What can I say, coming into all of this at 22 in 2002 I was naive to what I was getting into. I  was a young man who had an unwavering interest in the subject of bigfoot. I had never seen one, or been a part of any group until this point. It wasn’t long before I learned the political drama that surrounded this subject. It seemed no one could work with anyone else, the distrust hung in the air like a dense fog. I tried over the years to unify people under the idea that we all know they exist or want to believe, to no avail. I was even elected president of a group of researchers twice, and in the four years occupying that role I began to loath the whole thing. 

I got into this to learn more about the bigfoot, to see one for myself and remove all doubt. Instead I found myself constantly dealing with, what to me, was childish drama. After two terms, or four years I was done. In 2010, I nearly disappeared from almost anything to do with bigfoot. I had a radio show on blog talk radio, but I slowly allowed that to atrophy. It wasn’t long that I was roped back in when Rick Dyer reared his ugly head again. I was shocked by some in the community that were buying his snake oil, yet again. I started making videos pointing to the issues with his story. I received death threats, told to kill myself, etc. I ignored it, as I have been through it all before. I will say that my skin has become thick over the years from dealing with how people handle disagreements in the community.  I also was asked by a friend around the same time to look into Sasquatch Ontario, I did, and made a video. This also garnered me quite a bit of heat, for simply saying some of his evidence was suspect. The thing it never did was shut me up or bullied me into agreeing. 

In more recent memory I have seen divides deepen between those that think they are flesh and blood and those that think they are interdimensional or have psychic ability. I safely say there isn’t enough evidence to prove either right or wrong. Though one prominent face in the bigfoot community started calling out those he disagreed with, using his radio platform and stoking fires instead of dousing them. I don’t think it is wise or mature to put people down that you don’t agree with on a subject matter that has more unknowns than knowns. Bullying a narrative shows fear in something that isn’t understood, simply because that person hasn’t experienced it. That is mainly the majority of the disputes, that and how people conduct research. It is sad that trying to work out a consistent way of dealing with reports and evidence is divided down lines drawn in the sand by groups and organizations.  Very few work with one another, or want to be associated even though the goals should be similar. In the nearly two decades in the community I will say I have learned to do my own thing, respect others research, and not fall on swords over disagreements. In the end we are still left with more questions than answers and zero experts on the subject, which I will tackle in another article. No matter if there are those that self identify that way.