Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy

The Sasquatch Scheme

By Daryl Colyer

Nowadays it seems those of us interested in researching the sasquatch phenomenon repeatedly encounter notions of huge conspiracies and cover-ups. Indeed, there seem to be conspiracy theories dealing with just about anything having any semblance of mystery to it.

While, in all honesty, I find theories of large-scale conspiracies and cover-ups to be romantic and entertaining, most such assertions are just not tenable.

Having spent six years in USAF intelligence, I learned from experience that it’s not easy to keep something a secret. It takes an incredibly concerted and expensive effort, even when almost everyone involved greatly desires to keep the secret, and especially in the face of others who are working hard to uncover the secret. The Air Force devoted an enormous amount of time, money and human resources to extensively train us to withhold what we knew and to resist any efforts to compel us to disclose sensitive information, even in the event of being shot down, captured and tortured.

There were numerous protocols to which we all adhered as part of these concerted training efforts. We knew that there were potentially terrible consequences for disclosing sensitive intelligence, beyond the personal guilt and shame of betraying one’s country, which could have led to imprisonment or in some cases, death. We had to constantly be on guard even during seemingly innocuous phone conversations with loved ones and idle talk with neighbors; we were trained that our enemies had the potential of piecing together small bits of information gleaned from many sources to form a larger picture. To almost all of us, due to our training, mindset and discipline, it became almost instinctive to behave in such a manner, in speech and other ways, that did not betray what we had been trained to protect: vital and sensitive national security secrets. The US military has historically been quite good at it, but as I mentioned, such vigilance has come at great expense, and has never been 100% successful. (There have been a few historical cases of betrayal in the modern age; names such as Clyde Conrad and John Walker come to mind.)

As indicated earlier, it’s been suggested that there may be some sort of conspiracy to withhold information that the sasquatch or “bigfoot” is indeed roaming remote North American forests. Such a conspiracy would no doubt be on a large scale and would necessarily involve hundreds, perhaps thousands, of individuals. Possibly the cover-up would have to be maintained by disparate entities, both private and governmental, for years, maybe even decades, with no betrayals (so far). Granted, withholding information pertaining to an officially undiscovered North American ape does not compare to national security secrets, but I still find such a scenario implausible.

Is there any one group or entity that is even capable of successfully managing and pulling off such a cover-up? I know from experience that the US government is capable of managing campaigns that guard information related to national security that are much more complex (than any ostensible sasquatch cover-up) and involve copious amounts of information, but as I mentioned, such campaigns come at great expense and effort, and they are not foolproof. I find it difficult to accept that any other entity would even be capable of such a cover-up. To my knowledge, no other entity has the wherewithal to even implement a campaign dedicated to such action, regardless of desire or motive.

Besides, the US government is made up of many smaller entities characterized by their own interests, roles and modi operandi.

For example, the US Forest Service is dedicated to the managed utilization of timber and wildlife on 191 million acres. The National Park Service, responsible for 81 million acres of national parks, wildlife refuges and sanctuaries, is really more about conservation, preservation and protection. The Bureau of Land Management administers 264 million acres of public lands within a framework of numerous laws and is responsible for managing many land conditions, most of which are located in 12 western states.

One would think that any government conspiracy to withhold information about the sasquatch would surely involve individuals from one or more of these three governmental agencies (and potentially the forest and wildlife agencies of the various states). Let me point out that these agencies are typically not made up of highly-trained, highly-motivated military personnel; to the contrary, they are mostly made up of bureaucrats, as well as law enforcement personnel, technicians and biologists.

In my mind, the biggest question is not who would conduct such a campaign to cover up the sasquatch’s existence, but why would anyone want to do so? What compelling reason(s) would someone or some group have to keep the existence of the sasquatch a secret?

I mentioned earlier in this paper that there have been a few breaches of security in recent US military history. The same “Why?” question can be asked regarding those cases. Why did Walker, Conrad and others betray their country by divulging sensitive information?

The answer? Money.

In the cases where US servicemen disclosed sensitive data, the underlying, most prominent, motive always dealt with finances. They were given money in exchange for what they knew.

I’ve said that I don’t believe that a concerted wide-scale sasquatch cover-up is plausible and I stand by that. However, I do think it’s possible that people are motivated to keep their mouths shut about what they have seen or know about because it may impede their progress up the ladder of promotion, thereby adversely impacting their livelihood.

While I don’t see as plausible a US Forest Service decree that all information pertaining to the existence of a large bipedal primate be locked away in a vault somewhere, I do think it’s plausible that a bureaucrat at any given national forest ranger station might be inclined to stick his/her head in the sand when it comes to investigating reports of such an animal. At the risk of contributing to stereotypes, it stands to reason that many bureaucrats do not particularly care about gaining more knowledge; they are more interested in security and putting in their time with as little resistance, controversy or effort as possible. Having to manage a higher-order primate on national forest lands could lead many bureaucrats to early graves.

To that extent, I find this scenario plausible: Joe Bureaucrat tells his subordinates that unless they want to deal with droves of “tree huggers” or to be forced to manage one more “thing,” and maybe even lose their jobs, they better keep quiet about anything unusual. The subordinates in turn realize that Joe Bureaucrat is their boss and, not wanting to jeopardize their livelihood, they elect to zip their mouths. This sort of scenario may or may not be happening, but it doesn’t necessarily strike me as being too far-fetched. It’s also far less romantic than the notion of some concerted governmental conspiracy to hide the existence of the sasquatch.

Conversely, one might think that the National Park Service, with its stated mission of conservation and preservation, would welcome any discovery that would lead to more funding and dedicated resources. In light of this, would its employees willingly take part in a cover-up pertaining to the sasquatch? To me, it doesn’t seem likely, but I also believe that the National Park Service may have its share of obstructionist bureaucracy as well.

It’s been suggested that there are a number of non-governmental groups who might have an interest in covering up, resisting or even downplaying the existence of a North American ape based on the premise that, were such a creature to be discovered, their bottom line or their livelihood would be negatively impacted. One only has to be reminded that millions of acres of forest were shut down to logging in the Pacific Northwest due to the Northern Spotted Owl and the Endangered Species Act.

The Endangered Species Act was designed to restrict development of lands that provide habitat for endangered plants and wildlife; for the timber industry and numerous business groups, the Endangered Species Act is more about lost livelihoods and opportunities.

One can only imagine how the discovery of a large higher-order primate, one that would almost certainly be protected by the Endangered Species Act, might impact certain groups whose livelihoods are derived from the exploitation/utilization of natural resources. This could include industries with interests in timber, mining, outdoor recreational, land development, natural gas/petroleum, and others. While these groups, at least in their own collective minds, have plenty of motive to collaboratively deny the sasquatch’s existence, I believe they lack the requisite resources and organization to do so. And while it may often seem to some that an organized disinformation/misinformation campaign designed to obfuscate the truth about the existence of the sasquatch is indeed ongoing, I just can’t subscribe to such a school of thought.

However, what I do find more palatable, if still unlikely, is that the sasquatch’s official listing may be impeded by communal bureaucratic red-taped focused mindsets that are pervasive and deep, along with perhaps a small measure of good old-fashioned fear-of-the-unknown thrown in.