FOXSYLVANIA

– – Monsters & Mysteries in America is again providing us with some new episodes, which happily gives us something to write about.  In one episode first aired in 2014, a bizarre hybrid beast called Sheepsquatch was profiled, described colorfully as being “a cross between mutton and man.”  This might be a great description for an offbeat underdog wrestler, but refers to a creature sighted in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky.  One encounter detailed occurred in July of 2004 by friends Dakota Cheeks and Ricky Joyce, who while staying in a hunting cabin awoke to find their 150-pound dog with his neck broken.  They later stayed in a camper, and became aware of something pressing against it.  Therafter, they encountered a 9′ tall creature with long, taloned arms that emitted an “ungodly, gut-wrenching growl” at them.  The beast charged, and while they fired at it, the duo apparently failed to hit anything.  Retreating, the friends came back later and found drag marks, while it was uncertain whether the creature was wounded and dragged itself away, or had dragged prey away.– Quite the ambiguous, open-ended account, yes?

Then we have Batsquatch (not in any way associated with Batman), who haunts the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  In January of 1976, ten different witnesses including police officers and fisherman reported seeing the creature within a two week time frame.  Batsquatch stands eight to ten feet tall, and has a bat-like wing span.  In January of 1976, brothers David and John Daut were traveling in a small car when the creature appeared on the road in front of them.  As it refused to yield and forced them to stop, they were in the process of backing up when the beast took three or four steps towards their car before flying over it, making loud flapping noises in the process.  Batsquatch has a head like a dog or wolf, and intense red eyes.  A second account presented the case of a man who stepped outdoors and was grabbed from above by Batsquatch; while he managed to beat the creature off, the back of the jacket that he was wearing bore rips as if from talons.  In Hidalgo County near Houston, a father and son team were hunting deer and in a tree stand when the father reported being snatched by an avian humanoid; the son shot at the offending beast, which released the father, who suffered broken ribs and related injuries.  It was speculated on the show that Batsquatch may be a surviving type of pterodactyl…very cool if so, and certainly the very stuff of which Syfy Channel movies are made!

Lastly and most familiar to us, the show presented a segment on Sasquatch of the American Pacific northwest.  In a rather current and fascinating encounter from 2010, hunter Justin Smeja and a friend while in the Sierra Mountains saw a Bigfoot standing about 6-1/2 to 7 feet tall.  They fired at the unfortunate beast, apparently hitting him.  The wounded creature staggered away, and was met by two juveniles, engaging in what the hunters described as “deaf chatter” with them.  The creatures then split up with the hunters in pursuit; Smeja reports encountering and shooting one of the poor juveniles thereafter.  As he watched the creature expire, Smeja was taken by its humanoid characteristics and stricken by remorse, as a result of which he and his friend buried the Sasquatch rather than retaining its body.  Reports of the incident caused Bigfoot hunter Derek Randles to encourage Smeja to find and return with the body.  This Smeja attempted to do, but could recover only a patch of hair with attached hide and flesh.  This tissue was taken to a lab, where analysis reportedly found the tissue to be that of a genetic relative of humans, with Bigfoot speculated to be the result of breeding between a male primate and a human female in the distant past…I’m glad I wasn’t a chaperon  on that date!

As for Derek Randles the Bigfoot hunter, he had his own encounter in August of 1985 when he and a hiking friend went off-trail in Washington state.  A large rock was thrown at the duo to be followed by a second, each cast intentionally and landing about ten feet away.  The hiking partners wisely exited stage left at that point, with Randles looking behind himself at one point, and spying Bigfoot.  It was Randles belief that Bigfoot did not intend to harm him but only scare him off, and that perhaps in going off-trail he and his companion had ventured too close to a family group of Bigfoot or their habitat.  Out of this encounter was born the Olympic Project, which seeks to obtain crystal-clear images of Bigfoot in a natural environment.  The automatic motion-sensor type cameras deployed in this project have so far managed to take mostly images of well-known wild animals, together with some partial images of body parts that just might be connected to a Bigfoot…or not!  

Again, I could die happy if we’d have conclusive, verifiable scientific proof of the existence of any of these cryptids or others in my lifetime.  An alien would be awfully nice, too… *sighs*