This is a guest post by Bea Mills, the newest friend of Fathom Frontiers, whom we ended up sitting next to at the 2013 Ohio Bigfoot Conference VIP dinner at Theo’s in Cambridge Ohio. Bea is a field investigator with Mufon and a lifetime member of RUFOS, the round town UFO society in the Columbus Ohio area where she resides. She had her first UFO sighting at just sixteen years old and her first possible Bigfoot encounter conference weekend, 2013. -Alan
I attended the 2013 Ohio Bigfoot Conference this year on a funny ha-ha whim from my co-worker, who decided she didn’t want to join me after all (but that’s another story). I’d been planning to camp along ‘bigfoot ridge’ for weeks, WEEKS! Red ink was scrawled all over my carefully planned, painstakingly neurotic lists of cold weather equipment and gear. Thankfully, one of my friends agreed to join me – YAY!!! So excited, Bigfoot Friday came and I finally clocked out of work. My car was packed to the gills and totally ready for the whole (LOL) BIGFOOT EXPERIENCE! Oh boy…. Let the weekend begin!
A little history here… Have I ever seen a Bigfoot? Experienced a Bigfoot? Heard a Bigfoot? Cared about Bigfoot? No, not really. I can’t exactly say that I’d ever really thought about it much. I’m of the mindset- since I can’t disprove the existence, I can’t rule out the possibility of existence. Like Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox, sort of…
It was about a year ago I became intrigued with the Bigfoot phenomena. I suppose I do all sorts of random things. During this particular time, I had just started going to a UFO group a few towns away. A fella walked in, Mick Rohr, one particular evening with pictures he had taken of a supposed Bigfoot. His passion was magnanimous, fervor like a dervish. He showed us multiple photos and although they were grainy on account of the distance and forest settings; they were unmistakable for a large, dark thing sequentially moving up a short ridge. WOW, I thought! He told his story (which included having been interviewed for the ‘Finding Bigfoot’ show) and I simply had to ask where this event took place. Turns out, it’s a park I visit often, but NEVER had I experienced an ordeal like his before! Hiking there took on a whole new meaning for me. I was indeed – jealous (Amazing what jealousy can do for you sometimes, eh?).
I had never done any research on Bigfoot, no website stalking, no inquiries into local organizations, I listened to my boyfriend keep me up to date on new fun facts from around the web and continued hiking with my camera phone. Of course I posted pictures on Facebook saying ‘that looks squatchy’ and just plain having fun. The random comments on my pictures made for good conversation anyhow. But then this conference came along. I actually did some research, bought the VIP tickets and emailed Marc DeWerth back and forth. I reviewed backgrounds and bio’s on the lecturer’s because I know how passionate I am about ufology and wanted to be able to speak to and share in the same respect (plus, I hate not knowing…). Friday was a blast. I heard amazing stories and met amazing people! My friend and I went to check out the campsites later Friday afternoon with the brutal cold wind howling and knowing the temps were going down into the 30’s (never mind the wind-chill).. So we hot footed it back to the lodge and SCORED a room (with heat!) I was thankful, but crushed at the same time, oh well.
Saturday was filled with anticipation and excitement! The lectures were incredible and actually really informative. They spoke of evidence, witness accounts, personal records and played sound samples that you cannot find online. I was pretty damn impressed and so glad I was there. These speakers definitely changed my perspective on a lot of things Bigfoot related…. But, nothing compared to my own experience that happened that very night.
Bea and Conference Speaker Loren Coleman