Saturday, August 12, 2017

Bigfoot Hunters and Hoaxes

Stranger than Sasquatch 
by Robert A. Waters 

At around midnight, Gawain MacGregor, dressed head-to-toe in raccoon skins, wandered into a dense North Carolina forest to "connect" with Sasquatch.  At the same time, in the same locale, a group of Sasquatch hunters who call themselves Bigfoot 911 gathered with cameras and film to record proof that the creature exists. 

According to MacGregor, it was there that he and the group stumbled on each other. 

MacGregor seeks to become one with nature by worshipping a figure called Enkidu.  This part-human, part-animal, as recorded in the "Epic of Gilgamesh," pre-dates the Bible.  On his blog, MacGregor writes: "Enkidu was created by the Goddess Aruru in response to the prayers of the citizens of Uruk, to act as a counterbalance to their king, Gilgamesh, who had lost his connection with nature[Enkidu] is described as extremely powerful, being two-thirds beast, one-third man and having a body covered in thick hair.  He drank from the rivers, grazed from the fields and galloped through the forests, sharing a union with nature long lost to humans."  MacGregor believes Bigfoot is Enkidu. 

After a brief encounter with the team from Bigfoot 911, MacGregor says he escaped deeper into the forest and never saw them again.   

Wandering around in the forest wearing a full regalia of raccoon skins isn't a smart thing to do.   

A great debate rages among the thousands of Sasquatch hunters.  Should we capture Bigfoot, film him (or her), or shoot him dead?  Many claim the only way to definitively prove the existence of Sasquatch is to kill him.  After all, films have been faked, and capturing a creature the size of Bigfoot has thus far proven implausible. 

While many groups, such as North Carolina's Bigfoot 911, only wish to verify the existence of Sasquatch, others want to put a bullet in its brainMany teams of Bigfoot searchers wander the forests at night carrying high-powered deer rifles and having itchy trigger fingers.  The raccoon skin-clad MacGregor would be wise to stay away from forests where people believe Sasquatch may exist. 

In Flathead County, Montana, Randy Lee Tenley donned a camouflaged Ghillie suit that resembles heavy foliage.  Generally used by military snipers or hunters, the head-to-toe attire could easily be mistaken for Sasquatch.  Tenley took off into the night, hoping to spark a "Bigfoot sighting." 

Unfortunately, on Highway 93, Tenley stepped into traffic and was killed. 

Montana State Trooper Jim Schneider explained: "He was trying to make people think he was Sasquatch so people would call in a Sasquatch sightingYou can't make it up.  I haven't seen or heard of anything like this before.  Obviously, his suit made it difficult for people to see him.  He probably would not have been very easy to see at all." 

This story is tragic indeed. 

Yet it might have been worse.  What if some hunter had mistaken Tinley for a Sasquatch and shot him dead? 

It goes back to the question of whether it's moral to kill Bigfoot. 

Skeptical Inquirer magazine editor Benjamin Radford frames the question this way:  “Would it be ethical to shoot and kill a Bigfoot?  Some say yes, because that’s the only way to prove they exist, and once proof is found, funds could be made available to protect them as an endangered species.  Others say no, that because Bigfoot sightings are so rare, they must have very small populations and killing one might drive the animals to extinction.  Ecological ethics aside, aiming a gun at a Bigfoot could be a bad idea.  You simply can’t know for sure if the mysterious, burly figure you have lined up in your sights is the real beast, or a bear, or a hoaxer in a costume.” 

No comments: