Monday, June 28, 2010

Enoch: What Are We To Believe?

During the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium, author and researcher Autumn Williams presented her new book “Enoch: A Bigfoot Story”. I was told by a few attendees that her presentation was punctuated by rants against the Bigfoot community in general that were fashioned into reasons for not offering any photo or physical evidence. As well, many of the attendees believed it strange that she hadn't even been to Florida to meet the witness and check his story out. Overall, the impression I got from the attendees I talked to was that there was a disquieting lack of logic in Autumn's presentation.

It seems that ‘Mike’, the source of the stories for Autumn's book, is not realizing any benefit from the book raising the speculation that 'Mike' won't complain, simply because there's no 'Mike'. 'Mike' was only identified as a heavy equipment operator living in Florida. No other personal info was provided other than his life had been full of disappointment which had left him depressed and bitter.

I read ‘Enoch’ this weekend and was struck by the similarity to ‘Fifty Years with Bigfoot’. I was also surprised that Autumn and Mike referenced much of Jan Klement’s book ‘The Creature’ which supposedly is a first hand account of a semi habituation of a Bigfoot creature he named ‘Kong’ in southwestern Pennsylvania. Klement’s story was interesting, but mostly unbelievable. The author also did not hide the fact that he is an alcoholic and has serious mental health issues. The one anecdote where he shoved the creature into the back of his station wagon and drove him 200 miles away in order to protect him from hunters during deer season was one of several head shaking passages.

Klement described himself as a scientist, but he didn’t take Kong's dead body to be "dissected", but decided he would drive the body to a remote location and hack up his so-called "best friend" with an axe. I’m not sure if this was simply out of friendship or a sociopathic reaction to ‘Kong’s’ death.

The ‘Enoch’ scenario is also reminiscent of the Janice Carter case. In 1947, on the family farm in Tennessee, it is alleged that Robert Carter Sr. began feeding a male Bigfoot, known as Fox. Through prolonged contact, Robert was able to create a habituation situation where Fox felt comfortable around Robert and his granddaughter, Janice. According to the book ‘Fifty Years with Bigfoot’, Robert and Janice were allowed to witness the most intimate moments of Bigfoot life, including their relationships and the death and burial of a young Bigfoot. These assertions have been questioned by a majority of researchers involved with the study of the Bigfoot phenomenon. For example, one of the authors maintained that Fox was capable of speech. She cited many examples in the book of Native American dialects, words, and names used by Fox, and even stated that he could speak English. However, in late 2006 it was proven that the supposed language and names employed by the resident Sasquatches were in fact plagiarized from the book 'Ride the Wind' (1985), an historical novel about a woman's life after she was kidnapped during the Comanche raid on her family's fort.

‘Enoch’ is a very well written, interesting and enjoyable narrative. I do recommend you read it since there is common sense information that could be helpful to those interested in Bigfoot. I have no doubts that 'Mike' is real, has witnessed a Swamp Ape and has knowledge of their activity. But, honestly, I'm just not convinced that Autumn isn’t being 'played' to some degree by the witness. I don't want to feel like this but I have to go with my gut reaction. Hopefully I will be convinced otherwise in the future.

My only wish is that if someone is privileged to be in regular contact with a Bigfoot, Sasquatch or Swamp Ape, that they would share it with us on a factual, scientific level. If you present your information in book form only, the anecdotal evidence is going to be torn apart and labeled as fiction. Possibly, Autumn will use the receipts from the book, travel to Florida, meet up with 'Mike' and attempt to prove some of the book's assertions.

In 1980, I had an encounter with a Bigfoot and it was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. In fact, it is the reason why I started to include cryptozoology as part of my paranormal field work. I know without a doubt that these creatures exist. That’s why I expect a tangible level of proof from those who claim to have had extraordinary experiences with these beings...Lon

Enoch: What Are We To Believe?

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