To Post Or Not To Post, That is the Question

Many researchers struggle with what to post and when. I think almost every researcher has that “special” footage that we are holding onto for just the right moment. For many of us that “right moment” is when the DNA study is finally published. When we can take advantage of the event and “ride the wave”.

This is also the cause of great frustration in the “Bigfoot Community”. We hear rumors of “clear, mind blowing” footage, announcements are made, interviews given, promises made, but in the end it always leads to nothing. Blog posts are pulled, footage is removed, and the organization or person that was thumping their chest goes silent. It always comes back to “we are waiting of the DNA study to be released”.

Let’s be honest with each other it is all about the money. That is not a bad thing; it is just the cold hard truth. I can understand this being a researcher myself. I receive no outside funding. All my expenses come out of my pocket and this “hobby” can get expensive fast! If I could recoup some of my expenses that would be great, but to be honest I am not holding my breath. But the question becomes “is there money in Bigfoot”?

A well-known and respected Bigfoot researcher/author once told me “there is no money in Bigfoot, the community is just not large enough”. So there is our dilemma. We are all holding onto our “money shots” when there is no money to be had. We are hoping and many are betting thousands if not hundreds of thousands that when the DNA results are published the public in general will become interested. When this happens we will all post our “money shot” videos, publish our books, sell our DVD’s, and make our TV specials. We will all make out like bandits and walk away with “bags full of money”.

I am afraid in the end only a few will profit and most will be left holding the bag. I suspect that across the country there are “regular” people who have captured video on vacation or even had a long term habitation, and these people will come forward and “flood the market” with videos and claims to the point that what we would consider the “money shots” will be completely worthless.

 I do not think we as the “Bigfoot Community” realize what is out there in the public’s hands. Afraid of ridicule, loosing jobs, and a ruined reputation many have just put the videos away, quietly sit on their back deck and feed them, or keep found remains hidden in a freezer. When Bigfoot becomes “main stream” then I think these people will come forward and the “flood gates” will be opened.

Now that I have busted our collective “money bubble” the question still remains, to post or not to post? I do not have that answer. I struggle with this question repeatedly because I have some footage I am holding onto. I am holding onto the footage for the same reasons other researchers are, I am hoping that in the end I can make some money on it, plain and simple.

Money is not the reason I became a researcher three years ago, and money is definitely not why I keep doing it. I do this because I saw and experienced something I cannot explain. I have a desire to answer the questions, what is it or better who is it, where did it come from, how does it live, why does it do the things it does, and to be able to stand in front of it one day and say “Hello, I am Scott, nice to finally meet you”.  These things may never happen, but for me that is the “why”, that is what draws me to this, keeps me going out there.

I do not think wanting to make money off of this endeavor we call Bigfoot Research makes anyone a “bad person”, we all have financial obligations but I think we as “Bigfoot Community” need a collective wake up call and realize what my author friend told me, “there is no money in Bigfoot”. 

Article by: Scott Carpenter aka Joe Black