I’ve written about this a bit on my Bigfoot blog Frame 352, and I’ll write more for my next Trickster’s Realm column for Binnall of America, which will be up next week.

The story of this 19 year old man working in his garage at 1:00 a.m. on his rural property off Lorane Highway, who saw a strange creature, follows:

The “thing” was about 15 ft. from the witness at about 1:15 A.M. behind his house. He accidentally locked himself out of his house while working in his garage late last night. He went around to the back of his house to climb in through a window. He heard something and used the light from his cell phone, pointing it in the direction of the sound. The thing had a human form only quite large over seven feet with red reflecting eyes and very large wings. It jumped into the air flying off with the sound of massive air displacement with each wing stroke.

Overall, I just had a red flag go up, especially given the way this first e-mail started out, with the man’s intention of sacrificing a live lamb, tethered by “shark hooks” in order to trap this so-called “batsquatch”:

Can it be baited with a lamb? I’m thinking of putting shark hooks with 3/32″ braided steel leader in the lamb’s fur along the back. I want to tether the lamb near the edge of a field near the woods. I am concerned about coyotes getting the lamb first.

I immediately e-mailed the person and told him I do not support any such thing. He wrote back surprised, thinking I would be all over this. Why he would think that I don’t know, I’ve written many times on-line I support a “no kill” policy on Bigfoot, I’m against trophy and canned hunting, exotic pet ownership and exploitation, etc.

Then things turned even weirder; turns out the batsquatch is, in this man’s opinion, a “demon” and so, must be dealt with. Both men are Christians, and he tells me only a strong faith in Christ can handle such a creature. I then wrote to him and asked him if that were so, wouldn’t an exorcism of sorts work, given his faith? In other words, instead of using a live animal as bait, try prayer, focus, intent, light, and so on.

His justification for using a live lamb, aside from the religious angle, was that coyotes, bear, cougar, and other predators kill lamb. His other justification was that the encounter with this creature needs to be proved. Yes, I replied, but they are predators eating to survive, not playing games with a supposed demon. Using an innocent creature to capture another to vindicate one’s experience of the strange is simply immoral in my world view:

There are coyotes, black bears, one lynx, and a couple of cougars in the area so the lamb may end up eaten one way or the other.

I replied with the following. At this time, this is the last e-mail received and sent:

So, very sad to say, it seems you intend to go ahead with this and sacrifice a lamb to gratify an ego-driven need to “prove” to the world such a “demonic” creature exists. The fact that bear, cougar, coyote, etc. kill livestock does not make this okay. One is the natural predation of creatures upon another; yours is an ego driven choice made out of a religious conviction a need to eat for survival.

By the way, if you really believe any of this, the fact (in your view) this thing is a “demon” — well, does it even need food? Why not try a sort of exorcism, without the lamb? Prayer, light, intent, focus, etc. — that might go a long way.

Also, if it’s a demon, do you really think such a creature would hold still within the confines of being held prisoner in a lab somewhere, especially a government lab? For no doubt the authorities would get involved such a fantastic find.

Do you really trust the Big Science Infrastructure (talk about demons) and government that much — that they wouldn’t kill this thing, cut it up, and hide it away after they’ve done what they’ve wanted? And how much credit or vindication do you think such authorities would grant you in regards to the proof of this creature? You’re really back at square one.

I don’t expect this to have any influence on this person, I was basically venting my frustration. I figure if he contacted me first he takes the responsibility of response to his plans.

My initial response to this was that this 19 year old man was either highly distracted or agitated to begin with — working in a garage at 1:00 a.m, locking himself out of the house on rural property? etc. — or a “tweaker” (meth head.) I realize the irony of this coming from me, after all, the pathological skeptic uses this excuse all the time to explain away witness encounters. Combine that with the superstitious form of their religious belief, and the symbolic nature of the sacrificial lamb . . . just adds up to an unwholesome scenario I don’t want to be a part of.

Besides which, I don’t know of any Batsquatch sightings in Oregon, though I know there are reports out of Washington state and Mt. Shasta area.