My previous article was on the subject of what the U.K. government knows about the Loch Ness Monster. So, today, and keeping on this theme, I thought I would share with you what the U.S. government knows about Bigfoot. Or wants to know. I should stress that I have not seen any evidence of huge, nationwide, secret surveillance of the Bigfoot phenomenon. There is, however, some data that strongly suggests agencies have at least taken an interest in the subject. We must go back to the early 1970s and a man named Stan Gordon. Stan is a good friend of mine and someone who has investigated numerous Bigfoot reports in his home state of Pennsylvania. It was what happened in 1973 that we’ll focus on. It’s fair to say that the sightings Stan investigated amounted to an absolute wave. Bigfoot creatures, strange lights in the sky, UFOs, and paranormal phenomena, were all part and parcel of the mystery. And it got stranger and stranger.

It was in September 1973 when Stan got a phone call from a representative of the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife. As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes: “A 1940 reorganization plan (54 Stat. 1232) in the Department of the Interior consolidated the Bureau of Fisheries and the Bureau of Biological Survey into one agency to be known as the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife was created as a part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of the Interior on November 6, 1956, by the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (70 Stat. 1119). That act was amended on July 1, 1974, by Public Law 93-271 (88 Stat. 92) to, among other purposes, abolish the position of Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife and designate the Bureau as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

The caller had a deep interest in Stan’s work and urged him to contact the organization, in the event that Stan came across any hard evidence for the existence of Bigfoot creatures. It wasn’t long before Stan found himself in an even stranger situation. A few weeks later – specifically October 2, 1973 – Stan was visited (at his house, no less) by two staffers from the office of John H. Dent. He just happened to be a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. They were looking for information relative to Bigfoot and UFOs. As Stan said, it was a friendly chat (there were no Men in Black-type tactics). He agreed to stay in touch with the pair, particularly so when the 1973 wave of Bigfoot encounters grew. Then, there were the events of October 25, 1973.

It was the dark night of October 25 when all hell broke loose near Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The primary player in the story was one Steve Palmer, who was both amazed and frightened to see a brightly illuminated UFO hovering over local farmland, around 9.00 p.m. But that wasn’t all that Palmer encountered: a pair of immense, ape-like animals with very long and muscular arms surfaced out of the shadows of the dark field and proceeded to walk right towards Palmer, himself. He wasted no time and blasted them with a salvo of bullets. Very weirdly, the bullets appeared to have no effect – at all – on either creature, and they retreated into the darkness. The UFO did likewise, vanishing in an instant. That was not the end of the affair, however. Approximately four hours later, things took on even stranger, and far more terrifying, proportions.

Roughly around 1:00 a.m. was when Stan Gordon arrived on the scene, having been alerted to the Palmer encounter by a local police officer, who had been apprised of the facts. Along with Gordon were fellow investigators Dennis Smeltzer, Fred Pitt, David Smith, and George Lutz. They met with Palmer, who proceeded to tell them of his unearthly encounter with the two Bigfoot and the UFO. Then, quite out of the blue, something horrifying occurred: Palmer’s breathing changed, to the extent that he was literally panting heavily and deeply, and he broke into a deep, guttural growl and knocked both his own father and Lutz to the field floor. And that was only the start of things. Pitt found himself unable to breathe properly, Smeltzer felt faint, and Palmer fell to the ground, having apparently passed out. A powerful, rotten odor of brimstone suddenly dominated the cold night air. The terrified group knew that it was vital they get out of the field – and quickly, too – before things got even worse. Later, when Palmer regained consciousness, he told Gordon and his team that he, Palmer, while in his passed out state, had seen before him a sickle-carrying, dark-robed figure that warned him the Human Race was on the verge of destroying itself – and would do exactly that unless it curbed its violent instincts.

Even stranger than that, a couple of weeks later, Palmer was visited at his home by two Air Force officers, one in uniform and the other in plainclothes. It became very clear, and very quickly, that the pair knew all about Palmer’s weird encounter and the later experience. They even confided in him they knew that both UFOs and Bigfoot were genuine. There was a specific reason for the visit: first, they showed Palmer a number of photos of Bigfoot creatures and wanted to know if the beast he encountered resembled them. Second, they asked if Palmer would be willing to be placed into a hypnotic state, to ensure that the military secured all the relevant data. Palmer agreed. And with all the information in hand, the two men got up, thanked Palmer, and left. Despite telling Palmer they would keep him informed of any future developments, they failed to do so. He never saw them again. It was a fitting end to a case steeped in mystery. Stan Gordon never has found the answer to why there was so much interest on the part of elements of the U.S. government and the Air Force in the early-to-mid 1970s.