Doodle Time #2: Forteana and Related Weirdness

bigfoot orb

I like weirdness. I like to read about bigfoot sightings and alien abductions. Fortean is a word used to describe any paranormal occurrence, be it bigfoot sighting, psychic phenomena, or blood falling from the sky (Yeah that’s a thing. That is to say, people have claimed to witness blood raining from the sky. Whether or not it actually occurs is, of course, a different matter). The word is taken from the name Charles Fort, who was the first person to research and write extensively on the subject of the paranormal. He wrote of these subjects with wit and cynicism, and that is the attitude I generally like to take when considering the paranormal. I question whether or not encounters with the paranormal can be taken directly at face value. Much has been written about the flaws of eyewitness testimony. It is very easy for our memories of a witnessed event, especially a fleeting one (as is the case in most bigfoot and other monster sightings) to be flawed or influenced by factors such as our own expectations, biases, ect. It’s easy for us to “remember” details that did not actually occur, especially if a story is repeated frequently. To me it seems very important to keep these things in mind when considering paranormal subjects. That having been said, tales of the paranormal make for very interesting reading. Take, for instance, the subject of this doodle. I wanted to depict one of my favorite of the “classic” bigfoot encounters, recounted frequently in  literature on the subject of monsters. In August of 1973, two teen age girls from Beaver County, Pennsylvania claimed to have witnessed a bigfoot-like creature in the woods near their home. They described the creature as being ape-like,with white colored fur and red eyes. They claimed the creature carried a glowing orb in its’ hand, and stared at it intently as it shambled along through the woods. They ran home, frightened, and described the encounter to their parents. Their father decided to go investigate, and did not come back for several hours. Upon returning, the man seemed to be in a state of  confusion, being unable to recall what happened after he went into the woods to investigate. He seemed shocked to learn that he had been absent for several hours. if you are interested in reading further on this case, or indeed other “monster” encounters, I recommend the following books and/or websites:

The Bigfoot Casebook by Janet and Colin Bord

http://www.amazon.com/Bigfoot-Casebook-updated-Sightings-Encounters/dp/0937663107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385918930&sr=1-1&keywords=Bigfoot+case+book,

Alien Animals by Janet and Colin Bord

http://www.amazon.com/Alien-animals-Worldwide-Investigation-Monsters/dp/0811700887/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385918962&sr=1-12

I also recommend the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society website. During the 1970s there where a whole slew of weird, bigfoot related sightings and reports, and this webpage has a lot of them listed with dates and locations

http://www.pabigfootsociety.com

Here is another  bigfoot sketch because bigfoot is awesome. I find the idea of a tribe of giant, hairy, ape-like monsters stomping around the forests and mountains of the world so appealing, that it hardly matters to me if bigfoot is real or not. The myth is an endearing one, and I hope it never goes away.

 bigfoot night

One thought on “Doodle Time #2: Forteana and Related Weirdness

  1. Pingback: I’m Not Making This Up: Why I’m Skeptical of Eyewitnesses | Illuminutti

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