Possible Bigfoot incident in Maine 1997

[hiflier]

There is a report that I read in Michelle Souliere's excellent book, Bigfoot in Maine, which came out just last May of this year. This book has many fine detailed witness interviews, but for me, this one stood out because of it's potential for looking deeper into the problem one could face in an effort to prove existence. The report itself can be sourced on the Google Books website but I strongly suggest that purchasing the book either in Kindle format or paperback is much better in that it supports the author. It's also the best way to understand how much research and work was put into it by Michelle in compiling the reports within it: https://www.amazon.com/Bigfoot-Maine-Michelle-Souliere-ebook/dp/B092B3J2L3

 

The report's incident took place in November of 1997 and involves some rather strange activities. At that time, there was a bus route between Camden, Maine and Belfast, Maine, which is only about 18 miles, and the bus driver made the trip in about 25 minutes. So an hour or so round trip if one accounts for picking up and dropping off passengers. The route went along Rt 1 and at halfway point is a little town called Northport, which is where this incident supposedly took place. The bus driver left Camden and headed north on the road toward Belfast sometime around 5:00pm, which led me to think the bus left Camden every hour on the hour because the bus arrived in Belfast about a half-hour later at around 5:30pm, picked up at least one passenger, and then reversed direction to go back south toward Camden. It was dark by that time. I'll let you read this a couple of times to let the picture of this bus's one hour commuter cycle sink in a bit.

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by hiflier

[hiflier]

So the bus driver is now in Belfast picking up a guy who is commuting between Belfast and Camden to the south. Northport, Maine is at the half-way point. They get into Northport on Rt. 1 (again it is now dark) and they see what they thought was an accident. The bus driver said when she drove through the location a half hour before, which means about 15 minutes to Belfast and 15 minutes for the return, there was nothing there. The odd thing is that the vehicles that were at the scene were all unmarked vehicles. Not only that, they also had bright industrial-type lighting turned on and illuminating a good sized field along the side of the road. There was a  shallow ditch just off the shoulder of the road and as the bus driver slowed she and the witnessed saw a bare foot with toes, an instep, and a leg covered in reddish hair that was blowing back and forth in a light breeze. There were also loose clumps of hair next to the foot.

 

The important key here is that a only a half hour before NONE activity of this was apparently there when the bus driver drove through the first time on her way north to Belfast. When the witness got on the bus again the next day, the bus driver said that after she got to Camden in the south and dropped off the passengers, witness included, that on her turn-around drive back north to Belfast, there was, again, nothing at the location of the incident where they both saw the unmarked vehicles, illuminated field and what ever it was that was lying face down in the ditch. Everything was gone and the driver said that section of the road for about 20 ft. had been power washed or otherwise cleaned up somehow. To put this in perspective, seeing the activity along Rt. 1 in Northport, dropping off her passengers in Camden, and returning to the scene in Northport only took her a half hour: 15 minutes from Northport to Camden and 15 minutes from Camden back through Northport on her way to Belfast.

[hiflier]

First of all, the witness and the bus driver said they saw a foot with toes and an instep. Also, that whatever it was, was face down with a hairy leg. But the thing that got me the most was the time frame for the whole incident. The bus driver drove north on Rt. 1 and nothing was along that stretch of road. A half hour later, driving south on Rt. 1, there were now unmarked cars and industrial lights set up. Then 25 minutes later, driving north again, she saw nothing there and the road had been washed down,

 

First scenario: Hit and run. A driver thought they hit a person, panicked, and drove away and another driver phoned in the incident. That means police vehicles, an ambulance, fire engines etc.would have been on the scene. And they probably would have either closed the road, blocked it down to one lane, or at least still have been there when the bus driver turned around to go back north that half hour later. But she said there was nothing there.

 

Second scenario: Some hit what they thought was a person, stayed on site and waited for everything to show up. But again, everything was gone within a half

hour.

 

Third scenario: Someone called in that they had hit a Bigfoot. Local police would show up, but the report (as policy! state, federal or otherwise) went up the chain and when the unmarked vehicles finally showed up (from where?) they told the driver and the local police to leave. But that STILL leaves too much time for all that to occur. That bus driver drove north through that location not a half hour before and saw nothing. Half hour later the unmarked vehicles were there with their lights all set up. So those unmarked cars had to have been close by- within minutes!

 

Fourth scenario, which has to be what really happened with the short time frames involved: Those unmarked cars HAD to have already be in the vicinity. Because no one else could have possibly shown up and left that fast. And the reason? They may have already been monitoring the area, because people may have been calling in and reporting seeing the creature. Maybe even more than one. People in those vehicles may have been watching for it (night vision, thermal, etc,), spotted it, chased it to Rt.1, and either shot or tranquilized it. They had the lights with them, set up on the side of the road where the creature was laying in the ditch, Set up their lights, lit up the field (because there was more than one?), bus slows down sees what is lying there and drives on, The unmarked vehicles load the creature up and drive away, leaving only a couple of people to powerwash the road and then they, too, leave. Bus driver turns around, heads north again and

everything is gone except for the evidence of powerwashing.

 

Why the secrecy? And does such an effort at secrecy indicate the power that it would take to keep the creature hidden from the public at large? And what might that mean for an individual or group working on proof of existence? This is of course based on whether or  not the Northport story is true. If it is, then the way it went down, how fast and efficiently, might more than a little worrisome? Michelle Souliere had asked that if anyone else had any info about this event. My own research has uncovered nothing in the official sense, nor in the media. Thoughts?

[VAfooter]

Probably too much time has passed, but not having read the book (yet), did anybody check the local police reports for that day and time period? Do they remember what type of vehicles were there. What did the people look like (government, military, etc.)? How many vehicles were there? Was the road wet which made the witness think of a powerwash? 

 

Just a thought. If this was a clandestine operation, why would they initiate it on a public road where the chances of a vehicle coming by and seeing the operation is a decent probability? Why not wait until it was off in the woods or out of public sight before starting it?

 

As I said, just a couple of thoughts that popped into my head. 

[hiflier]

MAN, VAfooter, and I thought I  asked good questions Yes, a lot of time has passed (24 years almost) I looked for local police reports and in archives- both town and county and state- and found nothing. From what I read, there was no actual description of the vehicles' as far as number of them, size, shape, or color, and any personnel were apparently situated behind them and lower from the road and of of full view of the witnesses. The "creature", lying face down in the ditch (head away from the witnesses), was said to be seen between two of the vehicles with the foot and leg more out of the ditch toward the road. The road was apparently dry except for the area where the activity occurred. There was no mention of rain at anytime or place which made the washed area somewhat stand out.

 

The real issue, IMHO, regardless of the finer details, is how fast these vehicles appeared, which was during the half hour after the bus driver had driven past that spot and returned, and how fast they wrapped everything up and left- during the half hour that the bus driver first drove past the scene and then returned to it. It means that the creature was down, the vehicles arrived on the scene, set up the light, loaded the creature into a vehicle, took down the lights, drove away , and cleaned the road and the sight...all in under an hour. THAT'S what got me about about the whole incident. Those vehicles HAD to have initially been close by and ready- possibly with a well-coordinated and trained crew. I mean it's one thing to read such a report, and it's entirely another to deconstruct the event in a way, or a conclusion, that makes anything close to logical sense. I mean, for one thing, how did they get the body loaded and gone?

 

Was there a helicopter involved that came on the scene and that's why the field was all lit up. A helicopter that came and went during the time the witnesses drove past toward Camden and the bus driver returned toward Belfast to find nothing at the sight? Maybe it didn't even land but lowered a basket instead? That to me would fit nicely considering the speed of the time frame. It also may be another angle to research?

Edited September 4, 2021 by hiflier

[VAfooter]

Yes, the time frame is the perplexing/intriguing aspect of this, perhaps much more so than the "creature" itself. The only explanation I can offer is that, for whatever reason, it was a planned event. Perhaps the creature was tagged and they were following it via electronic monitoring. "They" (whomever "they" are) decided it was time to bring it in (maybe it was acting violent, unpredictable, getting too close to civilization, etc.) and a decent opportunity presented itself. Not the best one since it was on a public area, but good enough. Sometimes you have to take risks. They took it down, perhaps with sedatives, perhaps something more powerful. Whatever it was, it made a mess that had to be cleaned up, especially since passing drivers saw at least part of the incident. If there were no witnesses, they could have left the mess and explained it away as a deer or bear accident.

 

I agree, this seems like a well coordinated operation and this was not their first rodeo. I suspect that there was even a helo or two involved.

[msouliere]

Hi guys!

 

You might also be interested in knowing that I was contacted by a fellow historic BF investigator in Ohio, Doug Waller, who had a strikingly similar account he collected from another local there -- attaching pic he sent of his book (one of 3 he's written, I think), and illustrations from the case.

 

The Ohio case involved another accident scene which quickly disappeared, only the eyewitness missed seeing the cleanup crew (and there was a much bigger mess).

 

You can find Doug on Facebook if you'd like to talk to him about the case, he's a pleasant fellow, and has been collecting these stories for some years now out there.

 

One thing he asked when I talked to him was how far away and who is the nearest Federal authority in that area, because it would be unlikely that a state or municipal organization would have done the cleanup.  The closest I could come up with was a few Federal authorities (FBI etc) located about an hour away in Augusta.

 

Food for thought.

[hiflier]

Thank you! I would bet it's safe to say that your report and Mr. Waller's CANNOT be the only ones? As you may have noticed, there have been a couple of more detailed questions asked by VAfooter and myself. What are the chances that at some point in the future some of those added details might be brought to light? Perhaps a newspaper clipping about any helicopter activity at or around that time perhaps. So far I've not found much in that regard but I'm still researching any possibilities. I also think should look into ordering Mr. Waller's book. Of course, I already HAVE yours

[hiflier]

IMHO, lighting up the field with such bright lights is a HUGE loose end. Thoughts?

[VAfooter]

Yes, going to have to look into the Waller book as well. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be carried by Amazon.

 

I have just moved Michelle's book to my cart. 

 

And of course in the process of doing this, there were several recommendations that I had to add to my wish list as well...  

[hiflier]

I would like to go a little deeper into this report and what it may mean. First of all, it was a first hand account told to Michelle Souliere who was brilliant enough to see the ramifications of the account, the veracity of which depends on a few things:

 

1) that the Sasquatch is a real creature,

2) that the creature lives and roams in Maine,

3) that the witness told her the truth of what he witnessed,

4) if the account IS true, that there apparently ARE people or organizations (other than Bigfoot ones) who know about it, and

5) those people or organizations don't want the public to be aware of the first four......

 

And remember, this was 24 years ago in November of 1997, long before the surveillance technology we have now even existed. 24 years, and we still don't have physical proof. ALL attempts at getting any physical proof verified, at least publicly or officially, or even privately as far as we know, have failed. Studies or conclusions either lacking enough data, altered, or debunked by a powerful scientific/governmental status quo or controlled media slant. Mean while, the biggest discovery of the last century and a half wallows in the shadows.

 

That small report in a small book written by a Maine author, after ten years or more of research, working through trust, isn't quite so small any more. And that little incident that happened in tiny Northport, Maine 24 years ago is definitely not small. In fact, it leaves plenty of room to say to those that claim they would shoot one only in self defense, that I don't think you are thinking that kind of a confrontation through. Because you are not government, and you can't possibly know what government knows, or what government will do, or has done, to keep things quiet. This isn't about fear, it's about having a heightened awareness for what may actually be the reality out there.

 

Even so, I think everyone already knows how to beat the system......

 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by hiflier

[hiflier]

I hope that the stabilized clip of Patty in the opening page of the BFF website never gets taken down. Every time I watch it I view it at least ten times in a row and it never ceases to amaze me. The planting of her right leg right after the look back is so incredibly telling of her reality. That powerful plant ripples her entire thigh right down to her calf. That is an effect of pure muscle. Yes, it was nearly fifty four years ago, but I do think that it's what we are dealing with today. Except that it's not just us who are dealing with it, and even when we do, we only deal with it, for the most part, slightly more than peripherally.....someone else, however, is also dealing with it, and they have been dealing with it a lot more seriously than we have been.

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by hiflier

[Huntster]

2 hours ago, hiflier said:

.......it leaves plenty of room to say to those that claim they would shoot one only in self defense, that I don't think you are thinking that kind of a confrontation through. Because you are not government, and you can't possibly know what government knows, or what government will do, or has done, to keep things quiet. This isn't about fear, it's about having a heightened awareness for what may actually be the reality out there.........

 

I'm confused about what you mean with that statement. Are you stating that people have a duty to kill and deliver a sasquatch in order to prove their existence?

[hiflier]

Not at all, Huntster! What I meant was that it would be useless to even try. Using that as the context puts what you quoted in a completely different light. I think it's about time folks realize how far behind they are in their assessment of the situation. That's why I even showed up here and posted Michelle's report/witness interview along with my thoughts on the issue. Call it a community service if you will. Some have said they will grass one of these creatures outright and then claim self defense. Others seem to be inviting a self defense situation and acting innocent about it.

 

It has been always known that this is a public Forum. It is also known by "certain parties" who the members really are. In other words, anyone on this Forum who believes self defense is something that will stand up in court when it comes to taking down the Sasquatch is only fooling themselves. It is flawed thinking because the prosecuting argument will be that they forced the situation by knowingly seeking out the creature while armed. Hunting game in season that is sanctioned on a legal list is one thing. Taking down the Sasquatch no matter the circumstances is another matter entirely, and self defense will be no excuse if one who is armed was actively seeking out the creature. The first question might be why was someone deep in the habitat to begin with. A fine line? Yep, it is, but I wouldn't bet on getting away without some very serious repercussions.

 

I say this because I'm now convinced that this creature is being, and for a long while has been, heavily monitored- and rightfully so.

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by hiflier

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

.......Some have said they will grass one of these creatures outright and then claim self defense. Others seem to be inviting a self defense situation and acting innocent about it........

 

I'm a converted pro-kill advocate primarily because if (by some miracle) it results in "discovery, multiple factions of people will try to destroy the killer, but if you think about it, if government (and its allies) successfully cover up the killing, it's likely that the killer walks with minimum legal damage, much like Justin Smeja, because it fits in with the cover up better.