By Tereasa Nims
COMINS – Phil Shaw, of West Branch, didn’t think about Bigfoot either way until a vacation in 2006.
He and his wife were on a four-lane highway near Prince Edwards Island in New Brunswick around 5 p.m. when something caught their attention. He said after the sighting, they kept it low-key and just kind of looked at each other.
‘I did not see blue jeans, a plaid shirt or a white face,’ said Shaw, 73, noting it was definitely something not human. ‘It was between two trees.’
When they returned from their vacation, their three sons asked about their vacation and both Shaw and his wife agreed they saw a creature.
‘Our sons said, ‘Well, it has to be real because you and mom never agree on anything.”
Shaw said what he and his wife saw wasn’t the best sighting, but since then, he has listened to countless witnesses talk about their often impressive encounters.
Shaw, who was nearing retiring as a loan officer from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, didn’t need or want more hobbies. But his curiosity about Bigfoot was dominating. The avid pilot, fisher and hunter couldn’t get enough of the mysterious creature.
‘I could write a book,’ said Shaw about all the stories he’ heard and what he has learned. He said there are hundreds of books about Bigfoot, most of them non-fiction, including ‘Bigfoot in my Backyard,’ ‘Bigfoot is Missing’ and ‘Beast of the Boggy Creek.’
Resident Sam Murphy, of Comins, remembers as a kid he watched a documentary about the Sasquatch.
‘I hate to admit this, but I couldn’t sleep without the lights on for about three days,’ Murphy said. ‘When I was a kid, I really believed in him or her. And I thought Bigfoot might be living right outside my window after seeing that documentary.
‘I even put food outside my window so that if it was there, it wouldn’t eat me,’ he added.
Murphy said he still believes in Bigfoot based on the number of people who say they see it.
‘But I don’t think he is living outside my window anymore,’ he said.
The Comins Community Center recently hosted a Bigfoot Discovery Day on July 16. Shaw was one of the handful of speakers. Shaw spoke on Sasquatch and the Biblical connection. Shaw provides Biblical connections between the Sasquatch and the Book of Genesis as it relates to Esau, deemed the hairy man in the Bible who was a hunter and lived in the fields.
Biblical scholars, such as J. Tall Tree, Ph.D. Ontario, Canada, suggested it in a 1996 paper, ‘Is the Sasquatch a Direct Descendant of Esau?’
Prior to taking the biblical angle, Shaw would talk about the 10 reasons Bigfoot exists.
‘Just the number of stories,’ cites Shaw as the top reason he knows Bigfoot exists. ‘I don’t think those people are lying.’
He said certainly there are cases of misidentification and hoaxing.
‘I think hoaxing is a small factor,’ he said. ‘Most of the stores, most of the people are telling the truth.’
There are 1,200 written incidents of Bigfoot interactions in Michigan and Shaw said 66 of them come from the Ogemaw and five surrounding counties.
The second top reason is Shaw’ own investigations.
‘I’ve found enough stuff that I’m convinced he is out there,’ Shaw said. ‘I don’t think there are a lot of them, but enough to have a population.’
Shaw is happy to talk about Bigfoot with others and is often asked to conventions to share his information.
Shaw said he gets some razzing from his friends, which he doesn’t mind. He said not everyone is a believer and he understands that. But Shaw definitely is.
Studies done on the subject suggest an estimated 30 percent of the population believe in Bigfoot. Women and young men are among the largest percentage of believers.
He said stories on social media, shows like Finding Bigfoot and others are paving the way for Bigfoot. For more information or to contact Shaw, search for Mistfooters on Facebook.
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