Spanning the entire globe, involving hundreds of different cultures, explaining the same phenomenon
by different name the nature of the footprints, namely their remarkable consistency, their
biomechanical appropriateness, you know, those aspects that are are extremely compelling. Hey,
guys, welcome to the big Foot Influencers. My name is Dna Hellerin
and I'm Tim Hollen. Where you have throwed you're hair? Yep? Absolutely,
we have a very special guest today. We're super excited to have credible
Heater on as our influencer, and we do just want to apologize for the
last podcast where basically the camera fell off the table during the podcast. So
Tim did some clever editing and fixed it the best that we can. So
now we actually are using a new camera. I like, actually my darker
hair in this camera, Like yeah, what do you think we looked tan?
And we looked dark and handsome irish. It's actually like this camera better,
so we so hey too, why don't you tell them about the book
giveaway? Oh yeah, so a couple of things we've got going on.
So if you head on over to the big Foot Influencers, uh, sign
in, you'll see a thing that pops up the website on the website bank
Formpleasures dot com. Thank you, you're welcome. We're gonna giveaway a book.
I think we're announced it next week on the thirty first. I think
we'll have we're schedule have Matt Pruett, so we'll do it right before Matt
Bruit's recording. That'll be his recording. Actually not when it goes live,
but right right, and so that'll be fun. So I'm excited to have
Matt too. So we're going to make sure you go to the Bigfoot Influencers
dot com and you can see how you can enter for a free autograph book.
A free autograph book. Which book is it? Though? Matt's?
Are yours? Oh? I'm sorry. Make sure you tell them baby book
so somebody can win a free book. And I don't even know if I
told you this. Okay, So, yes, he's always keeping things from
me. Yesterday I completed I can't tell you who the first interview for book
number two. Mm see, I didn't know that you were always hiding stuff
from me. This is what happens when you have busy lives. Yeah,
when you're working on this, Yeah, you learn things while you're on your
podcast in front of a camera. So you're not going to tell everybody who
is? Are you going to tell me who it is? Later? Yeah?
All right, you better You're not going to get any dinner. So
everybody, let's go ahead and introduce our guest. Yeah. So Craig,
Craig Willheater has just just an amazing guests that we're having today. Craig's been
around. I think his story goes back to when he was about ten years
old he had a fascination with the subject and then being from Texas, you
know, there's just a lot of things that had happened historically down there that
he followed. And in nineteen ninety four, Craig had his own sighting,
which we may possibly talk about. Oh my god, well we definitely have
to talk about. Yeah, I mean most folks have heard it. But
and then he's just done so much throughout history, not only in a state
of Texas, but but he's touched, you know, touched this subject globally.
So I'm just super excited to have him here and we're going to bring
him in. Yay, Hey, Craig, welcome to the show. Hey,
it's the Holler runs. It's the haller. That's right. How are
you guys doing today? We're doing good. How about you? Well,
it's sweltering here in Texas. I mean all week it's like one hundred four
hundred and five hundred and six hundred seven. Yeah, we were, we
were in Missouri a couple of weeks ago, and we flew we flew from
U Springfield, Missouri to where was it, Dallas? Dallas, and I
remember getting there and looking at my iPhone and the temperature was like one hundred
and eight. I'm like, what, that's crazy. I mean, thank
god we didn't have to leave the airport and then we just flew home to
Philadelphia. But I was like, boy, these taxes people, man,
they got a lot to deal with over there in the summer. Huh.
Well yeah, but you know, we typically don't have to deal with the
you know, the h as much cold weather and snow and ice as you
guys do. So that's true, that's true. Well, it is,
it is. It's a good it's a good. Well, we actually don't
deal with too much snow because I'm really close to the ocean and that kind
of like keeps us warm here. But yeah, I hear you, honey.
So we don't. But every few years, Craig, we have like
you know, and that's fun. Tim doesn't like the snow. I like
the yeah, because guess he's shoveling Craig d Dana. Yeah, right,
so she loves it. I hate it, that's why, because snow equals
work. I'm inside all warm, making soup or something, and he's or
you're out, you're out sledding and yeah, we don't have a yeah,
definitely cool. So hey, so why don't you like because before we get
into all the big foot stuff, tell us about some of your interests.
So I know you have like interest in like cars and dining out and travel.
Well, you know, cars are a big part of my life.
I've always been, you know, going back to you know, teenage years,
you know, building hot rods and and such and so, you know.
And I was involved with a local car club, the Lone Star Miata
Club. I had a a Miata that I fixed up quite a bit and
was involved with the club and led you know, runs with you know,
lots of cars, and and I host here in Jefferson annually a Miata event
in March. I call it Marched me out of madness, and uh,
there's four generations of Miatas, and so it's kind of like the final four,
you know with the car show, you know, coming down to a
best in show, which which Miata is the best. So we do that
and then you know, I have several other Bigfoot related events that I that
I host throughout the year that that requires you to travel as well. Yeah,
I haven't done as much here lately, but I used to travel,
you know, the whole circuit, you know, the Pacific Northwest. I
came went to the Ohio Bigfoot Conference, you know, going way back to
the first year that I went was in two thousand and I went almost every
year up through twenty fourteen and just I haven't been back yet. I've been
meaning to get up there, but you know, I'm going to the event
that's here in the Dallas Fort Worth area in a week and a half,
the Dogman Cryptid Conference that the Paranoral round Table's putting on. And so I
do travel to some events, and not as much as I used to.
Like I said, I used to, you know, go to all of
the ones and in you know, British Columbia and Pacific Northwest, and northern
California all that stuff, and even you know, I used to attend the
big Foot Discovery Days and felt in California there near Santa Cruz, and uh,
you know, I've done a lot of networking over the years, is
matter of fact. That's how I got the idea to start the Texas Bigfoot
Conference. Was I attended, you know, in two thousand, attended the
Ohio Bigfoot Conference there, and you know, I was very new into Bigfoot
research, you know, like only one year into it, and decided that
you know, there was nothing like that in Texas that you know, I
was like, I bet I can, you know, I bet I can
put together something like this. And so I started planning and and you know,
I really felt a sense of camaraderie there in Ohio, and so I
planned the first one. Unfortunately, my first one was on September fifteenth,
two thousand and one, which was four days after nine eleven, So had
you know, guest speakers that weren't able to fly in and such, but
we still managed to pull it together on the Saturday after nine eleven, four
days later, and we still had about one hundred and thirty five people that
it's ended that day. Wow, that's pretty good. Yeah, Craig,
I will say something about the Ohio Bigfoot Conference. So Mark the Worth thinks
the world are you so I can tell you that And since you stopped coming
in twenty fourteen, there's something you're missing out on. These guys that are
there every years. Hollerns are always there. Why aren't Why aren't the Howards
down here in Texas? I know, have a hike for us, Like
we drive to Ohio, takes us like what eight hours? Well with you?
Yeah? With me? Well you can fly to Texas and three hours.
Yeah, I know, I savings. I hear you. Maybe won't.
Maybe he'll convince us by the end of the show. Well you're you're
missing out on a good time here. We're going to get into that later
too. Yeah. Absolutely absolutely. So then so that was cool because that
was definitely one of the questions I wanted to ask you was about founding the
tb r C. Well, it's still a little different than the oh is
it? Oh? I thought that was the conference the TV Oh okay,
what does that mean that? Well, that's great, the great Another great
question for you though, Well, that's that's a research organization. I co
founded in nineteen ninety nine the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, where myself and Luke
Gross we banded together. We met online in one of the you know,
back in the late nineteen nineties, you know, there was not that grade
of a presence a Bigfoot on the internet. There were message boards and forums
mainly, and you know that's where I went to after you know, having
my personal siding in nineteen ninety four. It was just something that happened and
didn't really talk about it after getting home or you know, to anybody really
until I got you know, met people on the message boards and told my
story and you know met people and you know, started talking to people and
you know, met a gentleman, and then we decided to form a research
organization and put up a website with a sighting report submission form and you know
joined the team people that wanted to get involved, and it just kind of
took off and so, you know, it was it just a really cheap,
angel fire free website, but we started getting reports in and started going
out and doing investigations. We focused on the four state region of Texas,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana basically where we could drive and investigate a report
on site, you know, within a day's time. And so that was
our focus those four states and just built a following and you know, started
hosting the conference. Very cool. So why why do you think, Craig,
that Texas is such a hot spot for bigfoot sightings? Come down here
right now and you'll see why. It's well, I kind of know the
answer. I just want you to share it with the audience. So well,
you know, veteran researcher and investigator John Green surmised that you know,
you you sasquatch reports increase in areas where you have more than twenty inches of
annual rainfall, and here in East Texas, you know, we have approaching
fifty to sixty inches of annual rainfall. And you know, for any wildlife
you have to have three things. You have to have a food source,
you have to have water, and you have to have cover. And we
have that in abundance here. And you know, while there's I think,
you know, Texas is pretty high up on the list of sighting reports that
are reported. You know, there's the vast majority of them are in the
eastern third of the state, where it's heavily forested. You know, lots
of rainfall. You know, people think of Texas and you know, if
they've never been here, probably their reference is watching the show Dallas back in
the eighties and nineties, and you know they see tumbleweeds and prairies and and
uh, you know, far West Texas is like that. But East Texas,
you know, I remember the first time that was traveling with John Bendernoggle,
doctor John Bendernoggle, from the you know, from Vancouver Island and driving
with him out here and he said that, you know, the once we
entered the piny woods of East Texas, it reminded him of the Pacific Northwest.
And you know, it's lots of you know, lots of trees,
lots of evergreens, lots of water sources. You know, it's it's,
you know, a good habitat for you know, sat watch. And then
do you guys have bears there in that area? Well, bears are coming
back into East Texas. They were here before, but you know they do
come in to East Texas. You know, they you know, they don't
just like I figure Bigfoot, they don't recognize state boundaries and say, oh
no, we're leaving, you know, we're leaving Southeast Oklahoma. You know,
we can't cross we can't cross over into Texas. You know, there
aren't any bear in Texas. No, there's there's bear here then and they're
seen ever so often. You know, that's an interesting story to talk about.
As far as our research back fifteen years ago, you know, we
were contacted, well, we had a research operation where we had game cameras
in several places. We also up in southeastern Oklahoma we had the Texas Bigfoot
Research Center and then the you know, we reorganized as the Texas big Foot
Research Conservancy in two thousand and seven. But we had game cameras and we
had hair snares that were set up, and you know, there was so
many you know in Southeast Oklahoma, especially black bears that you know, they
would you know, basically attack our cameras. They can smell the petroleum products
in there and were attracted to it. And so we had to get you
know, steel plate bare you know, camera boxes, bear boxes to protect
our equipment, and uh, you know, we had hair snares set up
and we were you know, collecting bear hair samples is the you know what
we really got a lot of and we Texas Parks and Wildlife actually contacted us
and one uh you know us to send uh you know, hair samples bear
hair samples to them so they could use DNA to test where the bears were
coming from. You know, we actually you know, collected samples also in
Texas, in Southeast Texas, and so we you know, we worked with
that governmental agency. We worked with several governmental agencies which you know people may
not know, but with our camera trap project that we had cameras also done
in the Big Thicket of Southeast Texas, and that was you know, maintained
governed by the National Park Service, and we had to submit an application for
a permit. But we submitted applications for permits to do a camera trap study
looking for Bigfoot, and the now National Park Service actually issued us permits for
that project. And you know it was we had to submit, you know,
a copy of each photo that we obtained, and we also had to
you know, submit an annual report of our findings, you know, and
then you know, would they would issue us another another permit for the next
year. But we worked, like I said, in conjuncture with the National
Park Service there in the Big Thicket. We at one time had cameras in
sam Houston National Forests that we were working with the permission of the Is that
the US Forest Service? I'm pretty sure it's US Forest Service. We also
worked you know the Famed Area as that was actually land that was governed by
the Nature Conservancy that we worked with permission there. So I mean we worked
with government agencies. As a matter of fact, when we were working down
in the Big Thicket, we went to we had a with like over twenty
people down there and use their research laboratory, which was you know, a
lab with a laboratory and you know, bunk bunks and laundry facilities in a
kitchen that accredited scientific research organizations organizations were allowed to use. And when we
went to go submit an application for that, there was a drop down list
on their website of the organizations that were already in their database. And when
we went down the drop down list, the Texas Bigfoot Research Center was in
their database of research organizations that were approved to use that facility. So we
had so cool. We had use of that facility with a lab and everything
to base out of for operations there. And so I mean, you know,
I feel that we were fairly well respected with the you know in the
scientific community. Uh you know, the what began as that organization continues their
operations now as the the North American wood Aide Conservancy. Myself, I really
don't do any research of any kind anymore. I still follow up, you
know, reports, and we investigate, you know, sidning reports that come
in, but not involved in any large scale research or you know, operations
anymore. They have continued that work with you know what they're doing. And
so, uh, like I said, my my skills are an organization,
you know. And I wasn't an outdoorsman, you know, I was a
boy scout when I was a teenager. I wasn't you know, military or
you know anything like that, a wildlife tracker. But I assembled a team
of people that had all those other skills that could do those types of things.
And and so that's the deal. And then I resigned from the organization
in twenty ten to focus on personal life and business. And then you know,
they went on to to rename their organization and continue their their research and
uh so you know, I still do the annual conference. I do several
other events that you know, like I said, I went to foot conferences
earlier on and and networked and made friends. And you know, some of
the best friends in my life, you know, are friends that I've met
through Bigfoot. And I've always told people that, you know, at least
fifty percent of this is the camaraderie. So, like I said, yeah,
we definitely agree with you on that one, Craig. We've met a
lot of great people in this field, sure, and you know there's a
lot of it. You know that, you know in the trenches that a
lot of those friendships were formed. You know, we had people that were
out there, you know, hiking in the swamps. As a matter of
fact, one of your past interviewees and a speaker at my Becoming Bigfoot conference,
Darryl Collier, actually came down with the dysentery from hiking in the swamp.
I mean, how does that happen? Well, when you're submerged them
water with you know, bacteria, viruses whatever in there, you know you
can contract that stuff. I mean we've had personnel on missions that have contracted
lime disease, you know, being bitten by ticks or whatever. I mean,
it's right right. I just felt like you needed to drink the water
to get dysentery. But maybe even if it's a splash or drop that gets
Yeah, well I had a theory, but I won't mention it. It's
right, audience, I'm not sure if related. I don't even want to
think about that. Anyway, Craig, I have a question to ask you,
so, you know, before we get into all the other questions,
let's get let's give everybody because I know everybody knows who you are, but
we also have some new viewers that are just newly into the Bigfoot world and
they want to learn about you. So let's just pretend that you haven't told
the story a thousand times. Can you tell us about your your What got
you interested in this subject was obviously your sighting. So let's hear about your
sighting that you had. Well, it goes back to when I was a
child, okay, and actually it was before I was ten years old in
you know, I'm telling how old I am. But in the summer of
nineteen sixty nine, there was a famous case here in you know, Texas
that wasn't far from you know, DFW as a matter of fact, is
you know, took place probably you know, less than twenty miles from downtown
Fort Worth. Was the case of the Lake Worth Monster where this upright bipedal,
hair covered creature was seen. Really, the summer of sixty nine was
you know, it was a you know, just a flurry of sightings.
You know, it was seen by hundreds of people, and it's generally regarded
as the you know, one localized creature that was seen by the most witnesses.
I mean, it was seen by law enforcement personnel. You know,
this area is now a nature reserve, wildlife park in nature reserve. But
back then it was just like you know, the lover's laying out at the
lake. Teenagers would go out there and you know, drink and make out
and and this creature, you know, jumped on somebody's car and scared them
and scratched the car and you know they tore off into town and talked to
the police. And you know, so that summer it was seen many many
times out there at the at the lake, lake Worth, which is,
like I said, less than twenty miles northwest of downtown Fort Worth. And
you know, I was interested in strange stuff as a kid and my grandparents.
You know, it was actually on the front page of Fort Worth Star
Telegram July tenth and July eleventh articles written by Jim Mars about this creature that
was seen out there and we're talking, you know, we're nine ten days
away from man landing on the Moon for the first time on July twentieth,
nineteen sixty nine, and the front page story was about this monster scene out
at the lake, you know, which was just incredible. And you know,
I had a scrap book, and my grandparents lived in Fort Worth and
subscribed to the newspaper, so they saved, you know, the the articles
for me. And then shortly thereafter I ran across a book written by a
local woman who was following up on these reports and wrote a book and self
published it, a woman named Sally Ann Clark, And so I was,
you know, that was into it. I'd read a book by John Keel
the next year called Strange Creatures in Time and Space. You know, five
years later he would write the book The Mothman Prophecies. But this book came
out in nineteen seven d and I traded it for some kid at school.
It had a cool cover, It had a Frank Frazetta artwork on the cover,
and I traded a kid. I don't remember what I traded it but
I traded for that book. And then a couple of years later, I
saw the Legend of Boggy Creek and it's theatrical release here in the Dallas area.
And uh, you know, I live out in East Texas now out
here where I hold my events, but in Jefferson. But you know,
my whole life I lived in my whole adult life, I lived in Dallas
Fort Worth, and so that was really something. And then you know,
I was a boy scout in my teen years and we're out camping out in
East Texas and you know, it was always you know, the foulk Monster
was going to be around or whatever. So but you know that kind of
I kind of outgrew that. I wasn't really a lifelong you know, Bigfoot
fan until you know, May thirtieth, nineteen ninety four, I was coming
back on you know, driving We had taken a road trip me and it
was twelve people total to New Orleans for a Memorial Day weekend and you know,
five different cars and so we all caravanned out there. But on the
way back, we you know, everybody left whenever they needed to go,
and I was the last car to leave with my girlfriend and a friend that
lived in the same building that I did. And we set out from New
Orleans about nine o'clock on Monday night. And you know, when we drove
down there, it was in the daylight. Well now we're driving back in
the dark, and the road we were on it was just a two lane
you know, highway was now a desolate road out in the middle of nowhere,
unlit. And you know, as we're driving, I had a little
suv at the time, a soft top, had the top rolled up.
It was May thirty if the temperature was really nice, and my friend was
in the back sleep seat asleep, and we're entering, you know, coming
up through central Louisiana, and in my headlights, my girlfriend and I see
a figure off to the right of the road. You know, this was
a nineteen ninety one vehicle, so the headlights were you know, just the
sealed halogen beam. They weren't great. But we saw an upright figure off
to the right of the road, no more than about twenty feet from the
edge of the road. And as we get closer and closer, you know,
for maybe the I don't know, six to eight seconds that we saw
it at speed, we certainly saw more detail as we got close and it
was, you know, an upright bipedal figure covered in hair that looked grayish
in the lights. And it was actually walking parallel to the road. You
know, I don't know, you know, I've always said that, you
know, I don't know exactly what it was, but I know what it
wasn't. I know, it wasn't a burned out tree stump. It wasn't
a horse or a cow. It wasn't a guy in a hunter in a
gilli suit, wasn't a prankster in a gorilla suit. I mean, you
know, in my mind, there's only one thing it could have been,
and that was a you know, a big foot. And so he Craig
wasn't walking towards you or away from you. No, it was walking parallel
to the road. So you're driving on the road, right, We were
driving on the road, so it's back was to us. And as we
passed it and saw its left side profile. But so it didn't even like
jump off the road as you were passing by. Oh no, it didn't
even deviate from its path. It didn't look up, it didn't do anything.
Wow, that area was darker than dark, you know, without lights
on so it didn't seem to startle it. It didn't, you know,
I'm sure if it you know, there were you know, we didn't see
any cars on that road, I mean because it was you know, at
this time, it was about eleven to eleven thirty at night. And where
exactly were you when you We were on Highway seventy one, which, incidentally,
once you pass Interstate twenty into Shreport, it becomes the road that bisects
South Arkansas between Shreeport and Texakana Highway seventy one. It's just a different stretch
of it. But it was about thirty five miles southeast of alex Alexandria,
Louisiana. As we were approaching a very small town called Bunky. As we
drove into town, you know, it's eleven thirty on a Monday night on
Memorial Day and Bunky is a lot smaller back then than it is now.
But you know, there was nothing. You know, it's one of those
towns where the sidewalks roll up at night. I mean, there was nobody
out. There was nothing open. So we just slowed down through town and
on the way out there was a you know, a small country church,
a Methodist church, turns out that we pulled into the parking lot of that
church and discussed what we had saw. My girlfriend and my friend was still
asleep in the back seat, and you know, as we had seen it,
you know, as we passed it, we both looked at each other
and said, did you just see what I just saw? Simultaneously and and
we agreed that we had. And I said, well, what do you
think you saw? And she goes, I think I saw a big foot.
And I said, well, we've got to stop, and she's like,
blank blank, no, We're not stop because you know, we're basically
in an open convertible. Not that you know, a soft top with vinyl
windows is going to do anything if it's down, but you know, the
top was rolled up because the weather was so great. So that's the thing.
We've talked. Stopped in the parking lot at this church, talked for
about ten or fifteen minutes. You know, it had a light pull with
a you know, an argone gas light on in the parking lot. And
then we got back on the road. We had my friend in the back
seat that was asleep, had to be at Worth the next morning, and
we still had at that point, you know, I'm guessing five and a
half hours to go to get to Dallas. So we got back on the
road and we didn't really talk about it on the road. And that's the
other thing. This happened in ninety four, and we didn't really talk about
it after that. It wasn't something it's something strange that happened to us.
I mean, you know, I would watch you know, documentaries or anything
came on you know TV, but you know, didn't really tell anybody until
I got internet. I didn't get internet service, and you know, kids
nowadays are like what you know, until July of ninety seven. I was
thirty seven years old when I got internet access and the probably the first thing
I looked up was you know, Bigfoot and Bigfoot in you know, the
Texas area, and found you know, a community your people. I mean,
like I said, much smaller than it is today because there was just
like message boards. I think the bfr O had a you know, a
bare bones website up at that time. But I started talking to people on
message boards and like I said, to meta gentleman, and we started the
TBRC that takes Bigfoot Research Center in June. It went live June of nineteen
ninety nine, and you know, the rest is kind of history. We,
like I said, started collecting reports and people started wanting to get involved
what we were in. And the next year we went to the Ohio conference
and I've decided, you know, I'm gonna I could put do one of
these. And while Jefferson is an ideal location, the fact that there are
reports all in this area, I mean Cattle Lake, which is the only
natural lake in the state of Texas, is very very close. Big Cypress
Bayou flows through town that feeds into Cattle Lake. And so while it's an
excellent area, but the reason it's here in Jefferson, the Bigfoot Conference and
why I live here now is because my parents bought a bed and breakfast in
the late nineties here in Jefferson, and my mom was on the events committee
for the Bed and Breakfast Association. So when I decided to put together an
event, you know, I used the resources that I had, and you
know, my folks helped out my mom and stepfather you know, here in
town through you know, from two thousand and one to two thousand and eight
when the first run that was in Jefferson. And so that's why it's here
in Jefferson. That's why now Jefferson is the Bigfoot Capital of Texas. I
wrote a proclamation and submitted it to the mayor, and the mayor signed it,
which was actually the third proclamation that I had gotten. The first one
was in two thousand and five that the town themselves took it upon themselves to
write a proclamation. At third weekend in Jefferson in October is Texas Bigfoot Weekend,
and that's generally when we hold the conference. And then they did one
in twenty sixteen, you know, celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the Bigfoot Conference.
And then in twenty eighteen the one that made Jefferson proclaimed Jefferson the Bigfoot
Capital of Texas. As a matter of fact, I'm going next Monday to
the County Commissioners Court meeting and I'm presenting in county it's a resolution, a
county resolution to have Jefferson declared that it's a basically a safe habitat for Bigfoot
this county, Marion County, Marion County, and Jefferson. So I'm going
to do that. I mean, the town has really uh, you know,
gotten behind it. You know, there's many stores here in town that
carry Bigfoot merchandise and and a lot of the restaurants have you know, bigfoot
net themed items on the menu, and so you know, it's really kind
of gotten into its Craig, who have you I took advantage while you're coughing
to jump in? Uh? Who? Who have who attended? You know
from two thousand and one to two thousand and eight? Can you share,
like some of the folks who were you know, were president attended or spoke
or spoke? Yeah I spoke, yeah, Oh if I don't need to
be on camera, I've got a whole list of I've got a list of
the speakers every year. You know that's fine? Well, I mean doctor
John Bender, Nigel Lauren Coleman, John Kirk of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptosology
Club, doctor Jeff Meldrum, Chris Murphy. You know, I co curated
a Bigfoot museum exhibit with actually the University of Texas that was there one of
their campuses, the University of Texas at San Antonio, that one of their
campuses as a museum, the Institute of Texan Cultures. And in two thousand
and six we put together a two thousand square foot Bigfoot exhibit titled Bigfoot in
Texas question Mark. And we had four half day conferences the duration of that
exhibit, and we brought down Peter Byrne in two thousand and six. Now
that was the basis, you know, the the Pacific Northwest Expeditions, and
you know, we're financed by Tom Slick of San Antonio, and and he
had Peter Byrne working for him on the Yeti expeditions in the late fifties and
you know, the Himalayas, and when he started up the Pacific Northwest expeditions
looking for Bigfoot. And you know, I'm not sure exactly when that started.
It may have been fifty nine, but it was certainly, you know,
sixty up until Tom Slick's unfortunate death I believe in sixty forty, died
in a plane crash at forty six years old, multi millionaire. But you
know, Peter Byrne had worked for him, and actually at that first inaugural
conference that we did in San Antonio and six at that museum exhibit, like
I said, Peter Byrne brought him in and spoke and Tom Slick's niece had
just written a biography about Tom Slick, Katherine Nixon Cook, and so she
came and did a book signing at the museum of her of her book,
you know about Tom Slick who financed those expeditions, and you know, Peter
Byrne was there and it was a really cool event. But like I said,
brought in Jimmy Chilcut, who was a latent fingerprint expert the Conro Police
Department who examined had the largest collect had the largest collection of non human primate
you know, hand and footprints, and was a fingerprint expert and examined bigfoot
cast and found you know, dermal ridges in these casts. He spoke Rick
nol veteran bigfoot researcher from the Pacific Northwest. You know, we had a
ton of people in, you know, over the years, her doctor Henry
Ferrenbach, and and then we reorganized as a five h one c three nonprofit
and you know, at that point it wasn't dependent on just me. You
know, I was the director of the group, and I organized the conference
and everything was then done by committees and and other cities in East Texas started
you know, soliciting us to bring their the event to larger venues larger cities,
they you know, courted us to come. But you know, going
back in two thousand and five, which was the web most attended conference that
we ever did, we had a lot of publicity on around that conference.
We had a seven page cover spread in Texas Monthly magazine that you know,
that issue had the Dallas Cowboys chaerleaders on the front and on the cover,
and you know it's you know, Bigfoot in in East Texas question mark on
the cover, and it had a whole big article on the wrestling von Erics,
who were a Texas phenomenon, but they were you know, popular worldwide.
And then a seven page spread you know with Bigfoot Conference and the Bigfoot
Research Organization and and all that. We had a two page spread in Texas
Highways magazine. We had numerous television stations and newspapers out there at the conference.
That year. We had you know, we had a feature on the
front page of the Lifestyle section of USA Today with a photograph of Ken Gerhard
holding up the cripple foot Bigfoot cast. The picture in USA Today that weekend
it was a crawler on CNN. You know, Bigfoot Conference in Texas draws
hundreds Oh, that's amazing. I mean that that that year two thousand and
five was really something special. And I mean we had, you know,
just a laundry list of big names. Kathy Moskowitz, Strain, Jeff Meldrum,
Jimmy Chilcot, Chris Murphy. You know, I can't, you know,
off the tip of my head, I can't even list all the people
that were. There was a two day conference. We drew well over five
hundred people. And it was, like I said, after that, other
cities wanted to bring the event there, and so it left Jefferson for two
thousand and nine went to Tyler. The thought amongst the committee was that you
know, Tyler was fifty times as large as Jefferson and had you know,
universities, and so that it would draw more attendance, and it really didn't.
Here's one person that we brought to town in two thousand and nine.
We brought not only Bob Gimlin to town that year, but our keynote speaker
was he wrote this googler real quick. He wrote the snow Leopard. He
was Peter Mathison. Peter Mathison came and spoke at our Bigfoot conference, you
know, and it written about the YETI before and had huge interest, and
somebody else was talking about that. Who else was talking about that? Somebody
else that we that we have interviewed, probably Darryl call your probably, I
think it was Darryl. Yeah, and Matt's next week. Matt's Yeah,
y'all are doing Matt next week. They're both speaking, Matt and darl Let's
get into that. So so let first tell us when to tell the audience
when the date is. In two thousand and six, it didn't hold one
because we were involved in San Antonio and held four mini conferences and couldn't.
I didn't want to try to put a part of my French half assed event
together, so I just didn't do a conference that year. We had the
event in San Antonio that ran from April through August and with four half day
conferences and so, you know, two thousand square foot museum exhibits. So
it was pretty you know, it was a lot of work leading up to
that, because you know, we supplied most of the stuff for the event.
You know, they got you know, they got a copy of this.
They borrowed Rick Knowle's copy of you know, his copy of fiberglass copy
of the Schookum cast that John Green made two copies of he made he made
a direct copy and then he made the you know, the inverse of it.
So he had a positive and negative one, and one was John's and
one was Rick's, and so Rick shipped his down here. We had the
replica of the Scuokum cast hanging on the wall in the museum. We even
had Ben Radford, a skeptic. We had one weekend where we had Lauren
Coleman and Ben Radford. I think that's probably the only Bigfoot conference that's ever
been that actually invited a skeptic to speak, So we you know, had
somebody speaking on both positions that weekend. But so this year it is October
twentieth and twenty first, we've actually had of our six speakers, four of
them are females, which I don't know that that's ever been, you know,
the case at a Bigfoot conference. That's certainly you know, two thirds
of our speakers are female. We've got can you recall who they are?
Oh? Sure? Sure. We have Ashlyn Brown, who is a geneticist
who has interested and had childhood encounters on their on their farm, and his
set of three nonfiction books but she's also a you know, a DNA scientist,
a geneticism Shelley Covington, Montana who is a hardcore researcher. She generally
spends four months out of the year in the Pacific Northwest solo camping in the
Pacific Northwest conducting Bigfoot research and trying to get DNA DNA evidence. We have
Sabella Irwin who is a BFR O and she's also a bfr O field investigator.
She's also she may be the curator for Texas for the BFR but she
also leads expeditions and she is an eyewitnessed sketch artist that she talks to eyewitnesses
just like police sketch artists, who goes back and forth and takes their description
of what they encountered, what they saw, and and sketches that for the
witness We have, like I said, Matt Pruitt and Daryl Collier, Matt
Pruitt who just wrote the Phenomenal Sasquatch and Darryl Collier speaking as well as Maria
Mayor from Expedition Bigfoot. You know, she's a NAT GEO speaker. She
is hosted Matt Geo show. She's you know when the cast members on Expedition
Bigfoot, and she's you know, she's a primatologist. She you know,
is hailed as the female Indiana Jones. She has, you know, her
biography that she wrote is you know, from pink boots to a machete.
She you know, was a was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader. She's from Cuba,
went back to school, she got a degree in zoology, primatology,
and she's actually discovered a species of lemur in the rainforest of Madagascar. So
I mean she, you know, she's not just you know, somebody who's
on Expedition Bigfoot. I mean she's you know, she is a scientist,
and she is a you know, she is a world explorer. She's a
member of the Explorers Club. I mean she is, uh, you know,
pretty awesome, you know, personal friends with Jane Goodall. That's our
our you know, our lineup of speakers for this year. You know,
we've got a private catered dinner Friday night at a local restaurant where with the
speakers, and there will be a special presentation there at that dinner Friday night,
and then Saturday there's the conference all day and then we also have a
you know a VIP portion where we have a catered dinner by local barbecue restaurant
that's excellent Texas Barbecue, and there'll be another special presentation at that event.
Also that these these two special presentations are not repeated during the conference itself.
So you know, I urge people that want to get the full experience,
you know, to try and come both Saturday during the day and Friday and
Saturday nights to see everything that's there, and you know they'll get a chance
to sit down. We have the opportunities who you know, sponsor a speaker
where you can actually sit at the speaker's table during the dinner and the presentations
on Friday and Saturday night, so you actually you know, seated at a
table for eight. So there's seven opportunities to people for people to actually sit
down with you know, Maria Mayor and and you know pick her brain about
Bigfoot or lemurs or you know or being a mom of six kids. You
know, So there's you know, opportunities to you know, actually sit and
carry on one on one conversations with these these speakers as well as you know
meeting them and listening to them talk, and you know, by you know,
getting a book or you know whatever from them, but to actually sit
down and have dinner with them and commiserate about bigfoot research. So there's a
lot of cool opportunities at the event. It's uh, certainly not one of
the largest Bigfoot conference. I have a building, you know, have a
building that has a set building capacity, and it's the largest one here in
Jefferson, and uh, you know, once we reached our capacity, that's
it. So you know there's been years where we've had it stuff to capacity.
As a matter of fact, well it's five years ago. We it
was over capacity for Bob Gimlan when he was here for his eighty seventh birthday.
We had a birthday party for Bob Gidlon had a birthday cake, big
foot birthday cake, and we've pended him with a really nice I don't remember
what brand it was, but a really nice eight hundred dollars pistol for his
birthday. And and uh, you know, the building was packed and I
you know, I had to turn people away at the door that year.
But it was a really special event. And so you suggest people to buy
tickets ahead of time. Yeah, so I mean there, you know,
it generally sells out online ahead of time. You know, just like the
Ohio conference. He usually sells out the first day, the first fifteen minutes.
You know, you have a limited capacity for that lecture room, you
know, just like we do. I mean, you know that makes that
makes the big Foot the Ohio big Foot Conference so special. Is also where
the conference is held. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean it's amazing and
there are sightings there in the park. As a matter of fact, I'm
trying to remember what year it was, but I actually saw not a big
Foot, but I saw may have been twenty thirteen, coming back from dinner
because we always used to go eat at Theo's. Yeah, we're still doing
that. I love I love Theo's. They have awesome pie, they have
awesome they have awesome everything. Yeah. But but coming back, you know,
late at night driving actually saw a mountain lion a cougar across the road.
At first I thought it was a deer because it looks so big,
but then it actually ducked under it was it was crossing the road where there
was you know, a guardrail there and you know with the wooden post and
then the metal rail. It actually ducked under the rail to go and It
didn't leap over, you know, like a deer would have jumped over,
But this thing slunk under the guardrail, and you know, and I definitely
saw its long tail in the headlights. It wasn't a bible and it had
a long tail. So, I mean, there's there's plenty of wildlife there.
I know there's been bigfoot reports. I've never experienced anything. I mean,
I've only been there for the conference when I've gone, but I did
see, uh, you know whatever you want to call it, a puma,
a mount lyon a cougar, But I saw that in the park on
the way to the lodge. On the way to the lodge, I wanted
to get back to you and your your conference too. Of course, we
talked about Ohio all day. If we want to, so will you will
you have vendors there and things like that, so can the publish. You
know, we've got we've got vendors that you know are certainly not the amount
of vendors they have up there, but we have people with you know,
bigfoot arts and crafts and shirts and you know, stickers and you know,
all kinds of stuff. Plus the speakers will have you know, tables with
their books and their stuff that you know, Matt will be you know,
signing and selling copies of his new book. I'm sure Maria will be signing
copies of her book. She's got a book, a book that just came
out not that long ago, that was written about her that's illustrated, like
animated, illustrated book about her life. So there'll be you know, vendors
there with with cool stuff uf and like I said, day Long talks,
great food and special presentations, and like I said, getting really getting a
chance to rub shoulders with these these speakers. You'll have access to go up
and you know, talk to them at their tables, like I said,
the opportunity to sit down with them at dinner and talk, so you know,
you can, you know, have those types of opportunities and to enjoy.
And there's plenty of stuff. Jefferson is a great little town. There's
all kinds of antique shops and boutiques and good restaurants and you know, fudge
shops, and and there's a nature trail where we do have one of those
big six foot statues out on the big Foot Statue, and then we have
a nature trail where there's others to be wonderful than too, right, and
sure at that time of year it's it's a lot nicer than it is right
now. I feel like we need to go for the last couple of years.
I know, Craig, but I don't like hot weather. It's October,
it's gonna be nice. Okay, look up on the weather channel.
See what their prediction is. Okay, I mean, I mean the Farmer's
Almanac is predicting an extremely cold winter. And while it won't be winter yet,
surely it will have come cooled down by then. And what are the
dates again, Craig, October twentieth, twenty first, and then generally on
the twenty second, the Sunday. We generally we do well. We sometimes
do both of them, but we generally go and have lunch out on Cattle
Lake with the speakers and some of the friends and the volunteers and such,
and then and you know, special friends like you guys would probably well,
I bet get an invitation. Data would surely get an invitation. I don't
know about Tim, but yeah, you know, I guess if you're bringing
it down, I guess, yeah, if you're bringing if you're bringing her
down for the event, then we could probably let you in. You might
have to set out on the patio. So the best yeah, the car
wait, so the best place for how do people buy tickets? Well,
the tickets are on the fright, but you can go to Facebook. Look
up, you know, twenty twenty three eight Texas Big Foot Conference. There's
uh, you know, an event page for it there with all the information
the speakers, their bios, you know, linked to event bright to get
your tickets. I've also organized and hosted the Foul Monster Festival coming up next
year in April. Uh Foul because only is less than an hour away from
Jefferson. We typically, you know, maybe take a caravan up to Foul
for people that have never been there to see, you know, where the
Boggy Creek was filmed. That's a good places to go eat, cool and
well, I think you might have convinced. Let it go downstairs and look
at my calendar on the fridge and see what's going on. We'll go ahead,
go ahead and take a pin or a sharpie and circle those dates.
Don't pencil them in, ink them in. You get a big permanent marker.
Yeah, and you guys definitely should come down. We want to.
Yeah, we do you come down. I'll let you get up for five
minutes and talk about your show. Oh so, there you go. You
have been awesome this you were like Creek's like the coolest dude ever. We
loved you. Craig, You're awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all
your information about what you've done over the years with the subject. And we
look forward to meeting you in person. Well yeah, you know, you
guys included me and as one of the big Foot big Foot influencers, and
so it's been awesome having you on the show. And we're gonna have to
like really really consider the octobers. We have to meet in person in two
weeks two months, I mean all right, all right, thanks very good,
Thanks Craig, Thank you so much. Anny, have a great night,
and we look forward to the meeting you in person. Yes, and
you have five minutes to talk about your show in front of everybody. Yeah,
yeah, thanks, say so you can write it off as an expense.
There you go, Thanks Craig, Bye bye bye. He's a cool
dude, consider Texas he wouldn't become the last couple of years. And and
we're always looking for something new and fun to do and we haven't saying that.
I know we need to get away as a couple, not necessarily as
a big foot conference like a romantic, like beachy kind of thing. But
it's a lot of fun and it's cool that we both have the same interested
to hang out with some friends. Yeah, so that could be really people.
And it's definitely always fun to go to these events. I have to
tell you, Like, if you're into the big foot thing, going to
one of these events is just like it just really opens your eyes a lot
to what's going on in the world a big foot and you get to talk
to people who have witness stories who wouldn't necessarily want to share them publicly,
but you know, you sit next to them at the dinner and they're telling
you their story and you can tell them your story. So I definitely recommend
a lot of common minded people, which is fun. Yep, it is
fun. We thank you guys. Make sure you go over to the Untold
Radio network you know, like this, like and subscribe and subscribe, go
back and check out last week's episode. On Wednesday night on the Main on
Doug's Untold Radio show, Alex high Check and his girlfriend and Lease hosted themselves
without dougs. So go back to last week and watch that. That was
a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. Until next time,
We'll see you guys.