Media Article # 555

Sunday, May 11, 2008

By KIM HOYUM
The Mining Journal

MARQUETTE — An organization of Bigfoot searchers is returning to the area next week.


The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization first came to Marquette County in July 2007, looking for signs of Bigfoot and interviewing residents who had Bigfoot encounter stories to tell. They’ll be back again May 13 through 18, and have expanded their search area, encouraged by last year’s results.


Don Young, a BFRO member and organizer from Phillips, Wis., came to Marquette County last year, and said this year the group will be focusing on three target areas instead of two, as they did before.


Young said group members previously recorded unidentified animal calls and captured thermal images which encouraged them to come back to the area.


“There was activity we (saw) on the road when myself and some other people were wearing thermal units,” Young said. “We got some grainy images on the road that seemed to be an upright bipedal, something that we’re looking for... They were good enough that we wanted to come back and look some more.”


About 40 BFRO members and other interested people will be basing their search from the Gitche Gumee Campground on M-28. Again, investigators will interview residents who believe they have seen or encountered a possible Bigfoot.


Young said the organization still plans to explore other areas of the Upper Peninsula in the future. He said the creatures are believed to favor living in caves, and he feels the U.P.’s old mine shafts and caves would be likely places to look.


According to the BFRO’s online database of Bigfoot encounters, the group has received six reports of tracks and sightings in Marquette County, beginning in 1972 and going up to 2007. Most other Upper Peninsula counties also have encounters listed on the Web site.


The expedition is made up of BFRO investigators, members, and others who register. According to the group’s registration information, the fee for first-time participants is $300, and $100 for those who have gone on previous trips.

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