Sunday, September 7, 2008

Author follows in Bigfoot's footsteps
The Orange County Register - August 3, 1988
Author: Maria Hunt ; The Register

To Danny Perez, Bigfoot is no laughing matter.

At 25 years of age, Perez claims he is the foremost Bigfoot researcher in the United States.

He is founder and sole operator of the Center for Bigfoot Studies in Anaheim Hills and the infrequent publisher of the BigfooTimes, a newsletter on Bigfoot sightings and happenings.

Perez spent eight years working on his just-published book "Big Footnotes," which he calls the first reference work to list thousands of books and articles on the purported creature called Bigfoot -- also known as the Sasquatch -- and the Abominable Snowman, an Asian form of Bigfoot. Sasquatch is an English version of an Indian word meaning "wild man of the woods," Bigfoot's favored habitat.

Orders from other Bigfoot enthusiasts, one in the anthropology department of the University of Chicago, are rolling in, said Perez, who hopes to attract more scholarly interest to what he calls the "Bigfoot problem."

"It has never been given a fair shake in the scientific community," he said.

An electrician by day, Perez became intrigued with the subject in 1972 when he saw a movie called "The Legend of Boggy Creek," which he described as a documentary account of the " fouke " monster in Arkansas, a country cousin of Bigfoot.

"That movie just totally captivated me," he said. "I didn't really think there were monsters . I couldn't believe it."

After seeing the movie, Perez decided to find out whether Bigfoot was fact or fiction.

"The bottom line is to establish the physical reality of Bigfoot by doing field investigations," he said. Toward that goal, Perez said, he visits sites in California where Bigfoot reportedly has been spotted and interviews people who claim to have seen it.

"I operate under the knowledge these things are out there," he said.

Perez said he uses the word "problem" when talking about Bigfoot because the creature's existence is an unsolved mystery. "The solution is ultimately that someone will bag one, probably with a gun," he said.

Although humans have not captured one of the creatures, some enthusiasts have come up with a list of characteristics.

Bigfoot is described as a 7- to 12-foot-tall apelike creature that walks upright like a human and is covered with short, thick, dark fur. Perez said its diet is unknown but might include berries, nuts, leaves and perhaps deer and cattle.

There are a few reports of people being killed by Bigfoot-type creatures, but Perez said such reports are rare.

"I don't think they're aggressive or out to kill people," he said. "If they saw you or I, they'd probably run into the bush and avoid contact."

Two researchers claim to have captured a female Bigfoot on film in Northern California in 1967. It is the only purported filmed record of the creature.

"No one has proven that the film is not legitimate," Perez said.

By the year 2000, Perez plans to do a second book on Bigfoot covering all known facets of the "problem" and discuss what he calls the classic cases.

But, Perez warns phony Bigfoot researchers and "myth perpetuators" who aren't really interested in finding out the truth to beware. He said his new book will debunk some so-called researchers.

"People are taken by stories in the
Boggy Creek legend born of faked footprint, carried by imaginations
Houston Chronicle - October 18, 1986
Author: Associated Press

FOUKE , Ark. - Fifteen summers after giant footprints and tales of a creature called the Fouke Monster generated an avalanche of publicity and money in local tills, town officials are convinced it was a hoax.

The excitement began when a farmer found three-toed tracks, size 14EE, on the edge of a soybean field in June 1971.

A carload of Texarkana residents said the monster dashed across U.S. 71 one late spring evening. A deer hunter said she spotted the creature in heavy timber. One man moved his family to another town after what he described as a terrifying encounter with the monster that sent him screaming through a closed door.

Depending on the source, the red-eyed monster was a howling ape, a swamp man or a country cousin of the Abominable Snowman.

The reports captured the imaginations of students, who had monster drawing contests, and one teacher who said the creature should be protected as an endangered species.

But despite the offer of a $10,000 reward, the Fouke Monster was neither trapped nor photographed.

Virgil Roberts, the mayor of this town of 509 residents 10 miles from Texas and 20 miles from Louisiana, says he believes the monster was 100 percent hype. "I'm convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that was a man-made track," Roberts said. "I feel like somebody walked out in there with stilts on. ... I think they were trying to get attention here. Maybe they thought they could make a little money on it, I don't know," he said.

"I won't say all was intoxicated when they saw it, but some did see something that, well, they saw more than actually was there," he said.

But the monster -generated dollars were real.

Roberts' wife made a plaster cast of the footprint and turned out more than 5,000 miniatures, complete with hand-painted "Greetings From Boggy Creek," and sold them to a distributor for 50 cents each, Roberts said. A low-budget movie starring Fouke residents, "The Legend Of Boggy Creek," made a tidy profit. A book describing an encounter with the monster is still for sale at a hamburger stand in town.

Chief Deputy H.L. Phillips of the Miller County Sheriff's Department said he hasn't taken a monster call in years.

"We don't even keep a file anymore," he said. "A few years ago, someone called and said they'd found a cave along the Sulphur River where the monster was supposedly living. Nothing there. I don't believe in it. But I'd say you don't argue with people who say they've seen it. Many were respectable and responsible folks."
LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK MONSTER QUIETLY FADES - Expert, Arkansas town officials say swamp creature was a hoax
The Dallas Morning News - August 12, 1986
Author: Scott Charton, Associated Press: The Dallas Morning News (DAL) + _____

Fifteen summers have drifted by since giant footprints generated international publicity about a hairy, pigpen-smelling critter with eyes of fire.

Despite the offer of a $10,000 reward, the Fouke Monster was neither trapped nor photographed. The reported sightings captured the imaginations of students, who had monster-drawing contests, and one teacher who said the creature should be protected as an endangered species.

Descriptions were imprecise. Depending on the source, the red-eyed monster was a howling ape, a swamp man or a country cousin of the Abominable Snowman.

Frank Schambagh, an archaeologist at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, has been debunking the monster since the three-toed tracks were found in June 1971 on the edge of a soybean field. "There's never been any question in my mind that it was always a hoax,' he said in a recent interview.

The reported encounters were fleeting in the town, which is about 10 miles from Texas and about 20 miles from Louisiana. A carload of Texarkana residents said the monster dashed across U.S. 71 one late spring evening. A deer hunter said she spotted the creature in heavy timber. One man moved his family to another town after what he described as a terrifying encounter with the monster that sent him screaming through a closed door.

Supposedly, a town wit pointed to a liquor bottle when asked where he had spotted the monster.

When size 14EE tracks were found by a farmer among the sprouting beans, Fouke Monster fever became an epidemic.

Virgil Roberts, mayor of the town of 509, says the monster was a hyped hoax. "I'm convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that was a man-made track,' Roberts said as he sipped a soda at City Hall.

The monster-generated dollars were real.

Roberts' wife made a plaster cast of the footprint and turned out more than 5,000 miniatures, complete with handpainted "Greetings From Boggy Creek.' Roberts says she sold them to a distributor for 50 cents each.

A low-budget movie titled The Legend Of Boggy Creek made a tidy profit and launched the career of director Charles B. Pierce . The movie starred Fouke residents. Recent efforts to contact Pierce were unsuccessful. The Arkansas Motion Picture office and the Directors Guild of America had no current address or telephone number for Pierce.

A resident who became disgruntled with the production company, J.E. "Smokey' Crabtree, filed suit against Pierce and the movie's financial backers. Crabtree published a book about his experiences in 1974. It's still sold at a hamburger stand in town. Crabtree, asked recently by telephone about the monster, said his book would answer questions and declined further comment. The book says Crabtree's son fired at the monster in 1965 but the creature kept coming, and the youth retreated.

The paperback book and the Boggy Creek Legend pizza on the menu of the Fouke Family restaurant are about the only monster references to be found in the Miller County community these days.

Roberts says the tracks were a publicity stunt. "I feel like somebody walked out in there with stilts on. When I was a boy, we called them tomwalkers. I think they were trying to get attention here. Maybe they thought they could make a little money on it, I don't know. I suspect there was several involved. I won't call their names because some people have passed on,' he said.

Roberts said it's natural for a prankster to boast, but that hasn't happened in Fouke. "I'm kind of puzzled about it,' Roberts said. "I try to downplay it everywhere I go. It's kind of embarassing, a little bit, when I go off to a meeting like the Arkansas Municipal League and they'll ask about the monster.'

There have been no sightings in at least three years, Roberts said. "I won't say all was intoxicated when they saw it, but some did see something that, well, they saw more than actually was there,' he said. "I never did believe it from the day I heard it. I've lived here 65 years and traveled just about every spot in south Miller County. I've never seen anything.'

Chief Deputy H.L. Phillips of the Miller County Sheriff's Department said he hasn't taken a monster call in years. "I don't even recall the last one I got,' he said. "We don't even keep a file anymore. A few years ago, someone called and said they'd found a cave along the Sulphur River where the monster was supposedly living. Nothing there. I don't believe in it. But I'd say you don't argue with people who say they've seen it. Many were respectable and responsible folks.'

"There are no higher primates, other than man, in the Americas,' Schambagh said. "Scientific evidence is totally against it. It's just mass hysteria. I don't think that many people actually believed in it. People see things when their imaginations are excited. They see things, coincidences come together. People see flying saucers.'

Former Fouke Mayor James D. Larey was one of three townspeople named to verify the capture of any monster by a reward-seeker. "There's always joking about it from time to time, you know. Somebody will mention it and somebody will laugh. I don't think the people believed there was a monster as such, but there's always a few people who believe. For a while, there was lots of people talking. I had a bundle of 700 or 800 letters at one time, they were wanting to bring dogs and guns and everything t o find it.'

Most people who have said they have seen the monster, Larey said, "have quieted down, some have passed away, faded out. There's no advertising or anything anymore.'

Former Miller County Sheriff Leslie Greer, who led expeditions of lawmen through the steamy swamps, said he thinks the tracks were faked. "I don't think it did any harm. It created a lot of interest in Fouke, and nobody got hurt, but a lot got excited,' Greer said. "It was just, I think, a rigged deal all the way through. I don't know why anybody would want to do it, unless it was to put Fouke on the map.'
IN SEARCH OF THE FOUKE MONSTER - Arkansas town says swamp creatue is nothing but a
lingering legend

The Dallas Morning News - August 9, 1986

Author: Scott Charton, Associated Press: The Dallas Morning News (DAL) + _____

Fifteen summers have drifted by since giant footprints generated international publicity about a hairy, foul-smelling critter with eyes of fire.

Despite the offer of a $10,000 reward, the Fouke Monster was neither trapped nor photographed. The reported sightings captured the imaginations of students, who had monster drawing contests, and one teacher who said the creature should be protected as an endangered species.

Descriptions were imprecise. Depending on the source, the red-eyed monster was a howling ape, a swamp man or a country cousin of the Abominable Snowman.

Frank Schambagh, an archaeologist at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, has been debunking the monster since the three-toed tracks were found in June 1971 on the edge of a soybean field. "There's never been any question in my mind that it was always a hoax,' he said.

The reported encounters were fleeting in the town, which is about 10 miles from Texas and about 20 miles from Louisiana. A carload of Texarkana residents said the monster dashed across U.S. 71 one late spring evening. A deer hunter said she spotted the creature in heavy timber. One man moved his family to another town after what he described as a terrifying encounter with the monster that sent him screaming through a closed door.

Supposedly, a town wit pointed to a liquor bottle when asked where he had spotted the monster.

When size 14EE tracks were found by a farmer among the sprouting beans, Fouke Monster fever became an epidemic.

Virgil Roberts, mayor of the town of 509, says the monster was a hyped hoax. "I'm convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that was a man-made track,' Roberts said as he sipped a soda at City Hall.

The monster-generated dollars were real.

Roberts' wife made a plaster cast of the footprint and turned out more than 5,000 miniatures, complete with handpainted "Greetings From Boggy Creek.' Roberts says she sold them to a distributor for 50 cents each.

A low-budget movie entitled The Legend Of Boggy Creek made a tidy profit and launched the career of director Charles B. Pierce . The movie starred Fouke residents. Recent efforts to contact Pierce were unsuccesful. The Arkansas Motion Picture office and the Directors Guild of America had no current address or telephone number for Pierce.

A resident who became disgruntled with the production company, J.E. "Smokey' Crabtree, filed suit against Pierce and the movie's financial backers. Crabtree published a book about his experiences in 1974. It's still sold at a hamburger stand in town. Crabtree, asked recently by telephone about the monster, said his book would answer questions and declined further comment. The book says Crabtree's son fired at the monster in 1965 but the creature kept coming and the youth retreated.

The paperback book and the Boggy Creek Legend pizza on the menu of the Fouke Family restaurant are about the only monster references to be found in the Miller County community these days.

Roberts says the tracks were a publicity stunt. "I feel like somebody walked out in there with stilts on. When I was a boy, we called them tomwalkers. I think they were trying to get attention here. Maybe they thought they could make a little money on it, I don't know. I suspect there was several involved. I won't call their names because some people have passed on,' he said.

Roberts said it's natural for a prankster to boast, but that hasn't happened in Fouke. "I'm kind of puzzled about it,' Roberts said. "I try to downplay it everywhere I go. It's kind of embarassing, a little bit, when I go off to a meeting like the Arkansas Municipal League and they'll ask about the monster.'

There have been no sightings in at least three years, Roberts said. "I won't say all was intoxicated when they saw it, but some did see something that, well, they saw more than actually was there,' he said. "I never did believe it from the day I heard it. I've lived here 65 years and traveled just about every spot in south Miller County. I've never seen anything.'