A team of researchers from the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization was in town on May 15-16 to investigate recent Bigfoot sighting reports in Northern California. From left: Lee Hickman and Peggy Marx of Shasta County, and Tom Biscardi, Joan Brandt, Tim McMillen and Rob Shorey of Sonoma County.

Great American Bigfoot
Research Organization
Team Visits Happy Camp

By Linda Martin

A team of Bigfoot research specialists from the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization visited Happy Camp May 15-16, and 18-20 to investigate Bigfoot sightings near our town. The team included world-famous researcher Tom Biscardi, Joan Brandt, Peggy Marx, Lee Hickman, Tim McMillen and Rob Shorey.

Peggy Marx is the widow of Ivan Marx, pre-eminent Bigfoot researcher of the 1950's through the 1990's. She has been involved in the hunt for Bigfoot since 1951 and continues active research. Her visit was a great honor to our town. She said she’d been here once before with her husband in the 1960's.

Tom Biscardi moved from New York to California to help Ivan and Peggy Marx look for Bigfoot soon after seeing the Patterson Bigfoot film in 1967. He formed his first Bigfoot research team 32 years ago. During this time he’s had five Bigfoot sightings, the most recent being on April 5 of this year, south of Burney.

Biscardi and Marx founded the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization earlier this year. They’ve put together an impressive team of skilled experts to help them in their quest for the scientific documentation of Bigfoot’s existence. This may be the only team of full-time Bigfoot hunters in the world. They are ready to go to the site of fresh Bigfoot sightings 24/7.

The team includes an expert tracker, Lee Hickman, grandson of Ivan Marx. He is able to track anything through the woods within two weeks of the passing. He was trained by his famous grandfather in this and other Bigfoot research skills.

Rob Shorey emphasized their mission is peaceful. They seek to have Bigfoot declared a legally protected species so that killing them will be illegal. But first they must collect enough scientifically sound documentation to prove Bigfoot exists.

While in Happy Camp the team was welcomed by Bob and Vickie Schmalzbach, Kevin and Janeen Anderson, all of Javabobs Bigfoot Deli, Pete Winslow, Linda Martin, Judy Bushy, Maria McCracken, and other local citizens. They came here after a local citizen heard Biscardi being interviewed about his April 5 sighting on Coast to Coast AM talk radio.

Bigfoot encounter stories are common here in the Klamath National Forest. Bob Schmalzbach, owner of Javabobs Bigfoot Deli, said that at least half of his customers claim knowledge of a sighting but that many of them are unwilling to talk about what they know.

This seems to be the case with a sighting two years ago that took place on Highway 96 close to town. A young man was driving west of town when he noticed a large, dark figure come up from the river and cross the road at Little Grider Creek. This is about a mile west of the downtown area of Happy Camp. His friend told Biscardi he’d gone to the site of the encounter the day after it happened. He said they located footprints. Biscardi asked him if they were like the casting of a footprint on Javabobs’ wall, and the young man said, “bigger”. It is testimony of people like this that makes the Bigfoot legend very believable.

On Saturday afternoon a local woman came into the deli to tell us about seeing a Bigfoot through the window of a cabin she’d once lived in west of Happy Camp. She said there were tunnels in the area. This fits Biscardi’s theory that Bigfoot live underground then come up to forage for food and to migrate. The woman said one night she and her teenage son smelled a terrible odor and heard sounds around the outside of their cabin. As if that wasn’t scary enough, they suddenly saw the face of a Bigfoot looking in at them. She said one bedroom in the cabin shook a lot as if there was movement in the ground underneath. She believed a tunnel used by Bigfoot went under that section of the cabin.

That evening Happy Campers viewed two classic films featuring Ivan Marx, Peggy Marx, and Biscardi. In one scene Ivan Marx entered a cave and snared a mountain lion, wrestling it into submission. The film featured lots of footage of Bigfoot in Northern California and Alaska. During one part of the film we could clearly see a young Bigfoot spotted from an airplane. This took place when the creature went to the river for a drink near a beautiful river in Alaska.

The films and other merchandise from the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization will soon be available for purchase at Javabobs Bigfoot Deli’s new gift shop.

Tom Biscardi and his team of researchers will need to know of any future Bigfoot encounters as quickly as possible, preferably within 24 hours. If you or someone you know sees a Bigfoot in the woods near here, you can report it at Javabobs Bigfoot Deli. Your identity will be protected if preferred.

More information on the research team's visit to Happy Camp:
Bigfoot Sightings

More information about the research team:
Great American Bigfoot Research Organization

If you or anyone you know has a Bigfoot sighting please stop by JavaBobs Bigfoot Deli to report it. Researchers from the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization can follow up on sighting leads from the last few weeks. Their purpose is benevolent - to prove Bigfoot exists, then to have these creatures legally protected from harm.

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