The Bear Story

Our first year here a large bear had just wandered down from the woods into the center of town.
The mayor's wife, Pat Palumbo, caught this picture of it stepping up to the hotel back door!

Into the Beautiful Woods...

THE BEAUTIFUL WOODS / THE MYTHICAL GOAT MEN OF HERODOTUS

Our household was taken out into the woods for many a day trip by Paul and others who hung around the hotel. The Pennsylvania forests are truly beautiful out here. It was such a fresh, different culture for us to just sit back at midnight camp fires and eat under the stars with other passing forest strangers. Everyone was so friendly.

I think it was the historian Herodotus who noted he'd heard a rumor of an ancient race of Goat Men who walked on hooves and lived in the hills, but that he didn't believe it. So every time we went out into the woods out here, which are rich and enchanted with rock structures and little secret camp fire groups, I'd whisper and muse how we'd discovered the mythical Goat Men of Herodotus.

This just in from the Big Foot Research Organization web page:

Jacobs Photos - Pennsylvania, 9/16/2007
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Image 1 : Bear Cubs



Image 2 : Unclassifed Primate?



Image 3 : Unclassified Primate?

Date: September 16, 2007
Location: Northwest Pennsylvania
Camera: Bushnell trail camera (automatic) with infrared (invisible) flash. Camera placed by R. Jacobs.
Time of images: See time stamps on images
Figures in images: Bear cubs in first image; Possible young sasquatch in two subsequent images.
Bait used: Strong aromatic deer attractant mix and a mineral lick block.

Current Analysis:
The debate about these images revolves around whether the figure is a skinny, mangy bear or a healthy primate. The experts we have spoken with about these images say the anwer to the skinny-mangy-bear vs. primate question may be found in the third image --"Jacobs Image 3".

Debunking the Pennsylvania Game Commission  
 
To all local journalists in Pennsylvania: Here is your next story regarding the Jacobs Photos:

Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser has been quoted by various newspapers as saying the strange looking animal in the Jacobs photos is "definitely" a "skinny mangy bear." People outside of Pennsylvania may not know about the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) with respect to their history of curiously strong denials.

A signficant percentage of people in PA say the PGC is the least trusted government agency in the state, because the PGC has stated for years, emphatically, that there are no mountain lions in Pennsylvania, even though hundreds of people in Pennsylvania, including many government employees, have seen mountain lions.

It seems that credible people in PA who have clearly seen a mountain lion do not like to be told that they did not see a mountain lion. Until earlier this year (2007) the PGC routinely offered unwavering denials to mountain lion sightings, until a farmer named Roger Madigan saw one, along with several other people, on his farm after a large outdoor party which included a roast pig cookout. Roger Madigan is a Pennsylvania State Senator. Madigan apparently didn't like being told that he did not see a mountain lion, because after his sighting he called a meeting in his office with the PGC, and brought in the only other wildlife agency that could assert jurisdiction over the heads of the PGC regarding the mountain lion issue. That agency was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The USFWS can assert jurisdiction regarding moutain lions under the Endangered Species Act. The push of the meeting was apparently to force PGC's official position to something more rational-sounding, like "There might be mountain lions in Pennsylvania." The official statement at the end of the meeting stated that USFWS concluded that there "needs to be a study" to determine if, and how many, mountain lions exist in Pennsylvania. The USFWS now asks the public to send sighting reports of mountain lions directly to the USFWS, rather than to the PGC, in apparent recognition of the PGC's long-standing practice of "investigating" mountainn lion sightings purely for the purpose of finding some other explanation.

The PGC receives all of its funding from the sale of hunting licenses, which, in theory, might be reduced if hunters were afraid to go in the woods by themselves due to fear of a mountain lion attack.

The very first newspaper to run a story about the Jacobs Photos was the Bradford Era, in Bradford Pennsylvania. Not long after that first newpaper story ran about the photos, the Bradford Era's managing editor was contacted by phone by Jerry Feaser of the PGC and was told the newspaper was doing a "disservice to the public" and "causing panic" if they did not write a follow-up story about the Jacbos Photos with a retraction stating that the strange animal is merely a mangy bear. Feaser said he was "certain" that the Jacob's creature is nothing more than a skinny mangy bear, and offered a photo of a skinny mangy bear to the newspaper. Folks at the Bradford Era newspaper thought the bear in the PGC's photo looked distinctly unlike the Jacobs creature in various ways, so they did not run a story claiming it is a case of mistaken identity, as Feaser urged them to do.

You can find more information about the PGC's history of curiously strong denial of mountain lions by performing a search on Google with the search string "Pennsylvania Game Commission Mountain Lions".

The Possibilty of this as a Pennsylvania Big Foot

The three images at the top of the page were obtained with a Bushnell trail camera in Northwest Pennsylvania on the evening of September 16, 2007 by R. Jacobs.

Jacobs had placed the motion-sensing camera on a tree along a game trail in a remote forest area in order to photograph any deer that might be using the trail. He did this in preparation for the Fall deer hunt. Jacobs was not trying to obtain images of a bigfoot/sasquatch.

The area in the foreground was baited with a deer attractant mix and a mineral lick block. In the first image (the one with the bear cubs) the mineral lick block can be seen sitting on a large black plastic plate. One of the bear cubs is apparently licking or sniffing the mineral block. In the two subsequent images the black plate is turned over and leaning against the mineral block.

Several minutes elapsed between the image of the bear cubs and the images showing the ape-like animal (see the time stamps in the lower right corner of the images).

The second image shows the ape-like animal from a rear-side angle, with its head obscured by its shoulders. In the third image the ape-like animal appears to be smelling the ground near where the deer attractant mix had been scattered.

Various anatomical elements can be seen upon careful examination of the images, including a bare spot in the fur under the arm. More details, data, and related images will be added to this page in coming days.

Various primate experts and bear experts in the US and Canada are currently examining these photos. The ones who have offered initial impressions to the BFRO say the latter two images do not show a bear, but rather a primate.

These recent images from Pennsylvania are very significant to bigfoot research. They likely show a young juvenile bigfoot (smaller than ~5 feet tall), as they have been described by eyewitnesses over the years. Young juvenile bigfoots are typically described as quadrupedal (walking on four legs), with the ability to climb trees or run very quickly on all fours (See the New York Baby Footage). They are sometimes seen alternating between a quadrupedal posture and an awkward bipedal posture. Whereas the larger bigfoots (5 feet tall and above) are almost never described as walking or running on all fours.

It was thought for a long time that any legitimate images of an adult bigfoot would likely be dismissed by the public as showing a human in a costume due to the bipedal posture of adult bigfoots, which is so reminiscent of a human posture. In the case of a young juvenile (quadrupedal) bigfoot, by contrast, the scientific debate would not revolve around whether the figure could be a man in a costume. Rather, the debate would revolve around what type of animal it is ... an entirely different debate.

The BFRO has the privilege of informally naming the apelike-figure captured in these photos. It will be referred to as the "Jacobs creature" (like the "Patterson creature").

Copyright © 2007 BFRO.net

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns
before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add,
divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured
with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

-WALT WHITMAN

LOCAL WOODS HUT



Boy turns CamTran enclosure into his own personal project
BY TED POTTS The Tribune-Democrat

SEWARD — Youngsters waiting for the school bus that stops on Mitchell Hill Road now can find some shelter from the storm. Because of 12-year-old Shawn Lichvar, a former CamTran bus stop shelter sits on the family’s property off Mitchell Hill Road in East Wheatfield Township. When Shawn learned last summer that the Johnstown-based Cambria County Transit Authority was making available 40 of its bus-stop enclosures to the public, he told his parents, David and Debbie Lichvar, that he wanted one as a shelter for neighborhood youngsters. Shawn’s grandparents, John and Margie Ryba of Spring Street in Johnstown’s West End, subsequently went to the transit authority offices on Central Avenue and arranged to obtain one of the 5-by-7-foot enclosures. The shelter was transported to the Lichvar home and set up in the yard near where the bus stops and turns around.

First, Shawn and his father cleaned it and David Lichvar enclosed the front and bottom sections with additional Plexiglas. Lichvar also equipped the shelter with electrical wiring allowing Shawn to add lights. Shawn was concerned the area was poorly illuminated at night. “I guess you could say Shawn brought a little bit of the city into the country,” Lichvar said with a smile. Shawn has been decorating the shelter according to the seasons. He began last fall with a Halloween motif, following that with Christmas. A Valentine heart currently adorns the shelter. Next will be a shamrock heralding the coming of St. Patrick’s Day, Shawn said. For the summer, he anticipates a patriotic display for the Fourth of July. Asked what spurred him to take on his shelter project, the unassuming youngster said: “It makes me feel as if I’m doing something good. I have fun, and it keeps me busy.” Shawn is a seventh-grader in the United School District. He plays football and basketball and is a member of the physical education club. He’s considering architecture or engineering as possible careers.

LOCAL BOB CATS



Prowling Bobcat Shot
By RANDY GRIFFITH
The Tribune-Democrat

He’s not Jesse James, but Jesse Stuver of Benscreek shoots like him.
Face to face with a full-grown bobcat attacking his pet goats, it took the landscaper one shot, too, with his .44 Magnum to dispense with the intruder. “If I would have known I could have gotten it out of the pen, I would have,” Stuver said. “I really felt bad about it.”

The events began about 9 a.m. Thursday as a neighbor rushed into Stuver’s home, shouting, “A bobcat is attacking Brownie.”

Brownie is one of eight pet goats Stuver’s family keeps at their home off Somerset Pike in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County – less than two miles from the Johnstown city line. Stuver grabbed his handgun and rushed into the goat pen, looking for the aggressor, he recounted. “It’s in the shed!” the neighbor warned. Stuver turned to see the 2-foot-tall, 3-foot-long cat. “It was right in the doorway looking at me,” Stuver said, pointing to the goat shed. “There was like a growling sound.” The cat sprang from the doorway onto Brownie’s back.

Stuver aimed and fired. The bobcat was dead, and Brownie was left with deep cuts on her back and legs, and lacerations above her eye and inside her ear. “The game commission is coming (today) to pick it up,” Stuver said. “I want them to test it for rabies.”

Because there was no direct human contact with the animal, the situation is not considered to be an extreme danger, Joseph Stefko, wildlife education supervisor, said from the Pennsylvania Game Commission offices in Ligonier. Jerry Feaser, game commission press secretary, said the state’s bobcat population is on the rise. Although a situation such as Stuver’s is unusual, it is not unheard of in this region, Stefko added. “We very seldom get calls on bobcats,” Stefko said. “They have a seclusionary lifestyle, but they are opportunistic. They eat whatever is easiest to prey upon.”

LOCAL BIG FOOT HUNTER



Man gained fame tracking Bigfoot
By JOE GORDEN
The Tribune-Democrat

LIGONIER — Except for a chance encounter one night with a tall, dark stranger, 85-year-old Sam Sherry’s name might not now appear on the Internet, in yellowed magazine and newspaper clippings – and in a smattering of books about strange phenomenon.

There was little remarkable about Sherry before that night. He grew up in the small Ligonier Valley town of Wilpen and became a steelworker. He was drafted, fought the Japanese from island to island during World War II, then spent more than two years in hospitals from war wounds. He returned home and married a local girl, the former Naomi Swank. The couple eventually moved into the same house where Sam had been born. They raised two children – a son who is a Chicago-area priest and a daughter who lives in Blairsville.

But almost exactly 20 years ago – on May 17, 1987 – Sam met Bigfoot.
And everything changed. Prior to that, the biggest thing that had happened to him was being wounded during the war. His wife said he came home from the South Pacific just days before Christmas 1944. “His mother got a telegram – ‘If you want to see your son alive, hurry to Valley Forge Army Hospital,’ ” Naomi said. “When they came to see him, his body was like stone. He had lost the use of his arms and legs, and he couldn’t talk. He had to learn everything over again, like a baby.” After about two years, he was discharged from the hospital – but he left the service permanently disabled. “He wasn’t able to go out and work, but he did like to go fishing and hunting,” Naomi said. “That’s what he really lived for.” Sam earned his reputation as a tough bird. He still carries shrapnel in his body and a steel plate in his skull from the war. In 1967, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and had much of his large intestine removed. Fifteen years later, a doctor expressed amazement that Sam was still alive. “June 7 will be 40 years,” Naomi said. On the night he met Bigfoot, Sam had gone to fish at nearby Loyalhanna Creek, but soon returned. “He wouldn’t say anything,” Naomi said. “For about two days, he kept it to himself. But, he never went down there to do nighttime fishing again.” Sam later visited Ligonier’s weekly newspaper office to ask if anyone else had reported a similar encounter, and his story was passed along to Stan Gordon of Greensburg. Gordon had a reputation for investigating strange occurrences throughout western Pennsylvania.

Gordon passed the word in Bigfoot circles; Sam became a celebrity. He began to look specifically for Bigfoot and to file regular reports about his findings, such as seven sightings in nine years of the same Bigfoot couple – including a white female he named “Snowflake.” His account of finding a baby track sent out a ripple of excitement. Soon, some of the top names in Bigfoot research began to make cross-country pilgrimages to the Sherrys’ tiny three-room bungalow. “We had what we called the Chestnut Ridge Bigfoot Center,” Naomi said. “At times, he had as many as 25 guys here on a Saturday or Sunday. I used to cook them dinners and everything so they could have a meal. Men have to eat.”

Meanwhile, Sam had become obsessed with Bigfoot, and spent nearly all of his free time exploring Chestnut Ridge and hauling food up the mountain to supply bait stations. He made dozens of plaster casts of footprints he found and mailed them out worldwide in response to requests. Continued reports on his findings and theories brought more attention – and visitors. “There was a guy who came here from Japan,” Sam said. “And, a guy called from Hungary and wanted me to go to the Himalayas with him to hunt the yeti.” A Texas man custom-made an oversized snare that Sam used to try to catch a specimen. He invested 17 years and a lot of money in the pursuit. “Not yet, no,” Sam said when asked if he had ever made a profit off Bigfoot. “I have to catch him first.” That seems unlikely now. Sam is all but deaf and has been legally blind for nearly 10 years. He has neither the agility nor stamina to hike the mountains.

His fame has faded in Bigfoot circles, too. Many of his contemporaries have died, and most of today’s researchers have moved on to new pursuits.
But Sam still carries food to the top of Chestnut Ridge whenever an old friend such as Duquesne chemistry professor Paul Johnson or Joe Nemanich of Johnstown’s West End pays a visit and gives him a ride.
“He’s a woodsman,” Nemanich said. “He’s a living legend. He eats, sleeps and breathes Bigfoot.”

Clearly, time is not on Sam’s side. He expresses no regrets. “I had one hell of a life,” he said. “If I had it to do over again, I’d do it.”



THE FAMED BECKY'S GRAVE

Popular local lore tells of a woman named Becky who was hung for being a witch. The story goes that she was a white woman learning from the local Native American Indians, studying their medicines, and the witchcraft rumors grew from there. This is the tiny private graveyard where Becky was buried. Many a local person has secretly adventured out to this nearby graveyard in the middle of the night which boasts endless haunted tales of her ghostly presence.

THE TRAIN GRAVEYARD

One day, visiting typewriter-girl Crystal Hoffman took a long walk from the hotel out into the mysterious woods...and she came back running, having discovered Windber's long lost Train Graveyard! The rest of us joined her for the adventure. We had to climb over hills and across rocks and water to reach the secluded spot. We made several trips over that summer season. The footage became a part of our film Coolsville.

I am the stranger from the well You are my nightingale The girl from the wood-locks Unlatch the window, hear my serenade You are the one My golden dawn The moon and the stars and the sun You are the one The golden dawn The moon and the stars and the sun -Damien Youth Stranger From the Well

(Farm At Scalp Level by George Hetzel) THE WINDBER AUTUMN MONTHS LANDSCAPE SERIES (A Collection of 12 murals by Sam Altercruz, inspired partially and in the tradition of the earlier 1800 Somerset landscape painters' Art Colony) Many of you may not know this, but long before the area was a coal mining community, painters used to come out from Pittsburgh to Somerset County to participate in an artist's colony. This was in the 1800s. Famed artists like George Hetzel came here to paint because the scenery was so stunningly beautiful. These were landscape painters. From Somerset County: Pride Beyond the Mountains by Jaclyn LaPlaca: "Some of the first people attracted to the tamed Somerset County were artists compelled by the beauty of the Laurel Highlands region. Most of the initial artists settled in what is today called Paint Township, outside of Windber, and spent their days working on sketches and oil paintings of the region's lush forests and pastoral landscapes. Many of the artists built cottages, forming an art colony. When the author Charles Dickens visited the area in 1842, he described it as "a valley full of light and softness." Inan address marking the centennial celebration of the county in 1895, the Honorable William H. Koontz recalled that early pioneers, impressed by the abundance of natural meadows situated near the headwaters of many of its streams, had frequently and affectionately called Somerset County the 'Glades.'" "One of the most famous artists to work in Paint Township woul dbe George Hetsel, and his followers, who worked in the area soon after the Cival War. Hetzel was a quiet man who loved the woods, wildflowers, animals, and the changing seasons of the year. He spent days walking, sketching, and painting the countryside. Landscape painting, which Hetzel was most well known for, began in the New World as a form of documentaion. Artists accompanied many of the early expeditions and brought back with them images of the immense countryside." One quick biography from a painting market site describes Hetzel: "George Hetzel was the leader of a small group of Pittsburgh artists who journeyed to Scalp Level, near Johnstown, to paint landscapes in the late 19th century. The mountain village served as a retreat for Pittsburgh artists who worked together painting en plein air, as did their French contemporaries at Barbizon. Hetzel's Woodland Scene is a detailed composition which conveys an atmosphere of deep shadows, textures, and reflected light. It is one of a series of his landscapes of Western Pennsylvania painted at Scalp Level." "Born in France near Strasbourg, Hetzel moved to Pittsburgh with his parents at an early age. Between 1847 and 1849 the artist studied painting at the D¨1sseldorf Academy, where he developed a precisely realistic style reminiscent of the Barbizon painters of Fontainbleau. Throughout his career, he was acclaimed both as a portrait and a landscape artist. George Hetzel was one of three Pittsburgh artist to be represented at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. He also participated in the first International Exhibition at The Carnegie Institute in 1896, where a major retrospective of his work was presented in 1909. He is recognized as one of Pennsylvania's most significant artists. " (Sam) So, in the tradition of these earlier painters, painter Sam Altercruz relocated and moved into the Grand Midway Hotel last Fall, staying in room # 8, with the intention to create a series of landscape works. He completely took over the Mermaid Room, # 9, as a painting studio. The smell of oil paints and turpentine filled the halls. It was wonderful. Sam would wake up early in the morning a rush out into the woods surrounding Windber to paint small sketches in the sunlight. Sam loved sunlight. It was chilly here in the mountains and the leaves were bursting with colors. His feet were so cold he fashioned together some kind of newspapers-tied-by-rope-thing to additionally coat his boots. It looked ridiculous. But he was on fire to paint and work every single day no matter what the conditions. Then he'd come home at the end of the day and cook up big pots of hot soup for all of us to share. While here Sam created 30 paintings in thirty days. These were small abstracts. Many of them he painted out by the woods surrounding the old train graveyard. He next relocated down South near Chattanooga, Tennessee. He used these 30 small Windber paintings as the blueprints for the series of larger murals he planned to create. It was his goal to paint 12 of them as large wall murals. He just called to say that he finished 3 of the murals, which took him ten weeks. The size of one was 5 x 15 foot. Sam is relocating again, somewhere to the New York area, looking for a large space he can complete the series. Here are some additional George Hetzel paintings from that time period: (Corduroy Road -Old Road, Scalp Level) (Summer In Scalp Level) (Forest Scene Mother and Child)

At the most recent Starwood Festival, I leapt out of the night woods Pan-like by the bon fire at author Tony Mierzwicki (Graeco-Egyptian Magick: Everyday Empowerment) assailing him with my drunken thoughts on ancient Egypt.

Renee and I camped in the enchanted Fairy Woods section. Best week of the year! I never saw her look so happy.

The "Long Stem" Resette Nebula

April 13, 2008 11:23 pm             Area bee hives bounce back a year after dieouts By KATHY MELLOTT The Tribune-Democrat HASTINGS — Local beekeepers are finding their hives in far better shape this spring, a year after as much as a third of the nation’s honey bee hives was lost through colony collapse syndrome, or CCS. Reports from a statewide survey indicate hives in others areas snd those of larger commercial beekeepers also had improved winter survival rates over 2006. “I’m only down 10 percent, so it’s great,” said Ted Kaminski, a Hastings beekeeper who calculated his 2007 loss at 35 percent to 40 percent of his 30 hives. “I lost three hives (over the winter), and the others are bringing in pollen. There’s a lot of bees flying around,” he said. The first indication of hive dieout came in late 2006. By spring 2007, beekeepers in the region and elsewhere were sounding the alarm. John Bishop, a beekeeper for more than 70 years, maintains three honey hives at his home overlooking Cresson. His bees made it through the winter in good condition. “Last year, I lost them all and had to get new ones,” said Bishop, 90. “Now they’re flying around out there.” Bees are essential to the pollination of more than 90 crops. Without them, there would be no apples, blueberries, pumpkins, zucchini or cucumbers – just a few of the local crops that require the bees’ services. In early 2007, a team of Penn State entomologists and infectious disease researchers began investigating the mysterious colony collapse syndrome. They are finding a “strong correlation” between colony collapse and Israeli acute paralysis virus, which showed up in the U.S. a few years ago. “That’s what we currently think is going on. But we still think there are additional factors,” said Penn State professor Diana Cox-Foster, a principal researcher in the hunt for the cause. Some of those factors are thought to be the presence of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in the hives. “They’ve found there are many more chemicals in hives than we ever thought,” Cox-Foster said. A statewide survey that included some local beekeepers shows a greater hive survival rate than last year. “That’s generally what we’re hearing. Even some of the larger ones fared better,” said Cox-Foster. Weakened hives caused by CCS and an ongoing problem with mites combined with the mild winter of 2006-07 to create the disaster, said the president of a regional beekeeper organization. The best winter scenario is for it to get cold and stay cold. Warming trends cause bees to move around and eat more honey, said Ken Hoover of Dysart, president of 2 C’s and a B Bee Keepers, a 100-member organization. Kaminski agrees that many factors are involved in CCS. “I don’t think it’s any one thing,” he said. “I think it’s a lack of natural cavities for bees to live in, the pesticides, the weather.” Meanwhile, Cox-Foster said it’s important to continue the research and find a way to remedy colony collapse.