'Bigfoots are real. The evidence shows it'
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - Bigfoot is no stranger to the Pacific Northwest: about a third of reported sasquatch sightings happen in Oregon and Washington.
The legend - or search - has gained new popularity from "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet.
"It won't take long, a few years tops," Portland native and bigfoot hunter Cliff Barackman told a Springfield High School club. "These things are real, and soon everyone is going to know about it."
Barackman admits to a lifelong obsession with sasquatch, an obession he now gets to indulge by traveling the country with three other bigfoot experts in search of 'squatch.
He is used to dealing with skeptics, but during a recent visit to Springfield High School, barackman was preaching to the choir at the Sasquatch Brotherhood, a school club.
"It's like religion," said Austin Helfrich of the Sasquatch Brotherhood. "You try to spread religion. Sasquatch, you try to spread it around, and have other people start to believe in it. And it just spreads like wildfire."
"Finding Bigfoot" has helped fan the flames: 1.3o million people tuned in for the premiere of its third season.
"Certainly more people are becoming believers because of the show," Barackman said. "I don't encourage belief. I encourage weighing the evidence and coming to your own conclusion."
The Sasquatch Brotherhood's members have come to the conclusion that bigfoot is out there, and like many fellow enthusiasts, they feel there's a good chance he calls the Pacific Northwest home.
"Lots of forested areas, very wet, mostly lots of animals," Helfrich said. "I think it would be an easy location for sasquatches to live in."
Helfrich and his friends admit they get some odd looks from other students.
But the general public's skepticism doesn't seem to bother them - or Barackman. They are all convinced that sasquatch's days in the shadows are numbered.
"I don't have a PhD. I don't care what other people think of me," Barackman said. "Bigfoots are real. The evidence shows it."
I think they prefer to be called "Bigfeet" rather than "Bigfoots".
"It's like religion," said Austin Helfrich of the Sasquatch Brotherhood. "You try to spread religion. Sasquatch, you try to spread it around, and have other people start to believe in it. And it just spreads like wildfire."
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"Certainly more people are becoming believers because of the show," Barackman said. "I don't encourage belief. I encourage weighing the evidence and coming to your own conclusion."
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So...it's not like religion at all, then. How come Barackman didn't name or mention *any* of his supposed 'evidence'?
I hope it can manage to stay out of the reach of these people that would trap it cage it and preform experiments on it to find out...what it is, why it is here....Idiots leave it alone jezzzzz. I can understand the curiosity but man just cannot leave well enough alone. If this creature does live in hiding - I am sure it smells danger from the hunt and grab crowd with nothing better to do with their time. I hope these men are driven their entire life without ever finding proof serves them right. We as a society have a real problem with understanding we do not own this earth anymore than other creatures that have learned to coexist not dominate. We may be the more advanced in many ways but FAIL on the coexisting with other creatures of this planet.
I have been raised in the woods and in these mountains for 45 yrs hiked into every lake there is a trail and been to every lake & stream, river, ocean here and Washington and have never experienced anything that you could not explain. its another con job! like I can talk to the dead show. come on! even my parents hiked these mountains and they have never seen a Sasquatch.
@Kim Bigelow I agree, I too have spent a good share of my life in the woods and mountains, on horseback and on foot, and on both sides of the Cascades. Never had a GPS but being raised by Cattlemen the first thing I learned was how to survive in the wild and not get lost. I have never seen anything that in ones wildest imagination could be construed as a big foot. . Big foot is someone's fantasy, and I guess if they fool enough people there is money to be made. Do you suppose he pays Taxes?
 I'm in with you two, but just because we personally have never seen such a thing doesn't mean it's non-existent. That's why evidence is so important, and it's worth noting that evidence was entirely left out of this article. He hasn't presented any of the evidence he insists he has, and as far as I know no papers have been submitted to the relevant scientific journals for peer review.To claim to have evidence of the existence of an otherwise mythical creature and to present such evidence for peer-review by people who are qualified to evaluate it in order to check or falsify one's conclusions are two different things.My guess is that if it was actually true that "The evidence shows it" then he wouldn't be getting paid to tell people on TV or groups of high school kids: he'd be collecting his Nobel prize and potentially millions of grant dollars instead.
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But he isn't doing that. At all. Why?
Sorry no such thing. Not one shred of evidence anywhere. It is as real as the Lochness monster.
I notice he didn't mention the ACTUAL evidence!Â
 There is no scientific evidence that backs up this guys claim. There is not one strand of hair that has been found that doesn't match something already on record. Most of us Oregonians have stumbled upon a dead bear or a deer carcass. There's always something left behind. Sure it's spread over a large area due to predators, but still there is something.  And let's not forget what a large animal like this would require in calories. There is no way something that big could live off the land in our present day forests.Maybe 200 years ago when blackberries, black huck, red huck and dozens of mushrooms were everywhere in the old growth.Â
 @RelaxThereIsNoGod I agree with your skepticism.  That said one may see a bear or cougar  dead on the road on rare occasion.Finding a cougar or bear carcass is very rare just wandering the woods. According to the experts bigfoots are nocturnal.  Most of the footprints are overlapping bear paws that give that big foot look.  This guy is making a living selling Bigfoot.  It is his PERS.