Sasquatch Class "A" Encounter Questionaire

[hiflier]

When researching reports I have usually noticed that the witness interview lacks much in the way of information. I don't know why that is. Lets say for the sake of discussion that this is talking about what the BFRO and the BigfootForum's Class A reports. Those are the ones where a Sasquatch, or what the witness claims is a Sasquatch, is actually seen. I have read tons of reports, mostly on the BFRO and the gaps in most the reports are numerous. Now I can imagine that it's possible each investigator might have their own set of questions that they ask the witness(s) when they communicate with them but I was also wondering if there is a standard questionnaire that is used or a certain protocol followed when taking any witness statements. Is there such a standardized list of questions that is always asked no matter who does the interview?

 

If not I've been working one up that I think is fairly thorough. It's based on the variables in the column headers of the late John Willison Green's database and is pretty comprehensive for a questionnaire. You see I think witnesses in telling their story forget things. Things that they saw but forgot to mention at an interview- especially if certain questions regarding the encounter never got asked. Then too there may be a lot of that information that doesn't make it to the thumbnail sized reports that most of us read. The way things are now anyway one can't really do much research that leads to anything but the widest of generalities concerning any pattern recognition. And only being able to read one report at a time kind of perpetuates that syndrome.

 

It's probably too late to go after the finer details of past interviews but future interviews IMO would be better served if a standard questionnaire that was large in scope and points of detail were used when meeting with witnesses. And too they would see such an interview as being extremely professional and thorough and may therefore have the confidence to relax and remember more details from the encounter if the interviewer leaves no stone unturned. I will post it next to keep it separate from any text so if anyone wants to print it out they may do so.

 

This probably is nowhere near complete so if you can think of any questions I will consider adding them to the questionaire and then repost it with the new questions included. I've been wanting to do this for quite a while. Thanks.

[hiflier]

PART I- Time Questions:
1) During what year did this sighting occur?
2) What was the actual date of the sighting? If unable to remember then:
3) Which Month?
4) Which season?
5) What time of day or night?
6) How long was the duration of the sighting

7) Did this occur while camping, hunting, hikingl, or while driving or parked on a road?

PART II- Location Questions:

8 ) In which state or province did this occur?
9) Which County?
10) What is name of the nearest city or town?
11) What is its approximate population?
12)Did the encounter occur at your place of residence or near it?
13)Were there other witnesses with you?
14) Were there children present?
15)Were domestic animals present?
17) In which direction from the city or town did the sighting occur?
18) How far away from the city or town did the sighting occur?
19) What is the sighting location's elevation?
20) What are the Latitude and Longitude or GPD coordinates?
21) What was the weather like that day?
22) What phase was the Moon in?
23) What is the terrain like there?
24) Is the land developed, rural, or wild?
25) Was this on a hill or mountain and if so what direction does it face?
26) Is it open land or has it been clear cut?
27) If tree covered what might be the age of the trees?
28) What type of trees are there?
29) Is there any undergrowth?
30) Any other land features man made or otherwise?
31) Is there any bodies of water, rivers, or creekbeds in the area?
32) Was it a daytime sighting or was there artificial light?

 

PART III- Creature Information:

33) What was this creature doing when you first saw it?
34) What was its body angle from your perspective?
35) Did it see you?
36) How tall was it?
37) About how much d0 you think it weighed?
38) If it was daytime where was the sun when facing this creature?
39) What color was its hair?
40) How long was the hair on different parts of the body?
41) What shape was the head?
42) was there a brow ridge?
43) Did you see its eyes?
44) What shape were they?
45) Could you see its ears?
46) Did you see it's nose?
47) What shape was it. Human like? Ape like?
48) Did you see it's mouth?
49) What shape was it?
50) Was it open, closed, or active?
51) did it make any sound?
52) Did you see any teeth?
53) What were they like?
54) Did it have a chin?
55) Did it have a neck?
56) Describe its shoulders.
57) Describe the torso.
56) Descripe its arms.
57) Did it have hands?
58) If so what was it doing with them?
59) Were there fingernails or claws?
60) What was its gender?
61) Was it standing, walking, or running on two legs?
62) Describe it's legs?
63) Did it have feet?
64) Did it have toes?
65) What did it do after it saw you?
66) Was there more than one creature?
67) Was there any odor present?
68) What did it do at the end of the encounter?
69) Was there any evidence left at the scene?
70) Were you armed?
71) Were you able to get any photos or video of the creature?
71) Is there a history of sightings in the area?
72) What was the time of the last reported sighting?
73) were you partaking in any alcohol, drugs, or other medication?
74) What was you reaction throughout the encounter?
75) Would you be willing to revisit where the sighting took place?

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by hiflier

[hiflier]

OK, so the whole idea of this is to help jar someone's memory by breaking the encounter details down into bite-sized pieces. I think a lot gets lost when one describes the bigger picture which focuses on a few things and a few things only like color, size and other large obvious points. To begin the exercise I would like to invite members who have had encounters to share as much or as little as they publicly wish to share in order to test this idea out.

 

By now we know who most of you are and that many of you have already described your encounters so this is to see if the questionnaire helps to better break down things into separate items of interest. Hopefully it can help in doing just that. If you are going to participate I would ask that you answer each point with short answers that have no embellishments. Any additional comments or summaries you may have can be added at the end of the exercise. So short, and in some cases one word answers please to start off. For some of these a "yes or no" is preferred.

 

In the near term I will add in questions regarding more in the way of night time details such as reflected eye shine or illumination as well as the color. Alas, I do forget some of these things. This vacation season is the perfect time to have such a questionnaire IMHO.    

Edited August 9, 2016 by hiflier

[salubrious]

PART I- Time Questions:
1) During what year did this sighting occur?

1990
2) What was the actual date of the sighting? If unable to remember then: September 3rd 1990
3) Which Month?
4) Which season? late summer
5) What time of day or night? about 9;30
6) How long was the duration of the sighting about 30 seconds.

7) Did this occur while camping, hunting, hiking, or while driving or parked on a road? driving.

PART II- Location Questions:

8 ) In which state or province did this occur? Colorado
9) Which County? Ouray?
10) What is name of the nearest city or town? Ridgway
11) What is its approximate population? about 500 back then
12)Did the encounter occur at your place of residence or near it? No.
13)Were there other witnesses with you? No.
14) Were there children present? No.
15)Were domestic animals present? No.
17) In which direction from the city or town did the sighting occur? West- up the Dallas Divide.
18) How far away from the city or town did the sighting occur? about 12 miles
19) What is the sighting location's elevation? about 9200 feet on the Dallas Divide pass.
20) What are the Latitude and Longitude or GPD coordinates?
21) What was the weather like that day? Clear- no moon
22) What phase was the Moon in? Already set so close to new moon.
23) What is the terrain like there? Open pasture and mountain forest
24) Is the land developed, rural, or wild? rural and wild
25) Was this on a hill or mountain and if so what direction does it face? on the top of the pass, so all.
26) Is it open land or has it been clear cut? Some pasture on the east side of the road.
27) If tree covered what might be the age of the trees? unknown
28) What type of trees are there? pine
29) Is there any undergrowth? some
30) Any other land features man made or otherwise? one or two houses in the area now, not sure about back then.
31) Is there any bodies of water, rivers, or creekbeds in the area? not that I know of.
32) Was it a daytime sighting or was there artificial light? headlights of my truck

 

PART III- Creature Information:

33) What was this creature doing when you first saw it? Sitting.
34) What was its body angle from your perspective? I viewed it from the side.
35) Did it see you? It did not turn to look at me but obviously knew I was there.
36) How tall was it? my estimate, based on 6' while seated, is 10 feet for the big one, about 8 1/2 feet for the other.
37) About how much d0 you think it weighed? a lot.
38) If it was daytime where was the sun when facing this creature?
39) What color was its hair? reddish like an Irish Setter.
40) How long was the hair on different parts of the body?  3-6 inches.
41) What shape was the head? no snout, came to a peak in the rear.
42) was there a brow ridge? maybe. I could not see its face.
43) Did you see its eyes? no.
44) What shape were they?
45) Could you see its ears? No- they were covered by hair.
46) Did you see it's nose? no.
47) What shape was it. Human like? Ape like?
48) Did you see it's mouth? no.
49) What shape was it?
50) Was it open, closed, or active?
51) did it make any sound? I didn't roll the window down.
52) Did you see any teeth? no.
53) What were they like?
54) Did it have a chin? yes, slightly weak by human standards.
55) Did it have a neck? yes- but very short
56) Describe its shoulders. Wide and powerful with a a musculature that ran from one shoulder to the other behind the neck. 
57) Describe the torso. about 2 feet thick from front to rear. Ribs were visible but it was very muscular.
56) Descripe its arms. About the same length and thickness as my legs.
57) Did it have hands? Yes.
58) If so what was it doing with them? They were placed palm down in front of its toes.
59) Were there fingernails or claws? didn't see.
60) What was its gender? unknown.
61) Was it standing, walking, or running on two legs? sitting on its rear.
62) Describe it's legs? Folded in front of it so its knees were up. The thighs were about 15" in diameter at least. The thighs were longer than its shins.
63) Did it have feet? Yes.
64) Did it have toes? could not see.
65) What did it do after it saw you? It sat there until I left. I didn't hang around.
66) Was there more than one creature? Yes.
67) Was there any odor present? unknown
68) What did it do at the end of the encounter? I don't know.
69) Was there any evidence left at the scene? unknown
70) Were you armed? no
71) Were you able to get any photos or video of the creature? I was able but chose not to. It was rather large and seemed upset.
71) Is there a history of sightings in the area? Apparently, yes.
72) What was the time of the last reported sighting? I'm sure there is information on the BFRO site.
73) were you partaking in any alcohol, drugs, or other medication? no.
74) What was you reaction throughout the encounter? Surprise, mild apprehension.
75) Would you be willing to revisit where the sighting took place? yes. I've been through the area a number of times.

 

I reported my class A sighting to the BFRO and got a call from an investigator from Colorado, the state of the sighting.

 

He asked me a lot of questions and most of them on the list were covered with a few omissions. Turns out he had some of his own experiences not very far from my encounter (at least, not very far if you are driving a car- within about 100 miles). We spoke about that for a bit. The report never got entered into the BFRO database. I watched it for a few months but nothing ever happened. That might have had something to do with an interview I had with the Facebook Find BigFoot guys. That one did get posted on the FB/FB page but later was taken down when something happened to FB/FB. I don't really know if politics was actually involved. It might simply be that the guy that interviewed me just dropped the ball. 

[FarArcher]

Those are good questions, and I don't remember the moon phase or anything about toes, or ears either.  And I have no idea what he did after the encounter, as I was fogging it back down the mountain.  It's kinda funny now.  Wasn't then!

 

 

[Redbone]

48 minutes ago, salubrious said:

I reported my class A sighting to the BFRO and got a call from an investigator from Colorado, the state of the sighting.

 

He asked me a lot of questions and most of them on the list were covered with a few omissions. Turns out he had some of his own experiences not very far from my encounter (at least, not very far if you are driving a car- within about 100 miles). We spoke about that for a bit. The report never got entered into the BFRO database. I watched it for a few months but nothing ever happened. That might have had something to do with an interview I had with the Facebook Find BigFoot guys. That one did get posted on the FB/FB page but later was taken down when something happened to FB/FB. I don't really know if politics was actually involved. It might simply be that the guy that interviewed me just dropped the ball. 

 

I've noticed that some reports don't show up on the BFRO site for a very long time. This New Jersey report (Link)  happened in 2005, was investigated in 2006. It was not made public until July of 2016. The only way I can think of to explain that sort of delay, if intentional, is that the BFRO was trying to keep the area secret. Maybe they are trying to keep your sighting location under wraps. Admittedly, it could also just be poor follow through. We have to remember the investigators are doing this as a hobby, not a career. You can tell when you read through reports that some investigators are more thorough than others.

 

As somebody who enters a lot of reports in the BFF SSR database, I certainly agree that every investigator should follow  a checklist as suggested by hiflier above. It's a very good idea. I think that most newer BFRO reports seem a lot more thorough than some from the early days of the BFRO. They seem to have gotten better along the way.

[hiflier]

Hi salubrious, I don't get the dropped the ball part. Doesn't sound right for some reason.

 

@ FarArcher If you can recall the date I'll get the Moon phase and post it if it okay with you. By "after the encounter" could be were you followed, did all go quiet, or was there sounds of retreat- (not by you of course  ) rock throws etc. you know that kind of after the encounter stuff. Last question for you: why do you think they didn't jam you into five gallon buckets- other than there probably weren't any around.

[FarArcher]

I don't know the date, and you must understand my mindset when this occurred.  I was NOT happy to realize there was something I never accounted for sharing the same mountain, as I was going to be there for several weeks longer.  I was already aware of black bears - not much of a concern - and there were big cats - something I was always aware of.  But this threw the entire equation out of kilter.  

 

It wasn't a matter of being followed - we were just a few short switchbacks lower - living there.  Suddenly, some of the previous odd sounds and movements right outside my tent all hours of the night started to make sense - and not for the better.

 

Oh, on occasion, they'd throw pebbles at the tent, but previously, I thought it was one of the other guys pulling pranks, although they swore it was too cold to be screwing around all hours of the night, and they though I was pulling pranks on them.

 

That first meeting was what in the military we'd call a "meeting engagement," but without the shooting.  I was bent down behind some equipment looking at samples, and when I started back to the opposite end of the switchback - I started getting aggressively growled at by what I assumed was a big cat - but one that was sick, injured, or rabid.  I just concentrated on carefully working my way past this small, tight cluster of trees on the edge of the cut it was coming from.  

 

Only by checking behind me did I see one running at me.  Now I spun to meet this threat - and adapted the same tactic I already decided to use against the cat if he came at me - rely on one, single shot in the mouth as we merged.  Already decided that would be my one and only chance with just a 1911 on me.  He veered and missed me be twenty to thirty feet and disappeared into that small cluster of trees.  Then it went quiet - no more growling.

 

That was my signal to back up even faster and fog it out of there.  Only when it went quiet did I realize it was another one of these critters growling at me from the cluster, and not a cat.

 

Maybe I didn't get jammed into a five gallon bucket as I faced him and gave him more or less, my full attention, as I still had to keep the corner of my eye on the cluster where the growling was still coming from.  I didn't run, I stood my ground, and I shifted my position at the waist as he approached and then ran past me.  I didn't start shooting out of fear, forcing the matter.  Who knows?  If I hadn't turned around and seen him - ????

 

Now had I started shooting - for a fact I would have hit him - without effect - and I'm confident the outcome would have been much different.  

 

I firmly believe that if you drop one, or seriously wound one, you just declared war - especially at twilight, when they'll have the advantage for the rest of the night - and they know it.

 

Most think these things are animals.  Not me.  Not human, but not dumb animals, and I'd guess, based on scores of narratives and hundreds of site examinations, that they definitely have the capacity for revenge - and do in fact engage in the practice.  

[Yuchi1]

^^^ Food for thought for all with intent to inflict lethal force upon one.

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

And yet how many human casualties can you list?

[Yuchi1]

And how many have been shot with the shooter still among us and bragging about it?

[Incorrigible1]

14 hours ago, Cryptic Megafauna said:

And yet how many human casualties can you list?

Do not question the Bigfoot Mythos.

[hiflier]

Good advice, Practice what you preach.

 

Now can everyone get back on topic now?

Edited August 10, 2016 by hiflier

[1980squatch]

I think you would get much of this information with the question "Tell me the whole story in as much detail as possible".  Then, the investigator could use the list as a reference guide to themselves to ask for any potential data that might have been overlooked in the overall story.

[hiflier]

I agree 1980squatch. Relating an encounter in a more natural way is usually best. An interviewer starting off with "OK, tell me what exactly happened that day". can better establish a comfort level which is good if a witness shows signs of anxiety. To even go as far as having a witness even WANT an interview says a lot. Any thoughts on what questions might be good to add- or delete?

 

I looked over the list and tried to think about a researcher or someone wanting to work on sorting the data for the purposes of establishing a better understanding perhaps of patterns. In the end I kept all of the questions as mentioned wanted to add queries regarding night details such as eye shine and its reflected color, color of the face and hands, whether there was a tail, canine teeth, and other smaller details. May as well try and be as thorough as possible.