The Place Where No One Was

            I was twenty-three at the time.  It was not unusual for me to just take off and go backpacking for a few days by myself just to get away for awhile.  Classes at the university had recently started, but I had decided to let them start without me.

            The Cherokee National Forest lends itself well as a place of retreat.  Not as crowded as the nearby Great Smokey National Park one can head back into the wilderness and not see another person for days, especially during the weeks after the summer vacation season has ended.  It was my third day of hiking the backcountry and I had not seen another human being the entire time. 

          This late September morning had emerged from a briskly cool night and now the midmorning sun filtering through the trees was beginning to warm the air.  In the weeks to come the leaves would begin to turn to fire, then the fire would fade and a skeletal forest would stand looking cold and dead.  But for now Indian summer lingered.

          Following the trace of one of the many old logging roads that weave through the Cherokee, I surmised that I would probably be nearing the North Carolina border by evening if I maintained my present pace.  Not that it mattered.  I wasn't going anywhere other than to wherever it was I was going.  I was just walking and just thinking and just being away.

          As I walked in thoughts, I detected an odd musky animal-like smell.  Cautiously I followed the emanation of the odor.  I came to a place beside a broad shallow stream which whispered and gurgled to whomever who would listen. Sunlight glinted on the clear water.  There beside the stream was a large furry mass.

         Drawing cautiously closer lest I frighten a resting animal that could attack me, I watched carefully. My heart pounded as my breathing nearly stopped.  Seeing no movement from the beast I very quietly inched forward.  The animal was obviously dead. 

          I warily circled the carcass, which looked like it had only recently died.  It was not a bear like I initially had thought.  And it was not like any other animal I had ever seen.   I guessed that it was probably nearly seven foot in height and perhaps it might have weighed three hundred pounds or so.  It had a very human form, but was totally covered in grayish brown bristly fur. 

          It was not like any primate that I had ever seen.  And though I was certain that it was not an ape, I also knew it was not a man.  But its face--its face was so peaceful, so beneficent that I wanted him to be alive.  I wanted him to be here with me to impart a secret wisdom known only to this being from the mountain forest.  A sense of deep sadness welled from within me and rested on my shoulders and in my chest as my vision blurred from my watery eyes.

           Recomposing myself, I took a deep breath and realized I had found a Sasquatch--the creature of legend sometimes known as Bigfoot.   I had made a truly amazing discovery and I needed to tell somebody. I lumbered back up to trail with my backpack feeling like the weight of a millenium of sorrows and regrets.  I was not sure where the nearest outpost of civilization was, but even at my fastest pace it would take at least a full day of walking to get back to where I had started.   This day was now half gone.

           Realizing that I needed to somehow mark this spot so I could find it on my return, I looked around for a landmark.  Nothing looked much different than anything else that I had been seeing for two days.  Gathering stones from the river would have taken several trips and used up precious time.

           I unstrapped my backpack to find something to hang on a tree.  I decided upon an aluminum cook pan which I was able to hang from the stub of a tree branch.  The pan would hold up and not be likely to be destroyed or carried off by animals.  Satisfied that the site was marked, I gathered up my pack and began walking back to where I had started.

             I had only walked a short distance when I stopped.  With my eyes closed, my head fell.  I had to go back.  I began to feel uncertain and would not want to come back to find nothing.  I had to be sure of what I saw.   I returned to where I had marked the tree with the pan.

            I retraced my way back to the place where I had found the Sasquatch.  Staring intently groundward I came to where the body had been.  My shoulders fell as I expelled a deep sigh.  A tangle of brush and vegetation lay in the spot where I could have sworn I saw the corpse with the face of an angel.  How could I have thought that I had seen what I thought I had seen?

           My contemplation was interrupted by a splashing sound from the stream.  I looked up to see a procession of the hirsute creatures climbing onto the opposite stream bank carrying the remains of the fallen Sasquatch that I had seen.  Trailing behind was a smaller version of the strange beings.  A child creature turned to me and gazed innocently, slowly cocking its head with a quizzical expression.  We momentarily locked eyes and the thing seemed to smile.  It then turned and followed the others disappearing into the woods on the other side.

           I stood in wonderment as my skin tingled.  The stream flowed and the sunlight sparkled on the passing waters.  There was only the sound of the watery flow until a sudden whoosh passed overhead through the trees as though an immeasurable spirit had passed over the place and then left.

           A lone cloud briefly obscured the sun, casting a landscape-devouring shadow.  I made my way back to the road and removed my aluminum pan from the tree and put it back into my pack.  I walked at a steady pace, stopping to sleep when darkness came, then wakening with first light to continue on to the place where I had parked my van in the campground where no one was camped, which was next to the picnic area where no one was picnicking, and I left the National Forest where no one was except for me.  And then I was gone as well.

          

        

Do Creatures Like Bigfoot Really Exist?

         In the early part of the 1800s reports began coming from Nepal of sightings of a hairy humanlike creature.  Investigations revealed that there was a tradition of folklore concerning a creature like this in the Himalayan region.  Soon, reports of sightings began to come from many parts of the world.

        Since that time in the Himalayas there have been several reported sightings of the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman.   There have also been frequent reported sightings throughout various parts of Asia and even Scotland.  Then, of course, we have the sightings throughout North America.

        Sasquatch, as the Bigfoot creature is sometimes called, has long been a legend of the native Americans.  Often one of the many creatures depicted on totem poles and other native American art, the Sasquatch has even been looked upon as a spiritual being.

        There are many theories as to what this bipedal humanoid really is.  The most common theory is that they are bears or apes that have been misidentified by witnesses.  Another suggestion is that they are actually humans who have become hermits living in the wilds and dressed in animal skins. 

          It is a known fact that the imagination can play tricks and embellish or distort what one actually sees.  From a distance, in wooded areas where visibility may be hindered, any animal might be mistaken for another, especially if the viewer's mental state has created an expectation or a fear of seeing such a creature. 

         If these creatures do exist, it stands to reason that they would exist in numbers in order to have lived for so many years.  If there are communities of Sasquatch, there should be some kind of evidence of their existence that would have been found with greater frequency.  

          However, it is a big world and new discoveries are made every year.  Vast mountainous areas with dense vegetation could possibly cloak the existence of these apelike creatures.  And if they are highly intelligent, or even of superior intelligence to humans, they could be very skillful at evading contact.  Who knows, they could even be extraterrestrial beings surveying the area around which they've temporarily landed their spaceship.

         There are many explanations that can be argued to defend or refute their existence.  What do you think?



Do Creatures Like Bigfoot Really Exist?        
  
         Are they natural animals or supernatural beings?   Are they of Earth or from some other far away world?   Have they crossed over from another dimension?   Are they the "missing link" between man and ape?  Are they emissaries of satan or perhaps even angels?   Or is the whole thing the fabric of legends and the product of human imagination?  Tell us what you believe.

Strange Creatures

         In downtown Kelowna, British Columbia, nestled in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of Western Canada, is a merry green dragon-like statue of a creature known as Ogopogo.  The origins of Ogopogo come from old Salish Indian legends of a creature they called N'ha·a·itk or "lake demon", which lived in Lake Okanagan.   From the time of the arrival of the White Man to the region, there have been numerous sightings, including some captured on film and video.  Some sightings have been purported to have been witnessed by thirty people at one time.  However no indisputable evidence of the creature exists.

         The creature bears a great similarity to the more well-known Loch Ness Monster of Scotland.  Some proponents of the creatures have suggested that they might be plesiosaurs or some similar reptilian creature descended from dinosaurs. However, no one knows for sure.  None of these creatures has ever been captured or even examined up close.  Due to the time span of the sightings, one would have to conclude that if these creatures really existed, there would have to have been familial lineages or colonies of these animals.  If there were indeed numbers of large creatures such as these there would be a stronger likelihood of more sightings or some kind of proof.  So far this has not happened.

           If nothing else, the story makes for some great tourist appeal as thousands have pictures taken with the Ogopogo statue each year.   And monsters or not, the Okanagan Valley is a great place for a summer vacation.  Kelowna is a center of accommodations and attractions, but the cities of Vernon and Penticton also are on the shores of spectacular Lake Okanagan.  In late summer, fresh fruit abounds with cherries an especially tasty treat.  There are also numerous wineries in the area.  Surrounded by mountains, the valley has a relatively temperate climate and summers on the lake are conducive to swimming and boating.  The Okanagan Valley is an absolutely wonderful destination.  And who knows. while there you might see Ogopogo out in the lake.

          Why is it that humans seem to have a desire to see fantastical creatures?  There doesn't seem to be a lot of likelihood that most of them exist and yet the stories abound.  I grew up hearing about the "Abominable Snowman" or Yeti.  Later I began hearing the stories of a similar creature in North America called "Bigfoot" or Sasquatch.  These creatures became all the rage in the imaginations of  North Americans and numerous sightings began to be reported.  One of the most famous ones was captured on film in 1967 by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin in the wilds near Bluff Creek, California.  The film stunningly shows a long-armed furry man-like creature walking across a stream and momentarily giving a haunting, fleeting look toward the camera.   Now we had absolute proof that Bigfoot did exist.

         Or did this Bigfoot really exist?   In 2002, Philip Morris, owner of Morris Costume Company in Charlotte, NC admitted to media sources that the creature seen in the film was actually a man dressed in a modified gorilla suit that Morris had sold to Patterson via mail order. The story was taken up by author Greg Long  in his book The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story.  Philip Morris had told the story many times since the 1980s but never made a big deal out of it. He had mentioned the story in a radio interview and it caught the attention of the media, eventually reaching Greg Long. Since then, Philip Morris's account has appeared in print and on television numerous times.

          Bigfoot apologists have had their hackles raised by this admission by Morris, trying to discredit his story.  However, Philip Morris stands by the story and many have been convinced that Morris is telling the truth.  I have known Philip Morris and his wife Amy for over forty years and know him to be quite the raconteur, but always credible in his stories.  I have no doubt that he is telling the truth on this.  All of the details of his story match up to everything I had read elsewhere and what I know as fact, so I am sure that this particular Bigfoot sighting and film was a staged hoax.

          Hairy man-like creatures living in the woods, sea serpents descended from dinosaurs, or blood-sucking flying monsters may be real or they may be figments of the imagination.  For centuries humans have claimed to see amazing and sometimes terrifying creatures that consistently elude capture.  Sometimes footprints and other forms of evidence have been claimed to have been found, but often these discoveries have been proven to be hoaxes.  Perhaps one day the proof will be absolute, but until then these creatures will remain mysteries.

        Do you believe in Bigfoot or Yetis?   Do you really think a serpent-like creature lives in the depths of Lake Okanagan or Loch Ness?   Have you ever seen a fantastical creature or known someone who has?  And if you have seen one, were you sober?