Searching For Bigfoot: Winter 2006 Bigfoot Expedition Diary

Bigfoot in Whittier, North Carolina

February 2006

On this stop, we met some of the warmest people on our expedition. We had the opportunity to meet Wanda Childers and her family. Wanda called us to tell us about strange sounds, sights, and smells coming from behind her home in Whittier, North Carolina. Whittier is less than ten miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park itself covers 520,408 acres and was established in 1934. It is the last remnant of the southern Appalachian forest that once covered more than four million acres. It ranges in elevations from 840 feet, all the way up to 6,643 feet and supports an abundance and variety of plant and animal life. So much so, that it earned a United Nations designation as an International Biosphere Reserve. More than 1,500 species of flowering plants, including 100 species of trees, 200 species of birds, about 50 species of fish and 60 species of mammals call the park home. The park is actually located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and straddles the Tennessee and North Carolina border for about 70 miles. The aboriginal Cherokee people called this area “Shaconage” which means “Place of Blue Smoke” because of the bluish mist that clings to the mountainsides and fills the valleys in the early mornings.

See more photos from North Carolina February 2006 .....

The team felt that due to the sincerity and openness Wanda shared with us and the general location, that this would be a prime location to search for our elusive friend, Bigfoot! We arrived late in the afternoon and after unpacking, we headed off to Wanda’s home. There we met Wanda and her significant other, Jack. Wanda is a wonderfully open and honest woman. Jack too, impressed us with his open and honest attitude. Jack is a very skeptical man. Jack, being a retired law enforcement officer, looks only for hard physical evidence, but is open to new ideas and wanted to know more about our experiences, with this creature. We talked for several hours, listening to their experiences and them listening to ours. The team and the Childers agreed that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that there was indeed something behind Wanda’s home and we needed to make arrangements for a detailed investigation.

This is the area behind Wanda Childers home. Wanda is the one who contacted our organization after hearing strange vocalizations, smelling strange scents, and even saw large bulky shadowy figures coming onto her property at night, for the last 12 years.

The following evening, we went back to Wanda’s and set up some night trip cameras. Lee Hickman took his team of trackers out into the woods behind the house and investigated the habitat while looking for animal signs and tracks. After several hours of searching, the trackers returned to share their findings. We had very high expectations and listened intently to their reports. Both Lee and Pat had found signs of a large cat, probably a mountain lion or panther. They also found bear and deer signs close to the house. There were signs of many smaller animals as well. There was clearly enough food available to keep large animals feed and healthy, but there were no signs of the creature we are searching for. The following morning we picked up the trip cameras to find they had been set off. The only image we found was a “wispy smoke like image” that was totally non descript. None of us had ever seen anything like it before. After discussing the evidence we found, we could not discount the possibility of a creature residing near by, but we felt it was more probable that the sounds, the sights, and the smells that Wanda had reported were from the local animal population near her home.

The cats that we found signs of are not normally found in this area and were totally unexpected. These cats have been known to make sounds very similar to those that Wanda had described. Bears living close to homes very often scavenge in garbage and develop a very foul smell. Bears walking on their hind legs can also resemble a man like creature walking through the woods. We were able to justify all the evidence we found except the image on our trip camera. Our conclusion was that although the environment could support a creature, it was more probable that the experiences that Wanda had were more likely due to more mundane causes.

The team was still very excited about the area and decided to investigate a little more before we left. Wanda had introduced us to a Cherokee Medicine man named Willy Williams. Willy had shared some stories from his youth about seeing a creature near some caves in the general area. Tom Biscardi made the decision to investigate those areas while we were still in the North Carolina. Tom notified the local news media and asked them if they would like to come with us on this short expedition. Becky Johnson, a reporter for the Smokey Mountain News in Waynesville, North Carolina decided to follow along. We met with Willy and headed off into the nearby mountains on our journey. Willy, now in his late 70’s lead our team of trackers up into the hills toward the caves he had found as a child. It took him a couple of hours to get to these caves but they did find them. Unfortunately, the caves had also been discovered by a new generation of people and had been severely damaged by time and abuse. The site may have been productive at one time, but no longer. Disappointed, we decided it was time to move on to our next site. We will, however, keep this beautiful area and these warm and wonderful people in our minds and may make arrangements to re-visit this prime location again.

See more photos from North Carolina February 2006 ...

Next stop Searching For Bigfoot In Portsmouth Ohio ...

Try other stops along the way: Visit some of the other locations of JavaBob's Winter 2006 Expedition Diary :