Here We Go With Another “Bigfoot Has Been Shot” Tale
The news coming out of of rural Pennsylvania blew up this week with headlines along the lines of “Another Bigfoot Shot”. Well, by the end of the week we have several versions of this story. After reading a bunch of them, here are the possibilities as I see them
- Someone shot a Bigfoot and it got away
- Someone shot a Bigfoot and the government covered it up
- No one shot a Bigfoot, but found some Bigfoot prints
- Someone was very confused and finding some bear prints, thought they were Bigfoot’s
My bet is on the latter. What prompted all this was a 911 call to the police on May 14th 2013 placed by John Winesickle requesting that an officer be dispatched because he had proof of Bigfoot. The police dispatch called out an officer to investigate:
Person 1: […]Mr. ___, 97 Spruce Street[…]?
Officer: Negative
Person 1: […] called 911 advising that he contacted the Game Commission to call him back; wants a police officer to come to his residence. Apparently he has proof there of Bigfoot.
Officer: Bigfoot, right?
Person 1: That’s affirmative, he has evidence …uh…proving Bigfoot. He would like a police officer to come there.
Officer: Apparently there’s a large amount of smoke in that area…
[*static*] Spruce Street.
Now I am no expert in the codes that police use when they are talking to each other on the radio, but when the officer says that “apparently there is a large amount of smoke in the area” I am betting he means someone is smoking something.
In any event the police did investigate and found this footprint, which looks to be to be that of a bear.
But the rumor mill was already churning.
Within hours, Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society received an email from someone who said that they had overheard talk on the police scanner that an unidentified hunter was claiming to have shot a Bigfoot. Now was this referring to the same Bigfoot or a different one?
The message they received read: “Officers confirmed there was an unidentified animal shot and killed. Details are a bit fuzzy at this time.”
Along about this time Daniel C. left the following message on the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society’s Facebook page:
“You guys might want to check out the somerset county state police call log. I heard a call come over my scanner about a gobbler hunter shot a bigfoot this morning and they did find a body. This is no joke that call was real.” – Daniel C.
Less than an hour later, the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society received another puzzling email.
This one read:
“Hello, YES this is legit, a strange report came over the scanner here in Somerset, Pa. just a few miles from Flight 93memorial. The message went to the local Police department. The report stated that a hunter had shot a Sasquatch while hunting turkey this morning. This is the first day of Spring Turkey in Pennsylvania. Later a second confirmation message on the scanner stated that yes there was a body but was unable to identify who or what it was. This all started about 10:30 AM and continued through most of the day. The location was stated as Russell or Rustic Road (too fast to be sure) here in the local area of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Just wanted to let someone know.”
The message also claims that they had heard police joking about the Bigfoot shooting claim over the police scanner.
It went on to state that about 20 minutes later they heard a police officer radio back and state, ‘There was a body’.
The next radio transmission to the officers at the scene was, ‘Call the center’. Is there a secret Bigfoot coverup group in the government? I know some people believe that there is!
The Government is Covering Up the Existence of Bigfoot
The Bigfoot Society also got messages claiming that there was some strange helicopter activity in the area.
The message mentions a “large helicopter” in the area. Ostensibly this would be to haul out the Bigfoot body. “The sound was so loud it shook his house, so he went outside to take a look.”
A formation of four Army Apache helicopters was also supposedly seen moving in the direction of Somerset. Seriously? Apache helicopter to escort Bigfoot? Our government really wants to keep the big hairy guy from being proven real!
What Really Has Happened?
The police were dispatched to find out what Mr. Winesickle had found.
The official police log states that officer Christopher Swartz found and inspected the footprints that Mr. Winesickle claimed were made by a Bigfoot. Officer Swartz concluded they belonged to a bear and looking at the photo that is circulating with this story I would have to agree.
“I advised John this. He was not happy with the answer.” officer Swartz wrote. “He said he could definitely tell the difference between a bear footprint and a Bigfoot footprint. I decided not to argue.”
Mr. Winesickle’s response was “No, no, no. A bear can’t go down a steep bank on all twos. That’s proven this is a Bigfoot.”
My Conclusion to This “Someone Shot Bigfoot” Story
Obviously we know that a footprint was found, but it isn’t that of a Bigfoot. After that it is all conjecture and rumor. So we are left with this:
- There is no confirmation of anyone claiming to have shot a Bigfoot
- The Game Commission says no one ever called them
- There is no corroboration of strange helicopters in the area
- There is no body of a Bigfoot
For my part, we have a property owner that really, really wants to believe they found Bigfoot prints and a lot of rumor and hype via the Internet.
After all is said in done, the initial police conclusion that “there is a lot of smoke in that area” is probably correct!
