SAD BUT TRUE

It is now April of 2008 and one of the most difficult issues that faces any serious researcher is still alive and well. We have traveled over 300,000 miles in the past 2 1/2 years, following up on stories and reported sightings of the creature most commonly referred to as "Bigfoot"! This may sound like a very romantic and exciting thing to do, and in many ways it is. However, most of the time it is an uncomfortable, physically demanding, exasperating, and frustrating job. We find that a large percentage of the stories we hear and investigate are not what they originally seemed. It is rare that we are able to substantiate a sighting or story with any physical evidence at all. Most of the time, people tell us about an unusual experience they have had and it is our job to see if that experience can be explained away by any other conventional methods before we continue with our research. In other words, we have to "separate the wheat from the chaff" before we begin our work in earnest.

It has been our experience that almost all of the people that we have worked with told us the absolute truth about their experiences. Even if we eventually find a simpler explanation for the experiences these people lived through, one that may not be related to "Bigfoot", we appreciate the commitment and openness of these people and use the information to help us better understand the phenomena we are attempting to study.

One of the most discouraging things we have to deal with, while attempting to do our job, is the over-powering and ugly ignorance of a very few of the people we come in contact with. The type of people who are too ignorant to understand a joke, so they laugh at it because they think they should... They don't know what the joke is about, but they have heard people laugh at jokes, so they want to appear as if they get it... and laugh... These people have heard others talk about "Bigfoot" and perhaps those people may have let out a little nervous laugh while talking. Many normal people are a little nervous talking about this issue, because they are not sure how other people may take them.

I don't fault those normal people... after all, there is very little "scientific" evidence available to substantiate the existence of this unique and officially un-recognized animal. There is still a large question in the minds of many of those people who have not had the opportunity to go into the field and see for themselves what is actually out there. That is why we are out there investigating. We have found so much intrinsic evidence that we know there is an un-known creature out there! Our job is to prove it in a way that no-one can discount. The people that I am concerned about, are the ones who are so ignorant that they feel the need to "laugh at the joke they don't understand"... They want to make people think they get the joke they really don't understand. They try to fit in with the normal people who may have some legitimate trepidation about committing to stating openly that they believe this creature exists. And so, many people discuss it with a little bit of nervous laughter amongst their friends.

The truly ignorant people, in an effort to "fit in" with the normal people around them, go so far as to interfere with our work. They "sickly" believe that if they can trick us into finding fake prints or other evidence in an area. They seem to be attempting to demonstrate that they get the joke, even though there was never a joke!?! In fact, all they are demonstrating is their own ignorance! It is as if they are saying; "... I am really stupid and I can prove it... watch me!..."

On a recent visit to an area near Paris Texas, we were attempting to follow up on a recent story shared with us by some good and honest local people. These people experienced some things near their homes that they could not easily understand. They wanted to know if these experiences could possibly be related to recent sightings in this area. In an effort to help them understand what might be going on in this area, the Searching for Bigfoot field expedition team set up a research camp near the alleged experiences. We set up in a very cold, rainy, and muddy area to put up our very expensive equipment. Even though we risked damaging our equipment and even our own health in these nasty and uncomfortable conditions, we felt it important to "leave no stone unturned" and attempt to bring some closure to this issue. Sadly, all we were able to do, after driving almost three thousand miles, was to discover that there are some very deranged and ignorant people in that area who for what ever sick reason, want to discredit any serious research about this creature and in doing so, discredit any of their neighbors who may have the courage and God given curiosity to want to know the truth about the world around them. These few sick people exposed their ignorance by attempting to place phony foot prints in a place where we would be sure to find them! This took a lot of time, effort, and ignorance to do, but they did try. Here are a couple of pictures of the print they left us to find:

Note the length to width of this print is odd? There is no shape to the bottom of the foot... no arch, no heel, no dermal ridges..

The following is a letter I sent back to the office back in 2006. It is now 2008 and it looks like not too much has changed.

A LETTER FROM JAVABOB ABOUT THE NOVEMBER 2006 EXPEDITION

We are about one quarter of the way through our current cross country expedition and we have discovered something very disturbing. At our second stop of this trip, we stopped at Lamar Point in Paris, Texas to meet with some of our associates. When we arrived, we saw a few people we recognized who belong to a local Bigfoot research organization. They left as soon as they realized we were there! It would seem that they were in the process of casting some prints down near the lake, but left in such a hurry that they left a wet plaster print on the beach, they even left a large bag of plaster sitting near by! We found that to be very odd. When we went down to the area where they were working, I was troubled to find that they were setting casts of bogus prints! We took pictures of the prints and our tracker Lee Hickman pointed out all of the details that prove that the prints are fakes! We went ahead and shot a video of Lee explaining to our camera man how he could spot the fake. Even to the point of showing the prints from the clips that held the false forms to the bottom of someone’s feet! I do not want to name the organization that was responsible for this hoax now, but I am so very disappointed I needed to share this disturbing information with someone. Once I get back, I will put the video on the web site and write up a more detailed report of what we found. Other then that, all is going well. We had stopped at the Apache Nation in Arizona and met with all of our good friends out there. It was a wonderful visit and we took some great footage while we were there. We were on their radio show and were blessed enough to get some great stories and leads on recent sightings and encounters. I can’t wait to be able to share some of these stories with our friends on the web site when I get back to my office and can spend some time on the computer. We will be heading east in another day or so and I will send short reports back as time allows. In the mean time, keep us in your prayers and give our love to the rest of the team.