Tarrant:
Much of my experiences started back in 1957 of which was ten years before the Patterson film of Bluff Creek and I had no idea what the creature was that walked into my campsite.

Then I got involved with seeking out what these creatures were, into the 1960's. Your Bio says you were born in 1932... I was born in 1935, so we're close enough in age to understand logic and common sense. I haven't really read anybody's reports or work, as I was traveling the whole country for over 22 years and involved in my career.

And while traveling 46 different states, I was always studying in-coming reports of Bigfoot, UFO's, cattle mutilations and the paranormal.

There was a central base office in Texas and if I was headed to a certain area/state where something was happening, I was asked to check it out. So I was constantly "on the spot" for a report to send back to the Office base.

My encounters/experiences have been an open book on most Bigfoot 'net sites over the years. I've acted in eleven movies for the fun of it. Have done re-enactments of "Wild West gun fighting" for the tourist on and off for twelve years... the money is good.

Was a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for ten years just for the fun of it; experimenting all I could with life in general.

Got off the touring of the road in 1985 and went back to Florida. Retired in 1989 and moved to Palm Springs California. Got too hot in the summer time, so my wife and I moved up to RENO Nevada to the higher elevations where it was cooler and got snow.

I'm going to give you my FIRST encounter of a face to face meeting with a Bigfoot that happened 1957. When I was facing this being at 12-feet away, wondering if HE was going to charge me, with a gun in my hand, or understand that I was scared and was going to shoot HIM if he made a move toward me. We were making eye contact and you could almost read his mind or actions that he could get hurt badly from a gunshot wound or just leave my camp. He left.

This "thing" came right up close and stood there. It was at least seven foot tall, with very wide shoulders, dripping wet from the knees down with matted stringy hair hanging down all over its body.

One of my buddies just freaked out. My other friend was in frozen fear. I was completely speechless. Of all the years growing up in the Everglades, we had never seen or heard of anything like this giant mass of hair. It was a Monster!!

It stood about 17 feet from the fire, but we could see it very clearly and it's eyes.
After what seemed to be about two minutes, we came to our senses that this thing wasn't going to be taken down with three .22's ... probably not even raise a welt on its chest.
I whispered to them that if we walked slowly around and got in front of the fire, we could see this monster a lot better without the glare of the fire in our eyes. I was the first to make my move, then they did the same.

Now the so called monster was less than 12 feet in front of us. I told them that if it made a move toward us, to aim for its knees and shoot. That might drop it to the ground, and then we can decide how to go from there.

The creature just stood there with its arms slowly on occasion swinging at its sides.
My hand was shaking with my gun in hand so badly that I wasn't sure I could aim.
I was more or less closest to the creature and I was looking it over to see if it might have been a Wild man or some sort of feral human that might have escaped an asylum. It wasn't an Ape or some oversized primate. The only thing that came to mind was the Winter Quarters of the Barnum-Bailey Circus that was up state (Sarasota) and a possible escaped something or other with this much hair.

I was in much anticipation of what was going to happen next, I watched the creature's eyes for a possible direction he might take to rush one of us. His eyes were staring at the sausage on the grill. He then would make eye contact back to me then back to the sausage, then back at me.

If I knew then what I know now.. I would have offered him a link and a beer. It was the smell of the meat that brought him in... But I didn't know what his intentions were in either snatching it up, knocking us aside or just how violent he might get.

I could see that we were facing intelligence here and he knew he was facing three scared humans with guns. We all just stood there waiting... and minutes went by. Then after much eye contact between me and the food, he slowly turned and walked back into the water and back into the darkness and soon all was silent. I guess he saw the dangers in snatching the food and left.

My two buddies were very shaken up… they stood guard the rest of the night until dawn while I got some sleep... knowing that they were fully awake.

During the following week, we asked everyone about the Monster that came into camp.
The Indian agent had never heard of such a thing. Jimmy Tiger wasn't talking either. That was just a scary incident that we experienced back at that time and we never forgot about it. It was just an event that shook me up and was burned into my memory at the time.

It wasn't until I was in Dallas Texas, that I overheard conversation at a table about the Monster that kept looking in the kitchen window when the wife was making dinner that the husband was going to take his shotgun after it. That was known as the FOUKE MONSTER of Arkansas.

Just a quick story here... I was a professional musician, traveling around the Southern States and was booked into Texarkana and got to know Charles Pierce, who was dating one of our cocktail waitresses at our private night club. Charlie was going to film a documentary on the Fouke Monster and made a deal with an owner of a string of drive-in theaters from Texarkana to Dallas for a piece of the ticket gate. This film was the famous "Legend of Boggy Creek." I was on location with Charlie on several of his films.

During the early morning filming of "filler footage" of frogs and turtles, the camera & sound crew were in a large row boat. Near the bank, a loud scream from the creature scared the hell out of the crew, dropping the mic' boom in the water and grabbing oars to get the hell out of there.

I joined them for breakfast to listen to their adventure, as they were having booze instead of eggs. The crew was all shook up. Charlie didn't get any film footage of the creature on the bank although they saw the outline of a tall massive "What'szit" standing there.

Since this was my chance to get me a Monster and they were still called Monsters in 1971... I figured out a plan to get me a crew of hunters and go after the creature. Since this was my chance to get me a Monster, and they were still called Monsters in 1971... I figured out a plan to get me a crew of hunters and go after the creature.

Plan was to shoot him, freeze the body and get a lawyer and contact every anthropology department in every university and for the highest bid, offer a foot or hand or the whole cadaver for big bucks.

That's when two government officials knocked on my door from the Governor's office.
A "Cease & Desist" order. The Governor said that Foukie was the state's pet for over 68 years in it's transit and never hurt anyone, and (with a wink wink) said that it will remain a MYTH.

When I was a Deputy, if any call came in like for example: A Bigfoot was either hit by a car or shot dead, my watch commander had a special phone number that he would call, and a helicopter or truck would come out and pick up the carcass and it would just disappear. This is known as a government "cover-up." There would be no news media alerted. The event just didn't happen. Got the picture?? Same for a crashed UFO’s; it never happened.

I had known a lady whose barn, the creature always slept in every time he migrated thru the area. She wasn't afraid of the THING as she thought it was some sort of a wild man. The old barn was never used and the creature made his bed from the hay that was in there. She always saw HIM come & go and the creature never came up to the house. He would spend an average of four nights in the barn.

I talked to Mr. Fred Bear (Bear Archery) back in 1978, who had furnished the Smithsonian "Natural History" Museum with stuffed game animals from around the world, and he told me that the Smithsonian had logged in and had info on these creatures. About six cousins of the Yeti, Almas, Sasquatch, etc, at that time period, there was no mention of a tie with a Neanderthal mix. Mr. Bear had his own small museum down in Gainesville, Florida. He was 83 years old at the time I talked to him. Fred Bear told me: the traveling Clyde Beatty Circus had acquired a YETI back in 1925, and was bringing it into the states after a world tour.

The Smithsonian sent out three professors to examine and log any unknown animal import and found the Yeti to be too close to a human and advised the circus to let the being go before returning to the states.

At that time, there was a monkey trial going on in Tennessee of the Scopes Trial verses a teacher who was teaching Evolution, and to expose a Yeti would blow the roofs off the churches ... It was covered up and the government was behind it. I think the Smithsonian's big brass keep the log books on unknown animals and the Government just backs them up. If the Sasquatch were proven to exist, there would be requests for the Government to set aside sanctioned lands/reservations so that the Beings would be protected to live out their lives in safety from hunters and prying spectators, etc,.

Back in 1967 and 1968, I examined the Minnesota Iceman and my findings were the same as Ivan T. Sanderson and Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans before the cadaver was switched by a laytex model(s).

I had two more different encounters with the so called Skunk Ape in isolated area and the beings were out in broad daylight. Aside from facial hair, the face form was close to a human, with a slight pug nose. Not like an ape's flat face. It was close to the Minnesota Iceman's features; the Iceman was thought to be of a Neanderthal feature.

On the west coast of Florida, the ranchers and farmers would put out butchered scrapes of meat and veggies for the migrating Skunk Apes when they came thru their area.
This kept the creature families from stealing pigs, calves, chickens and pets for their dinner menu. This was all kept secret because the ranchers/farmers didn't want Redneck hunters from everywhere coming on their properties and shooting up livestock or the kids and farm houses.

I pretty much have just put myself on the back burner these past years as nothing has been happening, as I knew it would. We're dealing with intelligence here, and the Beings are wise to us. We have primates in the zoos because they aren't intelligent enough to hide and evade MAN when he comes to capture one. That's what I mean by "they're intelligent."

For an example... just try and sneak up on a Native Indian and capture him. Just can't do it. They are wise to the ways of hide and seek and that's how they hunted with bow and arrow and spears...!! They could sneak up on any animal. Why can't we SNEAK up on a Bigfoot as big as they are and capture one??

Although I call these creatures "Beings" at times, I resort back to the word creature by habit.

When Janice Carter and Mary Green came out with their book "50 Years w/Bigfoot" it really upset the habituators. They formed a party to dispel the "truth" and sent out rumors that it was a hoax. I don't know if Jan and Mary ever figured that one out but I do know that Loren Coleman certainly believed it was all a hoax; he helped spread that rumor around the 'net on his blog. Mary always complained that they had to put their own funds into publishing that book and lost money. The "hoax" thing killed everything.

The Government still keeps the creatures as a MYTH.

Doug Tarrant

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