| Bigfoot
Encounters
ON
THE TRAIL - JOURNAL OF A RESEARCHER |
|
On or about March 28, 2000 I was contacted via phone by John Green regarding a strange incident he had seen on the Internet. It was reported in two separate segments on separate dates. Upon hearing this information I was immediately suspicious. Two months earlier, I had relayed to John that I had word from reliable sources that 99% of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch stories on the Internet were nothing but a mass of 'LIES & TRASH'. Upon my reminding John of this, he somewhat agreed, but added "what if"? John himself admitted that he thought the report might be a HOAX simply because of some inconsistencies between the first and second report. Never the less, I agreed to investigate the incident. The report came from Imlay City, Michigan (Attica Twsp.) and was of recent origin. The witness, a seventeen-year-old youth claims that as he went out to feed his three Emus (flightless birds, smaller than an ostrich), about 6 a.m., he encountered a Bigfoot creature attacking one of the birds "chomping and eating it" at a distance of about 40 yards. Witness states that he ran to the barn, retrieved a 22-caliber rifle and shot the creature, striking it in the shoulder. The creature immediately responded by screaming and roaring out as it retreated, running toward Expressway 1-69. Witness additionally claimed that his mother had witnessed the entire incident. On the morning of March 29th, I arrived in Imlay City and proceeded to the Police Dept. to verify the credibility of the witness and to see if there were any police reports or damage statements filed. In that the witness claimed that the Bigfoot creature not only killed a valuable, exotic bird, he additionally claimed the creature had torn down an eight-foot high fence in the process. Upon the police dispatcher finding that the witness's address was falsified, in addition to his last name and phone number, the Chief of Police was summoned in whereupon he managed to direct me to the proper address along with the correct phone number. Upon the Chief dialing the number, he gave me the phone and I spoke with the mother, verifying directions to their residence. I noted that the mother, while speaking to me on the phone, seemed disturbed and a bit confused, not only that I was investigating her son's report, but that I was at the Police Dept. as well. Though she was both suspicious and reluctant at giving me permission to interview her and her son, she agreed. Upon arriving at the witnesses' residence at 1:00 p.m., I was met by the mother and allowed entry. The entire witness deposition was tape recorded. Once I detailed the report that her son had placed on the Internet, she was shocked and in disbelief. She stated that she never witnessed a Bigfoot attacking the Emu. The neighbors' dog attacked the Emu and when she came out the back door, her son was dragging the dog, by its neck, back to the neighbor's house. The Emu suffered a couple of puncture wounds, which the vet took care of and the bird did not die. The mother went on to say that they don't even own any guns with the exception of a BB gun in the shed. Additionally, there is no 8' tall fence surround the Emus, The witnesses own 5 acres of land, not the 35 acres claimed by the youth, and the incident actually occurred in December 1999. The mother, at this point, was irritated enough that she phoned the high school the boy was attending and requested that they have her son (Joe Misiak) phone home. Shortly, the youth called and spoke with me. He was excited and overwhelmed that I had come to his home to investigate his Internet story. Upon my asking why he had blatantly lied about his story, he stated that he was very sorry and he was just "fooling around with a friend" and "everyone on the net does it." He again apologized and asked if there was anything he could do? I told him that, though he had ruined his credibility, he might begin redeeming some of it by placing a formal apology on the Internet. He assured me he would certainly do that. EMAIL APOLOGY - March 29, 2000 I would like to apologize
for the last two "stories" that I submitted. They were all a
hoax and I would also like to apologize to Wayne W. King who took the
time to come to my house and personally talked to me about this. I am
sorry to all and I would like to say to all of those people who think
that they can pull a little story off, DON'T DO IT! These things are taken
seriously! Don't goof around! (Signed) joeemufarmer@yahoo.com I find it both tragic and unfortunate that this type of TRASH is on the Internet. It is not only a public embarrassment to the many who harbor serious dedication to this field, but it tends to make a type of mockery jeopardizing the factual content that the bonified individuals have brought to the forefront thus far. CASE IN POINT - The
above witness knew exactly what he was doing. He purposely gave a wrong
last name, replaced the last digit of his telephone number, and placed
his proper residence address on the wrong road. This was done deliberately
so that he couldn't be traced. The witness, covering his identity through
the internet then proceeded to list his E-MAIL name as joeemufarmer@yahoo.com.
Fortunately for us all, that's the only thing the witness didn't lie about. While John Green and I were discussing the Imlay City report, he mentioned another suspicious incident that had recently taken place near Mt. Pleasant, Michigan involving a Bigfoot that had struck the side of a vehicle with two male occupants inside. I told John it was rather ironic because I had just gotten off the phone. A Bill Kingsley of Mt. Pleasant had called and gave me some information about the incident. John had evidently gotten the report from the internet but Kingsley said it was printed in the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun news and sent me a copy of the article. Unfortunately, it was very brief, listing no names and only the occurrence. The report was handled by the Mt. Pleasant Chippewa Tribal Police. Three days after I phoned the tribal police, I was contacted by Officer Garret Salter who had investigated the incident. He refused to cooperate in answering many of my key questions. He stated that the incident happened at 12:30 AM and he never wrote up a report, but he did have it logged. He stated that both male witnesses admitted that "something" had struck their vehicle. Officer Salter then stated that the second incident involving two witnesses who supposedly saw a Bigfoot dragging a deer carcass across a road "never happened." Officer Salter then informed me that if I desired more information concerning names and addresses, I would have to file under the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. At this point, I bid the officer a "thank you" and hung up. COMMENT: Unfortunately, this is another typical example of just what is happening on the Internet services. Though I cannot personally prove that such Bigfoot/Sasquatch related stories are all TRASH, I believe that it sends out a "STRONG SIGNAL" to the bonifieds not to place a factual reliance upon this new communicative tool. © Wayne King, Michigan-Canadian Bigfoot Information Center Portions of
this website are reprinted under the Fair Use Doctrine of International
|