleman says the expeditions are “commercial adventures” that do not follow scientific method.

While Coleman is critical of the weekend expeditions, he has praise for the field investigations conducted by the BFRO of reported sightings.

“If you’re talking about the group and the weekend events, that’s much different than their individual investigators who also have a credible background in law enforcement. Those people are doing good research and good science.”

Boles says he is confident that there are many unknowns in this world that are yet to be discovered.

“I think there are a lot more mysteries left on this Earth than modern science will ever admit to,” he said. “Just because they don’t recognize it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Scientists haven’t been able to prove the spooklight in Joplin, but are you going to tell me that it isn’t there?”

Area Sightings

Oct. 10, 2002, Springdale, Ark.: Two hikers had a daylight sighting while walking up a creek bed. They reported the creature to be walking quickly. It was reportedly about 8 feet tall with brown fur, dark eyes and long arms. One of the witnesses said he was so scared by the encounter that he doubts if he will go into the woods again.

Sept. 5, 1993, Joplin: A Missouri Southern State University student saw a large creature while driving near Wildcat Park south of Joplin around midnight. “One evening several students were out there and a friend of mine asked me to drive him out there,” a witness told investigators. “Around midnight we were heading back to campus, I was taking a curve and as I got into the corner I saw a large ape-like, human-like creature standing just off the pavement.
“I would say it was 7.5-feet to 8-feet tall and 350 to 400 pounds. I’m not sure of the color since it was dark. I would say it was dark brown, but the moonlight and limited visibility gave its coat a whitish sheen.
“I was able to see eye-to-eye with it. The creature appeared to be much taller than the vehicle, but it was either squatting slightly or hunched down a bit. It had very broad shoulders, much larger than anything I had ever seen. They were close to 3 feet across.”

Nov. 18, 2004, near Purdy: A driver, traveling south on a winding, dirt road between McDowell and Purdy, noticed an animal in the ditch and thinking it might be a mule that had gotten out of a fenced area slowed down.
“As I got closer, it stood up, facing my (Ford) Explorer ... it came at an angle from the ditch, toward the passenger side of my truck. It was in my estimate at least as tall as I am (5 feet, 8 inches) covered with hair. The hair was a buff or light color.
“All I really remember at that point is hitting the lock button on my doors and screaming. It came up to the passenger side window and I could see its chest. If I saw the face, I do not recall it, just the chest in the window. I was screaming and hit the accelerator and sped away as fast as I could. I don’t know what it was, only that I have never seen anything like it before in my life.”