Bigfoot - An Enigma with Many Possible Identities

A few years ago, I received a video from my good friend and experienced paranormal investigator, Dick Criswell. It was filmed in Oakland, Oregon, and involved an amazing guy named Stan Johnson and his unique understanding of Bigfoot. Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, Abominable Snowman or Skunk Ape; call it what you will. Most people think of the legendary creature as some sort of missing link or unidentified primate. Stan has a different view and it has caused me to reexamine my own conclusions about these beings.

I have watched Dick's video, On Bigfoot Mountain, dozens of times and that surprises me. When it comes to Paranormal Research, I like to keep my focus on the subject at hand and not the 'noise' surrounding it. Theories, ideas, channeled data, cults and everything else you can imagine really blurs the big picture and removes objectivity. However, Stan's information gave me some new ideas about the behavior of Bigfoot.

Johnson describes the Sasquatch as a race of intelligent beings that easily communicate with him and travel using portals. He mentions at least three portals that exist on the mountain where he lives. The portals seem to be entrances and exits to and from our physical reality. Not surprisingly, Bigfoot is often seen in these areas by a diverse group of witnesses.

Apart from the physical sightings, Johnson seems able to communicate with these beings on a mental or spiritual level. During those times, the Sasquatch need not be physically present. This makes me wonder who or what they really are. It may be that the Native Peoples of North America have a better understanding of Bigfoot than the rest of us. They have great respect for these beings and feel they represent a border or bridge between human and animal consciousness.

The Sasquatch that speaks to Johnson and others seem to have an understanding of our physical reality that we have not yet grasped. For example, their use of portals and manipulation of time and space really fascinated me. Not only would it explain their ability to suddenly appear and disappear, but it might also explain why other paranormal events occur in the same areas and at the same times as many Bigfoot sightings. My first investigation of a Bigfoot event was a good example of that scenario.

I became acquainted with the Florida version of Bigfoot in 1973 at the age of seventeen. People in the Sunshine State generally refer to it as a Skunk Ape or Yeti. Either way, descriptions are identical to what some Bigfoot researchers call unknown primate sightings and encounters worldwide. Nevertheless, the event I was investigating didn't occur in the middle of some thick forest or on a road rarely traveled in the Everglades. This was the Jungle Prada area of Saint Petersburg surrounded by water and suburban neighborhoods.

It was early October and I was investigating ghost light sightings reported to my high school UFO club. The lights appeared in the area of Jungle Prada Park at Park Street N and Elbow Lane. They were centered over a section of Boca Ciega Bay that separates Saint Petersburg from Treasure Island. Most people think of it as a channel because all the boat traffic and marine markers.

I arrived at the Jungle Prada just before dark with two friends which agreed to assist me in the investigation. We parked close to the shoreline hoping to speak with regulars that fished that area and might have noticed the lights. As we were getting our equipment out of the car, I noticed three helicopters in the area. They were not military and didn't look like police or emergency medical transport choppers.

Before we could give the helicopters another thought, dozens of cars appeared out of nowhere. Most of the drivers were young people. I thought that maybe we had accidentally ended up in the middle of some kind of keg party or fraternity event. Seeing that we had some photography equipment, a tape recorder and note taking materials, one guy asked us, "Are you here looking for the Skunk Ape?"

We had no idea what he was talking about until we heard a couple of car radios that were blaring a local music station. Between songs, the DJ mentioned some listeners that called in to his studio earlier about seeing some sort of a large, hairy creature swimming in the bay near Jungle Prada. I asked my fellow investigators to snoop around while I located a payphone and called the radio station. I drove some distance to a gas station and made the call.

The DJ told me that listeners had been calling him for the past two hours. Most were frustrated when their calls to police or emergency numbers were largely ignored. The first few callers were people that were fishing along a pier when they saw the creature. Others were out in their boats at the time the creature was spotted. The best call came from a charter boat captain that regularly piloted his vessel through the area. The captain, crew and passengers all saw the creature. The captain contacted the Coast Guard.

Most of the witnesses that called were listening to the music station when the DJ asked people to call in with song requests and gave out the studio phone number. Instead, they called about the Skunk Ape. The DJ told me that he might have considered it all a prank, but this was a guy that listened to people call in for all sorts of reasons night after night. He had developed a knack for knowing when people were trying to pull a fast one on him.

Needless to say, I spent most of my time there trying to track down any witnesses to the event that might still be in the area. Thanks to some information from the DJ, I was able to narrow my search to the pier area and found two people that had called the station. After calling from a convenience store, they returned to the area to see if the creature had come back.

The Richardson's were a young couple that came out to enjoy the sunset by the water's edge. Along with some other people fishing and hanging out nearby, they said that a large creature suddenly appeared in the water. It was swimming toward the shoreline just north of where they were standing. The creature swam much like a human, but it was very large and hairy. Still in amazement over the event, the witnesses said that it came up on the shore and ran into the tree line like a person would. Not thinking, everyone ran up to that area and trampled over any footprints that might have been left behind.

The couple took me to that area along the shore and we searched through it with large flashlights, but too many people had already been there. There was no way to discern specific footprints in the sand or know if the creature or crowd had caused damage to small trees and other growths. A more thorough search the next day turned up nothing unusual.

Most people might consider it more than a bit strange that Bigfoot would share the spotlight with Ghost Lights in same area at the same time. However, Jungle Prada is the original paranormal exception to the rule. It is one of the oldest, most historic, haunted, troubled and mysterious parts of St Petersburg, Florida, or anywhere else for that matter.

The Tocobaga Indians built burial mounds and villages in the area as early as 900 AD and thrived right up until the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors in 1528. They allegedly enslaved, killed and infected the Tocobaga with disease. Within one hundred years, the natives were extinct. However, remnants of their mounds remain and so do their ghosts.

It's not uncommon for visitors to the historic mounds to report a sickening feeling in their stomach. While most Floridians chalk that up to people from cold states spending too much time outdoors in the Florida heat and humidity, others have a stranger explanation. Some psychics and spiritualists insist that the illness comes from the Tocobaga ghosts or their residual psychic energy. It's a reminder of the stomach pains they felt while suffering from diseases and illnesses brought to their shores by the Conquistadors.

The Spanish were not the only ones who came to the Jungle Prada searching for wealth. In 1924 a man named Walter Fuller built a shopping center at what is now 1700 Park Street North. The complex was designed to serve guests who stayed at his nearby Country Club Hotel. That grand old building still exists and has been home to the Admiral Farragut Academy for many years. Parts of the shopping area have also survived to this day including a night club that was partially or fully owned by Al Capone.

Capone's Gangplank Club existed in Fuller's Shopping Center and featured some of the top names in entertainment including Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Anything but dry, the place had a regular supply of bootleg booze brought in through a secret tunnel that ran from the shoreline to the club courtesy of Capone.

Always one to keep a sharp eye on his investments, Capone built a house nearby at Venetian Blvd. N.E. and Bayou Grande N.E. on the shore of Grand Bayou. Trusted associates stayed there and watched over the night club to be sure the Boss got his cut of the profits. That house has a million weird stories associated with it. Possibly the weirdest involves some of Capone's regular house guests falling into bad company that might have actually been worse than their own.

Unsubstantiated stories tell a tale of people that secretly arranged and took part in occult ceremonies near the remnants of huge homes that once graced the shoreline in that area. Some of the fences that surrounded these mansions and a few ruins could still be seen in the early 1970s. Huge trees covered with Spanish Moss hid these residences from public view even in their heyday.

There is no way to know if any of these dark deeds took place at Capone's house or actually occurred at all. If they did, it's unlikely that Capone had any involvement since he was rarely there and showed no interest in such things. However, the Boss's home was a different story.

After years of building fences around it, installing lights to illuminate it at night and responding to endless calls of break-ins, odd noises, ghosts sightings and people suddenly acting in an irrational manner when near it, local authorities gave up. They ordered the house condemned and tore it down. The current house on that location has no association with the Capone residence.

Whether it was the stock market crash, end of prohibition or a curse sometimes associated with that area, Capone's Gangplank Club and most of the retail establishments in that area eventually closed down. The Jungle Prada was just too far off the beaten path to be profitable for anyone and it's been that way ever since. The closing of an airport used by Capone and Country Club Hotel guests also added to the Prada's economic demise. The Tyrone Square Mall is now on that location, but too far away to be of any economic benefit to the Prada.

Some say that the place is just unlucky, others blame the bad luck on a curse that allegedly exists on the land due to the mistreatment and murder of the Tocobaga Native People. Except for a housing boom in the 1950s and 1960s which ate up a large portion of land that was largely unused, the place hasn't had much in the way of good fortune or a legacy to brag about.

Even residents of nearby communities that were a part of the building boom haven't completed escaped the curse. Despite skyrocketing real estate prices, neighborhood associations are constantly at odds with town officials that seem bent on relocating facilities and services elsewhere to benefit other communities.

Jungle Prada can't seem to escape its unseemly reputation. Parks in the area offer popular activities to residents and feature spectacular natural beauty, but home owners have to share these town properties with others that come for very different reasons. Reasons that are a constant thorn in the side of people living near the Prada.

Ghost Tours are regularly lead through the Prada by entrepreneurial profiteers. Historic Markers constantly remind visitors of the extinct Tocobaga People. Tourists visit by the thousands each year to see the ancient burial mounds. Others want a look at Capone's Club where Babe Ruth was married. Mediums, Spiritualists and Ghost Hunters drop by to contact the dead. UFO Researchers search for Ghost Lights or unidentified underwater objects that are said to speed through the Bay in this alleged western section of the Bermuda Triangle. And don't forget about Bigfoot.

Thinking back to Stan Johnson's revelation about the intelligence of the Sasquatch and the portals through which they travel makes me wonder. Is it possible that there are inter-dimensional portals in the Jungle Prada? If there are, it may be that the Bigfoot creatures are not the only ones able to use them. That might explain all the paranormal activity and why a Bigfoot creature might occasionally be seen in that area.

Listening to Stan, I get the impression that the Sasquatch are concerned about our well-being and exist on a very high spiritual level. It may be that they help keep dark forces at bay or Aliens bent on invasion from coming through the portals. I guess you could almost describe them as some sort of inter-dimensional Peace Keepers. However, the degree of their success may also depend on our own efforts and it's obvious that we do not always act in our own best interest.

While interviewing some of the survivors of the Philadelphia Experiment and Montauk Project, I was told that a large hairy creature once appeared out of nowhere during one of the inter-dimensional time travel experiments at the Montauk Base. Looking exactly like a Bigfoot, it seemed bent on destroying the equipment and closing down the project. This makes me wonder if those in charge were accessing one of the portals reported to exist on or near the Base.

The Montauk Project was a government program designed to develop and take control of time and inter-dimensional travel, develop technologies to respond to the perceived Alien threat and perfect mind control and psychic weapons. Those goals would be at odds with the mission of the Sasquatch. That mission may be to keep all things equal, prevent conflicts between beings sharing the universe and bring humans closer to a higher spiritual existence. As a result, the Sasquatch might have tried to shut down the experiments at Montauk to save us from ourselves. Unfortunately, they failed.

Taking things a step further, I wonder why the physical aspects and overall behavior of the Sasquatch do not seem to match the intellect that Stan claims they possess. Is it possible that the hairy creatures we see are merely physical vessels housing some sort of spiritual or ascended beings? As wild as that sounds, it makes sense.

If you were visiting another world or dimension and faced a potential threat from the inhabitants or other beings visiting at the same time, you might take the form of something large and strong if you had the ability to do so. I believe that the Bigfoot creatures are unknown animals kept from extinction by inter-dimensional beings using them for protection. It's also possible that the inter-dimensional beings could have brought these creatures from another time, place or plain of existence. That might help explain why we can't seem to locate any small or large groups of the creatures, despite all the evidence for their existence.

If what Stan and others say is true and my own theory is correct, it would explain the duality of abilities and skills that these beings possess. At times they seem to hunt, feed and communicate in the most primitive way. On other occasions they demonstrate excellent communication skills and exhibit evidence of a society with an advanced social structure and communal sense of spiritual well-being. All this provides evidence that advanced beings are using Sasquatch as a walk-in whenever the need arises.

After all my theorizing, we still have to drop back to one, all-important question: Does Bigfoot exist at all? And despite all the skeptical Nay Sayers out there that think not, there is a substantial amount of evidence for the physical existence of Bigfoot. The evidence includes reliable eyewitness testimony, a continuing series of sightings over a long period of time, repeat sightings in various places, physical evidence, photographs, film, video and sound recordings.

Manitoba, Canada, is one of the areas where Bigfoot has made regular appearances since the 1800s. In 2005, a ferry boat operator named Bobby Clarke filmed a creature that might have been ten feet tall a few hundred miles north of Winnipeg. Clark, a First Nation Canadian, ferries people and cargo across the Nelson River. On the morning of April 16, 2005, he arrived at the docks around 6:30 in the morning. At first light he saw "a big black figure" on the opposite shore of the river, grabbed his camcorder and started filming.

His sister confirmed that Clarke rarely goes anywhere without his small camcorder. Maybe that's because another Ferry Operator named Hubert Folster saw the same thing almost a year before Clarke. Folster didn't have a camera with him, but watched for six minutes as very tall and dark figure moved along the waterfront on the opposite shoreline. Folster says of his experience, "It just wasn't right." He doesn't know exactly what he saw, dislikes discussing the event and obviously has no desire to repeat the experience. The sighting left Folster feeling very uneasy and didn't do much for Clarke's peace of mind either.

After watching and filming the creature for almost three minutes, Clarke dropped his camera when the dark figure turned and faced him. He draws a bit of a blank at that point and says that the entire episode left him upset. Clarke's sister says he was unable to work for several days afterward and that things do not usually affect him in that way. Clark has seen large bears and all sorts of wildlife, but nothing like this and nothing that has ever upset him this much.

Another video of Bigfoot was filmed in Canada this year (2007) by a man who calls himself Doug Thomas from Peguis, Manitoba. He describes the event:

"This footage was captured in Peguis, Manitoba, Canada. My son and I were going out to cut some wood as we came over the ridge we could see something crossing the road by time my boy got the camera out it this is what we captured.

I guess I should make this clear first I'm not claiming that its "Bigfoot or Sasquatch, I just don't know? There really isn't much more that I can say about the footage, my boy and I were heading out to the gravel pits to cut some firewood. On the way over a ridge we could see something crossing the road on the next ridge probably about 400 yards away.

I slowed down and told my boy to grab my camcorder from the back seat. By the time he had it going what ever we saw had already walked across the road behind a mound of rocks.

What you see in the video is clearer then what I actually saw because we were so far away. The "creature" quickly disappeared into the woods and what we seen the video is the last we saw of it.

We stopped and shouted, "who's there?" with no response. I remember looking at the tracks but don't recall anything abnormal about them, it just looked like where someone had walked through the snow. I should have videoed the tracks but didn't even think of it at the time."

Whether Bigfoot is merely an undiscovered primate, physical vessel used by higher forces or a group of peace-loving creatures with a structured society, it's all but certain that they exist in the physical world at least some of the time. More importantly, they do so with or without our ability to believe in them.

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