Author Topic: 20 questions with Jon Larsen  (Read 9115 times)

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20 questions with Jon Larsen
« on: January 16, 2009, 07:48:30 AM »
20 Questions with Jon Larsen

Written by David Osborne   

Saturday, 10 November 2007


Our twenty question candidate for this issue of the SRI newsletter is Jon Larsen. Many of you may know him as the no nonsense Arizona bigfooter over at Bigfootforums known as jon a. larsen. After Jon posted his recent sighting of a couple of these creatures over at BFF, I thought he might make an interesting interview. I found Jon to be a very deliberate thinker who put a lot of thought into his answers. Another thing I was impressed by was his strength in backing up his experiences.

Where many people would come under the gun at the forums for claiming they had just seen a couple of sasquatch in the desert, Jon was treated respectfully and no one questioned his integrity during the peak of the thread. My instincts lead me to believe that Jon Larsen is a rugged individualist that does things his way and for that I can honestly say he truly is his own man.

Dave: You recently had a sighting in the area where you live. Would you mind recounting it for those who may not have read or heard about it?

Jon: A friend and I were coming back from Nogales at 12:20 on March 14th when I saw 2 black sasquatches on a ridge on the east side of Hwy 82. This was between the winery and the Kino Springs Road. They were facing the highway and then faced each other and walked toward and past each other, turned and walked past each other again. This took perhaps 15 to 20 seconds at a distance of 350 yards from the highway on a typically clear day near the city limits of Nogales, Arizona. The animals appeared to be of equal size and heavy body build, as well as being of the same color. They were likely to be 7 to 8 feet tall. One might suspect that these two were siblings. I saw no evidence of secondary sexual characteristics (breasts), which leads me to believe that they were males. Their behavior of milling about seemed to me to be just that…as if trying to decide what to do next.
After the sighting I drove around the area and hiked through it, finding displaced rocks and at least one footprint, and no hair or scat. I also flew over this activity area, and as much of the foothills as we could legally cover, on two occasions. Further flight was prohibited by a 24 by 44 mile “No Fly Zone” to the east and the Mexican Border immediately to the south. For those interested in reading more about this and seeing photos, the Bigfoot Forums at www.bigfootforums.com/ Sightings and Encounters/ Southwestern USA will be a source of further information.

Dave: Many people scoff at bigfoot being able to survive in desert or semi-arid areas. What is your take on that perspective?

Jon: When I came to Patagonia, Arizona eleven years ago, I didn’t expect to hear about sasquatches being in the area or to see any. I learned that there is water here, in stock ponds and tanks and in seeps and springs as well as a few lakes and creeks. As we gain altitude we find changed environments, including cooler temperatures and additional water sources. A popular term here for that is “sky-islands.” At this time of year in the Tucson area, this can mean 30+ degrees difference in a few miles. When we add to the mix their need for water, which is much less than our own, related to hunting, foraging style and insulating hair cover, we can see that survival for them is not impossible here. I have collected sighting reports from people here and have had my own sightings. Sasquatches, apparently, manage to survive their travels in desert and semi-arid areas.

Dave: How did you first get interested in bigfoot?

Jon: I heard about Sir Edmund Hillery and Tensing Norgays sighting of tracks on Mt. Everest and saw the pictures. I thought that chasing Yeti’s would be about the neatest way anyone could spend their life…learning about and trying to catch up to a Yeti. I was 7 years old at the time.

Dave: I notice you are one of the very early members of Bigfoot Forums. How did you hear about this forum and how has online bigfooting influenced the search for the ‘big guy’?

Jon: I do have one of the earliest numbers - 37. I didn’t really hear about Bigfoot Forums from anyone. I just did a computer search using “bigfoot”. Eventually, I ran across the Bigfoot Forums and checked out the site.
As far the net goes…it goes a long way. As far as I’m concerned…it’s both magic and a mess. It brings together some of the most intelligent and creative people you could ever hope to meet who come up with great ideas…solutions to problems, novel ways to do research, equipment, etc. It also brings information to the “newbies” to help them get started with good basics. It’s a good way to get assistance when a sighting or series of related sightings occurs. The hoaxers are the messy part. They waste our time. They spread misinformation. They waste resources that serious researchers could be using. They add to the public’s view of us as crazy, irrational fools when we are lumped in with the hoaxers. Add in supermarket tabloids and their brand of bigfoot “news” and we can see what a real mess it can be. I must say that the Moderators on the BFF’s do an admirable job of controlling the hoaxers and crazies there.


Dave: You mentioned earlier you have had your own sightings. I would be interested to hear about them and whether they were also in the desert.

Jon: That could be a long answer. It’s easy to forget that I’ve been searching for sasquatches for a large part of my adult life. I started hunting for them in Idaho in 1971. I went 17 years before I saw the first one, but have seen quite a few since then. You can see that I’ve been doing this for 36 years. I’ve had sightings in Idaho, Montana and Arizona. You recently read about my last sighting. I’ll tell you about the first.

In the Spring of 1988 I was a doctoral candidate in Educational Administration at the University of Idaho at Moscow. It was March 2 and I was returning from one of my night classes when the dream of a lifetime came true. I had said many times that if I ever saw a sasquatch, my life would be complete. I was wrong.

It had been raining every day for about a month and this day was no different. Coming back from Moscow on Hwy 95 I encountered light rain, heavy rain, patches where it was foggy and some sections where it was clear with excellent visibility. North of Potlatch I’d caught up with an Excell (wood) chip truck, which I’d seen ahead of me for a while. The truck was going about as fast as I wanted to go, but I’d crept up on it, so I went ahead and passed it at Moctileme Creek where a long straight stretch goes north. At about 600 yards from the Minneloosa Valley Road, I could see a slim, whitish-gray, man-shaped being standing just north of the intersection on the east side of the highway. As I got closer I could see that it was standing beside a highway reflector post that came just above its knees. My impression was that it was about 10 feet tall. Its dirty, white hair was soaking wet and gave me the impression that it was miserable standing there wet. I couldn’t really see a mouth and nose as its hair hung down over its face. I had the impression of two dark eyes. The body hair appeared to be about 6 inches long. The hair on its head was possibly longer. The head seemed to sit on its shoulders like it had no neck…like a football player with shoulder pads. It was standing upright with its body facing the highway. His head was turned as if watching my approach in my 1986 Nissan 4x4 pickup. When I drove up beside it, the sasquatch had bent over with its hands on its knees and was looking at me in the pickup. I could just see over the top of its head as I drove past. Then I watched it in the rearview mirrors. When I got to the top of the hill, I asked myself “What in the h—- are you doing?” I turned the truck around, met the chip truck and drove back, but the sasquatch was gone.

I returned to the site a day or two later, used two pieces of lath which I’d taped together and a pair of vise-grips to hold the lath to the reflector post, adjusted the height of the combination until I could just see the top of the lath as I drove by in my pickup. This lath and post combination was 9 feet 6 inches high. I also measured the reflector post…42 inches. I took a picture of a professional basketball player…Magic Johnson, and being extremely conservative, used a point about a third of the way from the center of his knee to his crotch, adjusted until I had 7 equal segments from that point to the floor. I then paced from the floor to the top of his head and had 19 segments or 9 feet 6 inches. It was clear to me that what I had seen had been at least 9 feet 6 inches tall and was more likely in excess of 11 feet tall when standing erect.

Dave: Do you feel there are any differences between desert sightings and sightings in the cooler pine forest areas?

Jon: The only real difference that I see is that on a couple of occasions in Idaho the animals seen were able to disappear into the trees or into the fog. On other occasions the sightings were very similar. The animals were seen from distances of 15 feet to about 800 yards in open country in Idaho. I saw sasquatches here in Arizona in open country from 50-75 yards to 400-500 yards.

Dave: What is the most credible desert sighting that you have ever come across?

Jon: Two stand out for me. A “dark, hairy animal” was seen at night in the same timeframe as my last sighting near the Kino Springs Golf Course Clubhouse “hunched over” and “not on all fours, but not standing upright either”. Additionally, another researcher, Francisco (eldonkey) Garcia from Tucson found one track 1.5 times the size of his own near a pond west of the clubhouse. I also took a picture of a different track. The second sighting was some years ago. Four folks from California came into my camp not far into the Chirachua National Forest early one morning. I never did get their names but they had seen “a black 10-foot tall bigfoot” some 50 yards from the road. I went to the site and then spent 4 or 5 hours following long drawn out “cooing” calls in the foothills. Late that night I again heard the calls but northeast of my camp.

Dave: You suggested earlier that sasquatch might be traveling through the desert areas. Do you think there are any ‘full timers’ or are they just passing through or coming down to lower altitudes to escape the winter cold? Also, if they are passing through, where do you think they are coming from or going to in your area?

Jon: I think that sasquatches aren’t really “full-timers” in what you are likely referring to as desert. Where I live, it’s eroded foothills complete with balancing rocks, deep washes, some cholla cactus, rarely saguaro cactus, some barrel cactus, grass and weeds and the most frequently seen tree…the mesquite. Along the washes at lower altitudes, sycamores predominate. Higher up you’ll find more oak.

It seems to me that sasquatches care very little about the cold. They go wherever they need or want to go to find food and water. Water can be found here, stored in plants and animals, in creeks, washes, ponds and the rare lake. The “desert” here is alive with highly nutritious creatures that run, crawl, slither, hop and fly.

Dave: Some people might say there is no way one person could have had as many sightings as you have had. How would you answer your skeptics?

Jon: The disbelievers would say that it is impossible for anyone to have had any sightings because sasquatches don’t exist. The skeptics, who can’t seem to make up their minds whether or not sasquatches exist, aren’t swayed over to the truth because they won’t be satisfied with any sort of proof except a body. Anyone who is a believer in sasquatches, but doesn’t believe in me just doesn’t know me. When I started my search I wasn’t out to convince anybody of anything. I wanted to learn about sasquatches for my own benefit. Sharing what I know with those who are willing to listen and learn is fine with me. But, I’m still not out to teach anything to the unwilling. That I’ve been interested in sasquatches since 1952, searched for them since 1971, dropped out my doctoral program with one semester to go to spend more time chasing them after my first sighting, and have had jobs ever since then that kept me on the road a fair amount of time to increase my chances of seeing them, all mean nothing at all to some “critics.” What is a reasonable number of sasquatches for a dedicated, obsessed and lucky person like me to have seen? Some number from 0 to 100 is too many for about everybody. Seven used to be a reasonable number for me. Now, the number is 12. Any who don’t like this number can and will believe what they want. Their belief is not my problem.

Dave: How do you go about seeking bigfoot? Is there any protocol you follow or has it just been good ol’ luck that has been with you over the years?


 I’ve been most successful over the years being obsessive in looking for animals as I drove down freeways, highways, county roads, logging roads and two-tracks. Most people wouldn’t “see” a sasquatch because “sasquatches don’t exist.” They’d “see” a stump or a shadow standing on the shoulder of the road. If it moved they’d really be confused. Eventually they might come to think that they’d seen a man in coveralls. I look off the road as far as I can see. I’ve been rewarded with sightings out to 800 yards, but most have been a lot closer. One can’t deny that luck has a lot to do with it. Being in a place where sasquatches are, being obsessive in looking for them and being “lucky” all contribute to sightings. Incidentally, I’ve seen only one sasquatch when I wasn’t on a road of some kind.

Dave: In the Pacific Northwest there are many Native American legends concerning bigfoot. Have you come across any desert legends about bigfoot from Native Americans?

Jon: No. I haven’t. I’ve lived on reservations on three occasions in Idaho and South Dakota. I didn’t hear about legends from Native Americans. I heard about their own sightings of animals and/or tracks.

Dave: When did you become a desert dweller and how has that affected your research techniques?

Jon: I came to Patagonia eleven years ago. What I do here isn’t a lot different than what I did in Idaho except that now I’m able to see farther than before and I tend to start my days later than I did when I was driving logging trucks. I don’t see that it’s hurt my sightings any. I still see a wide variety of body shapes, heights and colors but haven’t seen any white ones here yet.

Dave: Do you prefer going out in the field solo or with others? Why?

Jon: I used to take my girlfriend with me while I was driving logging trucks. That was the best way to work and search for sasquatches. Now I’m doing home maintenance and remodeling…a wee bit more boring for a lady than the logging truck. Now, I don’t have a lady so, I go for a ride at the drop of a hat. It doesn’t seem to be as much fun.

Dave: I have seen lots of talk on the BFF about the Mogollon Rim. What’s so special about that area?

Jon: I have never done any searching there. However, there are at least several climate zones there which means diversity of food resources as well. Temperatures may vary many degrees from the top of the rim to the river and that whole area is one of the least inhabited places in Arizona. It might prove to be an interesting place to look for sasquatches.

Dave: Any ideas on size, shape or hair color of sasquatch?

Jon: Yes, I have done some preliminary work in plotting sasquatch heights based on my sightings and on the sightings of others, which were reported to me during interviews. I’ve gone through sighting reports up to about 2000 and seem to have an interesting bi-modal distribution of heights. When graphed, the heights from 0 to 9 feet make a reasonable bell-shaped curve and the heights of animals from 10 feet up make a second curve in this distribution. This second group is 26 percent of the whole preliminary sample. The reports of hair color of this second group has more white animals with slim body builds, although there are some black and brown animals within this group who were not reported to be “slim.” They were, rather, reported to be muscular but not of a stocky build like “Patty.” One might eventually conclude that this second group is composed of mature males and old males. I need to go through the remainder of reports to date, plot them and apply some statistical measures to how the data fares with more scrutiny.

However, I don’t need statistics to know that a lot of these sasquatches are a whole lot taller than many folks who post profusely on the BFFs are willing to concede. But, in all fairness, they haven’t seen a sasquatch step over a barbed-wire fence, which proved to be breastbone high on me, as if it wasn’t there. This slim, white sasquatch left no hair on the barbed wire nor did it scream in pain as it left useful body parts there. What it did leave were 24-inch long tracks. How tall does a sasquatch have to be do these things?

Dave: You mentioned you gave up a doctorate program to look for bigfoot. Some people would question the sanity of that decision. What’s your defense?

Jon: Hmmmm………Defense?…..”Life is short and uncertain…eat dessert first.” works for me. Doing what somebody else thinks I should do makes no sense to me. Doing what I want to do makes sense. I chose to chase sasquatches. I still choose to chase sasquatches. It’s my life. I choose.

Dave: When you go out in the field do you camp or go out on day trips?

Jon: My fieldwork starts every morning. My travel trailer sits on a ridge, which overlooks a large wash. I can look up the wash toward the Santa Ritas and see quite a bit of the country as far as a mile and a half away. Down the wash toward the Patagonias, I can see a couple of miles. The ridge above me is less than a half-mile away and the far side of the wash and beyond can be seen for a mile or more. There’s a lot of relatively open country with the largest trees being mesquites, few taller than 15 feet. Some folks would be surprised at how many horses and cattle can be recognized at these kind of distances even without binoculars. I’m also pretty obsessive about looking as far as practical while driving the highways and roads. This may mean out to fifty yards or sometimes a mile, depending on the terrain. Occasionally I’ll take walks in the washes and on the ridges after a rain but finding tracks or animals this way hasn’t been productive. For me, it’s really just good exercise.

Dave: What are some essential items every “bigfooter” should take with then when out in the field?

Jon: I carry a camcorder (24 power) and a 35 mm camera with a telephoto lens. I have recently purchased a compact digital camera (10x), which should be a good addition. Also among my optics is a 7x20 pair of binoculars. I carry several liters of water in my pack, which is a necessity here. My shiny head demands protection from the heat and cold, so a hat is another essential item as well as appropriate clothing, sun-glasses and footwear. In my car is extra water and Fix-All for casting tracks.

For me, that’s about it. Others may want to carry more items that they consider essential. One should carry what is appropriate for the climate and topography of your search area.

Dave: What’s the scariest thing that has ever happened to you while being out in the field?

Jon: Hmmmm…Can’t say that I ever really had anything scary happen in the field. Sasquatches have never seemed like a threat. Perhaps others have sensed a threat. I have not. I did get a bit stressed once while playing golf. A huge swarm of Africanized bees surprised me. They flew over and around me while I pretended to be a stump for several minutes.

Dave: Any advice for those new to the field that would like to have an encounter or find evidence?

Jon: About the only thing that I can say in that regard is they’ll need lots of patience or they may end up getting frustrated with what they might think is failure. It’s not. Although I’ve seen lots of sasquatches in the last 19 years, it took 17 years before I saw my first sasquatch in prime sasquatch country in northern Idaho. I interviewed folks who had had sightings of sasquatches. I worked in the areas where sightings had occurred. I hunted and fished. I collected rocks and gemstones and took pictures. For me, it was a lot easier to be patient when I had other things to do in sasquatch territory besides just focusing on the search. They might also keep in mind that most of the researchers in this world have never seen a sasquatch. Rene Dahinden never saw one. Dr. Grover Krantz never saw one. Patience.




« Last Edit: February 03, 2009, 05:19:41 PM by Smokebender »
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