Bigfoot Conference is Saturday
JEFFERSON — He’s known in some locales as “The Woolly Booger,” “The Cypress Swamp Monster” or “Sasquatch.” Elsewhere, he answers to “Bigfoot.” Whatever he’s called, he’ll be the topic of conversation here Saturday.
The 2008 Texas Bigfoot Conference, an annual gathering of cryptozoologists, will be held in the Jefferson High School Commons Area from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The first Texas Bigfoot Conference was held in September 2001 and has been held in Jefferson every year since with the exception of 2006, according to Craig Woolheater, director of the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservatory, a non-profit, scientific research organization.
In 2006, the TBRC collaborated with the University of Texas-San Antonio for the exhibit “Bigfoot in Texas?” and speaker presentations, Woolheater explained.
There is a history of reported Bigfoot sightings and activity in and around Jefferson through the decades, which is why this East Texas community was selected as the location for the conference.
“There is a historical record of sightings in the area,” Woolheater said. “There also have been many sightings in the Caddo Lake area where the creature was nicknamed ‘The Caddo Critter.’
“There also was a ‘Big Cypress Swamp Monster’ reported in the Jefferson area in the 1960s and ’70s and there was a sighting that was investigated by Dwain Dennis, then-owner and publisher the Jefferson Jimplecute in 1965,” he said.
Reports of these and others sightings can be found at www.texasbigfoot.org.
Organizers are expecting between 300 and 500 attendees for this year’s event.
“Last year we had more than 450 attend, including a visit by U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert,” Woolheater said.
Gohmert was a guest of Dick Collins, founder of the Collins Academy. Collins sponsored speakers for the conference last year and again this year.
“We give an educational presentation for students in Jefferson,” Woolheater said. “This year we are giving a presentation to the seventh grade students of Jefferson the morning of the 17th (Friday), two presentations to high school science classes in Jefferson that afternoon, as well as a special presentation at the Collins Academy Friday morning.”
Peter Byrne, who has dedicated decades tracking and trying to prove the existence of Bigfoot, will present those Friday classes.
Seminar speakers
The annual Texas Bigfoot Conference will feature an impressive lineup of speakers who have researched the legendary creature for decades.
Keynote speaker for the fundraiser dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday will be Byrne, whose military background as an RAF pilot in World War II and experience as an adventurer, explorer, hunter-turned-conservationist, and friend to the wealthy and influential uniquely qualify him to lead expedition and research projects in search of yeti — another name for the abominable snowman — and Sasquatch evidence on a scale not seen before or since.
Byrne, once described by a writer for USA Today as “a cross between Don Quixote and Indiana Jones,” led the historic Tom Slick expeditions in the 1960s and the Bigfoot Research Project in the 1990s and he will discuss those efforts, the findings and the failures Saturday night.
Currently Byrne, who lives in the Los Angeles area, continues to serve as the executive director of the International Wildlife Conservation Society, a non-profit group that he co-founded in 1968. He designs and implements wildlife conservation programs for the government of Nepal, including elephant and tiger studies and wetlands reclamation projects.
Among the day’s lineup of speakers are W. Henner Fahrenbach and David Paulides.
Fahrenbach is a retired zoologist who worked for 30 years as chairman of the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy at the Oregon Regional Primate Center in Beaverton, Ore.
He has published numerous papers in a variety of journals in the fields of histology and neurobiology, in addition to several analyses of Sasquatch biology.
A member of the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy, Dr. Fahrenbach has investigated many Sasquatch sighting reports and is the custodian of the world’s largest collection of possible Sasquatch hairs. He currently resides in the eastern edge of the greater Phoenix metro area.
Paulides holds two degrees from the University of San Francisco, and has a professional background that includes 20 years in law enforcement and senior executive positions in the technology sector. His lifelong interest in the Sasquatch was triggered by a boyhood camping experience with his father in the late 1960s.
In 2004, he was part of the founders group that formed North America Bigfoot Search (NABS) where his investigative and analytical skills and experience were invaluable in researching bigfoot sightings.
Paulides is currently the Executive Director of NABS. He makes his permanent residence in Los Gatos, Calif.
Saturday’s symposium will once again be chaired by Woolheater. A complete list of speakers and biographies can be found at www.texasbigfoot.org.
General admission to the symposium is $20 for adults. General admission for children 8 years of age and younger is $5. Student (with student ID) admission is $10.
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