Should Public Libraries Promote Stan Gordon's Bigfoot-UFO Conspiracy Theories

Should Public Libraries Promote Stan Gordon's Bigfoot-UFO Conspiracy Theories? - JasonColavito.
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Should Public Libraries Promote Stan Gordon's Bigfoot-UFO
Conspiracy Theories?
04/21/2014
55 Comments
This morning I read an interesting diatribe by the pseudonymous Annoyed Librarian in the Library
Journal
in which he criticizes the Carnegie Free Library in Connellsville, Penn. for inviting longtime
UFO researcher Stan Gordon to deliver a presentation on flying saucers at the library. The presentation
occurred
on Saturday, and it isnt really the kind of thing Id comment on except that I couldnt get
over the title of Gordons book: Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook.
Gordon claims to have been involved in ufology since 1959, and his reputation rests on his
investigation of the 1965 Kecksburg UFO crash. Although mainstream sources attributed the
fireball seen December 9 of that year to a meteor or to a
failed Soviet satellite, Gordon believes that a
spacecraft shaped like a
beehive (or a turd, frankly) crashed in Pennsylvania. The programs Nazi UFO
Conspiracy (2008 on Discovery, now airing on American Heroes) and Ancient Aliens (S04E09,
2012)
claimed that the craft was in fact a Nazi time machine that moved
forward from WWII to 1965 before
exploding. The Science Channels
Dark Matters (2011)
concurred, but thought it was more likely due
to Nazi antigravity technology rather than time travel. Still: Flying space Nazis.
Gordon, of course, uncovered no actual UFO wreckage despite becoming

famous for investigating the
case and appearing on dozens of conspiracy-oriented TV programs, includingand this is only a
partial list--Unsolved Mysteries, Inside Edition, A Current Affair, Creepy Canada, Alien Mysteries,
Close Encounters,
etc. He is always discussing material from his heyday in the late 1960s
to the early
1970s, before the conspiracy apparently clamped down on the truth.
About Me
I'm an author and editor who
has published on a range of
topics, including
archaeology, science, and
horror fiction. There's more
But what interests me is the way Gordons ideology has gradually transformed along with conspiracy
about me in the About Jason
culture in general. Beginning a nuts-and-bolts UFO investigator looking for metal fragments of
tab.
physical craft, he gradually expanded his conspiracy to include government cover-ups, the paranormal,
and, of course, Bigfoot. Last year he participated in the filming of two Bigfoot films, one a docudrama
and the other a documentary, and he also was a key speaker atand I didnt know this existedthe
Mothman Festival, an entire festival devoted to the mystery of a monster that was almost certainly an
owl.
According to Gordon, Bigfoot isnt just a hairy ape-like creature but is instead intimately connected to
space aliens: there may be more to the Bigfoot mystery than a flesh and blood explanation. (Here is a
link to an interview
in which Gordon and Jeffery Pritchett explore whether Bigfoot is a space alien or,
but of course, a Biblical Nephilim-giant; as I have learned the Nephilim-Watchers myth is the
centerpiece of all fringe history.) The U.S. government is, naturally, deeply interested in the Bigfoot
question as one way of learning more about the space aliens theyve been trying so hard to cover up. In
so doing, Gordon hits a
number of the key defining traits of conspiracy culture: that mysteries are all
connected, that the government is conspiring to suppress the truth, and that there is a discoverable
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/should-public-libraries-promote-stan-gordons-bigfoot-ufo-conspiracy-theories[01/09/2014 08:28:51]
Should Public Libraries Promote Stan Gordon's Bigfoot-UFO Conspiracy Theories? - JasonColavito.com
hidden reality to UFOs. His website homepage currently features a computer-generated image of a
green-eyed Bigfoot emerging from a flying saucer.
Of course you know this was all anticipated by the Looney Tunes, who
placed Gossamer the Hair
Monster in outer space and under the control of Marvin the Martian in Duck Dodgers and the Return of
the 24th Century (1980),
a made-for-TV cartoon. It is not one of Warner Bros. best efforts, clearly
because this was the conspiracy engaging in its penchant for spilling the beans by making its Bigfoot
plans known. The Hair Monster had previously been a Frankenstein-like creation of mad scientists
modeled on Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff in his two classic-period appearances in Hair-Raising Hare
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Gordon is currently on a library tour, in fact, spreading his message of a Bigfoot-UFO-government

conspiracy to audiences across Pennsylvania. This is where Annoyed Librarian took issue with the
ufologists desire to deliver his message not just to audiences that sought out his uniquely Looney
Tunes view of Bigfoot but to public library patrons under the imprimatur of the libraries. Annoyed
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Librarian
sees this as parallel to the decay of the History networks into the aliens and conspiracy
channels:
And this sort of thing is at a library why? It seems to me that when a

library is hosting a speaker
who wrote Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook, theres a serious disconnect
from the mission of providing reliable information.
Blog Roll
Thats the sort of source librarians should be questioning, not promoting. When it comes to
information, shouldnt libraries be a refuge against the sensationalist nonsense that passes for
educational TV? [] The sort of thing that TV networks start showing when they have abandoned
educational TV and want to lure the gullible masses shouldnt be the sort of thing libraries host to
get people through the doors, unless the purpose is to show how gullible people use
hearsay and a
the absence of proof to support their conspiracy theories.
Heres where I am of two minds about this. Are libraries intended to curate information for the purpose
of public education, or are they designed to provide access to multiple points of view even when
they
are wrong? My gut reaction is to say that if a local author wrote a
book, then it seems like the library
ought to offer a venue to talk about it, but on the other hand we all know that there are obvious limits
that libraries would never cross. They wont let a Neo-Nazi
present a speech on anti-Semitism, nor
would they offer racists a platform for arguing the inferiority of various races. So at some level,
libraries arent simply offering their floor to all comers.
This is also the reason that the History and H2 claims, expressed directly to me last year, that they
simply offer a platform for their talents various points of view ring so hollow. They arent public
access TV, and obviously, theyd never broadcast a show denying the Holocaust, advocating the Black
Supremacist movement (yes, its a real thing), or calling for a communist revolution, even though all of
these claims have supporters. When you look at the American Heroes Channela poor mans History
Channel circa 2001you see programs (just last night) about the quest to find Noahs Ark, the spear
that pierced Christ, and the hunt for the Garden of Edenbut not shows about why Hinduism is the
one true faith, or the quest for Xenus volcano. So they are making choices
of some kindbased on
perceptions of the audiences attitudes and values.
Are libraries more like TV networks, playing to popular prejudices, even when those ideaslike
Bigfoots UFO taxi serviceare scientifically unsupportable? Or are libraries curated
forums designed
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to educate the publicand if so, who makes the decisions about what they should teach? These arent
easy questions, especially when we realize that as far as the audiencethe publicis concerned,
having a speaker at the library is a de facto endorsement of the speaker, no matter how many
disclaimers you issue.
So what I have learned from all of this is that the idea that Bigfoot rides in a flying saucer is not just a
stupid Ancient Aliens episode but an apparently established part of conspiracy culture. Will wonders
never cease?
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Comments
J.A.D
04/21/2014 2:43pm
Libraries are reflective of their community, we expect
the religion and theology section as well as the typical
motivational "power of positive thinking' section to be
larger in the small libraries of Bible Belt rural towns as
we assume the sciences dominate the stacks of big
city libraries. Given that the better Ufo researchers have
gone FOIA & asked for old BLUE BOOK era documents,
even if they are being overly paranoid or suspicious, at
least they are performing a public service. I can see a
separate section for these fringe books being created,
a set of shelves or even a table etc. but often libraries
are natural gathering places for the public at large and
the community. The librarians of today when getting
their degrees are aware of our Bill of Rights, and the
complex nature of our public space. Even at the risk of
humouring something erroneous they must be inclusive.
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If one guest lecturer is allowed to speak, others who
might or might not contradict that person ought to have
an equal opportunity and access to that "bully pulpit"
just short of someone on the extreme fringe of the left
or right who advocates acts of violence. The odds are,
either the sciences are respected or the stacks are
reflective of a particular strain of a given Protestant
theology and world view. Trendy "pop" books often
go from a momentary success to the oblivion of the
stacks. Insofar as Nibiru can be either placed inside
ancient history or thought of an alternative to today's
hard core science, Sitchen has about three to five
places that he can crop up under Library of Congress or
Dewey Decimal. Judgement calls are often not uniform!
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Reply
April 2013
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[jad]
04/21/2014 2:54pm
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
Jason, you know the answer to this, textbook disputes often hit
at the local school district level and can get very fierce, often in
a town's or small city's budget, the public library is everyone's
semi-ignored metaphoric "step-childe" save when things polarize
and get political. trying to ban INTELLIGENT DESIGN books is
often very difficult, sometimes not buying at all for a local library
a trendy "Creationist" book is a profile in courage equal to the
ones JFK is said to have written for his famous political book. i
see this as a discretionary judgement, because students utilize
libraries still for high school and college level papers, not all is
online and many things after 1999 are often pay as you go like
JSTOR. this sorta freezes our sciences at the 911 cusp of the
interface between George W. Bush & William Jefferson Clinton.
August 2012
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December 2011
Reply
Dave Lewis
04/21/2014 9:35pm
JAD you are making sense today. Did you get back on your meds or what?
Reply
luv...
04/23/2014 5:34pm
the paragraphs if gonzo tend to be mine, the quips if on topic tend
to be mine, but in the past few days, i have picked up an "echo"
poster who does brief one liners and they do not have periods in
place when trying to "monogram" a posting. All my permutations
are not the earlier A.D. postings, i tried [jad] and (jad) to have a
visual difference, even though my paragraphs are often gonzo. i
try not to have my "caps" button on, but i can be gonzo when i
explore the long upper rectangles, it creates a unique look. i am
trying to be on topic and concise. i really wish there was an edit
function. some of these threads tend to rehash the obvious. the
other threads are why the blog exists. i am in the category of the
people who expect a DNA confirmation of Bigfoot is highly likely
because the new TV show THE TEN MILLION DOLLAR BIGFOOT
BOUNTY showed the public at large scientific standards and how
a small lab can test samples in the field. Two separate teams saw
tree moss and hoped they were Bigfoot hairs. Science is science.
KIF
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04/21/2014 2:51pm
The "sit tight and believe" folks will always exist

Reply
An Over-Educated Grunt
04/21/2014 2:51pm
Oh, the idea that Bigfoot is an alien

has been in the ether for at least a decade. When Wizards of
the Coast
published d20 Modern back in 2002, the explanation for hairy cryptids was "aliens
stranded on Earth in their eternal war with the Greys." Pretty sure that GURPS Black Ops
discussed the possibility back in the late '90s, early 2000s, for that matter. However, gracing the
pages of an RPG and being given public speaking space by your local library are two different
beasts, since no one expects the truth from a game that actively encourages you to make stuff up.
On the other hand, I'm torn. If the library is giving him a voice as a local author, fine, most
libraries have a "woo" section anyway. The library's not really supposed to be there to cast
judgment on whether books are good or bad, they're supposed to be there to cast judgment on
whether books are stocked and shelved. And yet... frankly, anyone who believes that Bigfoot
rides around in UFOs doesn't need encouragement and legitimacy. Encouragement alone,
perhaps; I can see him being tremendous fun at the local comic and gaming store, or in a New
Age bookshop, but the very perceived neutrality of libraries gives him a legitimacy that he
doesn't deserve.
Reply
Agreed!!!! (imoho) [seyz lil ole jad]
04/21/2014 3:10pm
if Bigfoot is not human or a EMH/neanderthal or a really complex

CroMagnon/ModernHuman/Neandertal mix given to something
glanular possibly where our epigenome and gigantism intersect,
if Bigfoot was once real say 100,ooo to 200,ooo years ago and
old bones set of speculations in our pre-IceAge ancestors, can
we legitimately assume if we are to find a Great Ape akin to or
like Gigantpithecus, their habits may resemble the current day
Bigfoot lore we have evolved over the last century? we see the
attempt to find this species on a daily basis, as Gorillas are not
assumed to be the source of Yeti or Yowie or Sasquatch stories.
if Bigfoot was once real, maybe Louis Leakey's Zinjanthropus had
lived in isolation a half million years or so longer than i assume
they did, or a million years longer on the evolutionary timeline?
Normally, it sounds like mountain gorillas set off a myth cycle,
save for CHINA's jaws & teeth that are very large, that are from
Gigantopithecus! The odds are against a Bigfoot being found but
the odds are way less for an intact skeleton like Turkana Boy's
being found over the next three decades. the "beastie" may have
once existed, i'm assuming the intestinal tract has five seperate
possibilities, actually, given that we are ominvores & flexible...

Reply
[jad]
04/21/2014 3:17pm
China's ancient bones found their way to an herbalist shoppe often!
Thats were some of the Gigantopithicus remains were found before
being powdered up. Bigfoot lore may have had more instances of a
very ancient set of bones being a starting point. Bear hairs often are
said to be Bigfoot hairs, GOTO the short British TV program that
Prof. Sykes was part of for 3 episodes. i think like troll myths etc
we are taling about extremely ancient oral histories. this is like the
New World horses, camels and Mastodons in Pre-Columbian times!
Bazooka Bill
04/21/2014 3:24pm
Here we go
Again
[jad]
04/21/2014 3:24pm
Any book by Prof. Sykes on his DNA results belongs
in the Biology sciences section of any public library.
Technically he begins by examining Bigfoot evidence,
this hypothesis creates a very obvious overlap for him!
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/yeti-dna-ancient-polar-bearscientists
"Are libraries more like TV networks, playing to popular prejudices, even

when those ideaslike Bigfoots UFO taxi serviceare scientifically
unsupportable? Or are libraries curated
forums designed to educate the public
and if so, who makes the decisions about what they should teach? These
arent easy questions, especially when we realize that as far as the audience
the publicis concerned, having a speaker at the library is a de facto
endorsement of the speaker, no matter how many disclaimers you issue."
[jad]
04/21/2014 3:26pm
sorry, can't stop
[jad]
04/21/2014 3:34pm
Duckies... a local librarian has to grant Ken Ham + Bill Nye an
equal & even amount of public access, if they are being ethical,
even if their local school district orders text books more often from
New York than from Texas. this cuts both ways, we see the areas
or the regions that prefer the Texas textbooks also may have kids
going onto Cal-Tech or M.I.T but to get into either school, The NY
textbooks give you more traction on an intellectual level. Again,
the INTELLIGENT DESIGN debate does not mentally damage a
student's curiosity, but a Creationist New Earth curriculum sinks
SAT scores. Bigfoot ain't why good students can flunk outta M.I.T!
[jad]
04/21/2014 3:37pm
LIBRARIANS HAVE TO UNDERSTAND
AND RESPECT OUR BILL OF RIGHTS.
otherwise all we are is an equivalency to
Stalin's agitprop or Hilter's Nazi checklist.
Jason's crusade of saving our public has a
clear constitutional limit! we are a democracy.
(jad)
04/21/2014 5:03pm
I ain't stopped yet. Gotta keep going
General Bootcamp
04/21/2014 3:13pm
I once attended a funny talk during the 1990s and some of the audience expressed
contempt (Adrian Gilbert was promoting his latest)
Reply
Graham
04/21/2014 6:29pm
Actually you can push it back further. There are at least two episodes of The Six Million
Dollar Man (Mid 1970's/Early 1980's) that feature Bigfoot as the 'guardian' of Aliens.
Reply
04/21/2014 9:40pm
Gah, that's right, I'd forgotten about the Six Million Dollar Man and Bigfoot!
That was before my time, but that's a legendary example of shark-jumping.
Mark E.
04/21/2014 10:29pm
Conceptually I would go back to 1953 with the movie "Robot Monster" where
the Ro-Mon actor is dressed in a gorilla suit with a space helment (actually a
diving helmet and antenna attached).
Jason Colavito
04/22/2014 6:23am
I completely forgot about "Robot Monster"! MST3K!
Shawn Flynn
04/21/2014 3:49pm
Nazi Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) are (Time?)traveling by UFO in PA? I can't say I've noticed but we
probably should alert X-Com so they can scramble their interceptors.
Reply
(jad)
04/21/2014 3:56pm
keep in mind there is a ww2 era loose rule of thumb where 1/10th
of any set of Nazis are actually "fifth column" Stalinists and any
obvious group of Stalinists have a 5th column inside their ranks of
dissembling Nazis who have lied lied lied to their fellow comrades!
Reply
(jad)
04/21/2014 4:00pm
tis the same one in ten ratio.
this explains WHY we all do
see dear sweet J.Edgar Hoover
utilizing Joltin' Joe McCarthy
as a way to shake up IKE's
people. Hoover wanted a big
slamdunk on Harry Hopkins.
Dick Nixon may have savaged
poor poor innocent Alger Hiss.
04/21/2014 4:01pm
Well, as Al Crowley said...
"You have me completely puzzled by your remarks. I thought I had a morbid

imagination, as good as any man's, but it seems I have not. I cannot form the
slightest idea what you can possibly mean."
Matt Mc
04/21/2014 4:05pm
Can we get J.A.D no caffeinated Coffee. :)
(jad)
04/21/2014 5:03pm
gotta keep on and on
Mandalore
04/21/2014 5:05pm
Bigsfeet according to Sal.

Reply
Steve In SoDak
04/23/2014 6:56am
Time traveling, flying, space Nazi's.

Great, because those guys weren't annoying enough
when they didn't have time travel and space ships, oh and Bigfoot is on the take too?
I'm going back to bed.
Reply
(jad)
04/21/2014 4:11pm
it is 4:10 p.m on the East Coast and our local Marathon has
almost concluded its run on our local television sets without
any sad or tragic incidents. i had got several cups of coffee
today happily, and have idle tyme today because its a big
holiday! i'm glad we aren't on the national news save in a very
good way as a nice & neat string of human interest stories!!!

Reply
(jad)
04/21/2014 5:02pm
I can't stop gotta keep going, and going....

Reply
(jad)
04/21/2014 5:04pm
More to come, need my fix
(jad)
04/21/2014 5:31pm
THE 118th RUNNING of THE BOSTON MARATHON
is NOW a TOTAL SUCCESS! y'all do know i did not
see any Bigfoot folk or E.Ts jogging across the official
finish line! in a way cool way i didn't think i would at all!

Reply
should PRIVATE libraries encourage fringe groups and/or speculation?
i'd like to think private libraries are better run than our public
libraries but i should not make an assumption on mere whim!
04/21/2014 5:33pm
Reply
Kal
04/21/2014 5:36pm
First of all, The crashed 'UFO' in the woods in the 1960s in Pennsylvania was not a UFO but a
downed Russian satellite. At the time it was not a mystery, The government swooped in and
took it.
The made up connections with bigfoot myth and aliens are just to explain
that they never, ever
find any evidence of bigfoot, ever. Nobody has ever actually found a body. If they were that
prevalent, one of them would have died somewhere on a road and we'd have a body. Or one
would get hit by a car on a highway.
Bugs bunny, ha! That's a good one. The hair monster explains it all.
Reply
Bugs Bunny spotted a flock of Foo Fighters in '42
04/21/2014 6:01pm
If a Russian satellite abruptly ceased to function and fell to earth,
NSA would have created files pertaining to its procurement, but
if its ball lightning or swamp gas and not even a physical object
like a meteorite or disintegrating meteor, there is nothing to find!
An FOIA request can net heavily censored pages, a paper trail...
Reply
KIF
04/21/2014 7:34pm
Didn't you know Bigfoot has paranormal powers that helps him from becoming
discovered?
See the book by Tom Burnette and Rob Riggs, "Bigfoot: Exploring the Myth
&
Discovering the Truth" (Llewellyn Publications, 2014)
Reply
Drew
04/21/2014 6:08pm
I'm a public librarian and I'd have no problem with a presentation on Alien Bigfoot being hosted
at my library. Heck, I'd probably attend it.
Trick is, there would need to be enough patron demand for the event to make it worthwhile. It
can't be just me and some dude who had a Bigfoot costume in his freezer at home. Maybe I
could lure in the patron I saw last week with the Exeter UFO Festival t-shirt or the lady I talked
with
back in December about Knights Templar in Rhode Island, but the three of us would not
justify even the small honorarium the library can afford
to pay the speaker.
Reply
Frugal Frank
04/21/2014 7:22pm
"library can afford to pay the speaker"
Payment....?
For what?
Reply
Only Me
04/21/2014 7:53pm
Ah, yes, good ol' Sasquatch. The only creature that remains unchanged, even as the story
surrounding it "evolves".
First, it was relegated to Native American folklore and tales of hairy "wildmen" encountered in
caves, abandoned mines and remote areas of the country, during the heyday of yellow
journalism.
Then, it became linked to aliens, because the areas rife with sightings overlapped areas also
heavy in reported UFO sightings.
Next, thanks to alleged and actual evidence (Jeff Meldrum's analysis of over 100 footprint casts
and over 50 photos of the same, the Skookum Cast, discovery of Gigantopithecus blacki teeth
and jawbone, etc.) Sasquatch was seen as a large, unknown North American primate.
Now, Sasquatch is once again linked to aliens, only this time, as a genetically-engineered, gold-
mining servant. Or the descendant of the Nephilim-giants. Or the descendant of TV

producer/script writer Danny Vendramini's "theory" of hairy, predatory cannibalistic
Neanderthals that preyed on everything-including other humans- when they weren't busy
kidnapping and raping the hapless womenfolk. Sigh.
Regardless, even if a specimen (live or dead) is found, it's a foregone conclusion that the fringe
theorists and conspiracy mongers will not accept the "official story".
Reply
04/21/2014 9:42pm
Whatever the Man might find, the Bobes knows better. If he doesn't like donuts and
bacon, it's not really squatchy.
Reply
lil ole moi
04/21/2014 9:57pm
Yes, Bobo Fay has every right to ask Scott Wolter about all the times
a "Squatch" was thought to be a Biblical Giant, got briefly prayed over
and then religiously buried in Minnesota over the last 300 years or so!
KIF
04/22/2014 9:52am
We now know squatchy has paranormal powers and is aware of humans being
in his area without seeing or smelling them
Daniel
04/21/2014 10:23pm
Another public librarian here.
A few years ago, the library I was working at faced an issue right at the heart if the curator vs.
uncritical purveyor tension. It was at the gh water mark of the execrable Kevin Trudeau's career
in peddling textual snake oil with his "X Secret THEY Don't Want You to Know" series
of
books.
Our librarians could see them for the transparent bullshit that they were and refused to stock
them. Ultimately, we received so many repeated
requests (along with many accusations that we
were in cahoots with THEM
of course) that our head librarian relented and we ordered a few
copies
if his truly stupid and harmful health "secrets" book only on the condition that there be a
sign noting that the librarians did not recommend it as a trustworthy source, and listing several
other resources for actual health information.
This was not a perfect or even good solution, and it may have sine much to counteract the tacit
endorsement an item carries simply by being on the shelf, but it's always been a valuable
example of what a fine line we sometimes have to walk as information professionals.
Reply
Matt Mc
04/22/2014 7:57am
I like the idea of libraries have authors do presentations regardless of the subject matter.
Anything that
encourages and gets people to use this most wonderful of resources and maybe
donate or help with funding the library system.
I have wonderful fond memories of going to see Shel Silverstein and Barry Louis Polisar (two
local writers/artists in the area I grew up) as
a child and once I got to see Maurice Sendak read
from his books. As an
adult a local library let me and some friends run a film noir film series
discussing the how the films where able to address culture taboos
and there impact on
contemporary filmmaking. The series ran for about 5
years until DC cut funding and no longer
provided films at all but one library location.
So, at least for me, regardless of the subject I am happy to see and will encourage any event at a
public library. It is not that subject that should be judged but rather the encouragement of a great
resource that most take for granted and is always at risk for funding and budget cuts.
Reply
KIF
04/22/2014 9:50am
As long as it's categorised in the "Child Psychology" department

Reply
BL
04/22/2014 12:34pm
I sit on my local library board of trustees. As a tax-payer funded entity open for use by all
citizens it is our belief that Freedom of Speech should be the over-riding policy here. A library
should provide access to information, but should not make the decision about what information
should be accessed by any individual. While I agree that Stan Gordon sounds ridiculous,
censorship by a government funded entity such as a public library is only a stone's throw away
from book banning and burning. Such policies would inevitably deteriorate to abuse and
propaganda dissemination.
Reply
BL
04/22/2014 12:38pm
Our library would provide a forum for

such a presentation, but we certainly would not
pay for the honor of hosting such an event.
Reply
Jason Colavito
04/22/2014 12:43pm
I think that's the key point. With libraries as a forum for free speech, authors
should be able to deliver their lectures, but I wouldn't want my tax money
going to fund UFO-Bigfoot conspiracy theories.
Drew
04/22/2014 6:55pm
In my experience, the payment offered

speakers is not what you call large - it's
more to offset gas and travel. We don't fly people out or put them up - we
might take them out to dinner if they are a Big Enough Name but that's about
it. I know there are some large urban libraries who can afford to do that (and
even
pay headliner speaking fees) but most libraries are not there.
250 bucks to get someone in to the library to speak to a room of 25 interested

patrons? Sure! More people would be better (we average around
45 or so for
our events) but that's what we can afford when it comes to
adult speakers.
Now, children's events... The Bubble Guy is pricey, but
he packs'em in!
Shane Sullivan
04/22/2014 1:36pm
I read a comment on another blog once

asserting that Bigfoot was an unknown species of
hominid that lived in the biblical Land of Nod. Cain bred with them, thus explaining how he
could have children despite having been banished from the rest of humanity. Of course, the Land
of Nod is some kind of parallel world whose inhabitants can interact with us, but are invisible to
us, which is why Sasquatch has not been discovered by science.
It was a truly inspired--and entertaining--piece of religioscientific mumbo-jumbo.

Reply
BP
04/22/2014 3:04pm
Reminded me of an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, with aliens controlling a
robot/cyborg Bigfoot.
Now as a librarian I'm torn over this (not the Bigfoot thing).
Reply
Robin S. Swope
04/22/2014 3:49pm
Stan Gordon is a great guy, and unlike a lot of researchers he is very skeptical. I know and have
worked
with Stan, and he has been as perplexed as anyone else with these UFO/Bigfoot
connections. He only relates real encounters as described by
their witnesses.
Reply
IMOHO
04/23/2014 10:28am
The UFO community has had rehashings & Monday morning
quarterbacking in each & every experiancer report. The mass
media from time to time has had offerings it has placed for the
public at large to look at, with a broad range of quality and/or
fictional speculations mixed together as an admixture. Like
the UFO community, each Bigfoot sighting that has a gravitas
to it has been put through a political litmus test on par with the
way Evolution has been jumped by Creationists. Lets face it,
the informality of this blog, given that it gives one and all a bully
is both its strength and weakness. It can go from being urbane
to being a zoo or playground, each poster has to find a balance,
there is a chorus of voices. Clearly put, each poster should begin
"IMOHO" because we all are coming at things with many differing
life experiances. There are rules inside the UFO community just
as there are rules inside the Bigfoot community. Topicality can
drive a dialogue or a debate, our mass media often frames debates.

Reply
IMOHO its a very TEDDY ROOSEVELT BULLY PULPIT...
04/23/2014 10:38am
Stan Gordon was not trying to lie or deceive the public at
large.
Stan Gordon was not the producer of yesteryear's 1950s "B"

flics.
Stan Gordon does have a sense of professional ethics, I assume
he does not put words in people's mouths. Bigfoot sightings have
increased, and are on a uptick, whereas UFO sightings have waves.
Lets now assume this is all not a manifestation of Jung's collective
unconcious as we realize there is often a real phenomenon that
is behind both UFO and Bigfoot sightings. Clearly, the owner of
this blog does not hold back his opinions, and people here are
very reflective of the public at large, hence the range of responses.
typo--- bully pulpit ^^^
04/23/2014 10:39am
yes... there are rules.
Varika
04/22/2014 11:22pm
I will say this, having the local romance writer or fantasy writer deliver a talk isn't precisely all
about the scientific rigor, either. I have yet to read a romance novel that is a reliable guide to
ANYTHING, and believe me, I've probably read
THOUSANDS of the things. (They are my
mind-candy, don't judge me! :-P) Actually, the fantasy novels tend to be more reliable when it
comes to human interactions, if really nothing else at all. So just to start with, the assumption
that a library is there "to provide reliable information" is false--unless you're talking research
libraries rather than public libraries.
I personally am of the opinion that it is not the business of public libraries to censor OR endorse
information of any sort. When I go to my
local library, I don't want to be told that I shouldn't be
reading something because it contradicts the librarian's beliefs, or even because it contradicts the
laws of physics. The librarian doesn't have any clue why I'm reading the books I am. Wouldn't it
be a lot harder for you, Jason, to do your research on the kooky stuff you research for this blog if
you couldn't get to the sources for it all because somebody
just thought it wasn't worth reading?
And as a patron who had to involve the STATE GOVERNMENT in a dispute with a librarian,
I'm not exactly for the "right" of a library to refuse
"whoever they want" from using their
facilities. (Specifics: I am part of an organization of people who offer tests to get ham radio
licenses; we are a volunteer organization that is technically part of Homeland Security because
of the emergency services required of those who hold ham radio licenses. The librarian in
question would refuse and
"lose" our room bookings and hand them over to, oh, say, the local
chess club just because she didn't like ham radio. We had to get our local State Representative to
come out to the library and tell the woman
she was interfering with the operation of a federal
organization in order to get her to stop interfering that way. We no longer deal with the library,
but with the local hospital instead, because this woman's prejudice was back interfering in less
than two months. And yes, it was
definitely prejudice, since we made a point of being model
patrons, down to running the vacuum in the room if it was available.) Now, I don't think that the
library should PAY this man to come to the library,
but to say that he shouldn't be allowed to
apply for access to host his
lecture the same as any local patrons? That's just unfair.
Reply
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Should Public Libraries Promote Stan Gordon's Bigfoot-UFO Conspiracy Theories? - JasonColavito.

Should Public Libraries Promote Stan Gordon's Bigfoot-UFO

Gordon, of course, uncovered no actual UFO wreckage despite becoming

horror fiction. There's more

about me in the About Jason

(1946) and Water, Water Every Hare (1952).

Gordon is currently on a library tour, in fact, spreading his message of a Bigfoot-UFO-government

And this sort of thing is at a library why? It seems to me that when a

Libraries are reflective of their community, we expect

the religion and theology section as well as the typical

motivational "power of positive thinking' section to be

larger in the small libraries of Bible Belt rural towns as

we assume the sciences dominate the stacks of big

city libraries. Given that the better Ufo researchers have

even if they are being overly paranoid or suspicious, at

least they are performing a public service. I can see a

separate section for these fringe books being created,

a set of shelves or even a table etc. but often libraries

are natural gathering places for the public at large and

the community. The librarians of today when getting

their degrees are aware of our Bill of Rights, and the

complex nature of our public space. Even at the risk of

humouring something erroneous they must be inclusive.

If one guest lecturer is allowed to speak, others who

might or might not contradict that person ought to have

an equal opportunity and access to that "bully pulpit"

just short of someone on the extreme fringe of the left

or right who advocates acts of violence. The odds are,

either the sciences are respected or the stacks are

reflective of a particular strain of a given Protestant

theology and world view. Trendy "pop" books often

go from a momentary success to the oblivion of the

stacks. Insofar as Nibiru can be either placed inside

ancient history or thought of an alternative to today's

hard core science, Sitchen has about three to five

places that he can crop up under Library of Congress or

Dewey Decimal. Judgement calls are often not uniform!

a town's or small city's budget, the public library is everyone's

semi-ignored metaphoric "step-childe" save when things polarize

and get political. trying to ban INTELLIGENT DESIGN books is

a trendy "Creationist" book is a profile in courage equal to the

see this as a discretionary judgement, because students utilize

interface between George W. Bush & William Jefferson Clinton.

the paragraphs if gonzo tend to be mine, the quips if on topic tend

to be mine, but in the past few days, i have picked up an "echo"

place when trying to "monogram" a posting. All my permutations

visual difference, even though my paragraphs are often gonzo. i

explore the long upper rectangles, it creates a unique look. i am

trying to be on topic and concise. i really wish there was an edit

function. some of these threads tend to rehash the obvious. the

people who expect a DNA confirmation of Bigfoot is highly likely

because the new TV show THE TEN MILLION DOLLAR BIGFOOT

BOUNTY showed the public at large scientific standards and how

The "sit tight and believe" folks will always exist

Oh, the idea that Bigfoot is an alien

Agreed!!!! (imoho) [seyz lil ole jad]

if Bigfoot is not human or a EMH/neanderthal or a really complex

glanular possibly where our epigenome and gigantism intersect,

old bones set of speculations in our pre-IceAge ancestors, can

we legitimately assume if we are to find a Great Ape akin to or

like Gigantpithecus, their habits may resemble the current day

attempt to find this species on a daily basis, as Gorillas are not

assumed to be the source of Yeti or Yowie or Sasquatch stories.