Media Article # 522

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Mysterious Prints Create Speculation

By Herald-Review Staff Report  
Herald-Review

Remote Six Mile Lake Road in eastern Cass County (just west of Ball Club) experienced more than a normal share of traffic this week as curiosity seekers came in carloads to view the large, mysterious footprints left on the edge of the road.

What made the footprints may be anyone’s guess, but there are those, such as Bob Olson of Deer River, who believe the prints were made by that creature of popular lore, Sasquatch - or Bigfoot.

Wildlife biologists, however, seem to agree that such creatures live only in myth.

“No such thing exists,” said retired Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Jim Schneeweis of Grand Rapids. “If there were all these Bigfeet running around, sooner or later somebody would have found a dead one. The DNR has had cameras (in remote locations) for years. How come nobody’s ever got one on film?”

While wildlife biologists say that Bigfoot stories are not founded in scientific evidence, that does not seem to stop those who do believe such creatures exist. A simple Google search will reveal hundreds of reported sightings around the nation and entire Web sites devoted to the tracking of the creatures.

Schneeweis said that he was not aware of any sightings or other evidence reports of the existence of Sasquatch creatures out of the Grand Rapids office, but did say that he was aware of sighting reports in the Northome area in the past.

Olson, who carefully made plaster reproductions of the giant human-looking prints this week to preserve them, said that there have been numerous sightings in northern Minnesota - including some on Winnie Dam Lake Road. The self-described enthusiast, said that he has heard reports of increased Bigfoot activity in the area for the past two years.

He is not the only one who is interested.

Local resident Wayne Nelson called in the report of possible Bigfoot evidence to the newspaper on Monday, saying that, on his way to go fishing, he saw people taking pictures of the ground between the road and the woods. After pulling over and speaking with the people there, Nelson realized what they were looking at: 17 inch long tracks, about three-quarters of an inch deep into the dirt.

Looking like human footprints, but larger and with toes of all the same size, there was speculation that the tracks were not human because human tracks normally only reach a depth of about one-quarter inch, according to Nelson.

The prints, no matter what the source, have generated curiosity and despite the disbelief of the scientific community, it has done little to sway those who are certain Sasquatch creatures exist.

“I know exactly what made it (the footprints) - Bigfoot,” Olson told the newspaper.

Herald-Review Editor Beth Bily and Staff Writer Marie Nitke contributed to this report.

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