Bigfoot lives.
So says Ryan Layton, Utah's self-styled premier expert on Sasquatch, the mythical creature believers insist hides in the wilds of North America. Layton has hunted Bigfoot for 13 years through interviews with Utahns who tell of close encounters and by gathering what he insists is evidence of its existence."As far as I know in the state of Utah, I've taken this (Bigfoot study) further than anyone else . . . It's absolutely overwhelming the things I've come to find out . . . It's controversial but fascinating." People have reported sightings of an animal the fits the Bigfoot description in Utah as well as in the Pacific Northwest.
Layton, 39, a self-employed entrepreneur, doesn't claim to have solved the mystery of Bigfoot. He also hasn't personally glimpsed the creature, but he says he's found enough evidence over the years to be convinced there's something out there that goes beyond normal understanding.
He stresses he's not on a "monster hunt," but rather he's looking for some answers and perhaps for an unknown species of animal.
"In all probability, they do exist," he said. "I can't prove it to anybody, but people have indeed seen Bigfoot in unmistakable conditions."
Most people scoff at the reports, and Layton said he's already taken heat for his belief in Bigfoot. Scientists will remain unbelieving until they capture or get a skeleton of a Bigfoot. Detractors point to the lack of fossils, bones or remains of any kind. They maintain an animal can't have existed without leaving remains behind.
"You'd think you'd come across a dead one or a fossil," he said, stressing he isn't one to advocate what some Bigfoot enthusiasts do - shooting one in order to have a body to present to science as proof.
He said the lack of such evidence has put some Bigfoot study into the metaphysical realm. One of the recent trends in Bigfoot theories nationally is the possible connection of Bigfoot to UFOs.
"I can't say I've seen much connection between the two," Layton said, but others say Bigfoots are extra-terrestrial beings.
"I don't rule out that we're dealing with a band of experimental or introduced species from another source, based on the fact we have no fossil evidence of Bigfoot," he said.
What happens when man encounters Bigfoot? Reports vary, but Layton said 80 percent of all sightings happen at night and most involve a creature who is reserved, though a little curious. He may watch a camp in the mountains from a distance, but is rarely aggressive. A few have reported trucks or campers being rocked by a Bigfoot, but Layton said this is rare.
He said a foul odor, which might be caused by some sort of special protective glands, usually permeates a Bigfoot encounter.
Layton said other animals react negatively to Bigfoot. Dogs will track bears or cougars, but they'll run away from Bigfoot. Horses will also act frightened and apprehensive.
Layton is aware of a belief that Bigfoot might be Cain, who killed his brother Abel in early biblical times and was cursed to remain a fugitive. A sighting of a hairy man in the 1830s by David W. Patten, an early LDS Apostle, has fueled such speculation. Patten's experience is related in the late President Spencer W. Kimball's book "The Miracle of Forgiveness."
"I don't think it's Cain or a Cain-related offspring," Layton said, although he does believe Bigfoot is a sojourner. On the other hand, Layton doesn't believe Patten met Bigfoot, either, because Patten apparently was astride a horse that remained calm during the encounter.
"They're not built like us . . . I doubt if they have too many human tendencies," Layton said, referring to Dr. Grover S. Krantz's research. (See accompanying story.) Krantz is one of the nation's most respected Bigfoot experts with whom Layton has collaborated.
Layton said some theories explain Bigfoot as a modern version of a primate, apelike creature, called gigantopithecus, that existed in China more than 500,000 years ago and migrated to North America. But he said that idea still doesn't explain why no skeletons have ever been found.
Layton said he remembers reading a Bigfoot story in "True Magazine" back in 1962. He also helped classmates make an amateur Bigfoot movie when he was a ninth-grader. His interest was renewed in 1980 when there were several reported Bigfoot sightings in South Weber, Davis County.
He admits he was obsessed with the creature back then. The local sightings hit home because previous ones were mostly in the Pacific Northwest. (Still, Bigfoot has been reported in such places as San Diego, the Las Vegas area and the Grand Canyon.)
"I made a promise to myself to get to the bottom of those sight-ings," he said. "I decided to be an investigator and remain skeptical."
He said it has taken many years for him to become convinced of Bigfoot's existence and also to come down to reality.
"It's turned into a real interesting hobby . . . You'd be shocked how many people in the state of Utah have eyewitnessed these things," he said, explaining he's talked to 30 to 40 Utahns who say they have had close encounters with Bigfoot. "These things have been seen all over the state."
"I'd like to see one . . . but I haven't . . . They don't show up very often."
Layton believes Bigfoot is something you have to be lucky to see. You just can't go out looking for it like a big game animal using certain parameters and expect to see one. He's seen footprints and also believes he heard a Bigfoot cry out in the Uintas during 1983.
He also said the reported evidence of Bigfoots in Utah didn't stop after the South Weber sightings 13 years ago. He said there's even a legend among Indians of a place on the Ouray Indian Reservation near Roosevelt, where Bigfoot-like creatures have been reported, though he's been unable to get permission to visit the area, sacred to the Indians.
The Utes also have a ceremony of cedar burning that involves the Sasquatch (an Indian name), and Layton said he's aware of some petroglyphs the depict the feet of some hunters way out of proportion to body size and may indicate Indians have had knowledge of Bigfoot for many centuries. Some Indians lore indicates they believe Bigfoot to be a spirit.
If a Bigfoot is ever found or caught, Layton believes it might be in Utah's Uinta Mountains. Layton said a Roosevelt outfitter told him he was approached by Roger Patterson, a hunter who took what he says is a video of Bigfoot in October 1967, about going into the Uintas to look for Bigfoot in the summer of that year. Layton also said one author states in the epilogue to a book on Bigfoot that he believes the Uintas will be the likely place where Bigfoot will finally be caught.
Layton's not exactly sure why the Uintas rate so highly as a possible Bigfoot refuge but that theory and the reported evidence of the creature in the Beehive State mean no one has to go to the Pacific Northwest to look for one. He said if a Bigfoot is ever caught, the environmental ramifications would go far beyond the restrictions prompted by the spotted owl in the Northwest and would hit Utah's outdoor country hard.
Layton said there have been tracks found in the Garland, Box Elder County, area in the past five years, a sighting around some North Salt Lake gravel pits on Beck Street about 10 years ago and also some more recent evidence in North Ogden during the past two years, though he declined to comment more on that.
The media reactions and the possibility of ridicule have prevented some people with Bigfoot evidence or experiences from reporting them publicly, Layton said.
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(Additional information)
Bigfoot sightings in Utah
Today, Bigfoot is part of our culture. There have been a movie and TV series - "Harry and the Hendersons" - and various TV reports on the mysterious beast over the years.
As "Sasquatch," it's part of many Indian legends. David Thompson, a surveyor and trader for the Northwest Company, discovered what may have been Bigfoot tracks in 1810, near the Columbia River Gorge. Bigfoot may be a larger cousing of the 'Abominable Snowman" or "Yeti" and other similar apelike cratures rumored to live in the Easter Hemisphere.
Over the years, Bigfoot evident has been reported in CAnada, most Western states, portions of the Midwest and even in Florida. Sightings have also been reported as far south as Guatemala. There is also a lot of evidence of Bigfoot repported in Utah, some of it fairly recently.
Here's a list of some of the reported Bigfoot sightings and evidence in the Beehive State. The information on these reports are from the files of Ryan Layton of Layton, who has interviewed many Utahns who have claimed to have spotted Bigfoot the past 13 years and from past media reports:
1960s: A possible Bigfoot sighting near Beaver.
1970s: Some residents of Clarston, northwest of Logan, reported that something took a midnight trip through their community, awakening and frigtening residents. An Indian reported seeing a crature in the Dixie National Forest.
1973: Craig R. Johnson of Farr West, Weber County, was elk hunting with friends in the Manti-La Sal Mountains. After returning to camp, they reported something very powerful had lifted the door off a 300-pound horse trailer and tossed it 10 feet away. An imprint in the dust on the door didn't indicate a bear or a human.
1977: The first major reported Utah sighting. Jay Barker and larry Beeson of North Ogden were hiking one summer morning with five young men in the Cuberant Basin of the Uinta Mountains and reported watching an 8 - to -10 foot tall creature with a natle of white hair from 600 to 800 yards away for 20 minutes until some loose rock alerted it to their presence on a ridge. An expedition into the area a few days later found no tracks, but the ground was very hard.
1979: Larry DArley of Clearfield was elk hunting with his wife in the fall near Monte Cristo east of Ogden. They later reported a loud noise and an "awful" odor at twiilight. Mrs. Darley said she spotted a "hairy thing, with fangs" at a water hole 50 yards away through the rifle scope. They watched it for several minutes before rushing to their truck after the animal seemed to look at them. Hikers near Flaming Gorge reported stumbling onto a water hole with a huge pine bed and a dead deer hanging nearby. They said they unearthly screams and made a quick retreat to their boat.
1980s (by mouth): A man from Lapoint, Uintah County, flying a small airplane from Ogden to his home one winter, reported seeing a large, hairy manlike crature waling through the deep snow of the High Unitas. Lee Fielding of Hooper, Weber County who works for Utah Wildlife Resources, was camping in the Elizabeth Mountain are of the Uintas. He reported that something stormed through his camp one night and scared all the horses away. The next moring, his horse would not go in a particular direction , and he met a group of hunters in another nearby camp who told him they were spooked by seeing what they described as a Bigfoot.
A man on a dirt bike behind the Francis peak RAdar Towers said he was chased by some sort of crature. Indians inouray REservatin near Roosevelt reported Bigfoot like creatures in a particular canyon, but since they consider the area sacreed, to outside investigation has yet been permitted. Ute Indians also have a legend that similar creatures sometimes congregrate in the Island Lake area of the High Uintas. There are also periodic reports of large rocks being thrown in the middle of the night around Island Lake. A Vernal church leader and family reported seeing the outline of a large crature near their tent one summer night. They also saw a huge handprint press against their tent.
February: In February Bigfoot made big news in utah with numerous sightings: Paulene markham said she saw something like Bigfoot waling on a ridge behind their house...Ron J. Smith reported a crature in the moonlight in a pasture next to his house. He also said he heard it make an inhuman scream...Walter G. Ray reported that a pan of burned stew, set outside to cool, waas mysteriously licked clean...Possible Bigfood tracks were reported in the South Weber area...Lee Padilla of Clearfield reported seeing a 10-foot tall beast dart across Riverdale Road in fron of his headlights at 3:30 a.m....A Uintah man reported seeing something he described as non-human out a window of his home in the foothills... A South Weber resident, Edna Arave, said she was frightened by the earthly screams of what may have been Bigfoot one February night. She also believed many South Weber residents saw or heard things they never did report for fear of ridicule, or of the publicity they could receive from the media.
April: A 13-year-old Washington Terrace, Weber County, girl reported a hair creature standing up with its back to her - only 10 feet away in a gully neaer the Weber River. She also said she smelled a terrible odor and rushed home. Her brother, cutting oak brush nearby, also saw something "large and black" about the same time.
May: An Ogden couple picking asparagus along the Weber River near 12th Street and I-15, reported an 8-foot-tall black figure with glowing red eyes about 40 yards away. They ran to their car and later returned to the area with Ryna laton and others and found hundreds of tracks... Several footprints were also discovered in a residential area of North Ogden.
August: Teenagers reported hearing an unearthly scream and smelling a terrible odor one night. Large footprints are also later found in the area.
1981: The police chief of Garland, Box Elder County, said he saw a creature run in front of his car. Several other residents also reported sightings and tracks are found that lead in a northwest direction.
1982: Several drives along Beck Street in North Salt lake reported seeing a hairy creature run across the road in the early moring darkness.
1983: A jogger in Farmington reported seeing a Bigfoot near the city cemetery early one morning...Ryan Layton of Layton and a friend were camping on Sept. 1 in the Hoyt peak area of the Unitas. Layton, who collects Bigfoot stories, had heard a tape recording of a Bigfoot scream that a Montana rancher had givern to another Utahn. At 3 a.m., he said "just for fun," he imitated - as best he could - one of the Bigfoot sounds and almost instantly got back a reply. It was the same as the Montana recording, and Layton described it asn an "almost ungodly," sinister and weird scream" that lasted five to 10 seconds. It had too much volume to be human or made by any known animal...Several men in the Wheeler Canyon area, near the Snow Basin road, reported seeing something large with red glowing eyes at about 3 a.m. one night. They left their camping gear and rushed off to Huntsville to report it and also said they saw several other creatures in the vicinity.
1988: Ranchers near Garland seeing two Bigfootlike creatures near their lambing pens after dark. Soon after, many tracks were found in the Garland area in deep snow and were followed for two miles.
1990s: An Orangeville, Emery County, man told Ryan Layton he's spotted Bigfoot four different times in the High Uintas, including one time with his whole family. he also said his grandfater had told him he's seen Bigfoot in the same area.
1991 (August): Bigfoot sightings reported by residents in North Ogden.
1992 (August): Screams and a foul odor were reported in the same North Ogden area.