Bigfoot Fiction: “North American Primates” by Shane Durgee
Book review by Linda Martin – © 2009
Shane Durgee’s first book is a work of fiction called North American Primates — a fantastical, frenetic fantasy about Clay Sturgeon, a man whose tent was attacked by a Bigfoot while he was hiking with a friend. Clay becomes obsessed and must return to the site of his encounter in New York’s Adirondack Mountains many times in his search for communion with “The Man.”
Obsession seems like a reasonable trait for this particular character who is a pathetic loner whose friends are teenagers, who has never had a reasonable romance. The character is what I might call a degenerate. Not high minded, not ethical or respectable… yet for reasons only a Bigfoot could know, he’s chosen to reveal some Sasquatchy truths to Clay, who keeps showing up in the woods as if asking for lessons.
Clay Sturgeon goes through many changes during the course of this 211-page novel. The first-person narrative is highly entertaining though a bit crude, in some passages. That in itself should tell you a bit about who Clay is and why he needs change in his life.
Clay Sturgeon started the novel as a good for nothing, do almost nothing, near waste of human life.. but found himself through squatching. In the end he’s a somebody… thanks to “The Man.” Clay has enough redeeming traits to make the reader care about his squatching adventures. He takes form, morphing from a ball of human ooze into a person of stature because of his contacts with a couple fairly decent Sasquatches. Other characters in the book as are similarly well drawn. The author created a cast of realistic characters whose faults are substantial and must be believed. I’d have to say that the most likable of the bunch is Pickerel, the cat, though in a strange twist of fate he too is greatly changed before the novel’s final pages.
The weak point of the book is, in my opinion, description. This is also a weak spot in my fiction writing so I’m not saying I’m a description expert. Descriptions are there, but they are sketchy. Some would consider this a good thing. This book is action oriented, a psychological thriller of sorts. You get to hear what Clay does and thinks. Apparently Clay wasn’t big into nature study and appreciation, other than for his desire to see and interact with “The Man.”
There are some utterly weird and unexpected plot twists. I thought at first I was holding a fairly predictable novel, ie: “Man meets Sasquatch, gets into squatching, and has another sighting.” Though that would thrill most Bigfoot researchers, that’s not the plot of this novel. It gets fairly strange in places. You would be surprised. I certainly was!
The perceived theme of the book may vary depending on personal perspective. To me, it was that a young man discovered his self worth by pursuing an issue most people would avoid. Through his unique persistence, he discovered that he too could be more than a worthless degenerate. You see what squatching can do for people? If this novel makes it to movie status they’ll need a few good fur costumes and someone who looks like a total socially incompetent nerd to play the lead character. Add a few wooden ducks, and there you’d have Clay Sturgeon!
I’m a novelist too, so naturally I think Bigfoot fiction is awesome, even if it isn’t written the way I’d have done it. I’m into writing mostly for children and teens, whereas Durgee’s novel is definitely for adults and not for kids. I applaud Shane Durgee on the development, plot, and especially the fine characterization work in his first novel, and for getting it edited and into print. Well done!
If you want some fictitious Bigfoot entertainment, North American Primates is well worth the read. Keep an eye on the Red Weaver website – the book should be published during October 2009. If you’d like to be further impressed, check out the colorful illustrations at ShaneDurgee.Com.
September 12, 2009
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Four: “Extreme Sighting Locations”
Book review by Linda Martin – © 2009
Reading group homepage for this book: Tribal Bigfoot
Re: Chapter Four of Tribal Bigfoot, “Extreme Sighting Locations”:
Chapter four of Tribal Bigfoot is about Bigfoot living in extreme weather conditions – either extreme hot or extreme cold. The chapter starts with sighting reports from the Yukon Territory, Alaska, and Wyoming. Many Bigfoot families have adapted to living in freezing places and walking barefoot in snow.
David Paulides opined that this may be due to overcrowding in more temperate areas: “Researchers do understand that all creatures (even humans) are pushed out of prime habitat areas because of a variety of conditions. . . . Animals are forced out of areas because the bigger and stronger creatures have established a region as their home and the younger and weaker need to seek out new habitat.” (Pg. 102)
It makes sense to me that many Bigfoot are conditioned to be comfortable in cold climates. In the Pacific Northwest where sighting reports are numerous, snow is ubiquitous in the mountains during winter. But what of those poor hair-covered Bigfoot that must live in the heat of a desert? David Paulides gives examples from Lancaster, San Bernardino County, Sedona in Arizona, and the Arizona Navajo reservation, Apache County.
He wrote that Bigfoot may be drinking water from agricultural projects. He didn’t mention it but they could be surviving with water from underground streams, living in caves during the heat of the day. There are some amazing caves in Mexico they could thrive in. Here’s a site with information about Arizona Caves, and let’s not forget Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico! These cave systems could be harboring lots of Bigfoot families during the heat of the day, and providing plenty of moisture for drinking water too.
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Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter One: “Historical Bigfoot”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Two: “The Bigfoot Map Project”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Three: “Associations”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Four: “Extreme Sighting Locations”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Five: “Santa Cruz County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Six: “Amador County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Seven: “Trinity County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Eight: “Siskiyou County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Nine: “Del Norte County”
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September 10, 2009
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Three: “Associations”
Book review by Linda Martin – © 2009
Reading group homepage for this book: Tribal Bigfoot
Re: Chapter Three of Tribal Bigfoot, “Associations.”
In chapter three of Tribal Bigfoot David Paulides shares the associations he’s made from his years of studying Bigfoot sighting reports. These associations are things that are common in Bigfoot sighting reports.
The first association he mentions is elevation. David Paulides says he’s documented an unusual number of sightings at or close to 2400 feet elevation. Why would this be? Is this where Bigfoot feels freer to roam because there are fewer human beings living at that elevation?
Happy Camp, for example, is at 1085 feet elevation, but we have roads that will take us to 2400 feet nearby. Nobody around here actually lives up there. Is this an elevation where humans would go on vacation and cross paths with wandering Sasquatches who thought they had the place to themselves?
My opinion is that David Paulides got it right in the first sentence of that section when he said that “Bigfoot can be found at any elevation at any time anywhere in California.” (Pg. 60) He suggests purchase of his Bigfoot Sightings map for a better perspective on why he makes an association with the 2400′ elevation. You can find the map at his website.
The second association is with Native Americans and their reservations. David Paulides believes “There must be some relationship between Native Americans and bigfoot that we are still struggling to understand.” (Pg. 64)
I don’t believe there’s anything magically different about Native Americans. I live among them here in Happy Camp. We’re all human beings no matter what color our skin is. The big difference – and why they may have more sightings – is that many Native Americans live closer to nature than other Americans do. Their reservations are in extremely rural areas – which are for the most part undeveloped. These are places the US government granted to them because conditions there may have been inconvenient or too rugged for settlers with European blood. Many of these reservations, such as the Round Valley Reservation here in Northern California, are not the actual ancestral homelands of the people forced onto them.
Sasquatch, like Native Americans, have had their territory diminished by the onslaught of our materialistic civilization. There may still be pockets of Sasquatch habitation here and there but for the most part they’ve been pushed deep into the woods where they are safe from men with guns. Yes, they know what guns are no doubt, and what kinds of men or women use them. They also know that when people see them, the people are often fearful. Fear begets violence. The choice of Sasquatches to conceal themselves is self-preservation in action. They may be bolder around Native Americans whose culture has traditionally been a safe haven.
I particularly appreciated Earla Penn’s sighting in Oregon. Earla Penn is a Quileute Indian. “She wasn’t afraid, and waved at it. It stopped to look at her, and then walked away….” (Pg. 63) I’ve thought many times about what I’d do if I were confronted by a Bigfoot while out in the woods. How would I react? What would I say? My greatest hope is that there would be no fear. I’d like to wave and say hello, just like Earla did! But one never knows what his reaction will be until the moment comes.
I think the reasons for associations with berries and water are obvious. We all need water to survive, and berries taste good. In summer months Sasquatch may need to migrate downhill to live near springs and creeks — and in winter may migrate back to known caves in the mountains where water can be had by melting snow. There’s a sighting mentioned in the book that indicates a migration pattern: “…every fall a family of 6 passes near his place…heading west from a hilly forested area east of him.” (Pg. 64)
There are quite a few other fascinating sightings recounted – mostly from Ray Crowe’s research which was published in The Track Record. Several other associations are mentioned as well.
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Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter One: “Historical Bigfoot”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Two: “The Bigfoot Map Project”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Three: “Associations”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Four: “Extreme Sighting Locations”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Five: “Santa Cruz County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Six: “Amador County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Seven: “Trinity County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Eight: “Siskiyou County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Nine: “Del Norte County”
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September 6, 2009
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Two: “The Bigfoot Map Project”
Review by Linda Martin – @2009
Reading group homepage for this book: Tribal Bigfoot
Re: Chapter Two of Tribal Bigfoot, “The Bigfoot Map Project.”
David Paulides spent all of chapter two writing about the statistics behind his Bigfoot sightings map of four Northern California counties. It is a short chapter – only eight pages, which includes charts. He compiled a list of over 350 sightings (from the 1800′s to 2008) that took place in those four counties and arranged with the California State Automobile Association to use their map for the project. The map features sightings in Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, and Siskiyou Counties.
I live in Siskiyou County which includes Happy Camp and Mt. Shasta, so I found the statistical information of interest. The chart on page 53 credits Siskiyou with the least number of sightings per square mile but this is a large county and the eastern part has less forest. Happy Camp, where I live, is in the western section and is surrounded by the Klamath National Forest. According to this chart, Del Norte has one sighting per 17 square miles compared to Siskiyou County’s 1 sighting per 134 square miles. I’m suggesting that’s not because we have fewer Bigfoot, but because our county is more than six times the size of Del Norte County and our population less than twice as much as theirs. Most of Siskiyou County is uninhabited (by humans) forested land.
One could analyze the data provided by Paulides to guess that Bigfoot prefers the coastal mountains and forests, but then he also wrote that “A vast majority of the sightings fall into our elevation theory, sightings in California predominantly fall into a range focusing on 2400 feet with the majority 1600- 3200 feet.’ (See Blog # 47) Compare this with his statement that “69% of all the listed sightings/incidents logged on the map are within 40 miles of the coast.” (Page 59 in the book.)
The elevation of Happy Camp is only 1085 so I think it is safe to say that the area between here and the coast are not at the 2400′ level except for hilltops. (There’s more discussion of the preference of Bigfoot for coastal areas in the book.) Personally I’m not putting much weight on the elevation theories he’s coming up with (there’s also something about two huts at 350′ elevation mentioned on one of Michael Rugg’s videos – see episode #25) but I’ll keep my mind open in case something substantial is proven about Bigfoot and elevations.
He lists population density in his chart but doesn’t comment much on that aspect. If there are more people, then it makes sense that there will be more sighting opportunities. In Humboldt County there are 128,330 residents according to his chart.That county correspondingly has the highest number of sightings of the four counties analyzed: 124. That is one sighting per 1035 people. In comparison Siskiyou County has less than half the population – 45,091 people – with 1 sighting per 959 people for a total of 47 sightings.
Out here in the western section of Siskiyou County, in the Klamath National Forest, we’ve got about 2,182 residents in the Happy Camp census district. Happy Camp had 1277 in the year 2000 census but the census district includes residents of Seiad Valley and others up and down the Klamath River Highway. With 8 local sightings (according to Paulides – I’m aware of more) that’s 1 per 273 people. This rivals Trinity County’s 1 per 231 people.
There are also tourists to take into consideration – they are a great source of sighting reports. They tend to congregate on the coast — very few decide to make the long trip into the heart of the Klamath National Forest.
So there are a few more statistical considerations for the area of this Bigfoot map project. Perhaps you can come up with other ideas for analyzing the statistics that I haven’t thought about.
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Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter One: “Historical Bigfoot”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Two: “The Bigfoot Map Project”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Three: “Associations”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Four: “Extreme Sighting Locations”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Five: “Santa Cruz County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Six: “Amador County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Seven: “Trinity County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Eight: “Siskiyou County”
Tribal Bigfoot – Comments on Chapter Nine: “Del Norte County”
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September 1, 2009
Bigfoot Reading Group
September’s Bigfoot Reading Group selection is Tribal Bigfoot by David Paulides. This is his second book examining Bigfoot sightings in Northern California. He also includes sightings in Minnesota and Oklahoma. The first chapter, which I’m reading now, presents historic Bigfoot sighting information and newspaper clippings.
His first book was The Hoopa Project, something I found fascinating because I live down the road from Hoopa, about sixty-five miles on the Bigfoot Scenic Byway, Highway 96 in Northern California.
My schedule for this Bigfoot Reading Group project is semi-flexible. I want to read through the entire book within a month and plan to post something each time I finish a chapter. If you’d like to discuss it with me, the comment section for each posting will provide a place for opinions.
I’ve come up with a tentative schedule. I intend to read and comment on chapters 1 through 5 during the first week. Week two will be for chapters 6 through 9. Week three, chapters 10-12, and week four, chapter 13. Can I do it? Well, I will try. I am a notoriously slow reader, but David Paulides’ writing does manage to hold my attention.
After September, there will be more Bigfoot Reading Group books. Here’s the tentative schedule:
October – Bigfoot Sasquatch: Evidence
November – Bigfoot Encounters in New York & New England
December – Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture
January – Bigfoot Film Journal
February & March – Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us
August 22, 2009
The Believe It Tour’s Willow Creek Adventure
The Bridge in Orleans
Bigfoot Scenic Byway
Last Sunday, August 16, I drove to Willow Creek, the town on the other end of the Bigfoot Scenic Byway, 75 miles from where I live, in Happy Camp, California. The occasion? I’d been invited to meet The Believe It Tour team as they started their journey through Bigfoot country. We planned to meet at the Bigfoot Motel, visit Bigfoot Books, tour the Bigfoot Museum, then have dinner at a restaurant. I was fairly thrilled about this opportunity because so often researchers travel through the valley but never contact me.
This event has opened a lot of doors for me… it has been utterly amazing, really. I met Michael Esordi and Diane Smith in the lobby of the Bigfoot Motel, and then told them I’d meet them at the bookstore which is a few miles east of town. I met the third tour member, Brad Pennock, team skeptic, outside the Bigfoot Motel where he was photographing everything!
Note: Michael Esordi, the Believe It Team’s tour guide, is webmaster of the Bigfoot Museum website, Bigfoot Surplus, and the Believe It Tour.
I got to the bookstore but found out it was closed – it didn’t open until 2pm on Sundays. With time on my hands I went to the Bigfoot Museum in hopes that Craig Woolheater might be there already. Now you’re probably wondering how Craig got into this story. Michael Esordi arranged for Craig and his traveling companion, Sharonlee, to meet us in Willow Creek.
A quick check of the museum showed nobody was there to see the Bigfoot Museum, and I traveled back and forth a few times, bought gasoline, and explored a place that was calling me, Friday Ridge Road. I drove up high enough to take this picture of the Trinity River and the highway next to it.
Finally I went back to Bigfoot Books and saw cars there, and entered to find the Believe It Tour people now talking to Steven Streufert, bookseller. He’s a Bigfoot researcher as well. I loved his used (and new) book store and bought some old cassette tapes to play in my vintage van on the way home, and a few books. Diana bought a big stack of Bigfoot books – new and used.
Bluff Creek Footprint Casts
Willow Creek Bigfoot Museum
Next we headed back to the Bigfoot Museum on the west side of town. The curator, Al Hodgson, wasn’t able to make it but we enjoyed looking at all the exhibits and taking pictures there. I will definitely try to visit again on a day when Al is available!
I’d been to the museum before but it seemed that this time there was more to look at. There are lots of footprint casts, photographs of footprints and the researchers who discovered them, and Bigfoot displays on science, history, and memorabilia.
Linda Martin & Craig Woolheater
At Cinnabar Sam’s In Willow Creek, CA
Craig Woolheater and Sharonlee were delayed during their travel from the SF Bay Area to Humboldt County, so we went back to visit Steve Streufert at Bigfoot Books, then eventually decided to go ahead and get a table at Cinnabar Sam’s so it wouldn’t close before we were ready. Craig and Sharonlee finally reached Willow Creek and joined us there, and we had a wonderful dinner together. This was my first time to meet Craig Woolheater – after reading about him online for years – so I was excited about that and asked Brad Pennock to take this photo with my camera.
Sharonlee, Michael, Steven, and Diana
getting ready for after-dinner squatching
on Friday Ridge Road.
After dinner everyone else went to Friday Ridge Road for a few hours of squatching since there have been recent Bigfoot sighting reports in that area according to Steve Streufert of Bigfoot Books. I’d already been there earlier in the day, but I didn’t say a word about it to anyone, until now. I had to get back to Happy Camp – and it is a two hour drive along a winding river road, with cliffs, high bridges, and other things I don’t like – such as rocks that fall on the highway and the occasional deer that gets mesmerized by headlights.
About the only thing I haven’t seen on the Klamath River Highway (Hwy. 96) is a Bigfoot. I’ve seen a large cougar in the middle of the road. I’ve seen a huge bear cross the highway while I was out hiking near my home. But Bigfoot? No………. not yet. I still have my hopes set on seeing one, and even communicating with one. At least I live in the right neighborhood!
It was a real treat for me to meet the Believe It Team, Sharonlee, Steven, and Craig – especially as I’ve been somewhat of a hermit the last few years. I don’t get out much… but if anyone is coming to the area for squatching, or sight seeing, please give me a call (I’m in the phone book and on Skype: ‘lindajomartin’) or email me first. I’m now enthusiastic about meeting Bigfoot researchers!
A few more photos of the Believe It Team:
Diana, Michael, and Brad inside the Willow Creek Bigfoot Museum.
I am the last to blog about this… you can read Sharonlee’s account on her blog: Bigfoot Field Reporter, and the Believe It Tour version of events on their blog: Believe It Tour Blog, and Steven Streufert’s version on his blog: Bigfoot’s Blog.
The story doesn’t end here. After spending the night at the Bluff Creek site of the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film, the Believe It Tour came back through Happy Camp and we connected to take pictures at Happy Camp’s Bigfoot statue. The next day Sharonlee and Craig came through Happy Camp and phoned me… and I went downtown with my partner, Bob, where we met them and went to a local sighting location. I will write about that soon… it requires its own posting because there’s a new footprint casting involved!
August 20, 2009
The Bigfoot Books Blog
I just finished reading Steven Streufert’s Bigfoot Books Blog from the first post in December 2008, to the most recent in August which featured Friends of Sasquatch (of which I’m a member.) Thanks, Steven!
I was deeply impressed by the quality of Steven’s writing. For example, from his first blog posting I pulled this line: “Most consider it a popular delusion, the product of wild speculation and equally feral expectations.” Also: “Is this all just an hallucinatory Jungian mass projection of the collective unconscious, a desire for a wild and mysterious revivification? And if so, what is this archetype? Can a myth leave footprints?” Source. With word skill like that I have the impression that this man will be writing a lot more in the months and years to come.
For many of his postings, the content was palpable, and the depth of information worthy of note. Here are a few Bigfoot Books Blog articles I especially liked and want to point out to readers:
1. Black Helicopter on Bluff Creek Bigfoot Film Site! Giant Salamander Found! Huge Rockslide Blocks Road to Louse Camp! And More News… – in which Steven recounts an expedition to Bluff Creek during which he was surprised by a black helicopter. Great information!
2. Quotes of the Day: RENE DAHINDEN. Plus a Plug for SASQUATCH ODYSSEY Documentary – get to know Rene Dahinden better and put Sasquatch Odyssey in your Netflix queue – that’s what I did!
3. NEWS: Bigfoot Books on Cryptomundo! Save Bluff Creek Company Store! A Meeting with Jerry Hein & Vocalizations, Sasquatch Hair Samples & Footprints – Steven Streufert has taken up the cause of finding someone of means to purchase the property at Bluff Creek that includes the old Bluff Creek Company Store that Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin shopped in before heading north for their encounter with Bigfoot. Also I found the section about Jerry Hein’s expedition to be fascinating.
4. Bigfoot and Beer, Lost Coast Ganesh I.P.A. Controversy Surrounds Flatmo Image; Church of Bigfoot, Scientist up in Arms! – a virtual collection of Bigfoot beers! This article made me want to buy a case of Indica beer, especially after hearing the brewery has been sued over their beer’s artwork depicting a legendary East-Indian creature.
This photo shows Steven Streufert working at Bigfoot Books in Willow Creek, California, just down the road from Bluff Creek. Next time you’re in the area stop by and meet him, and prepare to buy books because you will seriously want to! He has a large collection of new and used books about Bigfoot for sale, as well as almost every other type of book imaginable.
