Bigfoot And Cemeteries

[Guest]

What is the connecting tie fusing Bigfoot and cemeteries together? Is there one or is it merely a matter of circumstantial coincidence that any being or animal find peaceful and refuge in graveyards or is there something more sinister afoot?  

 

Bigfoot and cemeteries is a question that may or may not provide Information vital to the common interest of the group, as it may provide additional pieces of a puzzle yet to be determined; and it may be a question that you yourself have noticed but never asked. I do not have all the answers so, let’s find a thread and pull it, and see what it yanks on.

 

By my earliest account it seems to be around 1868-69 when a newspaper reported a Bigfoot encounter near a simple grave in the “old Dominion state of Virginia during the waning post years following the American Civil War. For me the numinous (strange) moment came when it occurred to me what I was seeing may not be one isolated report rather a pattern of behavior that should raise eyebrows and generate thought provoking conversation.

 

Take a moment and think back in your memory and see if you recall any similar reports. If you do, list them here and let’s talk about it. If the reports I present are sourced, I will include them as I received them.

 

Example 1

(1868-1869) Virginia

What really brought things to a fevered pitch was when a young man, returning from the War in very poor health, died after lingering on for several years. He was buried, at his own request, at the top of the mountain where he had often hunted. This was the same mountain considered to be the territory of the bigfoot. A day or two after the burial, his father took tools to erect a fence around his son’s grave. He found that the body of his son had been dug up and most of the flesh had been stripped to the bones. Several well-armed men gathered and combed the mountain for days. They could never find the monster. Some thought he lived in a cave that may have had a hidden entrance. The late Martha Jane Hart told me her grandfather, Jacob S. Carmack, was one of the men that went to hunt for the bigfoot. Not long after this a violent storm went through the area falling great trees. After that storm, the bigfoot was never seen again. Several years after that, hunters found a huge human like skeleton pinned under a chestnut tree that had been felled by that storm. Perhaps nature had done what man could not do. Source: “A Bigfoot sighted near Bristol began a reign of terror,†Bud Philillips,  Bristol Herald Courier, May 8, 2004

 

Example 2

Bigfoot Report Cemetery

October 1895

Greenville, Maine

The people of this section are excited over the rumor that a gorilla has been seen in the woods. Last Saturday boys were out shooting squirrels. After firing the boys were startled to see a great beast jump from the brush and disappear into the woods. Their story is vouched for by a reputable New Ipswich man. That evening a young man who lives a short distance out of town, when near the Pleasant Street cemetery, heard growling, followed by a noise, in the brush. He saw something, and started home as fast as legs could carry him. On his arrival there he fell prostrate on the floor from fright and exhaustion. A party of men with shotguns went in pursuit of the gorilla yesterday, but found no trace of it. An Ashby man informed The Globe correspondent that the gorilla was seen there a few evenings since.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, October 22, 1895, p5

 

Example 3

Bigfoot Different Species DM

1936

Jefferson, Wisconsin

Night security guard, Mark Schackleman was making his rounds came upon a strange creature that was apparently digging a hole at an old Indian burial mound. The creature turned around and looked at the witness that was now terrified and began to pray. The creature seemed to show some fear and uttered something like sounded like “Gadara.†The creature was described as huge, black in color & emitting a putrid smell, it had long finger like claws, a man like built, point canine like teeth, pointed ears and a muzzle like nose. The creature slowly disappeared into the nearby woods.

Source: Strange Magazine, #11, Linda Godfrey

 

Example 4

Residence, Cemetery

August 5, 1981

Waterford Twp, Michigan

The officers did not seem awfully convinced and added a bit of sarcasm and humor by finishing their report with, "At 00:48 hours the Officers stated that the subject is GOA (gone on arrival) and that he must have gone back to his cave." However before the story hit the press several children had a sightings in the Prospect Hill section of Waterford. On August 5th, the matter was handled a bit more seriously when calls were received at 2:03 P.M. to report a sighting earlier in the week at the power station on Middletown Rd. and again later at 3:30 P.M. about a sighting behind St. Mary's Cemetery. Source: Steve Kulls, Cryptozology Examiner, The short Bigfoot flap of 1981 in Waterford, November 19, 2014, http://www.examiner.com/article/the-short-bigfoot-flap-of-1981-Waterford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NathanFooter]

 I have noticed that a large number of reports cluster near cemeteries and gravel pits, if I where to make a guess as to why I would say it could be a combination of two factors.    Both sites typically have exposed earth and stones that are loaded with minerals, this may attract deer and other wildlife ( food ).    The other factor is that people just do not hang out in cemeteries that much.

 

 As a matter of fact, when looking for an area to research I often look for gravel pits, apple orchards and cemeteries jammed up against the suspected habitation area and if there is a stream or river running from one site to the other it may be even better.

[Guest]

a  party of men with shotguns went in pursuit of the gorilla yesterday, but found no trace of it. An Ashby man informed The Globe correspondent that the gorilla was seen there a few evenings since.

Hmm, can't copy and paste, but anyway, this was DATED 1895, and labeled Gorilla, but Gorillas were not named until the early 20th century, like 1908 or something. So problemo right there. Also, not enough cemetery spottings to rule out a generalized random behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, October 22, 1895, p5

[Guest]

Nathan Footer –  Thoughtful response and good observations. I observed scavengers like coyotes trotting around inside cemeteries stopping to sniff and dig around, passing some while pausing to smell others. When I read these reports it dawned on me that there many others like this but until now, I just thought to bring it up and see what others experienced.

 

Wag – Good response… descriptions of Bigfoot vary from time and place.

[Guest]

Yes, but the term Gorilla was not around till 10 years after the supposed article.

[Guest]

Yeah you might be correct Wag ….

 

Etymology

 

The American physician and missionary Thomas Staughton Savage and naturalist Jeffries Wyman first described the western gorilla (they called it Troglodytes gorilla) in 1847 from specimens obtained in Liberia.^[3] The name was derived from Greek ΓόÏιλλαι (Gorillai), meaning "tribe of hairy women",^[4] described by Hanno the Navigator, a Carthaginian navigator and possible visitor (circa 480 BC) to the area that later became Sierra Leone.^[5]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla

Edited November 20, 2014 by Gumshoeye

[Guest]

Hmm, well, I thought it was named in the 20th century. My bad.

 

Anyway, a better question is why does BF forest areas get wiped out when researchers report on them openly on the web/ or other?

[Guest]

Not a problem at all Wag, I am learning too. Wasn’t there a member here with an Anthropology background or something similar? They would be a good source to direct that question. Hopefully we can have an answer here shortly.  

[Guest]

Example 5

Motorist, Red Eyes Bigfoot Cemetery

1971

Sharptown, Maryland

Vincent Biddle and two friends encountered a huge, eerie, glowing creature with large red eyes on a back road near a graveyard. The creature chased the car as they drove off.

Source: Mark Opsasnick, The Bigfoot Digest

 

Edited November 20, 2014 by Gumshoeye

[VAfooter]

I am going to make a quick guess that I have seen 1 to 2 dozen reports where a cemetery was involved.

[Guest]

Uhm, there was a guy from England with an 'Anthropology' background, who thought for some reason against all evidence Neanderthal was the same intelligence level as a human. Proving Anthropology background can make you look pretty silly.

 

No, run away from those types, especially foreigners.

 

There is alot less people in the woods than a cemetery. There was some other reason, can't remember, maybe it was all the squirrels or something..

Edited November 21, 2014 by Wag

[Guest]

VA Footer – Venture a guess …. I read probably 3,000 reports maybe more maybe less and I am positive I seen those two features in reports at least a dozen times …

 

Modern law and health standards require caskets be interred inside vaults all of which are constructed of heavy cement complimented with a cement cover with preset steel handle(s). In year past rickety wooden caskets were lowered into the ground and buried without first being placed inside a sealed vault. The problem was when rotted away or it was unseasonable wet, and flooding occurred, well people were horrified to see poor old Aunt Mae resurrected so of speak, protruding from the ground. I don’t but I presume that is most old cemeteries, not all of them, most old cemeteries you find them on the highest patch ground.

 

Embalming was practiced in crudely rough fashion during the Civil War but nowhere near the practice of today. Besides protecting the public from disease, the procedure extended preservation time to the corpses. Getting to the caskets for a moment, in years past modern health safety laws didn’t exist and people would likely be laid for viewing inside their own homes. Look around you and note the centennial homes and structures 100 years or more and it likely they seen some home funerals in their lifetime.

 

I live a very old city with some very old parts. I remember one gentleman telling me while post hole digging for his new backyard vinyl fence he accidentally dug up a headstone. He became a little but not enough to stop progression you understand. He goes on to the posthole and that is where digs up an old skull.  

 

Yes right there twelve feet from his patio where he sits drinking his ice cold tea!

 

He called and asked about it, I checked with the local historian who told me long before the subdivisions there sporadic farmlands and with a house and there. When the old land owners died their children were given the property and soon they parcel out the property piece by piece to developers.

 

Now I what I am going to say won’t sit well with some so stop here.

 

If you ever smelled a decayed human body it is something that is strong and doesn’t leave clothes easy. It makes Bigfoot smell like lilies of the valley or something. It sears your senses and I never had an easy time with gag reflexes anyways. Just some things that I don’t well. We had to get into a three story apartment to check on somebody. The car was parked for week, the television was on day and night and it was extremely hot outside. Nobody answered the door or the phone in over a week, so a decision was made to force entry.

 

They were found in advanced state of decomposition and I turned and the hit the door so hard to get out for fresh air, I knocked the family darn near down on their behind as I headed down three flights of stairs to heave ho! And I didn’t renter until a neighbor brought me Vick’s vapor and couple cigarette filters for my nose problem solved.

 

I leaning toward these beings being able to catch scents of escaping gases on some of these plots especially the older ones and like with most predators the more smell the interesting it gets. Look at the old burial of incident in example 1. 

 

What do you say?  

 

Edited November 21, 2014 by Gumshoeye

[Guest]

I posted this story in the Arkansas forum, but I thought I may get some thoughts over here as well. 

 

The summer after I graduated high school I spent a lot of time with a couple buddies before we all went separate ways in the fall. During that time we went on a lot of 'adventures' so to speak. If we heard about something that sounded fun or interesting we were there. Late one evening one of them brought up the fact that he heard a nearby cemetery was haunted, so off we went. 

 

We made the short trip over parked across the street and walked to the gate. This is a small country cemetery with no large fences, gates or guards that is surrounded by a 2-300 acre pine tree farm. As we walked in we heard the most blood curdling high pitched scream, like a distressed woman. One of my friends jumped the fence and ran back to the car. Then the scream came again, but it sounded much closer. That was enough for the other friend to head to car. I was shuffling along behind because I was wearing flip-flops and we heard the scream one more time. It felt like it was right on top of us at this point. We were all pretty shook up.

 

Let me state that I don't believe in ghosts, and never for a minute thought that's what it was. I actually went back a week later, but heard and experienced nothing. My dad said it was probably a screech owl, but I've since listened to audio of them, but it's not even close.

 

I guess my question is (if you had the patience to read this far): Do you think it could've been a sasquatch?

 

FYI, this took place in Central, AR.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

I do not know about the term gorilla, but gorillas were known prior to the discovery in the early 1900's. The gorillas that were known were the lowland gorillas, while those discovered in 1902 were mountain gorillas. But again, I do not know how widespread the use of the term was at that time. I've mentioned in the past that I had not noticed any large correlation of sighting reports in gravel pits, as Nathan mentioned, but apparently I had just overlooked the number of reports. I suppose there is not a huge volume of them, but there might be enough to be statistically significant. Nathan proposed an interesting explanation for such, one that I had never heard before, and it sound relatively plausible. I am aware of the reports of sasquatch digging around for food in places with an abundance of rocks, so it is likely food-related. A lot of what they do is likely food-related. Maybe they get the headstones confused with rocks, lol. Perhaps cemeteries are attractive to sasquatch for their often slightly open yet secluded nature. I am aware of a few reports of sasquatch hanging around groves, or open areas, surrounded by forest. Perhaps it is a combination of factors. Interesting question that you've posed to be sure.

[Guest]

Alright! A post I can read Jiggs! Yea, I like your concept. Open, near woods, yet free of humans.