The hairy fairy

"Impossible Visits" is a book by Christopher Noël, a member of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). The book is somewhat extreme, and I don't think it expresses the official viewpoint of the BFRO. Noël claims that there is a semi-clandestine wing of the Bigfooting community knows as "habituators". It consists of people who have habituated the local Bigfoot population to human presence, even to the point of interacting with them. Unfortunately, no "hard" evidence for this sensational state of affairs seems to exist. Still, the anecdotes retold in Noël's book are interesting. They suggest that Bigfoot is a paranormal phenomenon rather than a flesh-and-blood animal of the usual kind.

Noël claims that Bigfoot can attack humans by infrasound, a behaviour known as "zapping" among Bigfoot researchers. The "zapping" can create nausea, making it almost impossible to walk, or instil strong emotions of fear. It stops as fast as it appears, usually when the subject walks away. This sounds similar to reports about paranormal encounters, where haunted places or even spots can create fear even without an actual entity being encountered. Noël also mentions something similar to the "Oz effect". One eye-witness describes how an eerie silence preceded her Bigfoot sighting, with all normal sounds of the forest suddenly blackened out. Similar effects have long been associated with UFOs (the term "Oz effect" was coined by ufologist Jenny Randles) and are presumably connected to an altered state of consciousness.

I'm not an expert on fairy lore, but I suspect that the Sasquatches habituated by Noël's informants have more in common with fairies and other "little people" than with real animals. It seems the Sasquatches love to play games with people: they steal and scatter things from outlying buildings, mimic the voices of the habituators or their family members, and occasionally break into the main house unseen. They accept food offerings or offerings of roses, or trade food items for rocks and sticks. Often, only the children or the dogs can see or sense their presence. (There is always more than one Bigfoot involved in the incidents described. The habituators believe they are dealing with families.) Cameras and other equipment mysteriously malfunction in the presence of a Bigfoot, and people are frequently "zapped" as a warning not to get closer. The habituators view Bigfoot as human-like, rather than as an animal. They are sympathetic to Native legends about these creatures, and refer to them as the Locals, the Ancient Ones, etc. None wants to go public with his/her information. It also interesting to note that the creatures are often absurd from a biological standpoint. Thus, one of Noël's informants claims that a Bigfoot family was living in a small forest in downstate New York, a forest that only covered seven square miles! Some of the habituators believe the government knows the truth, and has tried to apprehend Bigfoot using helicopters. This is similar to conspiracy theories about "black helicopters".

The spiritual dimension of the Sasquatch experience is visible at the author's Youtube clip "Why Sasquatch matters", where he compares Bigfoot to Olympic gods, but also says that they are closer to the Earth (Gaia?) than humans. I think it's obvious that he's describing a spiritual experience. He even compares the Bigfooting community with Noah faced with the Deluge. Yet, he claims to have a naturalistic perspective... Naturalistic animism?

"Impossible visits" may not be the most graceful read around, but it might be of some interest to both flesh-and-blood cryptozoologists and the more "fringey" elements.