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Geographical Index > United States > North Carolina > Montgomery County > Article # 628
Media Article # 628
Article submitted by David Pardue
Article prepared and posted by Don Tart
Monday, February 14, 2011 Bigfoot hunt made for a fun outing By David Freeze
Salisbury Herald
When Scott Jenkins, the news editor for the Salisbury Post, asked if I would cover the Bigfoot hunt in Troy, he asked the right person.
I had a big evening planned, but it isn’t often that a regular guy gets to chase the legend of the elusive Bigfoot. Of course, I hadn’t been close to one before, and I think most of the other 300 searchers were new to the chase too.
Even though I live on a farm and have lots of woods around, I haven’t heard of a sighting nearby. Once I heard of an unconfirmed Bigfoot sighting at one of the Ys, but nothing ever came of it. As soon as I drove into the lot at the Eldorado Outpost on Highway 109, I knew this was the real thing and something that I wanted to be part of.
Michael Greene has a thermal image of what he claims is a Bigfoot on his website. It sure looks like one to me.
He had enticed the Animal Planet TV crew to come see where he hunts, which I am sure was not easy to do. I read Greene’s biography and was significantly impressed. The guy has lived a life of adventure and service, and now he lives in Salisbury.
A tank commander, pilot, national ski patrol member, boating enthusiast and much more. Lots of good stories about sightings came from his peers. There has to be something to this. Keep in mind that I am still waiting for Elvis to come out of hiding and start performing again.
It seemed that lots of folks had come to Eldorado for a good time and a dose of the unusual.
In fact, that is what Claudine Burleson told me. She wouldn’t give her hometown and her friend “Diane” wouldn’t give anything, but the two ladies were there representing the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Bigfoot (SPCB), and trying to get on TV.
Diane did say, “This is a good way to stimulate the local economy.”
A few girls and moms were selling “Monster Munch,” using the slogan “Don’t just attract them, feed them.”
A SUV had a sign on the side, saying “Bigfoot loves Girls Scout Cookies.” It turns out that the Girl Scouts were selling the cookies and Bigfoot Hunter license plates.
A large sound system was playing Bigfoot hit songs, and there was even some tailgating going on.
Of course I knew before arriving that we were going on a Bigfoot search.
We tried to find Zagnut, the preferred candy bar of Bigfoot, while passing through Troy. None at Food Lion, none at CVS, and I was about to resort to buying Twix Bars and hoping that the woolly beast likes them too.
I had actually planned to put a few Zagnuts in my backpack, and if a Bigfoot came out of the woods after me I would just break off a piece every so often and toss them to him while I was running away.
Later, while the evidence search was getting started, we were told by bullhorn to stop and wait until the cameras were ready to do a retake.
I kept busy looking for red candy bar wrappers which are easy to spot. Others concentrated on looking for hair and broken branches.
The helicopter flew off and came back once when we were ready to start searching again.
Everyone was told not to wave at the helicopter. I didn’t. Well, OK, just a little.
We stopped by the store on the way out, and one customer said that there were Bigfoot toes on a stick for sale inside. I didn’t ask, but I did buy a couple Zagnut bars from Dianne at the register who stocks them for bait year round.
It would be just fine with me if Michael Greene will let me go along on his next hunt. I would make way less noise than the Animal Planet crew. I’ll go looking for Elvis another time.
Bibliographical Information:Salisbury Post
131 W. Innes St.
Salisbury, NC 28144
(704) 633-8950
FAX: (704) 639-0003 (newsroom)
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