Ron Howe’s journey into Bigfoot research began when he was just 13 years old, the day he came face‑to‑face with a massive, hair‑covered creature in the woods of his family farm. That single encounter changed the course of his life forever.

Since then, Ron has spent decades trekking through forests, documenting activity, and chasing the truth behind America’s most elusive legend. In this episode, he shares stories from his many expeditions, the encounters that shaped his research, and the moments that still stay with him after all these years.

Ray Crowe founded the Western Bigfoot Society (WBS) in Oregon in 1991, holding monthly meetings in the basement of his Hillsboro bookstore. Those meetings became a hub for eyewitnesses, researchers, and curious locals, one of the first consistent public spaces dedicated to Bigfoot discussion.

 

Crowe’s approach was open‑door and community‑driven. He welcomed anyone with a story, a question, or a theory. That accessibility made him a beloved figure in the field and helped normalize Bigfoot research for everyday people.

Before Bigfoot documentaries and social media, Robert W. Morgan was already deep in the woods chasing answers.

Here are a few fast facts about one of the most underrated figures in Sasquatch research:

Two giants of cryptid lore, but they couldn’t be more different. Bigfoot is the watcher. Dogman is the predator.

Both leave tracks, both vanish before cameras catch them, but their behavior tells two very different stories.

If the first half of the Weird Bigfoot Series deals with internal experiences, missing time, mindspeak, and the feeling of being watched, the second half focuses on the external signs. The sounds. The structures. The lights. The things people can point to and say, “I saw this. I heard this. This happened.”

These six phenomena appear again and again in witness reports, often in the same areas and sometimes on the same nights.

Most people think Bigfoot encounters follow a predictable pattern: a glimpse of a large figure, a set of tracks, a strange sound in the distance. But the deeper you go into witness reports, especially from the Appalachian region, the stranger the patterns become. These aren’t the loud, dramatic stories. These are the quiet ones. The unsettling ones. The ones people hesitate to talk about because they don’t fit the “normal” script.

People who’ve had strange encounters in the woods, Bigfoot, lights, shadows, whatever, always mention the same moment:

“Everything went quiet.”

In the fall of 1951, while scouting routes for a future ascent of Mount Everest, British mountaineers Eric Shipton and Michael Ward stumbled upon a series of large, humanoid footprints in the snow near the Menlung Glacier. Intrigued, Shipton photographed one of the clearest impressions, placing an ice axe beside it for scale, a move that would immortalize the image and spark decades of speculation.

The footprint appeared to be 13 inches long, with a distinct big toe and arch, resembling a human foot but far larger and broader. The clarity of the print, combined with its remote location and the credibility of the expedition team, gave the photo immediate notoriety. It was published in Popular Science in 1952 and quickly became a focal point in the growing Western fascination with the Yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman.

The paths of those directly involved with Matilda's story have gone in separate directions, leaving many questions unanswered.

The DNA study by Dr. Melba Ketchum's DNA lab are still hotly debated in some circles. Other DNA studies have been made with alleged sasquatch samples since then. And all fall under the same discussions pro and con; belief or doubt; faked or real. However, there is still an underlying problem with any DNA study that has been done or will be done. Until the scientific community formally accepts the existence of a mammal known as a sasquatch, there can be no definitive study made of any DNA samples. The scientific community will not formally acknowledge the existence of a sasquatch until the government formally admits to its existence. And I am sure that the government in turn will tell you that no such creature exists because scientists have not found one yet.

And there you have the Sasquatch Catch-22.

Law enforcement officers see many strange things throughout their careers. One thing many hesitate to report to their superiors is anything paranormal, including seeing a sasquatch. So when these two deputy sheriffs stepped forward and told their stories to John Green, he paid attention.

Although this sighting happened as a teenager, this deputy sheriff never changed his story even years later when Green interviewed him.

In 1966 Roger Patterson received a letter from a man telling of a terrifying event that happened to him back in 1952. Patterson then shared the letter with John Green. Here is part of what he wrote\ :

"The first part of the story took me back to 1952 when I had gone down to Orleans <California> to start preliminary work on a logging operation with men by the names of Lee Vlery and Josh Russel.

Some sasquatch seem very savvy where roadways and cars are concerned. And then there are others who either don't care or are unaware.

It was mid-January 1973 when a truck driver hauling a load of logs took a curve on the road to Eureka and hit something big. He was traveling about 40-45 mph, around 7:30 pm when a creature with reddish, brown hair stepped out into the road. It was standing on the side and seemed to be unaware of the oncoming truck when it started walking. The truck hit the 6 1/2 to 7 ft tall creature and swerved off to the left shoulder of the road. The driver could hear nothing over the noise of the engine. He was sure he had not hit a bear.