Tracking Bigfoot No Small Feat

[darkwinglh]

Here is a photo that was with this article, and it's titled "Photo of a Sasquatch seen on
the Hoopa Valley Reservation"

Putting it here for discussion.

Tracking Bigfoot No Small Feat
by Matt Wilson
A detective is looking for a Bigfoot. The creature also goes by the aliases Yeti, Sasquatch or Skunk Ape. Skeptics have added monikers such as pure fiction and rubbish.

To longtime private investigator David Paulides, the legendary creature is yet another case to solve.

Four years ago, the 1974 graduate of Monta Vista High School and a 20-year Santa Clara Valley, California detective, got bored and wanted to combine his love of outdoors with a good mystery. So he decided to go in search of the elusive simian.

Paulides is the director of the North American Bigfoot Search. He claims it is the only group in the world researching and studying the subject full time. “No one has ever given 100 percent of their time to this,” said Paulides, citing the lack of serious and credible efforts put into tracking Bigfoot.

This first batch of research is detailed in Paulides’ new book The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California. The book describes Paulides’ search along with eyewitness accounts and sketches of the creature. The book, due for release Aug. 1, coincides with the 50th anniversary of the creature receiving the name Bigfoot.

Paulides set out to find consistent patterns, so he and his organization did an exhaustive search of the Western United States to determine the optimum location. They studied accounts, times, dates, seasons and elevations coinciding with sightings. He analyzed 350 sightings since 1861 and plotted the data.

“It all came back to Hoopa,” said Paulides of the Native American tribe that inhabits an area in northeastern Humboldt County. “The Hoopa have been dealing with Bigfoot since early times. They run into it regularly; they just don’t talk about it.”

Paulides then spent every other week for nearly three years in and around the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. He spoke with the elders and many in the tribe as he dug deeper for Bigfoot-related clues. “After a year I had the complete trust of the tribe,” he said.

Paulides and the organization wanted to add credibility to a search for what many believe is a creature that exists only in the imagination of popular culture. “We wanted to hold witnesses accountable for their statements, something that is rarely done by Bigfoot authors and researchers,” he said.

Paulides developed a system where the team investigated sightings only if the witness signed an affidavit. If no affidavit was signed, no investigation was pursued. “The witnesses appreciated the professionalism,” Paulides said.

To add to the professional and investigative nature, a forensic sketch artist who has worked with the FBI was brought in. Muscle structure, facial features and closeup accounts were sketched in detail. The full-color sketches are in the book.

Paulides was astounded to discover that 90 percent of the sketches looked similar to each other, but do not conform to what Paulides feels is a mainstream depiction of Bigfoot.

“If you’re gonna fabricate an account, you’re going to make it look like what everyone is familiar with,” he said, citing the famous Patterson-Gimlin film footage. “The consistency can not be argued,” he said. “Most went against the grain of common knowledge.”

Paulides has enjoyed his time researching and writing about a subject he is convinced is the real deal. He and the organization will continue to keep searching.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” he said. “There is a lot more that needs to be understood. The puzzle will be solved.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/

[#59]

Here is a photo that was with this article, and it's titled "Photo of a Sasquatch seen on
the Hoopa Valley Reservation"

Putting it here for discussion.

Tracking Bigfoot No Small Feat
by Matt Wilson
A detective is looking for a Bigfoot. The creature also goes by the aliases Yeti, Sasquatch or Skunk Ape. Skeptics have added monikers such as pure fiction and rubbish.

To longtime private investigator David Paulides, the legendary creature is yet another case to solve.

Four years ago, the 1974 graduate of Monta Vista High School and a 20-year Santa Clara Valley, California detective, got bored and wanted to combine his love of outdoors with a good mystery. So he decided to go in search of the elusive simian. How does he know it is a monkey?

Paulides is the director of the North American Bigfoot Search. He claims it is the only group in the world researching and studying the subject full time. “No one has ever given 100 percent of their time to this,” said Paulides, citing the lack of serious and credible efforts put into tracking Bigfoot.

This first batch of research is detailed in Paulides’ new book The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California. The book describes Paulides’ search along with eyewitness accounts and sketches of the creature. The book, due for release Aug. 1, coincides with the 50th anniversary of the creature receiving the name Bigfoot.

Paulides set out to find consistent patterns, so he and his organization did an exhaustive search of the Western United States to determine the optimum location. They studied accounts, times, dates, seasons and elevations coinciding with sightings. He analyzed 350 sightings since 1861 and plotted the data.

“It all came back to Hoopa,” said Paulides of the Native American tribe that inhabits an area in northeastern Humboldt County. “The Hoopa have been dealing with Bigfoot since early times. They run into it regularly; they just don’t talk about it.”

Paulides then spent every other week for nearly three years in and around the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. He spoke with the elders and many in the tribe as he dug deeper for Bigfoot-related clues. “After a year I had the complete trust of the tribe,” he said.

Paulides and the organization wanted to add credibility to a search for what many believe is a creature that exists only in the imagination of popular culture. “We wanted to hold witnesses accountable for their statements, something that is rarely done by Bigfoot authors and researchers,” he said. That is 100% spot on.

Paulides developed a system where the team investigated sightings only if the witness signed an affidavit. If no affidavit was signed, no investigation was pursued. “The witnesses appreciated the professionalism,” Paulides said. However, such an affidavit carries no legal weight should the witness later turn out to be lying.

To add to the professional and investigative nature, a forensic sketch artist who has worked with the FBI was brought in. Muscle structure, facial features and closeup accounts were sketched in detail. The full-color sketches are in the book.

Paulides was astounded to discover that 90 percent of the sketches looked similar to each other, but do not conform to what Paulides feels is a mainstream depiction of Bigfoot. It'll be interesting to see what the consensus looks like.

“If you’re gonna fabricate an account, you’re going to make it look like what everyone is familiar with,” he said, citing the famous Patterson-Gimlin film footage. “The consistency can not be argued,” he said. “Most went against the grain of common knowledge.”

Paulides has enjoyed his time researching and writing about a subject he is convinced is the real deal. He and the organization will continue to keep searching.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” he said. “There is a lot more that needs to be understood. The puzzle will be solved.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/

[darkwinglh]

It should be noted that David has Harvey Pratt, one of the few remaining forensic sketch artists in the United States (Harvey works in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation) on the payroll, and at the Honobia Bigfoot Conference 2008 and at the TBRC Jefferson Conference, the audience was treated to quite a few witness sketches that Harvey has done with witnesses that have signed affidavits.

Even John Green had witnesses sign affidavits in Canada, in particular, William Roe in 1957, describing the female Bigfoot that came within feet of him, before discovering his presence and leaving.

[Bill]

Paulides is the director of the North American Bigfoot Search. He claims it is the only group in the world researching and studying the subject full time. “No one has ever given 100 percent of their time to this,” said Paulides, citing the lack of serious and credible efforts put into tracking Bigfoot.

I love how each group doing "research" claims to be the one doing it most and best. Someone clearly has to be mistaken all can't be best. It reminds me of insurance companies. They all claim to offer the lowest price and show the huge savings folks can get by switching to them from all the others. Yeah right.


The photo is rather tiny and not that clear but is obviously NOT a wild critter of any kinda but a man. Note the short arms in relation to legs and the overall appearance. I don't even think the man in the photo has on a suit of any sort to fake it but is merely dressed in heavy clothes.

I think such stories are interesting to read of course but aren't to be taken too seriously.

[#59]

http://www.harveypratt.com/

[#59]

http://www.harveypratt.com/hoopa_project_book.php

[darkwinglh]

About Harvey Pratt



Considered one of the leading forensic artists in the United States, Harvey has spent over 42 years in law enforcement, completing thousands of witness description drawings and hundreds of soft tissue reconstructions.  His work has assisted in thousands of arrests and hundreds of identification of unidentified human remains throughout America.  Currently employed as the police forensic artist by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), Harvey is the only full-time police forensic artist in Oklahoma.

Harvey began his career with the Midwest City Police Department in 1965 where he did his first witness description drawing a year later. This first attempt in forensic arts resulted in an arrest and conviction.  He joined the OSBI in 1972 as a narcotics investigator and retired in 1992 as an Assistant Director.  His expertise in witness description drawing, skull reconstruction, skull tracing, age progression, soft tissue postmortem drawing and restoration of photographs and videos have aided law enforcement agencies both nationally and internationally. Harvey's skills have assisted law enforcement in many high profile cases.  A few of those cases are as follows:  Green River Killer (Gary Ridgeway), BTK Killer (Dennis Rader), Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders (Gene Leroy Hart), Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, Bobby Joe Long, I-5 Killer (Randall Woodfield), Tommy Lynn Sells, World Trade Center 1993 bombing, Sirloin Stockade Murders (Roger Dale Stafford, Verna Stafford and Harold Stafford), Joe Fischer, Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot, Roger Wheeler Murder (Winter Hill Gang case – James J. "Whitey" Bulger, Stephen Flemmi and Johnny Martorano), the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Donald Eugene Webb, Oklahoma State Fair Abducted Girls (Roy Russell Long) and Randolph Dial.

Harvey also aides investigations though training classes, besides lecturing before universities, colleges, schools and civic groups.

Harvey is a Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal member and is recognized as an accomplished master Native American Indian artist. He has won numerous awards and was named the Red Earth 2005 Honored One. He is a self taught, multi-talented artist involved in many media; oil, acrylic, watercolor, metal, clay and wood.

He has been recognized by the Cheyenne People as an Outstanding Southern Cheyenne. His family is an artistic and traditional Native American family. Harvey received one of the highest honors by being inducted in the Southern Cheyenne Chief's Lodge as one of their traditional Peace Chiefs.