So this is officially the 250th post here at The Occult Section, and we’re coming up on our first anniversary soon. It’s been a great year, and we’ve made a lot of new friends, as well as strengthened some existing friendships. So I just wanted to say a big “thank you” to Sarah Harvey, Courtney Mroch at Haunt Jaunts, Dinell Lamb Holmes at Weekly Specter, Brian Solomon over at The Vault of Horror, and our good friends over at SCARED! and SIPS. Also a very special thanks to Laura Pennace and Michelle Mason, who have helped build this blog into what it is today, as well as our fellow New York Paranormal Society members Jimmy Bricks and Stacey Conway, without whom there would be no New York Paranormal Society and thus, no Occult Section. And finally, thank you to all of you, our readers, who put up with our shenanigans and keep coming back for more. And now, some goofy Bigfoot news.
The Kansas City Star is reporting that a New Hampshire man, dressed as Bigfoot and running around a mountain scaring hikers, has been ordered by park rangers to obtain a permit before pulling the stunt again.
CONCORD, N.H. | A performance artist who dressed as Bigfoot says state park rangers didn’t have the right to kick him off a mountain where he had been scaring, or at least amusing, hikers while friends videotaped him.
Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Jonathan Doyle is suing the state, arguing that the requirement to pay $100 for a special-use permit 30 days in advance and get a $2 million insurance bond violated his free-speech rights.
Doyle’s attorneys say no one complained to the park service on Sept. 6, 2009, after Doyle first dressed as Bigfoot, ran around the rocky top of Mount Monadnock, returned to human form and interviewed bystanders. Doyle posted the video on YouTube.
When Doyle returned with a small band of costumed friends to film “The Capture of Bigfoot,” they were captured themselves, sort of. Monadnock park manager Patrick Hummel interrupted the skit and barred them from filming, saying Doyle needed a permit.
This guy is angry that he needs a permit and needs to inform the park that he’ll be running around in a Bigfoot costume, scaring hikers. And I’m sure also garnering the interest of hunters who would like nothing more than to shoot a Bigfoot and drag its carcass out of the woods and into history. And piles of money. Now I’m very libertarian, so I sort of feel like we need to let Darwinism take over here. I say let the moron do it. But, I can also see the state’s point of view. If he does get shot, either he or his family (if he dies), would sue the bejesus out of the state, and I’m sure the poor hunter who thought that he was actually shooting an actual sasquatch. But it’s good to see that the ACLU has decided to get involved and protect this nutjob’s right to scare people while wearing a Bigfoot costume. I mean, nothing will help their tarnished image more than helping this guy out. And after all, Bigfoot is a minority.
