Bigfoot Sightings In Daylight By Multiple Witnesses At Less Than 30 Ft

[Explorer 154]

Thanks to Hiflier who shared his work on converting the John W. Green Database into Excel file.  I would not have been able to do this analysis without this database and all the work that was done to accomplish it.

 

I was curious to examine the JWG database to look for cases that will minimize the likelihood of alternative hypotheses like hallucination and animal misidentification.
Arbitrarily I filtered out all cases before 1940.

 

To reduce the likelihood of hallucination, I filtered out all single witness cases. I am assuming shared hallucinations are rare.

 

To reduce the likelihood of bear or other animal misidentification, I filtered out all cases that occurred at night time or in dark hours of the day.

 

Moreover, to use only the most reliable eyewitness testimony, I filtered out all sources that were hearsay, 2nd person testimony, or was left blank. Only testimony that was categorized as 1st person sources in the database was used.

The filters used and the number of cases filtered out from the JWG Database are shown in Figure 1.

 

Of the original 4,061 cases, 140 cases meet the filtering criteria.

 

Distance from the eyewitnesses to BF is also important to be able to judge the likelihood of animal misidentification. I added an excel column to the database and for those cases that had 2 or more eyewitnesses I read the summaries and added the reported distance to BF. In about half of the filtered 140 cases, the eyewitnesses did not estimate the distance to BF and thus I entered N/A (Not Available). The other half of the cases did report an estimated distance. The distribution of the distance to BF is shown in Figure 2.

 

Of the 72 remaining cases that reported distances, 8 of them reported seeing BF at 30 ft or less. I would imagine that at 30 ft or less, it would be difficult to misidentify a bear during daytime.
These remaining 8 cases are summarized in the attached table.

 

None of these filters, however, help us in better understanding the likelihood of the hoax hypothesis (either perpetrated on the witness or by the witness).

 

Note: The Patterson-Gimlin case is one of those 140 cases that had 2 eyewitnesses to BF during daytime and was reported to JWG Green as a first person report. The distance to BF, however, was not included in the database summary and thus the case was placed as a N/A. My understanding from reading about the PG film case, is that the BF was estimated to be about 80-100 ft from the observers.




 

[BC witness 294]

Excellent work, Explorer. You obviously have a much better grasp of how to use that database than I do, and I really apreciate what you've done with it. This is exactly what hiflier was hoping people would do with his work, I believe.

[the parkie 88]

Thank you for doing this Explorer, and I agree with your selection criteria. Very interesting accounts. Plussed.

[BobbyO 1,078]

Cool stuff as always Explorer.

[Suesquach 6]

Thanks, Explorer for your hard work!

[hiflier 967]

Hello Explorer,

 

I am effectively blown away here. You have demonstrated beautifully the pure purpose of the project. The size of the dataset can look to be overwhelming and to me at times it was and in a sense still is. Your approach is a good example of how it can work for someone that can micro-focus on a desired result. Picking a topic isn't that easy and you are to be commended for selecting one that has the potential of buoying up the reality of the Sasquatch phenomenon.

 

It isn't proof of course but then we all know that already. After all your efforts I almost hate to ask this but would you be willing to copy and paste each of the incident accounts in a more readable size? Or give me the ID numbers and I'll gladly do the chore.

 

Thank you for your kind words and nothing pleases me more than to see the database at work. It would be interesting to see if there are any overlapping characteristics or other variables that that are similar to each other. Terrain might be an example as there were multiple witnesses.

Edited January 26, 2014 by hiflier

[JDL 1,530]

BFRO Report 5697:  I was 35 feet away, my brother was thirty feet away, and our friend, David was eight feet away from it.  Nothing between us and it but sagebrush shin high on it.  Middle of the afternoon.  Full daylight.

 

Coonbo has had more than a few multi-witness encounters at less than 30.

[Cotter 1,037]

^Very cool!
 

Any chance the occupation of the witness(es) was listed?

[JDL 1,530]

We were kids, 12, 12, and 10.

Current occupations include President and Director (also state licensed professional engineer) of a company commercializing a new technology, and avionics technician.  Both military veterans.  One a West Point graduate, the other an Air Force non-Com.

 

Not sure about what the third guy did after high school  Have been able to determine he went to college in California, lived there a while, and returned to Reno, where he currently lives, but that's all so far.

[Darrell 99]

Thats all fine and dandy, but of those sighting reports of bigfoot less thatn 30 feet away and with more than one witness, did the other witness' file reports?

[Cotter 1,037]

@JDL are you a PE?
 

If not, does the PE recall the events as you do?  Boy, that person would have a lot to lose if deemed 'mentally unfit' b/c he saw a BF.

[JDL 1,530]

In 1972 we didn't even know what we were looking at.  Didn't know what to call it or what it actually was.  Last thing we wanted to do at the time would be to report something to our parents that could result in curtailment of our free run of the valley.

 

My brother hasn't filed a report that I know of, and I've only this weekend learned David's location 31 years after I last saw him.

[JDL 1,530]

Cotter, I am a/the P.E.

 

Professionally, I don't often tell people about my sightings, though it does come up once I feel a certain level of trust has been established. 

 

I had a former colleague help me out as a sub on an international anti-terrorism contract I had with a Fortune 10 (yes, ten) insurance company.  The guy decided he'd make a run at the client and started talking about the bigfoot sightings I'd told him about fifteen years earlier when we were in the Army together.

 

I walked into a steering committee meeting one morning ten years ago and was surprised to have a C-Level company officer ask me about it as we sat down.  My "buddy" was grinning from ear to ear.

 

I had no choice but to state that I'd grown up in the Sierra's, relate my encounter as a matter of fact and clinical observation, then state that I'd be happy to speak with anyone abut it after the meeting.  Had I acted embarrassed or shaken, or denied it, it likely would not have gone well.  As it was, I'd developed enough "cred" to weather the incident.

 

Still, it wasn't a welcome development under those circumstances.  I did take some ribbing later, but joked back that I wanted to use my first disposable million to hunt bigfoot.  You'd be surprised how many people followed up afterward and stated that they'd like to go with when I did.

[WV FOOTER 942]

Great Work Explorer. +1 to ya!

[Cotter 1,037]

^Very cool JDL, I'm assuming a PE in ME?  (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Mad respect for you man.  You are one of these eye witnesses you hear about that have a lot to lose if you speak too freely about your encounter.

 

On a side note...if yer ever looking for someone with a BSIE, shoot me a PM!  

 

;-)