Questions For The Knowers

[BobbyO]

The Animal never entered my thought process one way or the other before hand.

[Incorrigible1]

The rules one agrees to before ever posting on BFF seem clear to me. Among those rules:

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. On the BFF we accept very little at face value. We may have a tendency to over-analyze claims and be more skeptical than some other forums dedicated to this topic, but we think that is preferable to the alternative.

[Guest Cervelo]

BobbyO,

Your example and presentation, as well as a few others are what keep this skeptics interest.

Very close sightings, during daylight, narrow it down to only a few possibilities for me.

I'm hoping some day I'll be in the club!

[BobbyO]

I hope you are too one day C, just so long as it's not in a Zoo..

[Guest]

"So now if you hark back to those pre-sighting days, keep in mind the denial or disbelief the majority of people still have, particularly in the scientific arena."

I think far to often we hear something like this, and consider it an a generally accepted opinion. I have found there is not as much denial or disbelief in the "scientific arena" as we often assume on here. Most I talk to are more of the mind, that there has not been enough proof provided to classify or confirm scientifically the existence of Bigfoot,but I have not run into a lot of denial. I find there is less ridicule, or denial from the scientific community than you would think. Skeptics on an internet forum, are not representative of the general scientific community, but only of their own personal opinions and belief.

[Guest BFSleuth]

Well let me pose a question to those who have had an unmistakable encounter...what was your attitude before you had your experience?

That is a great question! I find that when people were solid skeptics prior to their encounter, then have the courage to come forward with to share it, that it lends a lot of credibility.

I remember someone posted on this forum within the last week or two a story of I believe it was his father, who insisted that what he saw was a bear walk out of the bushes on two legs, pick up a dead deer, then run away on two legs with the deer slung over its shoulder!!!

Now that's what I call an intransigent skeptic!

The idea of a living relic hominoid has become a subject of ridicule that witnesses absolutely refuse to talk about it, and some that have actually witnessed a BF will go through mental gymnastics of denial that would qualify them for the Olympics.

http://en.wikipedia....tive_dissonance

[bipedalist]

Well let me pose a question to those who have had an unmistakable encounter, solid visual sighting, etc. Those who have, I've read here where they have a certain 'tone', such as, "I don't care what anyone thinks, I know what I saw!" Ok, fair enough.

But what was your attitude before you had your experience?

I came here after doing some cursory reading and finding many BF reports Post-PGF film time period. I then set into motion an attempt to investigate an area that I thought I was very intimate with and knew everything about. Wrong! I collected evidence and then had a sighting in that familiar area. I then came to BFF to hopefully learn more about what the capabilities were of Sasquatch and compare notes.

The reception was standard for the period in which I joined and was participating. A modicum of interested witnesses, some skeptic interest but a loud scoftic backlash. Well with the great sighting databases with many valid sighting reports, the clarity of muscle movement in the PGF film and just enough personal follow-up with witnesses, I was able to solidify my understanding and belief and ignore what was not of a facilitating nature (I'd phrase that a tad differently in the PMP probably).

Before my experience, I was skeptically optimistic and wondering what path might open up before me. In the back of my mind I did think that I could wrap this thing up in 18 months and write it off. Wrong again!

At this point I'm still wondering what Sasquatch is..... but have some pretty good ideas of what it IS NOT. My conclusion is that there is more than a groveling monkey wallowing about stinking up the countryside where it sees fit.

Edited April 30, 2012 by bipedalist

[Sasfooty]

Well let me pose a question to those who have had an unmistakable encounter, solid visual sighting, etc.

But what was your attitude before you had your experience? Were you a true blue believer, a skeptic, or someone who completely dismissed the existence of such a creature? I've heard quite a few comment that they were confirmed non-believers, and considered any talk of BF a load of hooey.

So now if you hark back to those pre-sighting days, keep in mind the denial or disbelief the majority of people still have, particularly in the scientific arena. Weren't you once a member of that group?

I didn't especially have an opinion either way. I wasn't skeptical, I just never had any reason to think there were any around here. I thought that if they did exist, they were all in Oregon or Washington, & maybe that one in Arkansas from the movie.

Once I realized that there were some weird things happening here, & found out what was probably causing them, it was pretty easy to believe the noises, tracks, twisted cedar limbs, & terrified cows were possibly related to BF.

But seeing & hearing circumstantial evidence is a lot different than seeing a big hairy being or his glowing red eyes. It's not easy to wrap your mind around seeing something that most of the world thinks doesn't exist. I spent many hours trying to make it fit into a slot that I could deal with, but there wasn't one for it to fit in. Finally, after seeing them occasionally, it became kind of routine, & they acquired a slot of their own.

So, no, I was not a member of the group that thought they were a load of hooey. Since discovering that they are real, I've discovered that a lot of other things that are considered to be hooey, probably aren't either.

[yowiie]

It doesn't come as any surprise to me that the knowers on this forum havent put there hand up on this thread.

Its a privilege to have witnessed one of these fine animals and to come on this forum and be told its a total BS story, really.

Proving that you have witnessed such a sight is hard to explain, so rather than be ridiculed, the knowers keep to themselves, after all they don't have to prove anything to anyone

[JDL]

Well let me pose a question to those who have had an unmistakable encounter, solid visual sighting, etc. Those who have, I've read here where they have a certain 'tone', such as, "I don't care what anyone thinks, I know what I saw!" Ok, fair enough.

But what was your attitude before you had your experience? Were you a true blue believer, a skeptic, or someone who completely dismissed the existence of such a creature? I've heard quite a few comment that they were confirmed non-believers, and considered any talk of BF a load of hooey.

So now if you hark back to those pre-sighting days, keep in mind the denial or disbelief the majority of people still have, particularly in the scientific arena. Weren't you once a member of that group?

In 1972, at the time of my first face-to-face encounter, we'd never heard of bigfoot or sasquatch. We knew what it wasn't (a man), but we had no frame of reference to tell us what it was. It was three years, and a few more encounters later before I found a pamphlet about bigfoot in a tourist shop in Oregon. It even included reprinted information on bigfoot from the Army Corps of Engineers. As you can imagine, finding something about them in print was a major relief.

[Guest Dudlow]

Bottom line, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. First and foremost we all have to live with and make peace with our own BF related experiences; sometimes not an easy thing to do.

From my own point of view, just coming to grips with a couple of early childhood experiences (starting in October of 1955 but not even including those that followed later on) - long before the PGF rocked the world - proved to be plenty to have to deal with. It took years to understand the truth of those experiences; especially since my most excellent parents put up the standard, conventional response of, "Yes, dear, now go back outside and play with your friends". Our pleas had no credibility, so it couldn't be happening.

In a way, their dismissive response became my similarly dismissive response over time. Naw, couldn't be. So I (and my little buddies) eventually forgot all about them. And then, of course, as we grew up life's ongoing challenges blotted out the improbable, and all was eventually forgotten or suppressed or repressed, as psychologists like to put it until later, similar experiences reawakened earlier memories and I began to wonder all over again if I wasn't just a little bit 'off my cookies'.

Coming to this and, to a much lesser degree, other discussion forums, helped me to realize the nature of my experiences; brought back memories and confirmed my sometimes doubtful sanity concerning the subject. It gave me truth and strength. But equally important and, regardless of having to grow a thicker skin just to deal with the political forum issues, it allowed me to learn from the experiences of so many others. That was the key; the collective knowledge deriving from the strength of so may other witnesses and experiencers over the years. In a nutshell, finally I knew we couldn't all be sharing the same delusion.

- Dudlow

Edited April 30, 2012 by Dudlow

[salubrious]

That true knowers seem melt away into silence implies to me that either the phenom is perhaps not so earth shattering many would assume it should be or there aren't any true knowers after all. Firm believers are plentiful but unshakable knowers? I've yet to meet one.

You've met one now.

I'm not being particularly silent about it either, though I have to admit that I do have the concern that others will think I am nuts. To a certain degree that's OK- more acceptable with my friends but it could affect my professional life and that is the main concern.

Well let me pose a question to those who have had an unmistakable encounter, solid visual sighting, etc. Those who have, I've read here where they have a certain 'tone', such as, "I don't care what anyone thinks, I know what I saw!" Ok, fair enough.

But what was your attitude before you had your experience?

Prior to my encounter I had seen the PGF in a theatre as part of a movie, back in the late 70s or early 80s. The film looked convincing enough and the movie pointed out that master special effects people from Hollywood were pretty impressed by the film and could not sort out how it was done. So I had some idea that they *might* exist. In California or Oregon or the like. Certainly not in Colorado or Minnesota nor where I might be at the time... it was in Colorado that it was shown to me that life does not care what I think...

[Guest cbehnke]

I have to believe that having a broad daylight, clear line of sight, relatively close, extended period sighting with an infinitesimally low probability of hoax can...not always...but can be an incredibly heavy burden to bear in life.

I can imagine it can throw your entire world view into question, may test your faith, may cost you some friends family or a spouse, may lead you to doubt your sanity, may scare the living daylights out of you and keep you from enjoying the outdoors, etc. etc. Yeah, it can have the opposite effect and make your life better in numerous ways,...but you don't know that in advance.

You never know how you will react/respond until you are confronted with it. For the knowers that never sought it out...God bless ya for sharing your 1 in a billion experience with the rest of us. It keeps us going in the search.

I don't know if I had a sighting if I would see it as a blessing or a curse (for all the above reasons mentioned). I just don't know.

Edited May 1, 2012 by cbehnke

[bipedalist]

^ Agree with above, but will qualify it to say VERY close nocturnal sightings and/or nocturnal sightings of multiples can be as, if-not more terrifying than a full daylight encounter with all the detail in the world. If you have a full daylight sighting and then have eyeglow to add to your experience I'd say you are one in a couple hundred million shot..... should have bought a Powerball ticket that day too.

Edited May 1, 2012 by bipedalist

[BobbyO]

If you have a full daylight sighting and then have eyeglow to add to your experience I'd say you are one in a couple hundred million shot..... should have bought a Powerball ticket that day too.

That would drop dramatically depending when and where you are..