“If you’re ever driving down in our country along about sundown, keep an eye on the dark woods as you cross the Sulphur River Bottoms. You may catch a glimpse of a huge, hairy creature watching you from the shadows.”
Legend of Boggy Creek - 1972
In 2016, my paranormal group headed from our hometown East Haddam, Connecticut to Washington state. We had one mission in mind other than great coffee, breweries and hiking:
Bigfoot.
Go ahead. Laugh. I get it. I grew up scoffing too. Even the famous Patterson-Gimlin live capture of a Bigfoot known as "Patty" and movies like The Legend of Boggy Creek didn't convince me, though they were creepy.
What did turn me from skeptic to an open-minded hopeful on team Bigfoot were recorded sounds.
These recordings have been examined by wildlife bioligists and sound engineers for fakery, and many of them cannot be debunked or attributed to any known animal in our forests. One of the stranger recordings I recommend listening to is the "Squatch" sound recordings from Ron Morehead and Al Berry taken on a 1972 camping trip near the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.
California and Washington are both well known as the most prolific areas for sightings of a tall, broud shouldered, bipedal hairy animal that seems to be part ape, part man. The northwest in general is laden with legends and encounters with this creature who have all sorts of names for our friend: Salish Sasquits or Sasqwet and Sasquatch are a few. If we travel across the world to the Himilayans, we find reports of a similar creature known as the Yeti (Abominable Snowman).
Regardless of what we call it, thousands upon thousands all over the world have reported running into this being and when they do, their world view is forever changed. Our particular favorite encounters are told by hunters or seasoned outdoors people who comfortable in the terrain and know the wildlife.
Until they experience something "other."
There are similarities that thread every Sasquatch encounter tale including the size of it, the sound of it, the humanness of it's eyes, and the smell. They liken it to sewage and dead animal combined with a musky after scent. Other descriptions often tell of large rocks being thrown at anyone coming into their space and the sound of knocking, a large thwacking against a tree with another piece of wood.
The other commonality in Bigfoot sightings?
Terror.
For a hiker or hunter who has spent their lives in the woods, to suddenly have the forest grow deathly silent, their body freezing in place, hair standing up on end, they know they are in the presence of something they have never encountered.
Too many credible people have had too many extraordinary experiences. Even the preeminent Jane Goodall, famous for her work with chipanzees, believes Bigfoot exists. Jane spent much of her life in dense remote forests alongside Indigenous populations who repeatedly report an "upright monkey, with no tail, larger than a human" living in the wild.
For those who need evidence to believe, Bigfoot may never be real for them until one is caught, probed, and put on display.
Regardless of "evidence", personally I feel it would be closed minded to believe we have catalogued every form of life on this planet. New species are discovered every day. It would also be cruel and inaccurate to label every person who has these experiences as "crazy". Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of very sane people who have extraordinary tales of weirdness.
So how does Bigfoot get included on the East Haddam Mystery tour map?
New England ranks pretty low on reported sightings in the United States, but we are not void of them. As of 2022, Connecticut had 22 sightings reported to Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).
In 2004, an East Hampton, Connecticut woman and her daughter living near Salmon River State Forest, reported a large hulking creature casting a huge shadow watching them from their woodline after making a terrible ruckus and banging sounds on their house.
Other encounters from the area including Old Lyme and Killingworth include reports of wood knocks, vocalizations, and sightings of something huge crashing through the woods on two legs that was not our usual local wildlife or bears. Those who see whatever it is usually state "it was no bear."
I decided to include Bigfoot on the East Haddam Mystery Tour map not only to honor the creature that so many have reported, including around our own Salmon River, but because we experienced him ourselves.
Well, we thought we had.
It was a summer night and we decided to take Daniels Road home coming back from the Town Tavern ( which sadly is no more.) Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a massive, dark human shape peering out at me from behind a tree. When my brain caught up to what I was seeing, I braked hard and skid to a stop. I turned to my husband and said, "did you see that? Was that? - ". He cut me off and said, "I saw...something." We backed up a few hundred feet - yes, we live in a small enough town to do that without cars behind us - and looked for whatever we had seen.
Sure enough, there it was. Just standing there, looking at us, not moving. Sasquatch. The light was fading and we could just make out his outline by a tree. "What the hell are we looking at?" I nudged my husband to get out of the car and get a better view. I do this, make him go first to check out the creepy things.
He obliged and I watched him as he moved closer to its location. It was then I realized it had not moved since we laid eyes on it.
Something was off about this.
I saw him stop, start to laugh and then walk back to the car with a smile on his face.
"Yep, it's Bigfoot alright!" he told me as he got back in the car. It dawned on me what we were actually looking at.
A very large silhouetted cutout of Sasquatch.
Sigh.
A few days later, we took my paranormal group up the same road to see the figure, whom I had affectionately named "Darryl" from the Progressive Bigfoot commercials. We had told them we had a sighting in town. We did not mention he was just a large metal cuout.
When we got to the spot we noticed immediately the sculpture was gone! Vanished. Nowhere to be found.
We have kept an eye out for him ever since. I heard rumors he made his way to other parts of town, but I have yet to lay eyes on him again.
I have often thought our "Darryl" sighting is similar to reported accounts of Bigfoot. We know we saw this thing, we are obsessed with seeing it again, and it's just gone. And of course, we have no photographic proof.
With or without proof, there is no shortage of love for this legendary creature.
From movies like the classic Legend of Boggy Creek and television shows such as Finding Bigfoot, towns such as Whitehall, New York offering Squatch Hollerin' Contests and festivals, Bigfoot attracts big attention. There are even Bigfoot museums. If you are ever in Portland, Maine check out the International Cryptozoological Museum founded by Loren Coleman. The ICM offers a mighty punch of Bigfoot stories, memorabilia and footprint casts to prowl through.
Closer to home, the many woodland parks and state forests of Connecticut could bring you eye to eye with Squatch. Get out, get some fresh air, connect with nature and keep your senses about you. You just never know who might be watching you from the treeline.
Happy Squatchin'!
Pamela
This is one of the stops on the East Haddam Mystery Tour map we can't direct you to because the Bigfoot cutout is no longer on Daniels Road, but we highly encourage you to look for him. If you catch a glimpse of "Darryl", please email us at ctriverlore@gmail.com and let us know when and where.