2/8/24

Bigfoot In A Box

 A mystery photo from the early 1960's, mysteriously submitted and unclaimed. The place was somewhere in the vast green forests of the Pacific Northwest...since then a long game of "is it?" or "isn't it?" has revolved around this, and similar images, ensuring the legend of mythos of the Bigfoot continues.

At one point in the late 1950's and early 1960's a carnival sideshow claimed a frozen young bigfoot creature.  Crowds silently shuffled past the ice encrusted and frozen creature - forever caught in a twisted posture - as if warding off the demise that surely caught him.

Noted zoologists Ivan Saunderson was able - with assistants - to study the creature in the case. Detailed drawings, the best measurements capable in the setting and a photo or two were taken. He produced the first ever scientific study of an alleged creature. The findings were - unique - details were very specific for someone conducting a sideshow hoax.  His conclusions , although tempered by the lack of real access to the remains (an autopsy or necropsy) and the questions the very existence of such a reality might present, did note that it laid open the path for his scientific fellows to consider the real possibility of an undiscovered hominid in the forests of the northwest. 

As with all good stories - the ultimate end to this creature is clouded in mystery. It is known that the "real" or first frozen exhibit was replaced soon by a replica. A sideshow magic trick of staying one step ahead of legal steps regarding handling a dead body? The issue of a hoax being found out? 

All science was left with were some detailed notes by an expert working under less than ideal conditions, attempting to do as professional a task as best he could, while remaining open minded to things still to be discovered.

Maybe one day the rest of this tale can be told...until then, the search continues...despite hoaxers and despite the tsking fingers of a scientific community that had closed its mind to possibilities yet to be found. 



2/1/24

It Was Just A Bear! A standard explanation for alleged Bigfoot Sightings

From the early reports in newspapers to - today - bears are offered as a probable explanation for many reported Bigfoot type sightings. Is that correct? How similar - and how different - are the upright walking creatures?






BEARS

These images - unknown sources - reveal some common features of the rare occasions when bears stand or walk upright.



Things to Note:
  • The shape and visibility of the ears
  • The profile of the bear (protruding snout)
  • The stubby bearing of the arms
  • The short distance from ground to groin and the resultant short legs
  • Note the hunched or arched neck and the forward thrust of the head
  • Note the snout when seen facing forward appears more triangular

GORILLA

This image - again source unknown - reveals what a great ape looks like walking upright. This gorilla is a great picture of confidence.
Things to Notice:

  • The visible crest on the skull
  • The low center of gravity
  • The protruding abdomen (a beer gut) and buttocks
  • The hairy/pelted arms
  • The short legs (and usually thick)
  • A side profile shows a pronounced jutting outward of jaw line and ridge over eyes

1/5/24

SOME DATA TO BE COLLECTED: BIGFOOT RESEARCH


 A lot of the data online about Bigfoot or Sasquatch remains extremely basic: place, date, and narrative account of brief sightings of the illusive creature.  This dearth of real and intentional data allows the topic to remain at the sidelines. 

In my research for my books on UFOs, I also found that there is a strong emphasis on "Look, up in the sky!" Less emphasis on teaching people to be observant and record specific and crucial elements (where the sighting took place, the direction witness was looking, comparing sizes with known objects in the area, weather conditions, etc.)

That in mind, let me offer the following as a checklist of valuable details to collect, when a person sees something strange.  The items are tied to specific factors that will help determine if the person saw a bear or other normal forest dweller or something truly unique.                                                                         

Things to Observe

Y or N

Notes (add details here)

Shape of skull: Rounded top

 

 

Shape of skull: Crested top

 

 

Standing upright on two legs

 

 

Forehead: Visible

 

 

Forehead: Hairy

 

 

Forehead: Heavy brow or ridge

 

 

Nose: Wide and flat

 

 

Nose: Narrow and protruding

 

 

Mouth: Wide and thin lipped

 

 

Mouth: Wide and thick lipped

 

 

Teeth: Large, human-like teeth

 

 

Teeth: Prominent fangs

 

 

Jaw: Heavy, squared, hairy

 

 

Jaw: Narrow, pointed, flesh showing

 

 

Shoulders: Wide and hairy

 

 

Shoulders: Narrow and muscled

 

 

Shoulders: Hunched/Stooped

 

 

Arms: Hairy and falling closer to the knee level area

 

 

Arms: Hairy and falling to groin area

 

 

Chest: Hairy with no flesh showing

 

 

Chest: Hairy but with flesh showing

 

 

Hands: Human-like (5 fingers +thumb)

 

 

Hands: Large, prominent thumbs

 

 

Legs: Long and hairy (giving ht.)

 

 

Legs: Short and hairy (decreasing ht.)

 

 

Feet: Large and hair covered

 

 

Feet: Human-sized with flesh

 

 

Side view of head: Flat face (human-like)

 

 

Side view of head: Protruding nose/snout

 

 

Ears: Visible and set on sides of head

 

 

Ears: Visible and set toward top of head

 

 

Ears: Not visible

 

 

Eyes: Deep-set, below brow, and dark in color. Space about width of the nose or mouth.

 

 

Eyes: Farther apart (toward sides of nose line) placing them more to the sides of the head. Color dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               

                               


1/4/24

Screams in the Night!: Bigfoot and similar mysteries

 Imagine the total darkness of deep night, the silence of slumber is shattered by the sound of a horrific moaning or screaming. The sound is shrill, high pitched, and sounds like a woman crying out or jabbering in excited terror.

Ghosts, bloodsucking creature of the doomed, monsters, Bigfoot or the ill-defined but prevalent "Skinwalkers" of Native American lore. and beliefs.

Video and audio collections online are filled with captures of bizarre sounds. Many, however, do have a basis in something real, breathing and physical. 

Cougars, bobcats, panthers, and coyotes can all create howls and cries that fill that bill. Coyotes are often depicted with their mournful yipping cry.  Sounds and their purposes vary. A call out to see "is anyone there?" to "want to hook up?" and to other communication purposes. Sometimes, it is a basic statement that the creature is out, and others beware. 

A common feature of all these animals, and the cries of racoons, foxes, and others, is shrillness.  Even the cougar starts out with a low rough growl, but the pitch rises, and the shrillness of the hissing housecat comes through. 

In comparison, however, many of the available audio samples of alleged Bigfoot calls or cries seem to fall within a lower range.  A search for studies of the audio qualities of Bigfoot calls compared to other animals came up empty. They may have been done but were not easily available but here is one...



It is clear some significant research is needed to expand this aspect of studies into this cryptid. Right now a lot of focus is on merely mapping reports and revealing grainy photos of a "something" (real, mistaken identity or hoax). 


For other examples - check out this link Catalog of Recorded Audio - North American Wood Ape Conservancy

1/1/24

BIGFOOT

One of the ongoing mysteries is the concept of the Bigfoot (or similar names) that might exist in remote regions, use waterways to migrate, and plays a mean game of hide-and-seek.

I am intrigued by the way perceptions of this creature have changed and continue to change. Peaceful beast of the forests and hills, ill-tempered monster, and peeping tom with a bad attitude. His descriptions fluctuate as well. If one went by the illustrations and AI images the creature is part werewolf, part lion and part giant monster.

This array of details also paints a picture of an animal ranging from a hairy man to an upright gorilla like creature.   Depictions come seldom from a study of eye witness accounts but more from an active imagination. 

A random survey of eyewitnesses who were willing to share details with me resulted in some characteristics of note.

First, let's look at the skull of a gorilla and see its markers. The gorilla has a "crest" created by the bone formation of the upper skull. It has broad, defined brow ridge, high check bones, a wide nasal cavity and two outer downward protruding "fangs" and two small upward fangs and central broad teeth. All of these features will determine how the muscles, fat and flesh will look once added. 

Now look at a human skull. The more rounded skull cap, the smaller nasal cavity, the smaller check bones and the smaller and more numerous teeth. Again, all of these factors will influence the end result once muscle, fat, flesh are added. 


So, what have been seen most in eyewitness encounters? Most of the people who responded to my questions agreed that the 
  • EYES - were more almond shaped, large, and deep set.
  • NOSE- bridge was narrow, with wide, squatty type nostrils, and a scooped inward appearance.  
  • CHEEK- bones were defined. 
  • SKULL- was rounded with less of a crest. The brow line and forehead were covered in hair - not fur. No hair under eyes, around nose but forehead was hairy. MOUTH - There was NO simian look to the mouth (protruding teeth and jaw such as in a chimpanzee). The mouth was wide, with thin lips.

IIn humans there is diversity and adaptation of form - this probably exists in this mammalian cousin (if it exists).  Since environment often influence adaptations, the diversity would be most likely be in hair color for camouflage, nasal size due to altitude or other factors, the teeth and size. Experience has shown that the emptier an environment the larger wildlife can grow, and cramped environments can see a reduction in the size of the members of a population.


A sketch of an eyewitness sighting based on witness descriptions of facial features. Art done in 2023 by MAH from witness 23-15. 

11/29/23

BAWDS AND BARS OF EARLY OKLAHOMA

They were the places everyone knew how to find, so addresses or names were seldom used in newspapers and reports, but also the places no one wanted to recognize. They were the spots were ladies of negotiable virtue, outlaw drinks, and games of assorted chances could be found. Every style was offered - from the refined settings of lace and Belgium carpets to rough blood-stained floors and mismatched chairs.  Find out about some of the places and people of early Oklahoma in BAWDS AND BARS OF EARLY OKLAHOMA. Available now on Amazon.   Part of the series NEIGHBORHOOD OF HELL, the work joins Tales of Hell's Half Acre and Oklahoma Bad Girls to look under the carpet of history for some inconvenient facts or ignored events.


Read, in a chronological order, the tides of change that drove issues of drink, gambling, and loose virtue in early Oklahoma. 




5/15/23

What really happened in 1947?

Confused by the competing rhetoric on what "really" happened in 1947 and the appearance of those "flying saucers"?  Is it hard to untangle just when something happened?  Do you have questions about how the military and government really reacted to those reports?

Look no further! 1947: Those Saucy Saucers is a chronological listing of major events, reports, responses, and influences driving the history at the time. 

The subtitle is taken from the comments of the commanding base officer for what was then Tinker Air Field in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. When queried about the flying saucers, as they were called then, he said those "saucy saucers" had not filed any flight plans with his base!

Chronologies - timelines - are a valuable research tool and allow things to become clear that can be easily hidden when stories are lumped together and dismissed (as so many of the early cases were) without adequate scientific investigations. 

Can we learn from our past? 

Get your copy, or ask your library to add it to their collection, and then answer that question for yourself. 




3/30/23

UFO's Over Route 66 -Now Available!!


A fun and short guide to the sightings over the historic mother road, Route 66.
Available in Kindle and paperback formats. Note, cover for Kindle version is a little different.

 

UPDATED! Now Available!



 Check out Amazon to get your copy in e-format or print. 

3/19/23

Seeing Patterns: Is There a Hidden Pattern in the UFO/UAP Topic

There can be a tendency to think of the past through a bias that says we are smarter. It is not a new bias; every generation tends to indulge.

In 1899, Tesla conducted an experiment of utilizing the Earth's own electro-magnetism to generate power. His experiment sent bolts of high powered electrical  frequency shooting outward, it rocked the area of the test, and created localized lightening storms.  The "message" he sent was in common dot and dash format (the Morse Code). It was already recognized as being sent and read. Surprisingly there were responses to his signals that were "periodic" and thus outside the natural response range. He felt they were responses to his messages.

In 1901, Marconi of radio fame, sent the letter "S" across the Atlantic for the first time. Tesla said his equipment once more picked up the regular pulses of earlier and they were not of the same character as solar radiation he had already recorded and studied.  There was an odd regularity and promptness to the responses that raised questions. Tesla thought them too reactive to be natural random events. He would later send and receive the signal for "V."

1921, Tesla reported he had been receiving strange, unidentifiable radio signals with an unnatural regularity.  He felt they contained a code and the only recognizable part of that alleged code was the letter "V."  This connection to the code Marconi had sent years before only deepened the mystery.

At this time the U.S. Navy was engaged in numerous developments and tests related to technologies to strengthen their forces: radio transmission and communications between land and sea based vessels was crucial.  At the time, a man named Jenkins had successfully transferred television waves to film and another had made possible signals printed onto thin strips of paper. The future was crafting many developments. Jenkins system was essentially a crude, early scanning disc system. The Navy wanted to test the plausibility of receiving signals from Mars. 

In August of 1924 the red planet was at its closest position to earth (35,000,000 miles) and a test was planned. Dr. David Todd was head of the "Jenkins Radio-Camera Test" of August 23, 1924.  The government shut down all radios of that date. Not all locations reported in as planned but from British Columbia came a report of a mysterious series of coded signals. They were four dashes repeated numerous times. 

The real results came from the Naval Observatory, site of the experiments, where they recorded along an extremely long roll of thin photographic film strip. Down one edge were a series of dots and dashes.  Along the other were clusters of dots that appeared to form crude human like faces.   The New York Times on August 28 reported on the event.  What really excited the scientists, however, were not the dot-matrix like faces but the chronological association they identified. 

There was some regularity in the events from 1899 to 1924. It seemed to be reflected in events occurring a year or two after keeping events in a 21 year range of time. The question raised was there something "out there" receiving the messages sent and attempted to return communications?

Add 21 more years to 1924 and you arrive at 1946 and the mysterious lights seen over the area of Scandinavia.  Add, one more year (matching the sending of the Marconi signal in 1901) you end up in 1947....the year most people assume birthed the entire UFO/UAP issue.

Since historical records indicate there was activity in 1946 and earlier in 1947 the regularity seems pretty solid. Add 21 more years to the 1946-1947 window and you end up in the 1965-1968 window of increasing activity. Adding 21 more years and we reach the 2010 window. Adding 21 more years and we face another window in 2031...eight years.

In 2020 there was a decided upswing in attitudes, recognition of unknowns and governments acknowledging the need to seriously study the once ridiculed topic. 

Is there a deadline approaching?  

What key events occurred in the windows of 1968, 2010 that might provide further insight? 

Is there....somewhere


...a clock ticking?


[Discover some fascinating under reported early cases by one of the journalists of the time. Flying Saucers - Serious Business by Frank Edwards (Bantam, 1965).  He uncovered and shared numerous stories and facts no one else did. See pages 73f for more on some early research in to the possibility of alien life that went unreported or was ignored.]

2/28/23

COMING SOON! SOONER SAUCERS VOLUME 2 AND UFO'S OVER OKLAHOMA: A ROUTE 66 GUIDE

 Author and researcher Marilyn A. Hudson announces that soon the sequel to her popular Sooner Saucers: Oklahoma UFO's 1947-1969 will be released. The volume, Sooner Saucers: Volume 2 will look at stories before, during and after those Project Blue File years in a chronological manner that helps make sense of all that was happening. 

There are numerous stories, many of them first time accounts, and from the witnesses themselves. In addition, there are numerous obscure historical facts and incidents that most people are unaware ever occurred in the "Sooner State" of Oklahoma. A must have for any Oklahoma collections and libraries dedicated to balanced views of the historic unidentified flying object topic. 

An added bonus is the release of a guidebook to locations along US Route 66 in Oklahoma where there were reports of strange encounters, sightings, and more. UFO'S Over Oklahoma: A Route 66 Guide presents some brief history of locales along the historic roadway and then shares the accounts reported. Perfect for a different kind of road trip....

Both are expected to be released late March or Early April of 2023 and will be available on Amazon in book and kindle formats. 




"HORRIBLE BRUTALITY!": 1897 CRIME IN INDIAN TERRITORY (OKLAHOMA)

 In the lurid style of the day a story was widely reported in September of 1897 under the heading, "Horrible Brutality!"

The event was in the Coalgate area of Indian Territory, south of McAlester. A man named Wiley Ross, identified as a "non-citizen" (meaning he was not a member of a Native American tribe and thus was only living there by permission of the Federal Government and tribal authorities). It also mentioned that he was partially deaf and had, three weeks earlier, married a 15 year old girl from that area. Some, the news accounts added, thought he was not a cunning and devious devil and others that he was not "in a right mind." The account seems to support that description.

The most recent Saturday the girl's father and brother came by her house to visit and found no one about. Concerned they conducted a search. About a quarter of a mile down the road they found her lashed to a tree in a startling condition. She had been tied there for three days with only three drinks of water in all that time.

As the weak young woman's story was heard it was learned that her trials began some ten days earlier when her husband tied her to a wagon wheel. After securing her the man had then fired off his Winchester over her head and near by several times. Then, he began to beat her with a club. How long he beat her she was not sure because she became unconscious.

The next outrage was to tie a rope around her neck and hoist her up by the rafter in the cabin. This he did until he supposed she was dead. After he learned she had survived this treatment, however, he then tied her to a chair in the house. Beside her was a large container with a spout holding powder used to ignite papers and sticks in the fireplace.  He arranged papers in the spout to form a trail and then from a distance he lit the paper and exited the cabin. He obviously was expecting the powder to ignite and explode into flames. 

Coming back in after a time he was greatly disappointed on seeing that the paper had burned but had broken from the spout and did not ignite.

Finding he had failed he then dragged to the tree and tied her there where she was found. She was famished, out of her mind, and unable to speak. It was feared that Mrs. Ross would die from her abuse. 

Authorities searching the house verified there was much blood, clubs and other implements supporting her account of torture. In addition, her body appeared to be one massive contusion said medical authorities. She was heavily bruised and cut all about her body. Her general appearance was frenzied with sunken eyes, lips drawn back in a look of terror and fear, Worst were the visions and memories of the events that when under their power she would sink back, grow rigid with her hands drawn up as if to protect herself. It took many kind voices to soothe her after these attacks and reassure her she was not in her husband's "loving" hands. 

Given the time period there were few census records to verify this story, especially without a name for the girl's family. The name "Ross" was very common all across "Indian Territory" and elsewhere.  The bride of this story would have been born about 1882. The "Wiley Ross" could have been twice her age (1867 - 1879 birth range) or even older. Was he a "shell shocked Civil War Veteran," a survivor of some gruesome frontier cavalry battle or attack, or just cunning and devilish as suggested?

As someone very wise one noted, some are mad and some are merely bad. Which is the case may never be known in this, another case, from the files of Mystorical...sharing stories since 2005.


 

3/24/22

Hudson To Follow Up SOONER SAUCERs with Related Works

Following up her popular, SOONER SAUCERS, author Marilyn A. Hudon, Stroud, Oklahoma, will be releasing SOONER SAUCERS, VOL.2 and KANSAS ENCOUNTERS: UFO's OVER THE SUNFLOWER STATE.  

A late 2022 release is targeted.  She is still accepting detailed stories for inclusion in both volumes. Go to the blog page "UFO SKIES" for the contact form

3/20/22

Where Did It Go?

 Researching for some new projects (books on the UFO phenomena) I was tracking sightings reported from my home state. I found in 2020 a listing for a place, a date, a report.  I took several pages of notes.  Added it to the file to explore as I began the book on my home state.

I had been working on that project for some weeks, researching, collating, and gathering information and interviews. I pulled out those notes, and then decided to go back to the online collection of Project Blue Book to check out a detail or two.

It.Was.Not.There.

I double checked. I looked in the year before and after. I searched through the non-dated and illegible files. I dug into other sources and checked newspaper archives (which were oddly pretty blank for a time when there are several cases listed in Project Blue Book and newspapers in other locations).

I have searched for several days now and still no mention of that case, anything related to the location or the date. 

Given the history of certain parties when it comes to telling the whole story about what people were seeing and reporting and the less than perfectly factual representation of events, this author has to wonder.  Now, that another soon to be super secret project related to the search for answers to Unidentified Aerial Objects had been created...was that case file sharing more than was warranted good for someone?

So - the hunt goes on....I am baffled. Where did it go?

1/14/22

THOSE STRANGE 'CONTACTEES'

 Through out human history there have been periods in which a society advanced and moved away from long trusted belief systems, behaviors, and moral road maps. Everything "new" was questioned and held in suspicious regard. Change only brought chaos and uncertainty. Status-quo kept things conformed to what had always been and should always be.

"Little people", "Saint", "Angels", "Spirit Guides" or "Space Brothers" - humans appear to have always had times when they sought some power outside of themselves to vindicate a certain point of view. Often that was a plea to retain the old, sacred, tried and true ways. Sometimes it was to embrace a new vision of life and adopt new values and behaviors to improve life for everyone.  

The "Contactee Movement" of the late 1940's, the 1950's when they peaked, and even into the 1960's when they lingered appear to fit into that framework of being a response to the fear of technological changes brought by a world war, the atom bomb, and a new world where life moved at a hectic new pace and old ways were being shed like the skin of a snake.

Thus, motivated by fear, con artist greed and opportunity, and often simple spiritual and metaphysical beliefs, the people of Venus, Mars or "Clarion" came to call on simple Earth people to express messages of hope, of peace, and a call to repentance for evil ways and warring habits. They enlisted these people they identified as unique, the chosen ones, the messiahs of a technological age.

This quasi religious or spiritual aspect makes them unique - along with the strong presence of con artists in the mix - and suggests they are a separate phenomena from those who witness or experience other types of UFO or alien contact. One suggests other dimensions, spiritual systems and a response to changing society and the other suggests new technologies and potential non-terrestrial life forms.  The motives and methods of both suggest two totally different categories of human experience. 



1/13/22

STROUD, OKLAHOM AUTHOR SEEKS STORIES OF UFOS AND ODD EXPERIENCES.

 For some the found art in a backyard in Stroud, Oklahoma along Route 66 is a curiosity, a junk masterpiece, a bit of good ol' boy kitsch.  For others they see the link to the larger UFO and flying saucer mythos and cattle mutilation events as the inspiration. 

For the Stroud resident and author of SOONER SAUCERS: OKLAHOMA UFO'S FROM 1947 TO 1969 (Amazon 2020) and the upcoming SOONER SAUCERS. Vol. 2 (due out later this year) it is a reflection of the bizarre stories Marilyn A. Hudson has uncovered in her research and through stories shared with her for the book.

In fact, she has collected a growing list of sightings, experiences, and events all along Route 66. "I am always interested in more," she said in an interview. 

People through the decades have experience strange things all along the "Mother Road."  "I would like to hear from people with stories of sightings of objects, strange lights, and any really odd experiences cruising along the area of Route 66. "

The author has a "comment" form on her webpage, UFO SKIES (www.ufoskies.blogspot.com), where anyone can submit a story related to UFO's or odd events along Route 66.  "If a person does not want me to use their name just give me some initials. I will want details - time, place, details of the event - and what went on before and after. It is not enough to say there was this object in the sky unless information about which way it was moving, if it made sound, if it had any colors, smells associated with it. How fast did it move? How did move? What was the shape? Where exactly was the event or the object? To consider these stories in the wider context of events there has to be enough to locate where the event happened, what the weather was like, time of day, movements, and all the rest. So those are needed in any report. What time did it happen and when did it end? Every detail of the event is valuable in getting a picture of the experience."

Author Marilyn A. Hudson is ready to get her kicks on Route 66 - on the road or in the skies. 

I Write Like...

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H. P. Lovecraft

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