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I've never had a sighting. But my "encounter" was profound as it went from simple curiosity to fear. It really rattled my cage to see fear in my father as well. I moved on and filed it away, but the subject was kinda a nagging unanswered question and still is.

I've had two, probably a third. The first was in about '76. I was 12-13. The impact I remember was my father's unwillingness to anything but ridicule me an threaten to hurt me when I told him. My father scared my cousin, 3+ years older, so badly he does not remember the event the way I do. However, an older cousin yet was present when we told the family what we'd seen and she remembers the other cuz saying, at the time, exactly what I have always remembered. So the impact is loss of trust and faith in my father's integrity. The latter two, one certain, one probably, were much more recent, 3-4 years ago. The "probably" occurred with a bigfoot report investigator present. I was helping him follow up on another report. We BSed about it as we walked back to the truck but it was nearly a non-event, something that didn't surprise either of us. The other one was the 2nd weekend of deer season 2013. I was in a very good mood, just a "happy to be alive" sort of day. It was "that's cool" with a recognition that I'd need to call my research partner when I got home. Trauma ... none directly from the experience, only from how family treated me when I tried to share. That's one of the reasons I try to stand up for / stand with others who have had similar experiences. MIB

My only clear sighting, back about '79 or '80, was more a confirmation of the newspaper stories and books that I'd read in my youth, than a revelation of something that I'd never heard of, so it was not a paradigm shift in my world view, and I carried on with life as usual, running my business, raising a family, and occasionally mentioning my sighting to those I thought might be interested. It's only been in the last few years, since I "sort of" retired, that I've given any thought to finding further evidence of the existence of Sasquatch. I've been very fortunate in that regard to have met some of the best researchers in the field, who have let me join them in their efforts to investigate sightings and reports, as well as doing our own searching in an area that has a very long history of these stories, the Upper Fraser Valley/ Harrison Hot Springs region of BC. In a nutshell, my thought at the time of my sighting was "Wow, they really do exist!"

Everybody's heard of Bigfoot by now. But imagine encountering one before you had ever even heard of them. In a way that was good, because I didn't have any preconceived popular impressions about them. To me; based on their appearance, behavior, and the way they interacted; they were big hairy aboriginal people. Not apes, any more than we are. They can be very frightening, but they also instill a sense of wonder. I'm convinced that they are a primitive people, but think about how smart and careful a race of primitive people has to be in order to avoid popular discovery.

I had multiple clues and interactions and was actively seeking the unknown that presented itself before me at close range. It was contrary to what I expected to see, but much too close for comfort. I had the satisfaction (rare I might add), of being truthful to myself in view of the highly irregular presentation. I shared my information with a core group of people and the SasquatchWatcch blogtalk show as well as Campfire Shadows. I was prepared to share it in one other venue but was cancelled. I thought I owed it to posterity to report what led up to the sighting and what occurred. The close sighting was not the end of it as I audio-recorded significant material for at least the next four years and much of it was very close to my living environment. Some of the recordings were confirmed regionally as being undetermined but identical in nature to material recorded a hundred miles away. I have the self-reliance to know what details i saw and to have accurately reported them. I also have the satisfaction of being an active participant in the mental health field I thought long and hard before going public and joining this forum, knowing the roast that awaited me. I did not receive the reception that Sal received on this reincarnated forum. No it was the heady days of BFF 1.0 when everybody got grilled that seemed to know anything directly about these things. My ten year anniversary comes up this July 8, 2017. Not sure how I am going to handle it. The environment where the sighting occurred is completely different now than then.

At first it was pure excitement for me since I have just seen what most people have never seen in their life time. But as time pass and the reality of what I have seen came into my existence. It freaked me out very much and yet I needed to know more about them. In order to know about them I needed to go in a place they did not exist, a forest where I thought that they did not roam. I needed to learn what really lurked in our forest in a safe way. So I started hunting in order to learn and picked up deer hunting as my hobby. Now knowing what I saw and what I had experienced and I am not talking about the telepathic stuff. Just the flesh and blood part of this animal that seems to understand us in some way. As I started hunting in a area that I thought was bigfoot free. I started seeing sign of their presences that thru me for a loop. Why would one person encounter them in one area and have encounters of them in a another area? This did not make sense and nor will it until I hear it from others in which I have. This just confirms that I have not lost my mind and am perfectly sane. What makes me even more sane is knowing that people around me have heard them as well while I am with them. So yes at first there was fear that set in with in me . But then there was also this calmness that I could never understand about them. I knew that they were out there around me and yet I stayed calm and even in the darkness. If they are so gosh darn evil then why am I still around. Is it my inner voice that has kept me alive from them. Is it this voice that told me to leave when I should that has kept me alive. Why would they try to connect with one? what is it that they bring to the table that they want to teach? I was yes that there is a psychological impact. But the impact comes from the witness not wanting to come forward with the encounter. It almost seems silly to speak about a mystical creature and it is this impact that makes it hard to speak about. I still feel silly speaking about what I saw and have experience. Come on I am 52 years old and I am talking about a creature that can read my mind. That's silly is it not ! Look at the people that mocks us for coming out with the truth. Is that not psychological enough for us in some way. Does anyone even know how that feels when one is being mocked for telling the truth? Think what that does to others who have also seen these creatures. when the ones who have seen them and have experience the same as I. Yes we do need to be on caution but reports or recounts do not lie.

I have not read this whole thread, but to just give my opinion. I would rather deal with endless hours of Sasquatch boredom, then give 5 minutes of my time to hoaxers, snake oil sales men, and the lunatics running the asylum that make up to much of today's Sasquatch field. Better to stick with actual research than waste time with those infected by "Ivan Marks Syndrome". Thomas Steenburg

Guy - Oh, I know what he's saying, he just doesn't know what he's talking about. He's a nice guy, I think, but ... being a nice guy does not validate his claims. Such unproven bears would not have 100% known bear DNA. Black bear DNA comes from black bears. Period. That's all we have from North America .. 100% known bear species. To date the unidentified DNA samples point to a primate nearer human than chimp or gorilla. Bears are completely off the playing field not even relevant to the discussion. Hiflier is a good guy but he does not have the foggiest idea what he's talking about when it comes to DNA, how it works, how testing works, what the results mean, nor, apparently, what the history of BF DNA testing has been to date. So far, what he's offered is a technical sounding smokescreen of word salad. Remember when it was said that Ketchum was "not even wrong" because there was no valid connection between the inputs offered and the conclusion drawn? Same thing here, hiflier is "not even wrong" because the dots he's trying to connect are not relevant to each other. He's ignoring what's inconvenient and connecting what's irrelevant. I don't know how to talk sense to him, at this point it's like trying to talk logic to a crazy person you can only talk sense to by bringing yourself into their crazy. He doesn't seem to have enough science to understand how screwed up his notion of science is ... and it's circular and self-perpetuating. I feel sorry for him but he can't be helped until he wants help. He doesn't want out of being wrong, he wants everyone else to join him in there. Can't. Won't. MIB

Oh, good. I'm glad the bird didn't physically touch you. I'm wondering why the bird would have been territorial with you when you returned to the truck, but not when you left it. It was still the same territory, no? So maybe flying near you when you were preparing to leave had some other meaning. It's possible he was not attacking you, but communicating with you. As has been discussed before, birds and BF can be closely connected. Birds can act as emissaries, if you will, for the BF. (Also, birds can fly close to you without intending to warn you off.) Once, on my way to visit the BF, I had to pull the car over to the side of the road to have a cell phone conversation. I was very close to the site where I visit them. I was on the phone for about 5 minutes, when suddenly, a huge grey bird buzzed the hood of my car, inches from my windshield and therefore inches from my face. (I took this to be the BF saying, "Get off the phone already and come visit with us.") On another occasion, again as I was traveling in a car, but as a passenger, down a dirt road in this same area, a hawk buzzed the roof of the moving car, moving in the same direction we were, and came to roost in some branches that arched across the road about 30 feet in front of us and directly above our heads, so that we drove under him. Again, it seemed clear to me that the hawk was connected to our mission that day, which was to pay a visit to the BF. The BF knew we were approaching and sent someone to greet us. So I don't know, Randy. That bird may well have been just passing along a message of some kind -- maybe something like, "We see you are here, and we are glad to see you."