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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for December 11, 2001: Bigfoot - Robert W. Morgan

December 11, 2001: Bigfoot - Robert W. Morgan

Dec 11, 2001
2h 54m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell welcomes Bigfoot researcher Robert W. Morgan to discuss decades of field research into the elusive creature. Morgan recounts his first encounter in 1957 in Mason County, Washington, where he mistook the being for a gorilla while still serving in the U.S. Navy. He describes organizing scientific expeditions backed by the National Wildlife Federation and assembling a 17-member science advisory board to study the phenomenon.

The conversation takes a dramatic turn when two Oklahoma police officers, Dan and Jeff, call in to share their own encounters. Both describe a seven-to-eight-foot-tall, reddish-brown-haired bipedal creature they observed at close range on separate occasions. Despite carrying firearms, neither officer considered shooting, and both have since returned to the area to cast footprint impressions measuring approximately 13 inches long.

Morgan shares his theory that Bigfoot represents the original prototype human, perfectly adapted to Earth, while modern humans are a less-suited mutation. He notes that Bigfoot families have been observed watching schoolchildren play and sitting along railroad tracks watching trains pass, suggesting a quiet curiosity about human civilization.

Key Moments

  1. Morgan's 1957 first encounter in Mason County: Morgan describes his 1957 face-to-face encounter while hunting in Mason County, Washington. A large unseen animal in the brush went dead silent, every hair on his body stood up, and when it finally moved off it turned and stared at him.

  2. Oklahoma police officer Dan's twin sightings: Anonymous Tulsa-area police officer 'Dan' recounts two encounters: a 7-8 foot reddish-brown creature crossing a trail 50 feet ahead doing a Patterson-film-style turn, then six weeks later approaching his camp during gunfire and standing up out of a crouch within 20 feet.

  3. Morgan's thesis: Bigfoot as our body ancestor: Asked what Bigfoot is, Morgan offers his core hypothesis: they are the body ancestors of humans, the prototype perfectly adapted to Earth, while modern humans are the poorly-adapted, unbalanced offshoot.

  4. Imitating a Bigfoot call and getting rocks thrown: Morgan describes accidentally fooling a Bigfoot family by imitating their bird-like call during a rendezvous, the angry gibberish reply, and a separate incident where rocks whistled past his head as a warning when he penetrated a bedding area.

  5. Lost skull, lost femur, vanished giant graveyard: Morgan catalogs physical evidence that disappeared after being submitted to scientists: a Bigfoot jaw and skull sent to a Canadian university, a giant femur taken in by University of Miami, and a graveyard of 6-7 foot bodies cleared from H. Debula, Ohio.