Fresno's own Bigfoot hunter

FRESNO, Calif. - What’s David Raygoza’s idea of a good time? A full tank of gas in his Jeep, fresh batteries for his video camera and a bag of apples for bait.

Bigfoot bait.

Raygoza, 49, is an award-winning principal at Central Unified’s Pershing Continuation High School west of Fresno, Calif. But for 14 years, he’s also had a secret hobby: tracking Bigfoot in Sequoia National Forest in the southern Sierra Nevada.

Raygoza admits his belief in the legendary creature makes him sound crazy.

‘‘It’s one of those things that you don’t talk to people about. I think mainstream America looks at it like UFOs or ghosts,’’ Raygoza said.

Also known as Sasquatch, Bigfoot purportedly is covered in hair and stands 7 feet tall. The creature roams remote forests, with most sightings concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, from north of Eureka, Calif., to British Columbia, said David Byrne, a high-profile Bigfoot hunter.

Raygoza had kept a low profile on his Bigfoot convictions until July, when he led a symposium on the creature in Hanford, Calif. Raygoza has several photographs of large footprints he believes could be from Bigfoot, as well as video he says shows glimpses of the creature. He said he once found an old nest Bigfoot may have used.

Raygoza’s interest in Bigfoot dates back to his senior year at Riverdale High School, when he read a newspaper article about a 17-year-old student in the Bay Area planning a Bigfoot hunting expedition.

‘‘I thought, ‘Wow. What a bold thing to do,’ ’’ Raygoza said.

Then, 14 years ago, while camping with a friend in the Sierra east of Fresno, Raygoza came across 17-inch footprints he could not identify. A science teacher at the time, Raygoza was hooked on tracking Bigfoot.

But he found no further evidence for 10 years: ‘‘I was really beginning to believe there was no such thing.’’

A chance meeting with a man in Coarsegold, Calif., at a gold-panning exhibit four years ago piqued his interest again. The man, an American Indian, said Bigfoot roamed an area near an old sweat lodge in Sequoia National Forest. He told Raygoza: ‘‘If you go there, you’ll find what you are looking for.’’

Raygoza and a friend made a trip to the location and found several sets of tracks Raygoza thinks were from Bigfoot. Over the past four years, he’s videotaped what he believes may be Bigfoot in the forest, although he admits the images are inconclusive.

‘‘Is it definitive? No, of course not,’’ he said.

Raygoza said he once filmed Bigfoot eating an apple he had put out as bait.

Stephanie Martin, a counselor at Pershing High, said she ‘‘didn’t have words’’ when she learned last summer that her boss believed in Bigfoot. She prefers not to discuss it with him; she said his stories sound credible, and she is scared by the idea that Bigfoot may exist.

‘‘I know it sounds kooky and crazy, and (Raygoza’s) obviously not,’’ Martin said.

Terry Cox, president of the Central Unified School District board, had not heard of Raygoza’s Bigfoot tracking but isn’t bothered by it.

She said she and her sons, now grown, have always enjoyed the Bigfoot legend. Her children belonged to Indian Guides when they were young and participated in several Bigfoot hunts.

One of the Indian Guide mothers made a Bigfoot costume that an older guide wore, running through the woods, allowing the younger guides glimpses of ‘‘Bigfoot.’’

One year, they forgot to bring the Bigfoot shoe coverings, so the creature ran around the forest in silver basketball shoes, Cox said.

Raygoza declined to be specific about where he searches in the Sequoia National Forest, saying that he’s worked hard tracking the creature and wants to be the one to come up with indisputable evidence that Bigfoot is real.

He has plenty of company hunting Bigfoot.

Byrne, the Bigfoot expert, has led three expeditions since the 1960s, outfitted with helicopters and infrared sensors. The work of Byrne and two other Bigfoot aficionados is part of a yearlong exhibit that opened last week at the State Capital Museum in Olympia, Wash., examining Sasquatch as a cultural phenomenon in the Northwest.

Several Web sites are devoted to the legend. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization lists hundreds of sightings, separating them into Class A or Class B reports. The organization says that Class B reports are not considered less credible or less important, but they have more potential to be something other than Bigfoot, such as bear sightings or practical jokes.

Byrne, though a believer, says that ‘‘90 percent of what we think we know is pure speculation. There’s no experts. We’re all students.’’

There are too many eyewitnesses to discount Bigfoot’s existence, Byrne said: ‘‘These are really good, down-to-earth people with no reason to fabricate a story.

‘‘I think there could be something out there.’’

But Denise Alonzo, a spokeswoman for Sequoia National Forest, is more skeptical. She’s worked in the area for 20 years, and ‘‘I’ve never heard or seen anything about a Bigfoot in the forest.’’

Stephen Lewis, chairman of the earth and environmental sciences department at California State University-Fresno, said that if the creature existed, trackers would have found ‘‘Bigfoot poop’’ and other forensic evidence.

His department offers a critical thinking course, ‘‘Facts, Fads and Fallacies in the Natural Sciences,’’ which explores the pursuit of mythical creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.

‘‘My speculation is that people have a need to believe in magic and mystery, unexplained phenomenon,’’ Lewis said. ‘‘People enjoy the idea that there’s something out there that is mysterious and not yet discovered. They get captivated by all this stuff.’’

Raygoza is not bothered by the skepticism.

He said he’s enjoyed not only the pursuit of Bigfoot, but the beautiful wilderness he’s explored.

‘‘I’m going to continue looking until I get that shot that is definitive, where people won’t say, ‘That’s a bear,’ or until I can’t walk those hills,’’ Raygoza said.

Original article can be found here.

Bigfoot caught on camera?

In Jefferson County, Kentucky a man was having problems with his garden as there was something disturbing the crops he had planted. Not sure if it was some sort of wildlife or perhaps a vandal he set up a field camera to take pictures. For those who don't know, a field camera is a camera with an infrared sensor on it. When an object moves in front of the sensor, it's tripped and the camera takes a picture of the object. Hunters mainly use these on trails to see what game is there.



After a few days the owner checked to see what the camera caught, hoping to find the culprits. On it were animals typical for the area, birds, raccoons, etc. But one large black object caught his attention. The object was about 55 yards from the camera and was estimated to be at least 8 feet tall given the height of the brush in the area. The owner theorizes it was Bigfoot as bears are not known to be in that area. But whatever the object was, it hasn't been seen since.

Texas man claims he has found the Chupacabra

Jerry Ayer, a teacher at the Blanco Taxidermy School in Blanco, Texas claims to have a dead Chupacabra

Ayer says he’s never seen anything like this before. He says one of his students found it.

“It got into his cousin’s barn and they thought maybe it was a rodent tearing stuff up, and they no idea since they’ve never seen it,” Ayers said. “He got out some poison and this is what they got the next day.”

The animal is described as gray, with leathery skin and unlike anything that is native to Texas.

“There’s no hair on it, it’s got long teeth, it’s got the long tail like a coyote but there’s no hair,” said Butler. “It just seems to me that the legs are a little longer than a coyote and I can’t tell you one way or another if it’s a coyote with mange or if it’s a chupacabra.” said Lynn Butler of Rosenberg speaking to a local TV station.

The Chupacabra from the Spanish words chupar, meaning “to suck”, and cabra, meaning “goat”; literally “goat sucker”), also called El Chupacabras in Spanish, is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas, according to Wikipdedia.

Ayer plans to donate the remains to a museum.

Thanks to both Chris Hangsleben and Brodiemash over at the Dumbdrum for pointing out this story to me.

Several UFO sightings seen in Central California over the past week

In the last part of August 2009, there were several UFO sightings reported to the National UFO Reporting Center of UFOs seen in the central part California. I'm not sure if they are all the same craft, there are a few similarities but I think they are different craft. Still I believe they are worth mentioning in hopes that maybe someone else has seen one of them and will then report what they saw. Below is what was reported linked back to the original report.

Occurred : 8/16/2009 14:00
Location: Auberry, CA
Shape: Triangle
Duration:15 seconds

Silver triangle shape - Silent

I hesitated to report this, as we only saw this for a short time. We live in the Sierra Mountains about 4,200' elevation. Sitting at the table and looking due south thru a huge window, we saw a long silver triangle (jet or plane [?]) close at a low elevation. What is unusual is we live under a flight plan for Fresno - Las Vegas & back. These go north of our home. This craft appeared to be 1 mile or closer and low, almost equal with our elevation. At most I estimate it might have been 5,000'. It was headed west and when it tilted it was totally sleek from pointed nose to the tail which was completely straight across. No wings, just a very long thin triangle shape. We ran to the west deck & couldn't see it anymore. Did our eyes deceive us? No noise.

Possible fighter jet, w/no markings, but no noise.
Link.


Occurred : 8/18/2009 09:03
Location: Fresno, CA
Shape: Other

Two Jets following or escorting an unknown white dot looking craft.

I was walking with my mother on the Dakota and Fruit ditch in Fresno, Ca. I heard two jets so I looked up and saw that they were really close, and then I looked back up and saw that they were following something. The UFO was a white dot it kind of looked like the international space station does when it goes over. It had no blinking lights like the jets. It looked peaceful, moved slowly it looked to me as if the jets were escorting it somewhere.

We live close to the airport and it has an air defense base, I heard jets take off about ten minutes before, they were heading north then turned east, when I saw the two jets following this craft side by side they were head south west.

I remember the time being 9:03am because that is when I twittered about it.
Link.


Occurred : 8/19/2009 21:00
Location: California (central part), CA
Shape: Diamond
Duration:10 secs

On Aug 19, 2009 around 9:00pm me and my family were driving back from San Francisco to San Diego. We don't know exactly where we were but we were definitely in central California, deep in the boonies. As we were heading South, on our right side of the road we saw a diamond shaped flying object. It had red and green lights that surrounded the object. The object was first low then it tried to fly away but it seemed like something pulled it back then it went like 3 feet closer to the road then it went lower again. That's all I could see, we were driving too fast for me to see if it went in the sky or not. The object was definitely close to the ground, maybe about 4-5 feet off the ground.

I'm not good at describing how it moved but it certainly moved.
Link.


Occurred : 8/24/2009 17:30
Location: Modesto, CA
Shape: Changing
Duration:15 seconds

It looked like three bright dots, small gap then three more bright dots. it was dancing gracefully a mile or two above the horizon.

Link.


Occurred : 8/26/2009 20:45
Location: Clovis, CA
Shape: Triangle
Duration:2 minutes

Three flashing red lights in a triangular shape seen south of Fresno

I saw three flashing red lights in the formation of a triangle. View looking south of Fresno at an approximate 30 degree angle from horizon. Maintaining formation, they lowered until I could no longer see them past the trees.
Link.


Occurred : 8/26/2009 21:30
Location: Modesto, CA
Shape: Cigar
Duration:45 Min.

Two crafts spotted over Westfield shopping cntr. Modesto

2 crafts 1 with bright lights across could be cigar or saucer shaped. Other was cigar shaped deep bright neon blue glowing. It would glow and then fade out and come back. The other one hovered up and down quit a bit and side to side like having engine trouble. The blue cigar one stayed close as if to make sure the other was ok. A police or military white I think with markings plain stayed close by flying between them. Then they faded out. The hight I would say would be about 15 to 20 stories up in the sky.
Link.


Occurred : 8/27/2009 21:00
Location: Modesto, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:15-20 minutes

3 unidentified aircraft over Modesto, CA

August 27, 2009 9:00pm PCT I was riding my bike tonight and observed what appeared to be two aircraft of some kind at about 1000 ft. above our neighborhood. There were about 10 people in the street watching.

The highest craft had two bright white lights on it, and the craft appeared to be hovering, then moving a few feet, and then hovering again.

Beneath this craft was a second craft that had two very bright neon-blue lights. It made wide circles about 100 feet under the other craft.

Both craft made small changes in altitude and direction, but generally stayed in the area above our neighborhood for about 15-20 minutes or so.

A third craft (with blinking red and white lights on it) started to close on the higher craft, and this one looked more like a conventional aircraft.

At one point it flew between the two craft (below the higher one and above the lower one). At that point the lower one (with the bright neon-blue lights on it) began flying in a fast semi-vertical circular pattern.

The third craft continued on, and eventually the higher-flying craft began to fly away in a northwestern direction.

I ran to my house and got my camera, but by then they were all gone. I checked, and no else had a camera to take any photos.

I called the Modesto Police Dept. to see if anyone else had reported seeing the lights. I was told that someone else had called in, but no record was made of the call. Nor were they interested in making one of my call.
Link.

Want to be a paranormal investigator? This class is the best way to start.

With the popularity of Ghost Hunters and other paranormal reality TV shows, more and more people are becoming paranormal investigators thinking that all they need is a camcorder with night vision and a flash light. When I first started investigating ghosts I read book after book at the library (this was before the internet was as prolific as it is today) on anything I could find, from the typical ghost books, to photography, and even a few on criminology so I knew how to approach an investigation from a scientific point of view.

Fast forward ten years and there is now a class on the basics of how to be a paranormal investigator right here in Fresno. It's an Adult Ed. class and it's being taught at the Manchester Mall on Saturdays at 9:00 am from Oct. 17 to Nov. 21. I never too the class, the person who was running the group I was with started it. Her name is Jackie Meador and I have mentioned her a few times on this blog in the past. Jackie has been investigating haunted locations throughout the country for almost a decade now and she is one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met regarding the subject of the paranormal.

Like I said, the class is a basic one that teaches the principles of what it is to be a paranormal investigator. From type of equipment that is needed and how to use it, to the classifications of haunts, and even how to conduct the investigation and write the report, Jackie covers this all over a six week course. The best part, is at week three you actually get to put what you learned to practice and investigate an actual haunted location (the Sierra Sky Ranch).

If anyone is interested in becoming a paranormal investigator, or just learning about the paranormal I would definitely recommend taking this class. The class fills up quickly, so register now. But if you can't get in this semester, there is a Spring one available in a few months so check back then. Here's the link to the Fall class.

The ghosts of Disneyland

Disneyland is known as one of the happiest places on Earth. What is not commonly known is that it is haunted by several ghosts across the park. I had the pleasure to go to Disneyland this last weekend with a good friend of mine. And since I was there I thought I would check out each of the attractions that was reported to be haunted.




Does the spirit of a woman haunt the Matterhorn,
which can be seen in the distance?

The Matterhorn Ride
A woman named Dolly was riding in in the front toboggan-style car and turned to check her two children riding in the back of the car. For some reason she felt that she had to stand and undo her seat belt to do this. The car entered a sharp decline, (now known as Dolly's dip) she was thrown out of the car, up over the heads of her children,and onto the track behind them. She was then promptly run over by the next toboggan.



Do the spirits of two boys who died during Grad Night haunt
Tom Sawyer's Island?

Tom Sawyer's Island
It is reported that after closing for the night, there have been at least two if not three apparitions seen on Tom Sawyer's Island. The cast members who search for them always come up empty handed. It is thought that the spirits may be of some boys who reportedly drowned during Grad Night in the Rivers of America surrounding the island.


Did a young man die on the old People Mover
ride, which is now closed?

The People Mover
During Grad Night, a boy apparently jumped out of his moving car, tripped, and dragged underneath to his death. It is said that he grasped onto his girlfriends blond hair to try to pull himself to safety. From that night on there were reports from girls riding on the attraction, especially those with long blond hair, that they felt an invisible presence violently tugging at their hair.


The spirit of a man is seen on Space Mountain,
only to disappear before the ride is over.

Space Mountain
Both the ride itself and the woman's (employee) locker rooms are haunted by the ghost of "Mr. One-Way", a guest who died on the Space Mountain ride back in the 1970's when the ride first opened. On the ride, he is described as a large man with reddish hair and a red face, and has been seen by guests getting into a car with a lone rider, but he vanishes before the end of the ride.


Dolls move when there is no electricity on
It's a Small World.

It's a Small World
It is said that three cast members who loved it so much have returned to haunt this attraction. Lights are said to turn on and off by themselves, and after hours, the dolls move when the electricity for the attraction has been turned off.


The ghost of a little boy is said to roam the
Haunted Mansion.

Haunted Mansion
A woman wanted to spread the ashes of her recently deceased young son in the mansion, because it was his favorite attraction. She asked permission, but Disneyland would not allow it for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, the mother snuck the ashes in and scattered them anyways. At night the ride operators can sometimes see a lone boy riding one of the Doom Buggies on the video monitors, but when they check it out there is no one. Other people have claimed to have seen a little boy crying where you get on the Doom Buggies. It seems that perhaps it wasn't his last wish to have his ashes scattered here after all.

Unfortunately I didn't see any of these spirits (I didn't go on It's A Small World since the idea of haunted dolls terrifies me), and I'm not sure the validity of some of these stories as Disneyland does not try to hide deaths that have occurred in the park (despite an urban legend that says no one has been declared legally dead in the park). The stories are interesting none the less, and add to the history of the happiest place on Earth.

Strange sea creature seen in Florida dubbed 'Muck Monster'

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- There's something lurking just under the surface of the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Greg Reynolds of LagoonKeepers.org recalls, "Channel marker ten is the first time we saw the unknown creature." "I hollered out...and said what is that? We followed it, started taking video."

This mysterious creature was caught on tape by the LagoonKeepers.

Don Serrano was with Reynolds. "I didn't know what it was….I was like HEY LOOK! And we moved over and saw it. It was different, very different."

"Little wakes and just kind of moving like this…real long ones too, just like that."

Reynolds remembers, "We sped up on it to catch up to it and we got up on it, it dove down." "Every time we get 10 feet from it, it would just disappear."

What could it be?

"Who knows? I have no idea, but it was something that’s for sure, without a doubt," said Serrano.

Thanks to the LagoonKeepers, until it's identified, it has a name:

Reynolds calls it, "The elusive muck monster!"

Thomas Reinert a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Marine Biologist studied the video and said: "This appears to be one animal moving in this direction…nothing's breaking the surface. Typically dolphins break the surface, sea turtles, manatee, a large school of fish, if it were a shark at that level you would see a fin."

"I cant definitely say what it is." "I can speculate but we need more evidence to determine the identity of the Lake Worth muck monster," said Reinert.

"We spend a lot of time out here on the water and seen a lot of different creatures out here and this is the first time in three and half years that I’ve ever seen anything out here that didn't know what it was," Reynolds said.
"We see dolphins out there, sharks, we always see a fin."

Whatever it is, it certainly has people talking, and watching.

Reynolds jokes "Maybe Nessie’s vacationing in South Florida!"

You can find the original story here. And thanks to Abe Lopez for sending me the link.

Men in Black seen in Needles, Ca after UFO crash.

Back in 2008, a UFO crashed near Needles, California. Witness reports said it had a blueish hue to it. Minutes after the crash, military personal were seen at the crash sight to remove the object. Days later, mysterious men in blacked out vehicles were seen throughout Needles. These men would ask about the UFO and especially about one witness who had been near the crash site when it occurred. The local CBS affiliate decided to do a story on what was going on, which I'm linking below.



Could these mysterious men have been the legendary Men In Black (no not the Will Smith movie, but you never know) that were seen in the heyday of UFO sightings back in the 1960's and 70's? Or were they some sort of counter-intelligence agency trying to diffuse the situation and protect a top secret craft from being discovered? What ever happened, something did crash in Needles and the government knows what happened.