Eric Gregory for the Daily Nebraskan
If you look real close, you can see prints of what I assume to
be an elk. This picture was taken along the shore of North
Catamount Lake.
Bigfoot
Continued from Page 13
stream’s canyon became steeper,
the forest thicker.
About 50 yards past the foot
bridge, I began to smell a nauseat
ing stench.
The odor was a locker-room ef
fluvium, a thick, noxious stench
like an overweight lineman’s arm
pit after late-summer drills.
Brienzo had said that when he
went to Green Mountain Falls in
March, he found large human-like
footprints in snow behind Dan’s
house. In the area of the footprints,
Bob had told me there was a heavy,
musky stench that smelled “like
someone who hadn’t showered in
10 years.”
While searching the stream bed,
Kric found a large print in light
gravel about two feet from the
stream. The odor was incredibly
heavy in the area. We found other
prints — one that looked like it was
from a large cat and others that
looked like hoof prints from a deer
or an elk.
The large print was shaped like
a human foot and was much deeper
into the gravel than our own foot
prints. But, because the print was
in course material, there were almost
no details.
A few' hundred feet up the path
from the print, the smell began to
dissipate. We stopped searching
for tracks along the stream and
began a fast gait up to North Cata
mount Lake.
We found out later from Dave
W. Oates, a forensic and analytical
specialist in the wildlife division of
the Nebraska Game and Parks Com
mission, that during mating season
elk release a strong odor that can
hang in an area for days.
Oates described the smell of an
elk in rut as a “heavy, sweet, sickly
odor.” Elk are in rut during Sep
-t (-—
You can’t iden
tify a dragon
turd if you’ve
never seen a
dragon turd.
Likewise, you
can’t identify a
bigfoot hair if
you’re not sure
you’ve seen a
bigfoot hair.
Fahrenbach
scientist at Oregon Regional
Primate Reasearch Center
-9 9
tember and October, Oates said.
We smelled the odor in late Sep
tember.
Both Masias and Brienzo, how
ever, have said they smelled the
odor in months other than Septem
ber and October. It all was terribly
confusing but we still had our trump
card - the hair.
After searching the lakeshore
for a while, we headed back down
to Green Mountain Falls. We wanted
to reach the town before nightfall
so we could set our second bigfoot
trap behind the Dablers’ cabin -
the sight of the break-in. We fig
ured that from there, we were within
100 yards of four possible creature
sightings.
At the Dablers’, we set up a sar
dine and oriental-flavored Top Ra
men trap about 60 feet from the
patio. We decided that we would
not have a campfire that night.
As night fell, a few porchlights
began to dot the village below.
Miles off, a dull glow hung in the
sky - the halo of Colorado Springs.
Green Mountain Falls began to
weary, the dogs tired of barking,
the townspeople tired of driving.
By 11 p.m., the town was nearly
silent, the air nearly freezing. We
sat and watched. By 2 a.m., I was
completely frozen and completely
frustrated. We decided to give up.
The sun crawled over tne ridge
much loo early the next morning. I
gave Eric a wake-up beating and
crawled into the morning. We began
hauling our gear to the car.
Within the hour we were ready
to go. We said good-byes to Dan
and the Rocky Mountains and drove
down Hondo street, past the Church
in the Wildwood, onto Highway 24
and on to Lincoln in a final effort to
make some sense of the whole
mess. In Lincoln, we would hand
the hair, and the story, over to
science.
The weeks passed. I found out
the one thing scientists don’t like to
do is to speculate on the existence
of strange creatures. I had to send
See BIGFOOT on 15
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*__
In Celebration off
Black History Month
How are African-Americans shown through the Media?
African Film Marathon:
"Mississippi Burning"
"Hollywood Shuffle"
Segments of:
"Betrayed"
"I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!"
Presented by: When: Friday, February 16,1990
The Culture Center
D.R.E.A.M. Place: The Culture Center
UPC-AMC 6:00 p m‘
CULTURE CENTER__
A UHL AT rLetCl'ijTjiAjniH
333 North Nth St. Lincoln. Nc 68308 0430
Phone: 472*55110 - I
