Bigfoot researchers claim they have found more evidence of the elusive creature, this time in the mountains of Shasta County, California.

The Great American Bigfoot Research Organization contacted NewsWatch50 after our story about a Canadian man who claimed to have sighted the creature, in order to tell the public about an expedition they are conducting outside Burney, California in an area called Clover Mountain.

On April 2, Mr. Lee Hickman, a professional tracker and guide in Burney, and his brother Jimmy were looking for tracks at an elevation of about 5,300 feet on Clover Mountain. He saw about a dozen tracks coming off of Clover Mountain, crossing Burney Creek and then Dry Burney Creek. They followed the tracks toward an area called "The Gardens," heading toward McGee Mountain. Unfortunately, they lost the tracks at the tree line of McGee Mountain.

The Hickman brothers Lee and Jim are grandsons of famous Bigfoot researcher Ivan Marx former animal trainer for Walt Disney Studios and film maker of the 1950's. Ivan Marx was an accomplished wildlife and nature photographer who claimed to have captured Bigfoot on film many times between 1958 and into the late 1970's. Marx produced, developed and edited his own 16mm wildlife documentary in his film laboratory in Burney, California; in 1976 it was titled "Legend of Bigfoot" and starred both Ivan and his wife, Peggy Marx. (see footnote)

Three days later, on April 5, 2005 - they returned to the track area where they saw some of the tracks so they could take plaster casts of them (picture of the casting shown above). With them on the expedition on April 5th were Robert Shorey, Vice-President of Great American Bigfoot Research Organization; and Peggy Marx, wife of the late Ivan Marx.

The group also claim to have sighted the creature during the making of the casts. While the casts were being made the group heard a rustling in the bushes. When they looked, they saw a creature crouching, looking at the people who were making the casts of the print. When they pursued the creature, the creature ran away. The party followed the fresh tracks of the creature, but lost them as the creature went over rocky terrain.

Facts about the castings of the footprints:

Length: 15 inches - Width (at the base (heel) of the print): 4.5 inches

Width (at the widest part of the foot, which would be at the top of the foot): 6 inches

The prints that indicated the length of the stride of the creature showed a stride of 64 inches long.

Photos of the casts and photos of the actual footprints from which the April 5, 2005 casts were taken will be available on the official website of the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization, (the website no longer exists)...

Footnotes on Ivan and Peggy Marx
Ivan Marx was an animal tracker-trainer, woodsman, hunting guide, explorer, adventurer, accomplished wildlife-nature cinemaphotographer, and dedicated Bigfoot hunter. Ivan first began his Bigfoot research in the 1950's. He was involved in the Bossburg, Washington Cripple Foot track finds in November, 1969 along with Rene Dahinden, Grover Krantz, Joe Rhodes and Don Byington. They claimed to have shot actual footage of a crippled Sasquatch tracks in October, 1970 near a garbage dump in Bossburg, Washington. Joe Rhodes actually discovered the first cripple tracks, not Marx; Rhodes then phoned Dahinden and Dahinden phoned Marx. Ivan Marx briefly worked for three months for renowned Bigfoot researcher big game hunter Peter Byrne along with Ed Patrick. Byrne later became one of Ivan's biggest and most vehement detractors over the hoaxing of a costumed bigfoot Mrs. Marx wore in one of his 16mm Kodachrome II films. Moreover, Ivan also collaborated with famed physical anthropologist Dr. Grover Krantz. In 1976 Marx narrated, produced, and edited documentary "The Legend of Bigfoot." Ivan also was a cinematographer; he produced his documentaries in his personal Kodak facility on his ranch property in Burney, California provided by Walt Disney himself. Ivan Marx subsequently followed this feature with two more documentaries: "In the Shadow of Bigfoot" and "Bigfoot: Alive and Well in '82." Marx and his wife Peggy lived in Burney, Shasta County, California. Although widely derided as a fraud by many Sasquatch researchers, Ivan always insisted that his movies and photographs of Bigfoot were real. Ivan Marx's cinematography and knowledge of 16mm film was tops in its day. Comparable to Disney in some respects with film, Marx's ability with color film was never in question and neither was his ability to train wild animals; Marx also raised and trained some of the most expensive bear hunting dogs of that time. He died of heart trouble in 1999.

Peggy Marx dedicated herself to the hunt for and research of Bigfoot since 1951. She's the widow of controversial Sasquatch tracker and researcher Ivan Marx, who has been widely derided as a phony by other Bigfoot experts. Peggy insists that the photographs and film footage of Sasquatch taken by her husband are authentic and were developed and edited personally by her and her cinemaphotographer husband in their Kodak laboratory; detractors claim said photos and film footage are actually Peggy dressed up in a furry gorilla suit. Rene Dahinden claimed the Marx costumes were hand-sewn by Peggy Marx herself. Mrs. Marx assisted Ivan in training various animals for Walt Disney, specifically wolves, cougars, bears and elk for use in Disney's colorful wildlife documentaries in the late 60's and 70's. She appeared as herself and worked as a apprentice cinematographer to her husband's hugely enjoyable documentary "The Legend of Bigfoot." She's the co-founder of the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization, which is made of a full-time team of devout Sasquatch true believers involved in the continual study and eventual possible capture of the elusive creature.

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