Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy

With the 2009 Texas Bigfoot Conference right around the corner, speakers are preparing to present information on Bigfoot sightings and research to audience members.

The Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy, a Plano-based nonprofit organization, is preparing to hold the all-day scientific conference, which will include about a dozen speakers, Saturday at the D.K. Caldwell Auditorium, 301 S. College Ave. Saturday’s event is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Following the conference, a fundraiser banquet dinner will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Discovery Science Place, 308 N. Broadway Ave., and will feature a special presentation by wildlife author, photographer and naturalist Peter Matthiessen.

Daryl Colyer, vice chairman of the TBRC board of directors, will be one of the speakers at the conference.

He said he and other TBRC members volunteer their time to participate in the organization, with the sole mission of proving that a Bigfoot-type animal does exist.

Volunteers talk to witnesses who report sightings of the animal and then follow up on sightings that are deemed possibly credible, Colyer said.

Some months, he said, they may get four of five reports, and out of every 10 reports, there are probably two or three worth checking.

At Saturday’s conference, Colyer plans to discuss frequently asked questions with attendees, such as, “Why are there no bones?” and “What does it eat?”

He said they don’t have physical evidence of what it eats, but they do have credible reports from people who’ve seen something tall and upright walking off with chickens from their farm or even fishing.

At the conference, Colyer said he hopes to reach people who are immediately dismissive of the idea of a Bigfoot/Sasquatch.

“It’s been a very frustrating and difficult thing to try to get people to take the subject seriously. ... Hopefully, we can just chip away a little bit at that and get some to take it a little bit more seriously,” he said.

TBRC investigator Jerry Hestand said he will talk about how a Bigfoot report is done and the history of TBRC.

“A lot of people look at our Web site and they look at the reports and don’t know exactly how it’s done,” he said.

Among the specific subjects he will address are how witnesses are contacted and how TBRC determines what category a sighting falls under.

Hestand said he will talk to conference attendees about how 40 years ago, there wasn’t the technology to address certain situations.

TBRC scientific adviser Loren Coleman, a cryptozoologist in Portland, Maine, has attended Texas conferences before and is looking forward to Saturday.

“I really enjoy the Texas conferences because, in general, they have a good mix of people,” including women and children, he said. “I just like to visit different parts of the country.”

Coleman also is an author and has assisted television programs.

Wildlife biologist Alton Higgins, an assistant professor at Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City, also will be at the conference.

“We’re very excited about the possibility of having a good turnout,” Higgins said. “I’m looking forward to meeting speakers who are coming.”

Higgins has talked about many subjects at past conferences, such as handprints, human and ape body proportions and biological illustration projects.

This year, because the conference will be in a new venue, he said he was thinking about introducing people to the research TBRC does, discussing the organization’s educational outreach efforts and talking about his 2002 sighting.

“I’ve given talks at a lot of conferences. ... I have gone to different colleges and universities, but I’ve never talked about the fact that I’ve seen one of these things myself,” Higgins said. ”... Probably over half of our speakers, a lot of them like myself, have had sightings.”

According to the TBRC Web site, there have been four reported sightings in Smith County. Descriptions of the incidents can be found at www.texasbigfoot.org.

In a recent sighting, a man captured images of what he thought could be a “Bigfoot” at his home in Kentucky Sept. 1, according to media reports.

Other speakers and guests at the conference include: Esteban Sarmiento, primate biologist; John Mionczynski, wildlife biologist and TBRC adviser; John Bindernagel, wildlife biologist, TBRC advisor and author of North America’s Great Ape: The Sasquatch; Chris Bader and Carsen Mencken, sociologists; Bill Dranginis, developer of non-intrusive “Eye Gotcha” wildlife camera; and Robert Swain, artist and cartoonist.

Bob Gimlin, of Yakima, Wash., also is scheduled to make a guest appearance at the conference.

According to TBRC information, Gimlin and his field partner Roger Patterson filmed a possible female sasquatch in the Six Rivers National Forest of Northern California in 1967.

Hestand said the Bigfoot Conference has grown over the years, going from about 150 people at the first two conferences to 500 to 600 people at the biggest conference.

TBRC would like to have about 800 or 1,000 people at this year’s conference, he said.

The conference will serve as a fundraiser for the organization, with all proceeds going toward the TBRC camera project and new equipment.

“We hope to keep growing (in attendance at the conference). ... We want to watch Tyler’s back and they watch ours,” he said. “We’d like to see it (become an) annual event in Tyler where we make money and the city makes money.”

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Shari Rickman, vice president of the Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau/Conventions, said Tyler is looking at an estimated economic impact of $40,000 from the conference, due in part to food, lodging, general spending and the renting of buildings.

“We saw the potential of what this conference can bring to the city, not only economically, but also opening (Tyler) up to people who have never been here before,” she said, adding that people could decide to move to Tyler after attending an event, come back for vacation or decide to retire in the city.

Ms. Rickman expressed her appreciation to the community for its efforts with the conference.

“I get support for any conferences coming into (Tyler). We live in a really great and unique community where people are willing to give of their time,” she said.

General admission to the event is $15, but a pre-paid package is available for $60 for premium reserved seating at the conference, as well as a ticket to the dinner.

For more information on the conference, visit www.texasbigfoot.org.

Original article in the Tyler Morning Telegraph.