from the Patterson-Gimlin film, Oct. 20,1967, Bluff Creek, CaliforniaThe New American
Dream Interview
STEVE MOON, 55, lives in Iowa.
Steve is a native of southeast Iowa. He is a fine artist, and has long been a cave explorer and general outdoor adventurer. He is currently working as a professional research librarian.
Steve is an investigator for the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).
The New American Dream Trivia Question:
To win a copy of one of Palecek's books, or leftover Christmas candy, be the first one to correctly answer the following.
Steve Moon would rather be ...
a. The star of "The Librarian," it should have been me b. Sitting by himself, in the woods, at midnight, in Oregon, wearing his new Christmas Bionic ears, enjoying a cool Diet Dr. Pepper c. Spelunking with Elvis d. Putting his boot up the butt of the hoaxers in Georgia e. President Obama's Secretary of Forest Creatures f. Telling his "A Bigfoot, a priest and a rabbi walk into this bar," joke one more time in Julie's Cafe in Fayette.
NAD: Steve, hello, thank you for taking the time for this. You went to the University of Iowa in the 1970s. In six lines or less, could you tell us about your days of protest back then, against the Vietnam War? Those were very hardcore protests, from what I have heard, very serious, do I have that correct?
STEVE MOON:
The 1970s protests were hardcore because of the sharply defined barriers between the right and the left, but otherwise the period was what I would call very soft core because folks were real mellow when they weren’t talking politics.
The Kent State murders infuriated a lot of people, and when we protested the war we didn’t stand down because we were doing it for those four as well as for the draftees who were getting killed overseas.
By the early '70s the conflict in Vietnam was unpopular and seen as unsuccessful by most, and Lyndon Johnson finally realized that when Walter Cronkite said it was “unwinnable."
The media used to have power like that.
NAD: And so ... how does that progress into looking for bigfoot? In four lines or less. Six.
[When, how did you get interested in bigfoot research?]
STEVE MOON:
The movie “The Legend of Boggy Creek” really got me fired up when I saw it in 1972.
Then a few years ago I read Jeff Meldrum’s superb book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, and I got fired up about bigfoot all over again.
I read about the BFRO in that book, looked them up on the Internet, and finally went on one of their expeditions.
Now I’m totally hooked. I think that for most of my life I’ve been looking for something because it might be there, whether it’s a cave, bigfoot or the perfect truck.
NAD: Do your co-workers know about this hobby of yours? Is your family supportive?
STEVE MOON:
A few of my co-workers know about it, but even with the best of friends I still get these “oh boy, here we go again,” with the slightest mention of it.
I’ve actually been warned by my supervisor at work not to discuss it!
My wife is very supportive, and has an interest in the bigfoot phenomenon.
She blends a skeptical, devil’s advocate approach with a belief that it just might be real.
I’ve always taken off once a month to go caving somewhere, and now I go out looking for bigfoot instead.
NAD: C'mo-oon ... bigfoot? What do you hope to accomplish?
STEVE MOON:
If you go out in search of something that might be there, you want to prove that it does exist.
I’ve always had a strong motivation to serve the scientific community in some way, and I’ve tried to do that over the years with my caving whenever possible.
I constantly record sound when I’m out searching, and I’m always ready to capture a photograph in panic mode. I document, study and try to interpret bigfoot sign.
NAD: Would you like to choose one of these to answer, elaborate on?
I don't ask this to make fun. I ask because I really seek the answers.
- Are UFOs real?
- Did we land on the moon in 1968?
- Did Bush knock down the towers?
- Was Paul Wellstone's death an accident?
- The Oklahoma City bombing? Wasn't that just another U.S. government terrorist exercise? Or not.
- Waco. We burned kids, right? You can see flames shooting out of the tanks. Or not.
- Is Bigfoot real?
- Is there a God?
- Is Bigfoot real?
STEVE MOON:
Yes.
... What makes you think that?
STEVE MOON:
I’ve spent my entire life going out into the woods and looking around, taking it all in, becoming as in-tune with nature as possible.
It’s been a major, major part of my life for forty-five of fifty years.
And in the last year I’ve seen things that, in light of the knowledge that I’ve gained about bigfoot from a variety of sources, can’t be interpreted as anything other than bigfoot sign.
other than bigfoot sign.
NAD: Have you ever seen Bigfoot?
STEVE MOON:
I’ve seen them at night.
NAD: Why southeast Iowa? Is there a Dutch branch of Bigfoot that settled here at one time?
STEVE MOON:
They’ve migrated, just like we have.
NAD: Aren't they only in Oregon and Washington?
STEVE MOON:
They are much more prevalent than most people can imagine. They seem to be in all of the lower forty-eight states and Alaska. I’m sure they are in other places in North America as well.
most people can imagine.
They seem to be in all of the
lower forty-eight states and Alaska.
NAD: If there is a Bigfoot, and if some day that becomes common knowledge, what then?
Won't people just purchase non-resident Bigfoot licenses at Casey's, and won't that be the end of that?
STEVE MOON:
The goal is to recognize them as unique and protect them as such.
NAD: Does your favorite coffee cup have words on it? What are they?
STEVE MOON:
The Farnsworth House – Mies van der Rohe
NAD: What did you absolutely have to get done by noon today?
How about by Christmas 2009?
STEVE MOON:
Nothing.
I don’t absolutely have to do anything.
I choose to do things that I think will benefit me by the end of the day. Christmas 2009 is too far away for me to think about.
NAD: What else would you like to add?
What else should I have asked?
STEVE MOON:
Back in about '69 or '70 I traveled around the midwest a bit with my family and collected underground newspapers.
They were beautiful publications with wonderful illustrations.
I made the mistake of taking them to school one day. I was either a junior or a senior in high school.
The social studies teacher took them down to the principle who confiscated or destroyed them, same thing.
I was hurt, outraged, and determined from that day on to rage against the machine.
I'm still raging.
It's a very personal rage, but to participate is to disturb the particles ...
mOoner
_______________________
The following is one of Steve Moon's recent reports as listed on the BFRO website:
Report # 22147 (Class A)
Submitted by witness on Monday, December 10, 2007.
Artifact hunter describes an unusual daylight encounter in a public hunting area near Van Wert
YEAR: 1991
SEASON: Fall
MONTH: September
STATE: Iowa
COUNTY: Decatur County
LOCATION DETAILS: this is a public hunting area located north of hwy 29. not well maintained. roads rutted with some steap banks. is an old abandoned limestone quarry located inside a huge indian campground aprox 2000yr-5000yr in age.
NEAREST TOWN: van wert, ia
NEAREST ROAD: hwy 29
OBSERVED: i was an avid indian artifact hunter. surface finds, only. i got out of college classes early that day and decided to give it a go in a creek i hadnt been over for some time. as i drove down into the area i noticed a pickup parked with 2 gentlemen sitting on the tailgate in the shade from the hot sun. the truck was a ford, 2 tone in color. white over brown. i asked them if they were practicing and as to where so i could stay out of thier road. they said there was a special deer season open and they were tracking one? i walked to a different place than i had planned to hunt and told them where i would be. i walked over to the creek and started in.
i guess i was into the area maybe 50 yds and the truck didnt waiste anytime spinning up the hill. they came north and ond one guy jumped out and the other drove on north and got out. i found this a little disturbing and decided they might be hunting me? i climbed out of the creek in short order and was about to walk back to my truck and leave. as i came over the bank there was this [creature sitting on the ground leaning against a tree. It could have been 12 feet tall if it was standing up.] i was only 20ft from this thing. it was an oaf-looking creature sitting on its butt with its back against a large oak tree. it was sleeping with its hands and fingers locked together stretched out across its knees. there were massive amounts of leaves in its very long brownish hair which covered it head to toe including the face. and it didnt seem to matter what color or shade they were. the hair seemed to blend in perfectly. im wondering if its hair is hollow like a deers hair?
i honestly was completely shocked and all the hair on my body rose to attention. i recognized this thing from pics in mags and such. i felt nauseous and confused. as i hopped back into the creek out of sight from it it rose and bolted east right in the direction of those guys. i heard it cut across the gravel on the road and that was it. i never went back to that creek.
ALSO NOTICED: i have not been back to that exact location. as other witnesses have not since the sightings. i dont believe i own a firearm large enuff to protect myself.
OTHER WITNESSES: 2. i believe they were hunting it with compound bows and braodheaded arrows. i didnt know this until after the sighting.
OTHER STORIES: yes, strung out over the yrs. fishermen and hunters have seen this, but i believe there are at least 2 different creatures?
TIME AND CONDITIONS: 2pm clear sunny day. temp arnd 80 - 85 degrees. light breeze from south.
ENVIRONMENT: 2nd growth timber located directly above a large limestone mining pit on top a natural spring.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Steve Moon:
[Investigated by Steve Moon. Comments edited by Matt Moneymaker]
I interviewed this witness by phone. He was not able to see the face of the animal. The hair was an auburn color, and matted. Witness did not see the animal walk away, but heard it leave. Witness had jumped back into the creek bed he had climbed out of when he walked up on the animal, and heard it get up and move away quickly. When it did so it made a sort of growl or snort, sounding like heavy breathing more than anything else, and seemed to move as though not in a hurry.
Witness states that in about 1983 a buddy was deer hunting in the NW corner of the Dekalb hunting area when he drove up to a sasquatch standing behind a corner post. As he backed his truck away from the creature it walked away. The creature was about his own height, or about 6 feet tall.
Witness has been hunting this area for about thirty years and is very in tune with the environment there. After speaking with the witness about this incident, I concluded that he is a credible observer.
The Dekalb Wildlife Management Area is 21,070 acres, about three quarters of which is timber. There are two streams that bisect the area, numerous inactive rock quarries, and at least one large spring.
About BFRO Investigator Steve Moon:
A native of southeast Iowa, Steve has long been a cave explorer, and general outdoor adventurer. He is currently working as a professional research librarian.
Steve attended the 2008 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition, and will be attending the 2009 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition and the 2009 Manitoba Expedition
