Sand Mountain Reporter

Bigfoot is back in season. Less than a month after my report on the Alabama chapter of the Elusive Primates of North America, I read about how binocular manufacturer Bushnell, along with Field & Stream magazine, have teamed up to offer $1 million to anyone who can provide an unaltered photograph or video, verified and substantiated by a panel of scientific experts, that proves Bigfoot exists.

The contest ends Dec. 15.

I called up Hawk and Karen Spearman after I read this. They’re the couple who recently started the Alabama chapter of EPNA.

Karen had heard about the reward and didn’t seem too surprised.

“There’s quite a few people who are offering rewards like that for capturing a Bigfoot,” she says. “I have never heard of a million-dollar reward.”

Karen is skeptical about the motivations of such a reward.

“In my honest opinion, it’s just a marketing ploy to get somebody to buy their equipment, because what are the chances,” she says. “You can have a Bigfoot standing right there in front of you and take a picture of it, and they can still say it’s a fake.”

Karen says there’s a word for fuzzy photos of would-be Bigfoot — blobsquatches.

Rewards rarely seem to unearth any new evidence of Bigfoot. Random encounters are more common than organized searches.

“The harder you try, I think the less you achieve,” she says. “People are going to read about the reward and run out in the woods every day and find the same thing they found yesterday. Nothing.”

Karen thinks the heat of the South will make Bigfoot more scarce.

“Because of the heat and weather, they’re not going to be out in the South, except maybe at night or real early morning,” she says.

Hawk and Karen admit their quest for Bigfoot stirs mixed feelings, because they don’t necessarily want the creature captured or killed.

They say they’ve spent thousands of their own dollars over the past decade trying to merely prove Bigfoot exists. It’s not about the money to them; it’s about the quest.

Still, Karen says about the million bucks: “I wouldn’t turn it down.”

One tidbit of info: If you participate in any searches, try not to get hurt because these companies are not liable for injuries incurred during a Bigfoot attack.

I believe in Bigfoot. It’s probably a childhood fantasy, but the shaggy beast captured my imagination as a youth. Those memories are difficult to shake when imprinted on your brain at such a young age. I still vividly remember Bionic Bigfoot from “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

Even now, when a special about searching for Sasquatch is on TV, I can’t help but watch.

I recall many times going into the woods behind my home as a wild-eyed boy to find the creature. Although what I would’ve done if I happened to run across him, I had no idea.

Maybe I was thinking the beast would be like Bionic Bigfoot from “The Six Million Dollar Man” and figure out I was a swell guy. We could be buddies.

Come to think of it, that’s exactly how I envisioned the encounter.

Now that would be a story to tell.

[Lionel Green is a staff writer for The Sand Mountain Reporter. His e-mail address is county(at)sandmountainreporter.com.]

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LEARN MORE: To learn more about the Alabama chapter of the Elusive Primates of North America, visit www.epna.webs.com on the Internet. To report mysterious activity that could possibly be Bigfoot-related, call Hawk or Karen Spearman at 205-589-4622 or 205-359-0130

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Publisher: Ben Shurett

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