Psychological Impact of a BF Sighting

[TedSallis]

This is obviously for those among us who have had a sighting or at least an encounter that was fairly unequivocal (i.e. not much doubt that it could have been a bear, other animal, etc.).

 

What, if any, psychological impact did it have on you?  Were you able to just be amazed for a short while, then easily move on? Did it really make you question more than just the existence of this one creature, i.e. open you up to other inquiry? Did it frighten you, make you feel very vulnerable?  Maybe it stuck with you in the form of fear of ridicule?

 

I'm just curious about this because personally, I really think if I had such an encounter, it would be a life-changing event.  I mean, I think I would have a hard time not thinking about it when I should be thinking of other things.  Maybe not; I guess I won't know until when/if I have one, and that's pretty doubtful.

 

Thanks in advance for your responses. I understand these are very personal experiences and I'd imagine talking about them might be a little difficult for most.

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

3 hours ago, TedSallis said:

This is obviously for those among us who have had a sighting or at least an encounter that was fairly unequivocal (i.e. not much doubt that it could have been a bear, other animal, etc.).

 

What, if any, psychological impact did it have on you?  Were you able to just be amazed for a short while, then easily move on? Did it really make you question more than just the existence of this one creature, i.e. open you up to other inquiry? Did it frighten you, make you feel very vulnerable?  Maybe it stuck with you in the form of fear of ridicule?

 

I'm just curious about this because personally, I really think if I had such an encounter, it would be a life-changing event.  I mean, I think I would have a hard time not thinking about it when I should be thinking of other things.  Maybe not; I guess I won't know until when/if I have one, and that's pretty doubtful.

 

Thanks in advance for your responses. I understand these are very personal experiences and I'd imagine talking about them might be a little difficult for most.

I have had several sightings of unusual animals.

I was amazed and moved on but later due to all the attention to the subject I probably tried to get my tales out there.

 

Joining this site was one of those attempts to deal with the interface between socially unvalidated (almost no one else sees these things) experience and where that fits in the social world.

 

In real life you have to make an opening to talk about these things but is often unwelcome and you experience trust issues.

 

It leads society to marginalize you as you are not being a good conformist when you are venturing tales of the strange and unusual.

I was outside the norm already so my status remains the same.

 

In the end it winds up being important to you personally but not so much to anybody else, except others.

 

The other problem is the subject matter is riddled with woo woo and BS as well as all levels of story telling, including your own lame attempts.

 

Attempts at discussion are largely meaningless, so to validate you seek out scientists but you find there are none interested in your subject matter, at least not in an appropriate or meaningful way.

 

Problems such as exploitation of a unique discovery and whether to profit or seek attention for those discoveries are part of the problem.

 

But life is like this, we all have difficult problems posed to us by our experiences and how we choose to respond defines who you are.

 

A good reason to meditate and seek peace of mind.

 

It happened to you for a reason.

 

In my case it made me suspect I am over imaginative but am also some how manifesting or drawing those encounters.

 

In the end it is a purely personal experience that can't be logically explained.

 

There are people that do see strange stuff, not just animals, so I think how you experience reality depends on your vibration level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2016 by Cryptic Megafauna

[ShadowBorn]

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?

 

13 hours ago, Cryptic Megafauna said:

psychological impact

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.  

[bipedalist]

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. 

Edited August 27, 2016 by bipedalist

[JDL]

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.

[BC witness]

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!"

[MIB]

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

[norseman]

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.

 

 

[FarArcher]

7 hours ago, JDL said:

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.

 

 

 

Exactly.

 

And they have different ankles and knees.

Edited August 29, 2016 by FarArcher

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

I'll elaborate on the one sighting I posted to an online venue, not one of the worst ones, they were sincere, but online is much less than ideal or scientific in any sense (except for sociological phenomenon).

 

It went viral and the size was exaggerated, the one researcher I also shared details with went on the offensive with a counter sighting, probably to protect "his" material.

 

If I had capitalized on my story a that point I probably could have made a name for myself.

 

Later I determined the species or individual that I had seen no longer lived at the location but the reason for being so subversive was to protect any living population.

 

There is even a chance that that particular sighting was not a true cryptid but a giant.

 

More research did provide some physical evidence but I am not sure it would be definitive.

 

Absent the individual, if I could have verified a physical feature on the animal, it could have confirmed as a true cryptid, it's too late at this point.

 

I did not know it at the time, however.

 

Another type of phyla probably can be proven but I real but I just don't care, I'm old enough not to.

 

Posting online helped with that and getting the bug out of my system in a safe fashion (I hope).

 

Perhaps at the danger of turning into a troll.

 

I continue to look for additional evidence of one cryptid that was probably the most unusual just for personal reasons, but not making a big project out of it. May be a projection of my vibratory field I suspect, which oddly does not seem to rule out the possibility of evidence.

(now you know I'm crazy)...

 

Always open to a new experience but they come when the universe wills, or not, no worries.

 

For me it's about knowledge and creation and creativity and experience, story telling and sharing, even.

 

At some point I will probably dump my online presence as it may have fulfilled it's purposes.

 

As far as what I am supposed to think...

 

You can always bury those thoughts in the collective subconscious where they emerge as twisted forces manipulated by dark individuals for their own benefit.

 

I prefer my socially unacceptable thoughts.

 

Crazy may be my version of sane.

 

At least until the microchips and the though police turn me/us into organic consumer robots, if they haven't already.

 

Mark of the beast and all that yada yada yada. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by Cryptic Megafauna

[Guest littlefoot]

I have not had an encounter, and most likely will not. I am not too inclined to hike at night, and I no longer camp out. (Upper back issues) I know how I react when truly scared. I freeze. I would have no presence of mind to grab my phone to take a picture. I would not even be able to give a height estimate. I think my reaction is common to those who choose not to share. Details such as huge and hairy do not sound as precise as 8"2 with auburn hair. I would be a useless witness.

[BobbyO]

None at all Ted, except for maybe virtual obsession in the years following trying to work out what it actually was.

 

It should be noted however that I was young (14 ish), had absolutely no idea what it was, no idea it even could remotely exist and because of that I think, no fear whatsoever.

 

In fact maybe the only psychological impact it had on me was keeping my trap completely shut, for a loooooong time.

 

But that's it, nothing else really.

[Yuchi1]

The Louisiana Hunt experience was one of a rush the like never before/since experienced when hearing the two others coming through the timber to the aid and defense of the one wounded by the Caddo tribal member, former alleged military sniper. Realization of one's own mortality was instantaneous and approaching a condition red situation. To this day had the wounded one not bolted from out of the blown down treetop causing their advance to cease, I often wonder how things would have then transpired. The "hunt" ended up being (IMO) a case study in what not to do if you are trying to kill one of these beings. It was an absolute miracle that no one (homo sapiens) was shot and killed or maimed.

 

The Cookout experience taught me/us a valuable lesson in just how high the intelligence level of these beings likely is and how they exhibit a level of forbearance 99.99% of humans could never attain. The strength exhibited in slamming over the tower stand and then trailing us up out of the bottoms for ~1/2 mile to heave the softball sized stone at us from ~75 yards away was a lesson in how puny we humans really are when it comes to brute strength.

 

These two events along with a couple others left me with a profound respect for their woodcraft and intelligence that resulted in a shift in paradigm regarding whether to kill one, or not.

 

On the Rogers county property, I know of five hunters that had encounters which resulted in their abandoning the lease and not returning to the area, ever again. One was traumatized to a level approaching physical shock and the others very unnerved by what their eyes told them regarding what they believed before and then, afterwards.

 

Basically, the psychological ramifications (in these instances) ranged from wonderment to apprehension approaching a flight response.

 

 

[Wolfjewel]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their personal thoughts.

What is the best source of information about the Louisiana Hunt, the Cookout, and the Rogers County property? I may find some further mention here on the Forum, but don't know if there are full accounts somewhere.

 

 

[Yuchi1]

^^^ There are published accounts of these two events circulating around the web.

 

The Rogers county property has been dormant of Sasquatch activity for ~5 years, IMO due in part to the massive residential development that has taken place in the immediate area along with the belligerent actions (read: gunfire) of the last BF group to operate there. The landowner no longer allows Sasquatch "hunting" on the property.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Yuchi1