Wildnisgeist: Poltergeists of the Woods?

Joshua Cutchin

On March 13, 2005, a wife hiking with her husband in Benton County, Oregon, heard a growling sound—“low, deep, like a vibrating growl or snort”—that stopped her in her tracks. After cautiously taking a few steps, the couple saw a baseball-sized rock fly onto the path from a commotion in the brush. “About ¼ mile along the trail we hear a loud ‘whomp, whomp’ like wood against wood sound ahead of us up on the hill,” the witness wrote. “My husband describes this sound as a person hitting a tree quite hard with a large log.”

Because the incident took place in an area with a rich history of Bigfoot sightings, the case was reported to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), which deemed it a “Class B Report.”¹

The BFRO defines Class B Reports as “where a possible sasquatch was observed at a great distance or in poor lighting conditions and incidents in any other circumstance that did not afford a clear view of the subject are considered Class B Reports” [emphasis mine].²

In many Class B Reports, witnesses fail to see anything resembling a large, bipedal primate in the forest. They instead report activity suggestive of, but not explicitly attributable to, Bigfoot: tossed rocks, wood knocks, vocalizations, anomalous odors, etc. (While not universal nomenclature within the Bigfoot community, the term “Class B Reports” is used herein to indicate sightings where this behavior—sans Bigfoot—is observed.)

But perhaps it is hasty to attribute such activity solely to Bigfoot, especially when the creature is not clearly observed—if an unseen assailant throws a rock in the woods, it simply cannot be conclusively labeled a Bigfoot report.

Intellectual honesty demands that we consider that phenomena other than Bigfoot might be responsible.

Wildnisgeist

The end of 1951 wrecked Anna Duryba. The Ukranian immigrant had invited her 14-year-old niece, Kathleen, to winter with her in Chilliwack, British Columbia, only to find her tiny four-room cottage under attack. Something began violently smashing outer walls and breaking windows. Countless visitors and neighbors heard the rappings, sometimes as many as 30 in one evening.

A brief respite in the siege occurred when Duryba, at the urging of her priest, vacated the premises for ten days. The activity, however, picked up right where it left off upon her return.

Sheriff’s office employee A.J. Edwards reported:

I have heard the sounds on four occasions. In each case they have come as rapid, violent rappings on the outer wall near a window. All persons in the house were within my range of vision on these occasions, with the exception of Miss Duryba’s teen-age niece, who was asleep in her bedroom. Each time I ran outside, but could see no one, although the house was fully floodlit . . .

On the four occasions when I heard the sounds, they came between 8:00 p.m. and midnight. I am told they have been heard regularly during the day, as well as at night. Windows have been broken on several occasions, including one kitchen window which was broken after it had been protected by a wire screen and sheet of plastic.³

The case—“The Chilliwack Poltergeist”—shares similarities with quite a few Class B Reports. Coming from the German poltern, “to knock,” and geist, “spirit,” poltergeists have been reported for millennia around the world, wreaking havoc in victims’ homes.

“In earlier times, reports of poltergeist disturbances cite primarily rock-and dirt-throwing, flying objects, loud noises, strange lights, and other apparitions, terrible smells, rapping, physical and sexual assaults, and shrieks,” wrote paranormal investigator and author Rosemary Ellen Guiley. In the modern era, these hauntings include electrical disturbances and, more rarely, physical attacks. Such infestations typically begin and end abruptly, rarely exceeding a few months.⁴

Poltergeists were historically blamed upon demons and spirits of the dead, regularly manifesting during spiritualist séances of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning in the 1930s, contemporary parapsychologists like Nandor Fodor proposed that many cases were actually the result of a living agent, often an adolescent female, whose stress or sexual tension generated psychokinetic activity. This attitude is largely retained in contemporary paranormal circles and does not necessarily conflict with earlier reports of poltergeist behavior during séances—after all, these ceremonies centered around a single individual as well, typically a female medium. The poltergeist seems tied to individuals, rather than locales.⁵

Since poltergeists are unilaterally reported in or around homes, it is obvious why few parapsychologists have ever entertained the notion of a wilderness poltergeist—or, to coin a phrase, a wildnisgeist. Considering the idea opens up a new realm of possibilities; in many cases, the only thing differentiating poltergeist cases from Class B Reports is their setting. Could the same phenomena—taking place in an outdoor environment, where it is less likely to be labeled as such—explain both poltergeist cases and Class B Reports where Bigfoot is not observed?

The comparison between Bigfoot encounters and poltergeists has been drawn in the past. Fred Beck, survivor of the infamous 1924 “Ape Canyon” attack where multiple Bigfoot allegedly besieged a cabin near Mount St. Helens, Washington, perceived his attackers as spirits, the accompanying thumps on the cabin wall as poltergeist behavior.⁶ In later years, cryptozoologists flirted with the connection as well. In a presentation at the 2001 Australian “Myths & Monsters” Conference, Tony Healy reported:

. . . three cases in our files suggest our Furry Friends might also have something in common with poltergeists. For example, in 1946, when George Nott and his family moved into a long-abandoned property near Wilcannia, they heard thumping sounds in the ceiling. Doors swung open, objects flew, and so many pebbles fell on the roof that they “sounded like a heavy shower of rain.” At the same time as this classic poltergeist phenomena, huge human-like tracks appeared in the yard and a large, very irate hairy apeman began to invade the house, once trying to drag Mrs. Nott outside.⁷

Other researchers brave enough to broach this taboo subject include Greg Newkirk, Dana Newkirk,⁸ Linda Godfrey,⁹ and Loren Coleman.

“Rock-tossing poltergeists are frequently reported in the archives to be found in many kinds of non-cryptozoological studies,” Coleman wrote in 2008. “Should old and new accounts of stone-throwing poltergeists be re-evaluated as possible evidence of Bigfoot activity, or should unseen ‘Sasquatch’ or ‘Windigo’ said to be throwing rocks be re-evaluated as poltergeists?”¹⁰

To reiterate: none of this suggests Bigfoot do not exist, nor that they are not responsible for many Class B Reports. Rather, the implication is that we may simply ascribe more activity to them than they deserve. While similarities between poltergeist phenomena and Bigfoot have been noted in passing, few have carefully examined their depth, and even fewer seriously entertained the wildnisgeist concept.

Generalities

English researchers Alan Gauld and A.D. Cornell were the first to conduct a large-scale analysis of poltergeist infestations in the late 1970s. After examining 500 international cases from 1800, they found 63 points of commonality, including:

• 64% of cases featured the manipulation of small objects,
  including movement, disappearances, and apports, or
  spontaneous transference from one location to another;
• 58% peaked after nightfall;
• 36% included the movement of heavy furniture;
• 24% exceeded 365 days;
• 16% featured communication between poltergeist and
  apparent agent;
• 12% involved opening/closing doors/windows.

Gauld and Cornell also determined, in cases where the activity centered on a human agent, they were most likely female and less than 20 years old.¹¹ It is worth noting the propensity for poltergeists to focus on an individual, rather than a location, might explain the problems inherent in repeat witnesses, who seem to have all the luck encountering Bigfoot activity while other researchers go their entire lives empty handed perhaps the behavior they observe is generated by the observer, rather than an exterior source.

A few additional points of comparison between poltergeist and Bigfoot experiences immediately emerge from Gauld and Cornell’s study. For example, while no shortage of daytime encounters exists, many Bigfoot reports—Class B and otherwise—occur nocturnally. A calculation by Cliff Barackman using researcher John Green’s database of sighting indicates “that Bigfoots are probably 100 times more active at night!”¹²

Stephanie Quick analyzed the sightings of Bigfoot researcher Claudia Ackley through the poltergeist lens:

During a 7 day camping trip undertaken to try and learn more about Bigfoot, Ackley and her fellow researchers observe a variety of phenomena. The phenomena start with sounds growls and screams, continue with stones thrown by an unseen agency and the leader’s dog staring at an invisible presence. Finally the group sees and records a hairy hominid and later finds two humanoid footprints. Poltergeist infestations tend to follow a similar pattern of escalation of phenomena—from sounds through rock throwing/manipulation of small objects to full body apparitions.

Poltergeist infestations have also resulted in large footprints and “arts and craft” type creations using materials found in the home (for example pin hole writing on paper) which to my mind recall the “stick structures” observed by Bigfoot researchers.

Many poltergeists tend to crystallize around a “focus” who is present for phenomena. The focus may be followed by poltergeist phenomena to different locations, in the same way that Ackley sees Bigfoot and detects other Bigfoot phenomena in a number of different settings over the years. In the last sighting, Ackley is accompanied by her two daughters. The eldest daughter, who Snapchats the creature, at age 14 is pubescent as are the classic poltergeist focii.¹³

Typical poltergeist agents are young and female, a data point resonant with Bigfoot lore. Legends universally describe the creature’s keen interest in young women and children,¹⁴ even abducting them as in the (possibly apocryphal) case of 17-year-old Serephine Long.¹⁵ This attraction to both youth and women remains a minor meme in the Bigfoot community: during the 2000 collection of the celebrated Skookum cast, investigators broadcast recordings of children playing and infants crying to attract Bigfoot,¹⁶ while other researchers employ feminine products hung from trees as bait, convinced female pheromones attract the creatures.¹⁷

Poltergeists attach to female youths; youth and females attract Bigfoot.

Throwing Stones

Among known animals, primates, especially chimpanzees, are the only ones that exhibit stone-throwing prowess.¹⁸ In Bigfoot sightings, this behavior is consistent throughout the historical record.¹⁹ At the same time—to use an old adage—all fish swim, but not everything that swims is a fish. While Bigfoot throw stones, it is possible not every stone thrown comes from Bigfoot.

Class B Reports regularly describe stones tossed by invisible assailants. In 2005 a Virginia policeman heard a loud vocalization from a distant ridge while camping. Once his comrades fell asleep, he began to notice repetitive clicking sounds; though they were coming from pebbles bouncing off a nearby picnic table, he saw no one throwing them. The following morning, he distinctly heard “Russian or Eastern European and an Asian language of some kind” drifting from the woods.²⁰

Rocks striking homes are attributed to Bigfoot without a second thought to poltergeists. An elderly Florida couple reported an eerie cry and foul odor near their property in 2013, culminating in multiple stones hitting their home and outdoor furniture. Despite Bigfoot’s absence, the report nonetheless found its way to BFRO.²¹

As noted, incorporeally tossed objects, especially stones, usually indicate a poltergeist infestation. Beginning in 1965, a family in Jaboticabal, Brazil, endured a rain of bricks inside their home, followed by a shower of stones—312 in total.²² In such cases, the stones are usually “warm to the touch.” The famous 1998 Humpty Doo poltergeist of Australia produced rocks “not just warm, but very hot” when held by witnesses.²³ Some contend this is because objects traversing other dimensions gather heat.²⁴

During 1978’s Minerva, Ohio, Bigfoot sightings, the Cayton family repeatedly had stones thrown at their roof from the ridgeline behind their home by an unseen assailant. Roofs, it should be noted, are prime targets for poltergeists: in late 1921, stones began striking warehouses in Chico, California, culminating in a March 9, 1922, shower of “rocks ranging in size from peas to baseballs” on the roof of a building owned by J.W. Charge.²⁵

Rappings & Prints

Raps are a hallmark of poltergeists. In the 1661 Drummer of Tedworth case, the Mompesson family was plagued for weeks not only by drumbeats but also raps, apports, disembodied voices, apparitions, and foul smells.²⁶ In the 19th century, the Epworth Rectory poltergeist wracked an English home with raps and knocks so hard they shook the very walls.²⁷ Raps are commonly interpreted as spirit communication during
séances—in fact, such activity at the Hydesville, New York, home of the Fox Sisters birthed the entire spiritualist movement.²⁸

It takes little imagination to draw comparisons between wood knocks—sounds of wood-on-wood in the forest, speculated to be Bigfoot communication of some kind—and the rappings of poltergeists. A more direct comparison can be made when Bigfoot are accused of assaulting witnesses’ homes with knocks and slaps. In the aforementioned Minerva Monster case, for example, the Caytons reported regular pounding and taps on their outside walls and windows.²⁹

This interference extends to rooftops. In 1973, a Monogahela, Pennsylvania family reported sulfurous odors, shadowy apparitions, and odd screams in the area around their home. On the evening of August 24, they distinctly heard “something heavy walking on the roof.”³⁰

Even beyond showers of stones, similar rooftop thumps are not uncommon in poltergeist cases. The 1878 poltergeist of Amherst, Nova Scotia, centered around 19-year-old Esther Teed, whose presence generated rapping sounds as if someone were slamming the roof with a sledgehammer; no culprit was ever observed.³¹

Critics will counter that Bigfoot, unlike poltergeists, leave behind clear trace evidence of their domestic attacks. In 1962, for example, a muddy 11-inch handprint was left on the side of a home slapped in Fort Bragg, California.³² To be pedantic, there is no proof Bigfoot left that print— beyond that argument, poltergeist infestations can also generate anomalous footprints. In 1956 London’s Battersea Poltergeist left a single, large footprint in white powder spilled across the floor³³—the lack of a path in or out of the powder brings to mind how lines of some suspected Bigfoot tracks abruptly end in the middle of empty fields.³⁴

Disembodied Voices

In the mid-1970s, Bigfoot researchers Ron Morehead and Alan Berry recorded a series of peculiar vocalizations in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains after leaving a microphone on a branch near their cabin. Morehead’s recordings, dubbed the “Sierra Sounds,” seem to feature multiple individuals grunting, snuffling, incomprehensively conversing, even bickering; after examining the sounds, it was the opinion of a retired United States Navy crypto-linguist that they represent an unknown language spoken by nonhuman entities.³⁵

Disembodied voices are a hallmark of poltergeist infestation. In the 19th century, Ballechin House of Perthshire, Scotland, suffered from a variety of poltergeist phenomena, including, knocks, raps, odd odors, the sound of explosions, and (like the voices of the Sierra Sounds) “the sound of people quarrelling.”³⁶ Similar vocalizations were heard in the Drummer of Tedworth case.³⁷ In one of the most famous modern reports, a disembodied voice calling itself Gef—claiming to be a mongoose—took up residence in an Isle of Man home in 1931, chatting at length with the family and lending an unseen hand to household duties. While on its face absurd, parapsychologists widely regard the case as a deceptive poltergeist manifestation, rather than a talking animal.³⁸

Class B witnesses report a variety of auditory evidence. Vocalizations and noises shared between poltergeists and Bigfoot include heavy breathing, whistles, heavy movement and laughter, scratching and tearing, and animal noises.

Odors & Animal Reactions

Foul smells, often compared to hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs, feces, decay, etc.) are common to both Bigfoot and poltergeist reports.

Joseph Glanvill, witness to the Drummer of Tedworth case, claimed the spirit “left a sulphurous smell behind it, which was very offensive.”³⁹ The 1974 poltergeist of Bridgeport, Connecticut, generated an odor compared to burning matches and sulfur.⁴⁰ In a more modern example, an Englishwoman allegedly cursed by a Bantu shaman returned from South Africa to find her home afflicted by a poltergeist that produced “an unpleasant smell, as of a rotting corpse . . . sulphur.”⁴¹

Any cryptozoologist will recognize similar odors in Bigfoot literature. The stench of hydrogen sulfide (commonly conflated with sulfur) appears alongside smells of skunk, musk, wet dog, decay, and body odor both in clear sightings and Class B Reports alike. In 1975, a witness and friend noticed “a rotten egg sulphur smell that was over powering [sic]” while trapping near Waupun, Wisconsin; despite no other Bigfoot activity, it was reported to the BFRO.⁴² In another case from 1976, a California witness noticed large footprints outside his cabin accompanied by a smell like a wet dog crossed with rotten eggs.⁴³

Animals react identically in other anomalous encounters—including poltergeist cases. The Epworth Rectory Poltergeist so troubled the reverend’s manservant that he took the family mastiff to his room; the first evening in his care, the dog barked violently before the noises began, only to whimper and flee on each subsequent evening.⁴⁴ Similarly, watchdogs at Calvados Castle turned to whimpering messes when brought in to scare off potential intruders.⁴⁵

Apports & Disapports

Though bears and raccoons are most likely to blame for food stolen in the outdoors, some activity brings this assumption into question. Commonly practiced among habituators (those who allege Bigfoot inhabit their property), gifting involves leaving objects outside in the hope of attracting Bigfoot activity. Though mundane wildlife activity may be responsible when gifts like food are taken outright, this likelihood is rendered impossible when items are left in exchange. In one particularly compelling example, habituators on a Washington property—regularly troubled by thrown stones, wood knocks, and suspicious cairns appearing overnight—left a large bag of apples hanging from a tree in 2011. The following morning several apples were taken and, in their place, ten dead field mice were found in woven blades of grass. Suffice to say, this behavior is not attributable to bears or raccoons.⁴⁶

Such activity not only shares strong similarities with Celtic faerie belief (wherein offerings would be left out for helpful spirits), but is also a chief feature in both poltergeist cases and séances. In parapsychology circles, objects that seemingly appear out of thin air are known as apports. Every alleged Bigfoot gift has precedent in the psychic literature as an apport: food, fruits, stones, even dead rodents, once produced by 19th century medium Eusapia Palladino.⁴⁷

Electrical Interference & Anomalous Lights

While other attributes observed in Class B Reports can be chalked up to unseen flesh-and-blood Bigfoot lobbing stones, wood knocking, and vocalizing, it is much more difficult—nigh impossible—to attribute electrical interference to a relict hominoid, yet field researchers nonetheless experience such difficulties.

Such effects are simply expected in poltergeist reports. Researchers investigating a poltergeist infestation in Keene, New Hampshire, recorded “abnormally rapid battery drainage,” an effect noted by ghost hunters in a variety of purportedly haunted locales. Other electrical interference is more dramatic; in one case from 1990s Glasgow, a poltergeist sufferer regularly had lights switch themselves on and off in his flat, in addition to the failure of two refrigerators, five or six vacuums, six stereos, eight televisions, and countless light bulbs.⁴⁸

“Ghost hunters have long lamented the strange ability of spirits to kill electronic equipment, whether it be draining fresh batteries in a matter of minutes, causing camera malfunctions during critical moments, or even straight up frying electronics,” Greg Newkirk wrote. “Turns out, this is something many Bigfoot hunters have experienced as well. In fact, back in 1993, the Bigfoot Research Project, the first serious attempt to capture Sasquatch on trail cameras, made use of a direct video feed fed into an off-site VHS recorder, and was plagued by mysterious problems with its electronic gear, causing numerous issues when it came to capturing evidence.”⁴⁹

Even more confounding are examples where anomalous orbs of light are recorded in sites of heavy Bigfoot activity. As with reports of electronic interference, most cryptozoologists only open up about such peculiarities in confidence. “Ghost lights” are regularly seen on Bragg Road in East Texas’s Big Thicket, an area famous for Bigfoot sightings.

Correlations, as it is famously said, do not mean causation—but they may imply a link. In February 2016 Wes Germer, host of the popular Sasquatch Chronicles podcast, and his brother revisited the area of their 2012 sighting, only to observe “strange balls of light flying around” the woods near Yacolt.

Anomalous lights are part and parcel for ghost activity, including poltergeist cases. Strange lights were seen in Borley Rectory, witnesses saw “glimmering lights that appeared in the children’s bedroom” in the Drummer of Tedworth case, etc.⁵⁰

As with other signs of poltergeist activity, mediums and séances generate anomalous light phenomena as well. British medium Stella Cranshaw was surrounded by poltergeist phenomena into her 20s, including the movement of small objects, rappings, and flashes of light.⁵¹ At a methodical series of séances in Norfolk, England, in the 1990s—known as The Scole Experiment—researcher Montague Keen recorded lights that would “dart around at great speed and perform elaborately patterned dances in front of us, including perfect, sustained circles executed at high velocity and with a precision which appeared inconsistent with manual manipulation.”⁵²

Counterarguments

Thrown stones, raps, disembodied voices, anomalous odors, frightened pets, apports, electrical interference, and anomalous lights—we are left with a compelling list of similarities, but it is unclear exactly what, if anything, they mean. Before bridging that gap, let us first examine several substantial counterarguments.

Considering the alternative concept of the wildnisgeist renders one vulnerable to charges of “cherry picking” by critics, who might argue such cases are selected only because they fit the hypothesis. It is true the Class B Reports cited here have been selected because they fit specific criteria; however, they represent but a small number of a large subset of alleged Bigfoot cases, and as such deserve scrutiny removed from the baggage of the Bigfoot community. Further, the intention is not to work backwards from an alternative idea, but rather to propose a means of combating confirmation bias and keeping assumptions in check; to not answer one unknown with another unknown, but to rather open up another path of inquiry when investigating anomalous activity in the wilderness. In this sense we are not cherry-picking, but instead attempting to view Class B Reports from a different perspective.

A major flaw in the wildnisgeist idea is the absence of spontaneous fires, a major signifier of poltergeist activity, in Class B Reports. For example, the Amherst Poltergeist frequently combusted old newspapers,⁵³ and the Borley Rectory Poltergeist may have actually burned the building down⁵⁴—if any comparable precedent exists in Bigfoot literature, it is highly underreported (in fact, some legends refer to Bigfoot as “Indians Without Fire”).⁵⁵ While areas with high numbers of sightings are occasionally ravaged by wildfire, it is specious to assume Bigfoot starts them when plenty of rational explanations exist.

Another stumbling block is a lack of anomalous writing. Poltergeist cases often, but not always, feature writing from unknown sources on walls and mirrors in a variety of media, from lipstick to charcoal and ink.⁵⁶ Like anomalous fires, no apparent analogue exists in Class B Reports without drawing extremely tenuous connections to stick structures as some form of primitive communication.

Perhaps the most damning counter to the wildnisgeist concept is that, outside Class B Reports, Bigfoot are witnessed engaging in much of the above activity (tossing rocks, vocalizing, etc.). Certainly bringing in a wilderness poltergeist violates Occam’s Razor, i.e. multiplying variables unnecessarily. It is far more parsimonious to simply assume Class B Reports are due to Bigfoot.

But what if large, hairy creatures are themselves physical manifestations of wildnisgeists?

Hairy Poltergeists

The appearance of hairy limbs—or even full apparitions of hairy creatures—has been noted in poltergeist cases, hauntings, and séances.

In 2001 in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a family of five claimed to have been terrorized by a poltergeist that growled, rang telephones, spoke in multiple languages, lobbed produce at anyone inside the home, and smeared lotions and detergents on the walls. According to the youngest son, aged 10, the poltergeist appeared as “hairy and ape-like with sharp nails.”⁵⁷

In the 1950s, paranormal author Stan Gooch saw a prehistoric man materialize during a séance in Coventry, England, before vanishing into thin air.

This was a crouching ape-like shape, which became clearer as the moments passed. I guess it approximated to most people’s idea of what an ancient cave man would look like. Yet one could not make out too much detail—the eyes were hidden, for example. It stood in half shadow, watching us, breathing heavily as if nervous. I must say, though, that I sensed rather than heard the breathing. I could not decide whether our visitor was wearing the skin of some animal, or whether it had a rough coat of hair of its own.⁵⁸

Famed medium Franek Kluski also allegedly materialized a “mysterious ape” during the early 20th century,⁵⁹ and Nick Redfern also investigated a 1985 case where a Bigfoot appeared following a Ouija board session in Rochester, New York.⁶⁰ (As an aside, it should be noted that poltergeist activity was sometimes attributed in English folklore to boggarts, hirsute faerie folk . . . further reinforcing the underappreciated similarities between older traditions and modern Bigfoot reports.)⁶¹

Since the precedent exists, it stands to reason—however unlikely—that some Class B Reports wherein a hairy form is glimpsed may fit the wildnisgeist parameters as well.

A Series of Hypotheses

Despite so many similarities between poltergeists and Class B Bigfoot Reports, it is quite unclear what connection exists between the two, if any. The wildnisgeist theory is flawed, at best. Even so, a handful of possibilities seem apparent.

1. There is no Bigfoot or wildnisgeist involved in Class B Reports. In this scenario, all activity described where no assailant is seen stone throwing, rapping, disembodied voices, odors, etc.—are entirely coincidental and can be written off in these cases as natural phenomena. Showers of stones might be dropped from birds, wood knocks might simply be breaking limbs or woodpeckers, odors might be unseen rotting carcasses . . . and all might be simple misidentification.
2. Bigfoot and wildnisgeist just happen to exist in the same locations. Here we have multiple sub-scenarios at play. There might be a wildnisgeist attached to an area inhabited by Bigfoot, or a witness finds him/herself in an area known for Bigfoot sightings and generates their own poltergeist activity. If true, it implies Class B Reports come from both wildnisgeist and Bigfoot. In any case, this hypothesis is predicated on a complete and utter coincidence between clear Bigfoot sightings and Class B Reports, which remains unlikely.
3. Bigfoot is solely responsible for Class B Reports. Most cryptozoologists endorse this hypothesis. It is undoubtedly the simplest explanation, arguably the most logical. This explanation is not without serious shortcomings, however—specifically the electrical interference and anomalous lights seen in some reports—unless one fully engages with more taboo theories like Bigfoot as ghosts, spirits, or interdimensional creatures, problematic concepts in their own right.
4. Wildnisgeists are responsible for all Bigfoot reports. We jump from the least controversial hypothesis to the most. In this scenario, the wildnisgeist is either attached to a location—explaining areas of plentiful Bigfoot sightings—or, in traditional poltergeist fashion, the witness brings the phenomenon with them as an agent. In either case, sightings of large, hairy hominoids are not flesh-and blood primates, but instead projected representations of wildnisgeists, nonphysical in nature but possessed of the ability to interact with the physical world as any poltergeist can.
5. Wildnisgeists are poltergeists generated by Bigfoot. Researcher Rosemary Ellen Guiley wrote that poltergeists seem to be the product of “destructive juvenile or unbalanced adult minds.”⁶² Plenty of sightings describe Bigfoot acting erratically or angrily, as well as displaying a playful disposition or childish behavior—is it possible flesh-and-blood primates generate poltergeist activity, similar to emotionally unstable human beings? As noted, poltergeist cases commonly involve spontaneous fires and anomalous writing—but are nowhere to be found in Class B Reports. Is this because any mind generating a poltergeist must possess knowledge of how to create fire and writing? Or perhaps Bigfoot have found a way to harness the psychic effects of poltergeist phenomena to their own ends?
6. Any mixture of the above hypotheses.

The exact intersection of poltergeist phenomena and Class B Reports may never be revealed. For all we know, there may be no connection, or the link may indeed be as intimate as points 4 or 5 above. In some sense, it is entirely irrelevant—the important principle is to engage in critical thinking that challenges our preconceptions, forcing us to reexamine the paradigms we impose on objective data and ourselves. To question everything.

Excerpted with permission from Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon, Volume I: Folklore by Joshua Cuthcin and Timothy Renner (2020).

JOSHUA CUTCHIN is a researcher, writer, and a professional tuba player in Georgia. He is the author of four books, including most recently Thieves in the Night: A Brief History of Supernatural Child Abductions and Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon, Volume I: Folklore, with Timothy Renner. He can be heard on the weekly podcast Where Did the Road Go? and maintains an online presence at JoshuaCutchin.com.

ENDNOTES

1 Fahrenbach, W.H. (2005). Report #10928 (Class B): Hikers hear growl, wood knocking, have rock thrown at them. Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=10928

2 BFRO. (2017). BFRO Database History and Report Classification System. Retrieved November 29, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/gdb/classify.asp#classification

3 Colombo, J.R. (2000). Ghost Stories of Canada. Toronto, CA: Dundurn Press.

4 Guiley, R.E. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (3rd ed). New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc. (Original work published 1992).

5 Ibid.

6 Coleman, L. (2003). Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America. New York, NY: Paraview Pocket Books.

7 Healy, T. (October 20, 2001). “High Strangeness” in Yowie Reports. In P. Cropper (Ed.). Myths & Monsters 2001 Conference Papers. Paper presented at Myths & Monsters 2001, Sydney, Australia (pp. 64–72).

8 Newkirk, G. (December 8, 2016). Bigfoot is a Ghost: Interdimensional Sasquatch, The Green Flash, and Why We’ll Never Find a Body. Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://weekinweird.com/2016/12/08/bigfoot-is-a-ghostinterdimensional-sasquatch-tulpas-green-flash/

9 Godfrey, L.S. (2016). Monsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena. New York, NY: Tarcher Penguin.

10 Coleman, L. (November 14, 2008). Stone-Throwing Sasquatch or Poltergeist? Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/stone-throwing/

11 Guiley 2007.

12 Barackman, C. (2013). Why Don’t You Look for Bigfoot During the Day? Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://cliffbarackman.com/faqs/why-dontyou-look-for-bigfoot-during-the-day/

13 Quick, S. (December 18, 2018). Paranormal Aspects of Bigfoot Encounters. Retrieved December 28, 2018 from https://stephaniequick.home.blog/2018/12/18/paranormal-aspects-of-bigfoot-encounters/

14 Swancer, B. (September 23, 2016). Truly Strange Cases of People Kidnapped by Bigfoot. Retrieved September 5, 2017 from http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/09/truly-strange-cases-of-people-kidnapped-by-bigfoot/

15 Burns, J.W. (December 1954). “My Search for B.C.’s Giant Indians.” Liberty Magazine, pp. 38-39.

16 Meldrum, J. (2006). Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. New York, NY: Forge Books.

17 Bowers, C. (May 29, 2014). The Unethical and Potential Dangers of Bigfoot Baiting: Part One. Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/the-unethical-and-potential-dangers-of-bigfoot-baiting/

18 Meldrum 2006.

19 Megargle, Alan (2015). Bigfoot Times, June, p. 2.

20 D.K. (2013). Report #40534 (Class B): Strange encounter experienced by LEO’s camped near Goldbond. Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=40534

21 Monteith, R. (2013). Report #38923 (Class B): Possible nighttime activity in the retirement community The Villages. Retrieved December 1, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=38923

22 Guiley 2007.

23 Healy, T., & Cropper, P. (2014). Australian Poltergeist: The Stone-throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases. Sydney, AU: Strange Nation.

24 Violette, J.R. (2001). The Extra-Dimensional Universe: Where the Paranormal Becomes the Normal. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company.

25 Clark, J. (2012). Unexplained: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena (3rd ed). Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press. (Original work published 1993)

26 Wilson, C. (2010). Poltergeist: A Classic Study in Destructive Hauntings. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

27 Guiley 2007.

28 Buckland, R. (2003). The Fortune-telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press.

29 Megargle 2015.

30 Gordon, S. (2010). Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO Bigfoot Casebook. R. Marsh (Ed.). Greensburg, PA: Stan Gordon Productions.

31 Steiger, B. (2013). Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press.

32 Meldrum 2006.

33 Hitchings, S., & Clark, J. (2013). Poltergeist Prince of London: The Remarkable True Story of the Battersea Poltergeist. Stroud, UK: The History Press.

34 Newkirk 2016.

35 Bader, C.D., Baker, J.O., & Mencken, F.C. (2017). Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture (2nd ed). New York, NY: New York University Press.

36 Guiley 2007.

37 Ibid.

38 Josiffe, C. (2017). Gef! The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose. London, UK: Strange Attractor.

39 Glanvil, J. (1689). Sadiucismus Triumphatus: Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions. London, UK: James Collins. (Original work published 1661)

40 Hall, W.J. (2014). The World’s Most Haunted House: The True Story of the Bridgeport Poltergeist on Lindley Street. Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books.

41 Koch, K.E. (1986). Occult ABC: Exposing Occult Practices and Ideologies. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications (Original work published 1978 as Satan’s Devices)

42 Reles, R. (2014). Report #43648 (Class B): Memory told of possible activity while trapping in Horicon Marsh. Retrieved December 4, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=43648

43 Hucklebridge, R. (2010). Report #27687 (Class B): Possible tracks found in snow and mud on family property many years ago near Lake Hughes. Retrieved December 4, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=27687

44 Guiley 2007.

45 Ibid.

46 Taylor, S. (2011). BFRO Report #29355 (Class B): Possible evidence collected after a woman is hit in the hand by a rock near Napavine. Retrieved December 6, 2017 from http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_report.asp?id=29355

47 Guiley 2007.

48 Ruickbie, L. (2013). A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting: How to Investigate Paranormal Activity from Spirits and Hauntings to Poltergeists. London, UK: Constable & Robinson Ltd.

49 Newkirk 2016.

50 Guiley 2007.

51 Guiley 2007.

52 Solomon, G, & Solomon, J. (2012). The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death (New Updated Edition). Waltham Abbey, UK: Campion Books. (Original work published 1999)

53 Hubbell, W. (1916). The Great Amherst Mystery: A True Narrative of the Supernatural (10th ed.). New York: Brentano’s. (Original work published 1888)

54 Price, H. (2012). Poltergeist Over England: Three Centuries of Mischievous Ghosts. Devon, UK: F&W Media.

55 Hanks, M. (July 29, 2016). “The Indians Without Fire”: Stories of Sasquatch Over the Ages. Retrieved December 6, 2017 from http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/07/the-indians-without-fire-stories-of-sasquatch-over-the-ages/

56 Hitchings & Clark, 2013.

57 Goldstuck, A. (2012). The Ghost That Closed Down the Town. London, UK: Penguin Books.

58 Redfern, N. (2012). Wildman! The Monstrous and Mysterious Saga of the British Bigfoot. C. Downes & J. Downes (Eds.). North Devon, UK: CFZ Publications.

59 Ibid.

60 Redfern, N. (April 8, 2013). Sasquatch and a Ouija-board. Retreived December 7, 2017 from http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/04/sasquatch-and-a-ouija-board/

61 Briggs, K. (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

62 Guiley 2007.