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Guests:
David Paulides, Harvey Pratt, Kathy Strain, Dave Cullen, Jim Berkland

Filling in for George Knapp, Ian Punnett was joined, for the latter half of the program, by Bigfoot researcher David Paulides and forensic artist Harvey Pratt for a discussion on the relationship between Native American cultures and Bigfoot as well as their work using eyewitness testimony to craft forensic sketches of the creature. Paulides revealed that they have uncovered a number of tales of Bigfoot abducting humans. He shared one story, from around the 1940’s or 50’s, of a girl from the city who was visiting her family in a rural part of California. She went off into the woods to pick berries and disappeared. A month later, she reemerged and claimed she’d been “kidnapped by the hairy man.” Pratt concurred with the pervasiveness of these types of stories, saying that he’s heard similar tales “even closer to our time frame.”

Regarding their work turning sightings into sketches, Pratt stressed that he serves as a forensic artist as opposed to an illustrator and that all of his drawings are done with the witnesses present and are based solely on their testimony. “We go through a great deal of dialogue,” Pratt said, with the goal of capturing the sighting from all angles, including the face as well as the back and shoulders. Despite the ongoing debate in the cryptozoology community over whether the creature is ape-like or human-like, Paulides marveled that “we have yet to draw anything close to an ape.” Another trend that they have noticed is that the hair color of the Bigfoot seems to coincide with its age, similar to how a human’s hair changes over time. For instance, all of the reported golden-colored Bigfoot are smaller and underdeveloped while the grey haired ones are older and frail-looking creatures.

Native Americans & Bigfoot

During the 2nd hour, anthropologist Kathy Strain talked about Native American Bigfoot stories from around the country. She noted that, throughout the history of North American tribal cultures, Bigfoot was widely believed to be a cannibal. The most common story, she said, is that it roamed around with a basket on its back and a sticky substance on its hands, snatching children to take home and eat. While there are several instances of stories involving Native Americans going to war with the creature, she observed that there are also tales of face-to-face trading between Bigfoot and various tribes. The legends, originating from the Oklahoma and Arkansas area, saw the Sasquatch receiving woven items like baskets and blankets in exchange for fish and obsidian.

ABC interview with George Noory

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