Thursday, December 20, 2012

A Trip to the Bigfoot Discovery Museum

A Great Big Bigfoot Thanks goes out to Randy Harrington for being our first Museum Member Guest Blogger and sharing his recent visit and pictures, while hanging out with Mike Rugg during his trip to California from his home state of Missouri:

My wife and I recently took a two week trip out to Vegas and the West coast. After several days in Vegas, we cut across the Southern section of California to the coast. We drove the scenic highway along the coast up to San Fransisco.  Before reaching San Fransisco, we would drive by Felton California.  Being a bigfoot researcher, I had to stop in and check out the Bigfoot museum there.

We arrived around opening time on Saturday the 15th, Mike Rugg answered the door and we made our introductions. I spent quite a while looking around at all the artifacts on display. It was a bigfooter's dream, all things bigfoot.  From Statues carved in wood out front, to display cases of plaster cast foot prints and hand prints.

Other patrons entered the shop and browsed while I was there. Most wanted to discuss our favorite subject...bigfoot.  There was one gentleman from New Zealand, and a couple people local visiting.  Mike was full of Knowledge and had many stories to tell, some from notable researchers, and plenty of stories from his own personal boots on the ground research.


I shared with him my sightings and research.  We went to my Facebook page so I could share photo's with him.  We discussed research technique success and failures...he was very open and generous with his knowledge and experiences.  He seemed to be appreciative of my efforts and techniques and results, and I appreciate someone of his caliber validating what I have done.  He said he would incorporate some of the things that have worked for me in his current area's...and I purchased a drawing Mike made of the famous Patty walking the creek in Northern California... Mike is an accomplished artist.  Of course I had him sign the art.

Mike is a great guy, I would encourage anyone that ever goes to California to make it a point to stop in and visit with him. I am glad I did.

Randy Harrington

 




Thursday, December 6, 2012

Update on the Patterson Big Reel One Documentary


Justin Smeja, Mike Rugg, Ralph Jack, and Ro Sahebi at Discovery Day V
The upcoming Documentary will include the presentations of Mike, Bill Munns (The Munns Report), and Dr. Meldrum (The Relict Hominoid Inquiry) at October's Discovery Day V, as well as the full 40 minutes of Roger and Al's recently unearthed "Big Reel One" which was shown publicly for the first time since the early 1970's at that day's presentation.

And below watch filmmaker Ro Sahebi's interview with Dr. Jeff Meldrum at the Discovery Day V BBQ, where he shares his thoughts on the current DNA projects, in addition to many other topics.

And if you venture even further below you will find some more pictures and video from the Bigfoot Discovery Day V post conference bonfire singalong!  

Dr. Meldrum, courtesy of Ro Sahebi of The Bigfoot Report  
and the Report's YouTube Channel









Post Discovery Day V Bonfire (Christina, Nadia, Kipp, Justin and Peter)




Saturday, November 24, 2012

Mike Talks about his Childhood Sighting

Friend of the Bigfoot Discovery Project and the Bigfoot communities own premier filmmaker Ro Sahebi takes the time to talk with Mike Rugg about his childhood sighting of the "Big Hairy Man", his time at Stanford University, and his decision to become a Bigfoot Researcher full time!

Enjoy the beautiful scenery of Felton California as we travel along with Ro on another one of his magical journeys!  Thanks for being so kind as to share with us all here Ro!

You can watch more films by Ro at his blog site The Bigfoot Report, and don't miss his "Extinct" Podcast every Sunday afternoon where all things Bigfoot and are discussed.

Watch here:




Ro Sahebi

Ro in action at Bigfoot Discovery Day V





Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Patterson Big Reel One Documentary

Patterson Big Reel One
The Bigfoot Discovery Museum has hit the road!  That's right Mike Rugg and Ralph Jack just left on their road trip with the producer filming their forthcoming Documentary (working title above)!  Their first stop is Willow Creek California, just about any hour from Bluff Creek, the site of the famous Patterson and Gimlin Film of "Patty" the female Sasquatch walking along a sand bar in 1967.  (Patterson Gimlin Film History

While in Willow Creek they will be conducting interviews with local's who knew Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin at the time of their filming, as well as local Bigfoot Historians, and members of the Bluff Creek Film Site Project.  Perhaps they will even come upon one of Patty's friends or relatives and make history all over again!

From Northern California they will be heading up through Oregon to Yakima Washington where they will be interviewing Bob Gimlin and Patricia Patterson, Roger Patterson's widow, both of whom will also appear in the Documentary.  They also hope to interview on camera, or at least talk to, Al DeAtley Jr., Roger's brother-in-Law and Bigfoot Enterprises Business Partner, who for three years funded Roger's dream of discovering and proving the existence of Bigfoot.

The "Big Reel One" film footage, pictured above, was bequeathed to Mike Rugg and the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in the spring of this year by the family of the person Roger had given it to before his death.  This is the film that Roger and Al DeAtley used to introduce the "Patty" footage we are familiar with today, as they toured the country in the late sixties and early 70's to raise money to further their research and fund their business plans.  This film would be shown at local theaters and event halls to generate interest and donations, then the footage of Patty walking along Bluff Creek would be shown.  This all took place during the same period of time in which the "Minnesota Ice Man" was on tour, and once that was inferred to be a hoax and disappeared from the public eye, attendance to the Patterson and Gimlin Film Footage unfortunately also went into a steep decline, and Roger and Al called off the continued showings scheduled around the country.

This Reel itself had not been shown publicly since the very early 1970's, when the touring ended, until October 20th 2012 at the Bigfoot Discovery Days V in Felton California.  Patricia Patterson gave her blessing to its showing that day, as a fund raiser for the Museum, and has again generously given permission for all 40 minutes of it's contents to be included in the upcoming Patterson Big Reel One Documentary, along with the Patterson Gimlin Film itself!  In return she will receive a small percentage of the proceeds and the film reel, pictured above, will be handed over to her by Mike Rugg upon his arrival in Yakima in the next few days, so it can be included amongst the Patterson Family Legacy of all that Roger left behind.  The Bigfoot Discovery Museum will retain their DVD copy to be used for further historical and educational purposes. 

Also appearing in the upcoming Documentary will be the speakers and presentations of Bigfoot Discovery Days V, including Mike Rugg himself, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, and Bill Munns discussing and showing footage of his research and recreations proving unequivocally that the claims of Bob Heironimus and his "suit" could not in fact have been responsible for the figure filmed by Roger and Bob in 1967.  You can watch Bill Munns Presentation from Discovery Days III here:  Bill Munns Discovery Days III

Mike hopes that this upcoming Documentary will put to rest once and for all the many and varied false claims set forth by those seeking to discredit the work and memory of Roger and Bob, by simply seeking fame for themselves with ludicrous stories and misinformation.  Anyone who has any information they think would be helpful towards the making of this Documentary is encouraged to contact us here at this Blog, where it can be relayed to Mike on the road.  And if you would like to donate or become a member of the Bigfoot Discovery Project/Museum to help Mike keep things going until the release of this Documentary you can do so here:  Donate


The Museum itself will be closed through Friday, but stay tuned for updates and news from the road!

Nadia Moore
Communications Coordinator
Bigfoot Discovery Project 


Friday, November 9, 2012

Something from the Museum Vault!

Just released by Mike Rugg and Bigfoot Discovery Project member Ralph Jack, the investigation by Ralph and Mike of a local 1999 Bigfoot sighting, one mile from Downtown Santa Cruz.  Check back in as more information from Mike and Ralph will be coming soon!  Thanks to member Mike Shaw for editing and posting!

Enjoy!

Witness Recounts Sighting from 1999:






Ralph Jack


Mike Shaw






















Saturday, November 3, 2012

Bigfoot Discovery Days Past


Straight from the Museum Vaults (OK our YouTube Channel, but there are some great things in the Museum Vaults that we hope to unearth soon) hear Mike Rugg share a local witness sighting from Discovery Day I.  Then from Discovery Day III listen to Bill Munns entire presentation in 5 parts.  And as a Finale enjoy the musical offerings of Kepi Ghoulie and friends at the Bigfoot Art and Music Days I and II.

Enjoy!

Mike Rugg at Discovery Day I





Bigfoot Discovery Day III Poster




















Bill Munns at Discovery Day III




Bill Munns Part II




Bill Munns Part III




Bill Munns Part IV




Bill Munns Finale






 
Bigfoot Art and Music Day I



Bigfoot Art and Music Day II




Stay tuned for a post from Bigfoot Discovery Day IV Santa Cruz Sasquatch! 

Nadia









Friday, October 26, 2012

Bigfoot Discovery Day V

 
                Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the Patterson                   
Gimlin Film at Bigfoot Discovery Day V

If you missed Bigfoot Discovery Day V last Saturday October 20th in Felton California please enjoy the event pictures and video of the Round Table Discussion with Mike Rugg, Kathy Strain (Anthropologist and author of Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture), Dr. Jeff Meldrum (The Relict Hominoid Inquiry | Idaho State University), Bill Munns (Film and Costume Expert), Daniel Perez (The Bigfoot Times), and Bart Cutino (Sierras Evidence Initiative).


A DVD of the evenings presentations including the newly unearthed Roger Patterson "Big Reel One", which was recently bequeathed to the Museum and had not been shown publicly for 40 years, will be available for purchase soon! 

This 40 minute film was used by Roger and his brother-in-law Al DeAtley to introduce the Bigfoot film containing "Patty" as they toured the country in the late 1960's and early '70's to raise funds by selling memberships to their North American Research Organization.  An organization that Dr. Meldrum shared his childhood memory of joining when he introduced the film last Saturday night.  This film has pictures of Roger casting footprints, Roger and Bob and other expedition members riding horseback in Washington State, footage of Bob Gimlin dressed in a wig to portray an Indian Tracker for Roger's documentary that he was filming before he got the footage of Patty, interviews with early witnesses from the Pacific Northwest, talks by Al DeAtley and John Napier of the Smithsonian Institution, and lot of other cool stuff!

Mike Rugg talked about Greg Long's book The making of Bigfoot  in which he claims that the Patterson Gimlin Film Footage was faked using Bob Heirmonimus in a suit, amongst other assertions, and why his conclusions were wrong.

Bart Cutino also presented his new Thermal Video footage taken at the Sierra Evidence Site last August.  This was the first public disclosure of his footage and the experiences there and you can read more about it at his website The Sierras Evidence Initiative!

And look for my write up of the work Bill Munns presented debunking once and for all the claim of Bob Heironimus that he was Patty inside a "suit".  He has recreated the suit exactly according to Bob's description and shown indisputably that it could not be responsible for the footage.  He has also been working with female models in body paint in order to closely examine all the possible criteria and morphology of Patty's breasts.  Stay tuned for pictures of the breast reenactments in my next blog post!

Nadia Moore



Bigfoot Discovery Days V Round Table Discussion courtesy of Museum Member Michael Shaw:









Picture Gallery

Mike Rugg, Ralph Jack, Kipp Morrill, Dr. Meldrum, Nadia Moore, Mike Shaw.
Friday night Pre-Conference dinner.

















Ralph Jack, Mike's right hand man.












Kipp Morrill was first up at the BBQ manned by Mike Rugg's daughter Jessica Yarr



Terry Smyth & Dr. Meldrum
Daniel Perez & Todd Hale
Ro Sahebi and Justin Smeja Arrive.
Shawn Evidence, Todd Hale, Bill Munns, Daniel Perez
Dr. Meldrum drove all the way!
Kipp Morrill & Todd Hale
Daniel Perez, Bart Cutino, Shawn Evidence, Justin Smeja, Ro Sahebi, Nadia Moore


Mike Rugg debunks the debunker Greg Long.

Roger Patterson's Big Reel One!

 
Dr. Meldrum introduces the "Big Reel One"!




















Al DeAtley, Roger Patterson's brother-in-law, opening the 40 minute "Big Reel One" not seen publicly since about 1970!

Roger Patterson and his 8 foot rendition.


Bart Cutino concluding his presentation.

Bill Munns reveals his new Patterson Gimlin film Analysis.


Intermission




Kathy Strain and Bart Cutino










Steve Concannon, Ralph Jack, Mike Rugg







Todd Hale & Justin Smeja









Dr. Meldrum, Kathy Strain, Tom Yamarone




Todd Hale, Daniel Perez, Dr. Meldrum







The ever patient Dr. Meldrum signs casts

Bart Cutino, Mike Rugg, Nadia Moore, Kipp Morrill, Jim Thomas
 
Dr. Meldrum, Tom Yamarone, Bart Cution, Terry Smyth, Bob Strain, Daniel Perez, Kathy Strain, Bill Munns. 


And A Great Big Bigfoot Discovery Museum Thank You!

The following people donated their time, money and knowledge to make this day the big success that it was:

Presenters: 

Mike Rugg
Dr. Jeff Meldrum
Bill Munns
Bart Cutino

Round Table Participants:

Mike Rugg
Kathy Strain
Dr. Meldrum
Bill Munns
Daniel Perez
Bart Cutino

Donors:

Sharon Lee
Lenny Green

Photos:

Nadia Moore
Tom Yamarone
Todd Hale
Bart Cutino
Danny Valderrama

Museum Members:

Ralph Jack
Lance McVay
Greg Rose
Mike Shaw
Dman
Kathy Strain
Bob Strain

Mellow Russell
Nadia Moore
Steve Concannon
Jim Duffy