Sasquatch In Towns & Cities...?

[Guest wudewasa]

I live on the outskirts of a small city where three rivers conjoin about 1 mile south of me. Wildlife is prolific and none of the river's edge is built up, amazingly. We also have a zoo about a mile down the river where the rivers join. I have suspected that there are bigfoot using the river I live on to get to Lake Lure and the NC Mountains coming from the more swampy lowlands closer to the coast. There have been several reports north and south of my location over the last 15 or so years, one within a mile of me on the river banks within the city as of 2009. Two weeks after that 2009 sighting, the gorilla escaped his enclosure at the zoo, it may or may not be related. At any rate, when I hear the howler monkeys late at night it always peaks my interest. On a couple of occasions, I've heard the howler calls coming from the wrong direction north of me on the river late at night.

Are you referring to the NC Zoo in Asheboro? The facility houses lowland gorillas, chimps, lemurs and baboons, but I can't find records of howler monkeys. Perhaps they are off exhibit or the zoo no longer keeps this species?

http://www.nczoo.org/animals/AnimalListing.pdf

[JDL]

Dan Jackson hired a helicopter somewhere in Florida and found what he called "the mother of all game trails." It lead directly to the back of a shopping mall and dumpsters. One night he sat behind one with a gun for sure, forgot if he had a camera, and he did have a sighting. It was up close and personal. He said he left some type of drink in a can so that when it was removed, the lid would fall and alert him. However, it scared him so bad that he withdrew from the community (his words)and after a few years finally talked about it.

I hope I am repeating the correct facts here, but my point is I've read other incidents that took place near towns and cities.

Didn't they re-enact this on a MonsterQuest Episode about the Skunk Ape?

[JDL]

Jeez I guess I started something again with one of my little insights Yea BBQ's and dumpsters especially if they are throwing out old oil or grease. They don't have to be aggressive most people run away even with weapons.

That Dan Jackson tracker/trapper sure dropped the ball with his dumpster trap. He may be good at tracking? but that attempt was pathetic. A sedative in a jug of orange juice. Carrying a puny side arm for defense. And camping out right beside the trap and taking a nap. Clearly he didn't know anything about his opponent. That Bf has his scent now so he won't get another chance (if it happened?)

JMO

Bingo. It's funny how people will set up an opportunity and yet be unprepared for the reality.

[JDL]

The impression I get from both encounters and reports is that they have a very clear sense of just how well we can see them with regard to distance and light conditions. They seem to also take advantage of our own nature - the fact that we will tend to perceive them as just tall humans, indistinctly seen at a distance or in poor visibility, particularly in areas where we would only expect to see another human.

This is one of the characteristics of a predator. They study their prey and they study anything that could threaten them. They learn just how perceptive their prey are and just how perceptive we are.

They are also very clearly skilled at using available cover and concealment to get close to us, and they don't need a lot of it. The twenty foot wide wooded stream running between suburban neighborhoods provides plenty of cover to a cautious squatch working its way along slowly during the day. At night, it might as well be a paved sidewalk as far as they're concerned. They can hole up in any disused space large enough during the day when they are near people. An old shed, an unused chicken coop, under a porch, or in a culvert. All of these have been reported.

One of the questions is: Why do they get close to us so often?

Obviously the surplus of readily available food items we produce is a draw. Crops, livestock, backyard gardens and fruit trees, cats, dogs, and other pets, as well as tons of garbage. Having free run of a human neighborhood at night would be like accidentally locking a glutton in a grocery store at closing. Also, they have access to nutrition from our leavings that they might not be able to otherwise find in a wilder setting.

Beyond that, we attribute their lurking and observing behavior to curiousity about us as well. I think this also begins with food. We are the source of all of that food they find around us. So are they looking in the window to watch what we do at night, or are they waiting for us to take out the garbage from that fried fish we had for dinner? Perhaps over time this develops into a broader curiousity regarding our habits. Or do they assume that we spend time watching that lighted box at night because of all the food shown on it between scenes? Clearly there are cases of habituation where they interact on a more "human" level, but first and last it's going to be about food.

We plant food, we grow food, we harvest food, we breed food, and we even feed food. The catfood or the cat, they're both delicious as far as the bigfoot is concerned.

They're opportunistic and they're smart. We're lazy and blind. Perfect combination.

The last question is, though, "Are we, on occasion, food?" I'm one of those who believes so. I think that when other food is scarce, or when the opportunity is just too tempting and the risks are perceived to be low, that there are some individuals within the spectrum of bigfoot inclinations who just might take advantage of a lone human.

To a squatch, no matter where we turn up, there's a good chance we're carrying food of some sort, and a good chance we'll discard some of it. And if it's at a time and place where other food is pretty scarce, we just might serve as food ourselves. Does this mean that they might occasionaly take a human in a populated area. Maybe not, but it wouldn't be hard to do. I'm sure there are cases of human remains found in cities that show signs of predation. It's probably fairly easy to write these off to a combination of human and known animal activity. But might there be more?

[Guest vilnoori]

The possible encounter my daughter had was semi-urban. She was washing dishes on a summer evening and the windows were open. The kitchen looks out to the back yard, which backs onto a small forest belt behind which is a golf course, and behind that is canal-laced farm land that goes to the Fraser River. Across the Fraser River is the famous Sasquatch Inn, Morris Valley Rd. and so on where there have been sightings over the years. That's also Chehalis (Ste'alis) NA band territory, the ones that have the sasquatch as their logo. If the sasquatch do use the rivers as travel corridors and are comfortable in water, crossing big bodies of water then they certainly could be in this area next to the populated areas and there would be the draw of lots of food at certain times of the year (later summer and fall).

She heard the dog freaking out and howling to get in. She let the dog in (he shot by her, scared) and went out on the back deck to see what he was so scared of. She saw a man-shaped totally black fuzzy thing leap backward from the foot of the stairs into the bushes alongside the house. It was inside the dog fence. It moved so fast she said it disappeared instantly. She still thinks it was a ghost. She doesn't believe in sasquatches, but I think a sasquatch is more plausible. A prowler I think would not have terrified the dog, would not have stood inside the dog fence watching and would not have moved so lightning fast. She didn't think it was exceptionally large, just man-sized. Maybe it was a juvie.

Edited July 26, 2011 by vilnoori

[Guest Biggie]

And picking up a couple of extra packs of cigarettes.

And a bottle of Chiggerex. (mental picture of squatch fiercely scratching his crotch)

[Guest tracker]

The impression I get from both encounters and reports is that they have a very clear sense of just how well we can see them with regard to distance and light conditions. They seem to also take advantage of our own nature - the fact that we will tend to perceive them as just tall humans, indistinctly seen at a distance or in poor visibility, particularly in areas where we would only expect to see another human.

This is one of the characteristics of a predator. They study their prey and they study anything that could threaten them. They learn just how perceptive their prey are and just how perceptive we are.

They are also very clearly skilled at using available cover and concealment to get close to us, and they don't need a lot of it. The twenty foot wide wooded stream running between suburban neighborhoods provides plenty of cover to a cautious squatch working its way along slowly during the day. At night, it might as well be a paved sidewalk as far as they're concerned. They can hole up in any disused space large enough during the day when they are near people. An old shed, an unused chicken coop, under a porch, or in a culvert. All of these have been reported.

One of the questions is: Why do they get close to us so often?

Obviously the surplus of readily available food items we produce is a draw. Crops, livestock, backyard gardens and fruit trees, cats, dogs, and other pets, as well as tons of garbage. Having free run of a human neighborhood at night would be like accidentally locking a glutton in a grocery store at closing. Also, they have access to nutrition from our leavings that they might not be able to otherwise find in a wilder setting.

Beyond that, we attribute their lurking and observing behavior to curiousity about us as well. I think this also begins with food. We are the source of all of that food they find around us. So are they looking in the window to watch what we do at night, or are they waiting for us to take out the garbage from that fried fish we had for dinner? Perhaps over time this develops into a broader curiousity regarding our habits. Or do they assume that we spend time watching that lighted box at night because of all the food shown on it between scenes? Clearly there are cases of habituation where they interact on a more "human" level, but first and last it's going to be about food.

We plant food, we grow food, we harvest food, we breed food, and we even feed food. The catfood or the cat, they're both delicious as far as the bigfoot is concerned.

They're opportunistic and they're smart. We're lazy and blind. Perfect combination.

The last question is, though, "Are we, on occasion, food?" I'm one of those who believes so. I think that when other food is scarce, or when the opportunity is just too tempting and the risks are perceived to be low, that there are some individuals within the spectrum of bigfoot inclinations who just might take advantage of a lone human.

To a squatch, no matter where we turn up, there's a good chance we're carrying food of some sort, and a good chance we'll discard some of it. And if it's at a time and place where other food is pretty scarce, we just might serve as food ourselves. Does this mean that they might occasionaly take a human in a populated area. Maybe not, but it wouldn't be hard to do. I'm sure there are cases of human remains found in cities that show signs of predation. It's probably fairly easy to write these off to a combination of human and known animal activity. But might there be more?

Hey good post, Maybe take a look at my Bf's adapting to some of us being able to see them with our IR and thermal tech?

[Guest]

Why does one think these creatures would be coming to towns? Is it for food? Or simply out of curiosity?

In my situation, I think the city was built on an already established route for them. It just happens that the river banks are still pretty wooded and it would not be difficult to travel up or down the river and never be seen at night, possibly not by day.

[Guest Tsalagi]

She still thinks it was a ghost. She doesn't believe in sasquatches, but I think a sasquatch is more plausible

Sasquatch makes a whole lot more since. A Squatch might chase the dog because of hunger or possibly even wanted to play with the dog. A ghost really doesn't have much practical use for a dog.

[Guest]

Are you referring to the NC Zoo in Asheboro? The facility houses lowland gorillas, chimps, lemurs and baboons, but I can't find records of howler monkeys. Perhaps they are off exhibit or the zoo no longer keeps this species?

http://www.nczoo.org/animals/AnimalListing.pdf

The Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. I'll post a link for you, be sure to listen to the annoying video because they have the howlers in it. I hear those things screaming late at night on rare occasions. Mike is in the video too, the one that climbed over his enclosure.

http://www.riverbanks.org/

[Guest]

For me it has been a gradual thing I first found them on the internet.

Knew they lived in the mountains, then saw them in foothill snapshots. The family said, yeah, sure.

Tried the barely rural canal, and they were sure there. One of the kids believes now.

I wondered, did they wander down the canals into town? Looked by the canal behind the stores. Yep. Told the family, finally, about that.

Some time later, I looked in the bushes across the street from there, by the Safeway. Yep.

I looked across the street from there to my house. Nawww, they wouldn't.

But they would. I can sit on the lanai and take pictures straight up into the big pepper tree. I don't have to leave my yard to go squatching. I am pretty sure they know I know they are there. Maybe.

The picture on my profile, not the avatar one, the other, was taken from my 22 year old daughter's bedroom window. She is quite lovely, godess-like even. I call the ones out there her fan club. I think she has started closing her shade.

And I just had to close a window cause of a weird smell. Sort of a old pee smell. No, that wasn't yours truley.

Can't say as I feel comfortable about this all yet. They are real peaceful, I hear. But it makes me hold my breath every time the roof creaks or I hear a thump.

[Guest parnassus]

The one report is from Florence, CO. No where near what anyone would consider a "town". It's a sneeze in the road. And on a road that is continuous forests for dozens of miles.

You must be thinking of a different Florence. The Florence CO I know is a town of 3500 (NOT including the prison) situated in the high desert. There are some piñon and juniper scattered around but there are no "continuous forests for dozens of miles."

[Guest Knuck]

Well, I'm not right in town (3miles) and it is semi rural, they do indeed live right here, and cavort at night among the small subdivision I live on the edge of. They have adapted quite well to living in such close proximity to us people. No pets have gone missing as I know of. None of the calves across the road have gone missing in numbers that would raise any eyebrows. Not yet anyway. They seem to know just how far they can push it with their "normal" activities. The neighbors are either mute about this or are totally oblivious to who roams around their houses at night.

They do like to harass the pets that are tied or penned outside. Not physically harm them though. The only harm I've found to come to an animal, is if the coyotes following them around get too close underfoot. (no pun intended) Among the howling coyotes, suddenly there will come a loud yelp as if one had been kicked aside.

Being surrounded by farmland and woods, there is plenty of wildlife and vegetation to sustain the group. There are spring fed ponds on the farm. Some with brush cover around them. So there is plenty of water. Lots of frogs and a couple of them have fish. When all else fails, there is cattle feed. They haven't shown any agressive tendancies as of yet. (They have been here for several years). I was amazed to find this all out, as I really didn't expect (if they existed at all) for them to live anywhere this close to human habitation. And no, I have no proof for those who don't believe me. And I won't argue over this.-Knuck

[Guest tracker]

Well, I'm not right in town (3miles) and it is semi rural, they do indeed live right here, and cavort at night among the small subdivision I live on the edge of. They have adapted quite well to living in such close proximity to us people. No pets have gone missing as I know of. None of the calves across the road have gone missing in numbers that would raise any eyebrows. Not yet anyway. They seem to know just how far they can push it with their "normal" activities. The neighbors are either mute about this or are totally oblivious to who roams around their houses at night.

They do like to harass the pets that are tied or penned outside. Not physically harm them though. The only harm I've found to come to an animal, is if the coyotes following them around get too close underfoot. (no pun intended) Among the howling coyotes, suddenly there will come a loud yelp as if one had been kicked aside.

Being surrounded by farmland and woods, there is plenty of wildlife and vegetation to sustain the group. There are spring fed ponds on the farm. Some with brush cover around them. So there is plenty of water. Lots of frogs and a couple of them have fish. When all else fails, there is cattle feed. They haven't shown any agressive tendancies as of yet. (They have been here for several years). I was amazed to find this all out, as I really didn't expect (if they existed at all) for them to live anywhere this close to human habitation. And no, I have no proof for those who don't believe me. And I won't argue over this.-Knuck

Hey hold the phone, you said you would send me some pictures for my 2012 Bf calender??

[Sasfooty]

I believe you, Knuck. I have sat at my upstairs window night after night listening to their calls coming from every direction, & wondered how it's possible that everybody within miles doesn't know what's going on out there. People must be totally oblivious to everything around them. That, or if it occurs to them that it might be Bigfoot, they rationalize it away.

I don't live in town, but on the edge of a small community. They can easily come & go from here without being seen, but I have family who has recently moved into the center of the community, & the BFs occasionally go to their house at night, too.

It is a huge misconception that they only live in the wilderness.