I’ve
just finished Sali Sheppard-Wolford’s
Valley of the Skookum, and I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up
until 3:30 a.m. reading it, almost getting to the end but not quite,
finishing it the next day.
Sali Sheppard-Wolford is mother to Bigfoot researcher Autumn Williams
(who lives here in Eugene, Oregon. Must be the trees.)
I expected to find the book interesting, but had no idea I would be so
drawn to it. And I’m not sure why; I felt a connection, a familiarity,
as I was reading the book. It’s not a badly written book, but it isn’t
great literature either. Of course, it isn't supposed to be, or even
should be, since it isn’t fiction; it’s a personal narrative of one
woman’s very strange encounters.
Sali writes about her years living in a remote place in Washington, with
her young children, including Autumn, who was the youngest, staying at
home with her mother during the day. Sali (and eventually the entire
family) encounter Bigfoot, along with many other high strangeness
events, including UFOs and orbs of light.
There’s a beauty to this story and I can’t put my finger on it. As I
said, there was an echo of something that kept tugging at me. That
aside, her experiences, while unique, do parallel other ‘LTW” (long term
witnesses, as Autumn Williams calls them) of ‘paranormal” Bigfoot
encounters.
I said that the story isn’t fiction, and it isn’t. This could be seen as
a bold statement, a rash, brash, and outrageous statement; after all,
all this supernatural bigfoot stuff causes so many researchers to gnash
their teeth at the very thought of such things. But there are only two
possibilities: one, she’s lying. Or two, she’s not. I don’t think she’s
lying, so she’s telling the truth. Still sounds pretty bold, doesn't’
it?
The point isn't whether or not “it’s true” as in, literally true. That’s
a hard one for the majority of people to get, but that’s where I am
these days with just about all of it: Bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts, all the
psychic, Fortean, high strangeness goings on around us.
I’m not going to analyze that any further; not today anyway. It’s sort
of like a Great Cosmic Joke: if you didn’t get it the first time, or the
first couple of times, explaining it more slowly and breaking it down
won’t help. And since the Trickster is everywhere in all this stuff, it
is a Great Cosmic Joke. And that’s okay.
One of the things Sali writes about are orange orbs seen by herself and
witnesses in the area. At times they’re described as “basket ball sized”
and when I read that, I almost fell off the bed. I’ve been collecting
sighting reports of orange orbs for some time, and often they’re orange
“orbs” that are really pinpoints, or star sized, orange lights. The
orange orb I saw so many years ago here in Oregon can be described as
“basket ball sized.”
Impossible to know if these were the same kind of lights, or if the orbs
in Sali Shepherd-Woolford’s book have anything to do with Bigfoot. It’s
possible they do, it’s possible the area is full of energy that caused
these things to occur. Keep in mind that when I say “UFO” it doesn’t
mean flying saucer (necessarily.) In this context, I don’t think they
were. Of course, I wasn’t there.
It is a fantastic story. And it may all seem a little much; psychic
traits, psychic vampirism or energy drains, UFOs, MIBS, and Bigfoot.
Sounds like a cheesy sci fi movie. As impossible as it may sound to
some, there are people who’ve experienced these things. They’re not just
saying they have: they do. I know, because I know some of these people
myself, and I’ve experienced a lot of these things myself. It’s a hard
thing to get, I realize, and I still have a hard time myself with some
things. It’s a fine, thin, invisible line to walk, between telling your
truth and being a complete dip who believes anything and everything.
(Then again, remember what I said about “true.”)
And finally, why would someone put themselves out there with stories
like this? (Yes, we can all picture the snarly skeptoids at the ready
with their sneers, I mean the rest of us good people.) Why do writers,
bloggers and witnesses come right out with their stories, using their
own names? Statistically, we can’t all
be nuts.
While research swirls all around us with arguments and dissections there
are the folk, the witnesses, the experiencers, who continue to tell
their stories. They are what they are.
http://orangeorb.blogspot.com/2007/04/orange-orbs-and-bigfoot-valley-of.html
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Notes:
Autumn Williams
has written an interesting piece on what
she thinks of this “paranormal bigfoot” relationship:
OrangeOrb:
http://orangeorb.blogspot.com/2007/03/autumn-williams-on-weird-bigfoot.html
Sali Sheppard-Wolford has written other books, including a children’s
book about Bigfoot. She currently lives in central Oregon.
http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/artists/sali_sw.php
Williams writes that if
we want to get to the truth, or at least a clearer, closer
understanding, of what Bigfoot is, we need to be honest and incorporate
these weirder reports in research:
Nor do I BELIEVE any one particular thing about the Bigfoot phenomenon. I've discussed this here before... BIGFOOT IS WHATEVER IT IS. It might be a garden-variety great ape, an animal, relatively stupid and unintelligent. It might be some sort of pre-human ancestor, gallivanting along on its own branch of our family tree. It might be something weirder than that. It might be smarter than us. The point is, I don't KNOW... and neither do you. But if you really want to know WHAT it is, at this early stage in the game you really have to allow yourself to keep an open mind and examine ALL of the evidence.
Remember I said earlier that many researchers avoid certain aspects of Bigfoot research because it doesn't fit in with what they BELIEVE bigfoot to be?
We differ in that respect. I don't CARE what Bigfoot is and I don't presume to know... I only hope to understand it in my lifetime.
Autumn makes it clear: she does not accept as a “belief” that these
things are true. But there is enough anecdotal evidence to begin
honestly looking into these reports and not reject them because they
don’t fit into a preconceived notion of what Bigfoot is.
It’s a great piece and I encourage anyone interested in Bigfoot (and
that includes self-identified Bigfoot researchers who, we assume, only
want the truth) to read it.
http://orangeorb.blogspot.com/2007/03/autumn-williams-on-weird-bigfoot.html
