zoobyshoe
Mar2-04, 01:01 PM
Stuart Caesar likes to hunt in the wilderness of upstate Pennsylvania.
And over the years, he's heard Native American legends of Bigfoot, the creature that roams the woods rustling sheep and deer, and sometime letting loose terrifying screams.
These sightings occur in remote places like Towanda and Wyalusing and Tioga.
But Caesar believes he has evidence that Bigfoot is stalking Levittown.
He snapped pictures to show doubters.
He says he's a Bigfoot skeptic. Still, he won't dismiss the creature's existence completely, mainly because of his eerie experiences while hunting.
In the hinterlands of Wyalusing and Towanda, he says he's seen and heard things that can't easily be explained.
He and fellow hunters have had rocks hurled at them by unseen hands (or paws).
He's heard screams in the night, too.
"Deer and elk make a bellowing noise. I know what that sounds like. But this is a scream. It's definitely not an animal. If it is human, what is someone doing in the middle of a mountain, screaming?
"I'll see stick stackings against trees. I'll see branches broken off eight or nine feet in the air, cleanly snapped. I've always wondered what is causing this. These are very isolated areas. You're on top of a mountain. You're in 'Deliverance' country."
Bigfoot, the shy, hairy giant of the woods, known to some as Sasquatch, has fascinated Caesar, 42, since he was a kid.
But by the mid-1980s, after never seeing one himself, or seeing evidence that would allay doubt, he decided Bigfoot was fake.
"If it was real, we would have it by now," he said.
However, a few years ago he heard about the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society, which is based in Jeannette, southeast of Pittsburgh.
He was surprised to hear that the creature had been spotted frequently throughout western Pennsylvania in recent years.
"When I was kid, that was unheard of. You never heard of Bigfoot in Pennsylvania," Caesar said.
As a hunter, it makes sense, though, he said.
Animals that were rarely spotted in Pennsylvania a few years ago, like cougars and mountain lions, are seen more frequently now.
"It's a change in weather patterns that's causing these animals to search for food. I figure it's the same with Bigfoot."
He doesn't expect to convince hard-core non-believers. However, he points out that Indian tribes native to Pennsylvania have remarkably similar legends about a great mysterious beast that lurks in the state's vast and largely unpopulated forests.
"Indians believed in Bigfoot. They considered him a spirit of the forest. They considered him to be a spiritual creature, and many Indian tribes still hold true to the story. They would leave him food and he would give them firewood in return, stacking it against trees," he said.
According to legend, Bigfoot is intelligent, on a parallel with humans. But what accounts for Bigfoot's terminal shyness?
More story:
Bigfoot makes appearance in Levittown (phillyBurbs.com)
Address:http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-03022004-256522.html
And over the years, he's heard Native American legends of Bigfoot, the creature that roams the woods rustling sheep and deer, and sometime letting loose terrifying screams.
These sightings occur in remote places like Towanda and Wyalusing and Tioga.
But Caesar believes he has evidence that Bigfoot is stalking Levittown.
He snapped pictures to show doubters.
He says he's a Bigfoot skeptic. Still, he won't dismiss the creature's existence completely, mainly because of his eerie experiences while hunting.
In the hinterlands of Wyalusing and Towanda, he says he's seen and heard things that can't easily be explained.
He and fellow hunters have had rocks hurled at them by unseen hands (or paws).
He's heard screams in the night, too.
"Deer and elk make a bellowing noise. I know what that sounds like. But this is a scream. It's definitely not an animal. If it is human, what is someone doing in the middle of a mountain, screaming?
"I'll see stick stackings against trees. I'll see branches broken off eight or nine feet in the air, cleanly snapped. I've always wondered what is causing this. These are very isolated areas. You're on top of a mountain. You're in 'Deliverance' country."
Bigfoot, the shy, hairy giant of the woods, known to some as Sasquatch, has fascinated Caesar, 42, since he was a kid.
But by the mid-1980s, after never seeing one himself, or seeing evidence that would allay doubt, he decided Bigfoot was fake.
"If it was real, we would have it by now," he said.
However, a few years ago he heard about the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society, which is based in Jeannette, southeast of Pittsburgh.
He was surprised to hear that the creature had been spotted frequently throughout western Pennsylvania in recent years.
"When I was kid, that was unheard of. You never heard of Bigfoot in Pennsylvania," Caesar said.
As a hunter, it makes sense, though, he said.
Animals that were rarely spotted in Pennsylvania a few years ago, like cougars and mountain lions, are seen more frequently now.
"It's a change in weather patterns that's causing these animals to search for food. I figure it's the same with Bigfoot."
He doesn't expect to convince hard-core non-believers. However, he points out that Indian tribes native to Pennsylvania have remarkably similar legends about a great mysterious beast that lurks in the state's vast and largely unpopulated forests.
"Indians believed in Bigfoot. They considered him a spirit of the forest. They considered him to be a spiritual creature, and many Indian tribes still hold true to the story. They would leave him food and he would give them firewood in return, stacking it against trees," he said.
According to legend, Bigfoot is intelligent, on a parallel with humans. But what accounts for Bigfoot's terminal shyness?
More story:
Bigfoot makes appearance in Levittown (phillyBurbs.com)
Address:http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-03022004-256522.html