Post by Joanna on Jul 5, 2015 22:35:03 GMT -5
Bigfoot Sightings in Maine
Bigfoot, one of our favorite monsters, is enjoying a new era of popularity. The term “Bigfoot” was coined in 1958, following a widely-publicized discovery of giant footprints around a road construction site in Northern California. Anthropologist Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, author of the Sasquatch Field Guide, describes Bigfoot as a hair-covered, 7-to-10-foot tall, 600-to-1,000-pound hominoid creature occupying forested areas of North America. The beast isn’t confined to the Pacific Northwest, Bigfoot, to the surprise of some, has enjoyed a rich history within the Pine Tree State.
The earliest reports of Bigfoot-like creatures come from American Indian stories across North America that include many accounts of cannibal giants and hairy man-like monsters. In Maine, the Penobscot Indians told stories of the cannibalistic giant Kiwakwa. The monstrous Apotamkin belongs to the Passamaquoddy. The Micmac had legends of Chenoo or Djenu. The Chenoo of Micmac legends were about a tribe of powerful giants favoring colder climes. Legend has it their piercing shriek alone could be fatal. Chenoo were difficult to kill and their hearts were solid ice. Nevertheless, it was possible to befriend a Chenoo and its magical, superhuman powers could benefit human comrades.
Hairy hominid anecdotes from American history, particularly during the 19th century, permeated society and were often shared in popular magazines and newspapers. Employing terms like “wild man” or “whazzit,” these accounts sometimes described beings who were unquestionably human. However, some accounts of mysterious human-like creatures dovetail with our modern conception of Bigfoot. Among accounts of Bigfoot, wild man stories and other whazzit tales, there are well over 100 reports of giant, hairy creature sightings in Maine. Many such encounters have taken place near water, in forested areas or mountainous terrain, and most happened during the summer or autumn months.
(1) In 1895 in South Gardiner, a Boston Globe correspondent wrote of people near the outskirts of town startled by unearthly shrieks. Two women and three boys picking blueberries had come upon a hairy monster that walked upright on its hind legs like a man. Those who saw the creature said it looked like “an immense African monkey.”
(2) In the early 1900s, Maine author T. M. Gray mentions in her New England Graveside Tales (published in 2010), a woman’s story of her father’s encountering a strange creature while logging. On his way to camp, he observed a large, hairy man run out of the woods and dart across the road, causing him to slam on his truck’s brakes. Joined by fellow lumberjacks, they searched for the strange creature, but never saw it again.
(3) According to the “Bigfoot Encounters” website, in 1942, two sisters accompanied other family members who were fishing for smallmouth bass on Meddybemps Lake. The girls fished from a rocky island until one night they heard a howling noise which they described as “melodious singing from someone with a husky voice” echoing across the lake. The girls were later confronted by a pair of hair-covered giants that took their fish.
(4) The “Durham Gorilla sightings” occurred between late July and mid-August 1973. The first sighting was by a group of children biking on Shiloh Road in Durham, where they encountered a creature they said resembled a chimpanzee.
(5) In 1984, a man and his uncle in Sullivan were fishing for trout when they saw a 7- to 8-foot-tall creature that was dark brown in color. The animal was no more than 50 feet away and the witnesses estimated it weighed between 400 and 500 pounds.
(6) Michael Merchant, aka SnowWalkerPrime, is a Maine-based Bigfoot researcher who has conducted a series of interviews with Bigfoot witnesses. In 2006, an Ellsworth couple told Merchant they were driving south on Route 1A one October night when they suddenly glimpsed a figure on two legs on the left side of the road. The creature was backlit by a street light and they observed it was tall, thin and had exceptionally long arms. In a fluid motion the thing hunched forward, placing its hands on the ground and bounded across the road on all-fours. When almost across the road, it was joined by an identical, smaller creature following in similar, quadrupedal-style. The way the creatures moved convinced the man and woman the animal was apparently inhuman.
(7) Bill Brock of Durham has been investigating a claim of Bigfoot in Turner with an accompanying video filmed in 2014. The video shows a dark figure walking across a woodland trail. Brock is a believer in utilizing new technology in the hunt for Bigfoot and promotes the benefits of drones for data collection and evidence evaluation.
These accounts, spanning centuries, reveal the breadth and volume of mysterious, human-like creatures occurring in the state. Several investigators are actively conducting Bigfoot research in Maine, including Dan Soucy, the aforementioned Michael Merchant and Dave Brock. Check out their YouTube channels for their field research videos and thoughts on the subject.
Source: Daniel S. Green, The Bangor Daily News, June 22, 2015.