In the Shadows – Memorial Day Expedition 2021 - Article 27
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- Published: Wednesday, 30 March 2022 17:33
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The Mid-America Bigfoot Research Center recently held their annual Memorial Day Weekend Expedition in the Ozark National Forest this year, and it was a great time to try out new equipment, re-establish contact with other researchers after the pandemic had wrecked the last year of expeditions, and a chance to just enjoy looking for Bigfoot.
The turnout was rather small, with only 9 members showing up throughout the weekend, but it was still great to see everyone. On Friday afternoon, camp was set up and the trail cams were deployed around the perimeter of the camp to monitor the surrounding woods in plot watcher mode, where the cameras took a picture once a minute. The cameras were placed atop camera tripods, a new tactic to see if Bigfoot would try to avoid them like they do when the cameras are placed on trees.
Several audio recorders were placed, one inside camp to monitor the activities there during the night, while another one was placed a distance away from camp to record any audio that was not heard at the camp. Normally multiple recorders are placed throughout the area, but this expedition was about using the new equipment.
That night, a heat signature was noticed down the trail from camp, and two in the water of the pond adjacent to the camp, it appeared that the Bigfoot were in the water trying to hunt the multiple frogs that were croaking around the pond and the heat signature on the trail was watching us in case we ventured towards the pond. Eventually, those members in camp took the portable thermal camera and walked down the trail towards the lone figure, only for it to get down on the ground and crawl down the trail away from the members. Those heat signatures in the pond stopped and hunkered down along the bank, until the team members returned to the camp fire and sat down. Within a few minutes, the lone figure had returned to the same spot to continue watching, and was soon joined by a smaller figure. The two figures watched the camp for nearly 30 minutes before finally scampering off down the trail away from the camp.
Later that night while everyone was turned in and going to sleep, several animals came into camp, from the sound of it, it was bi-pedal, and was messing around the tents and the table by the camp fire. The audio review of the camp recorder is still ongoing to see if anything was captured. But one thing for sure, it was COLD in May, the researchers were shocked at how cold the night became.
The next morning, researchers went exploring the area on a UTV while glow stick trip wires were set up in the direction of the previous night’s watchers. Tracks were also discovered in the area where the figures had stood, in particular, a small footprint and a knuckle print.
That evening, more researchers showed up and again, in the same general area, our watcher returned and was watched with the thermal camera until the approach of 4 wheelers from that direction made it run around the pond and disappear. One of the researchers had to run over and direct the four wheelers around the trip wires to keep the glow sticks from activating.
Throughout the night, movement was heard about the camp, again, audio is being listened to minute by minute to see if anything substantial was caught on the recorder.
With morning, the researchers had a big breakfast of scrambled eggs mixed with bacon, ham and cheese. Right after breakfast, the landowner of a nearby research area the MABRC had researched stopped in to visit and told the team they were more than welcome to go back into the area whenever they wanted. After cleaning up from breakfast, all the researchers loaded up and went into the area to see what changes had occurred in the landowner’s property, and several horse riders were questioned about if they had seen anything out of the ordinary. They hadn’t seen anything.
Upon returning to camp, most of the researchers were having to head out, so it was decided to gather up all the equipment and call it quits for the expedition, as only two researchers would be left there, and if anything happened, there would only be a husband and wife team to witness it and there wasn’t much sense in them staying.
All in all, the cameras didn’t do as hoped for, as the settings were hard to adjust properly, taking a total of 23 photos and 10 thirty second videos, but the lessons learned will be applied on the next expedition where the cameras should perform as expected. The thermal captures will eventually be posted to the MABRC website, and I will update in the next article when they are posted.
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, and that we remembered the reason for the holiday, of those who sacrificed for our freedom, and of those loved ones who have passed away.