{"id":168202,"date":"2024-07-31T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=168202"},"modified":"2024-07-30T16:40:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T20:40:06","slug":"at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Skunk ape in costume against Miami skyline. Photograph by Josh Aronson.<\/p><\/div>\n

The evening before the fourth annual Great Florida Bigfoot Conference in the north-central horse town of Ocala, I was in a buffet line at the VIP dinner, listening to a man describe his first encounter. \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there,\u201d he said. \u201cAt first, I confused it with a gator because it was hunched over, but then it stood up. It was probably eight feet tall. I could smell it too. I froze. It was like something had taken control over my body.\u201d His story contained a common trope of Bigfoot encounters: awe and fear in the face of a higher power.<\/p>\n

I sat down at a conference room round table and gnawed on an undercooked chicken quarter, looking around at my fellow VIPs, or as the conference’s master of ceremonies, Ryan \u201cRPG\u201d Golembeske, called us, the Bigfoot Mafia. Most of the other attendees were of retirement age. Their hats, tattoos, and car bumpers in the parking lot indicated that many were former military, police, and\/or proud gun owners. Many were Trump supporters\u2014beseeching fellow motorists to, as one bumper sticker read, MAKE THE FOREST GREAT AGAIN<\/small>, a catchphrase which had been written out over an image of a Bigfoot on a turquoise background in the pines, rocking a pompadour. The sticker was a small oval on the larger spare wheel cover of a mid-aughts Chinook Concourse RV. Above it and below it, in Inspirational Quote Font, was the phrase \u201cOnce upon a time \u2026 is Now!\u201d The couple who owned the RV cemented their identities with a big homemade TRUCKERS FOR TRUMP<\/small> window decal next to a large handicap sticker. As a thirty-six-year-old progressive, I was an outlier in this crowd. But, like many, I was a believer.<\/p>\n

It bears repeating: I believe in the existence of the Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Wild Man, or, as it is called in South Florida, the Skunk Ape. There have been too many credible accounts and oral histories passed down over thousands of years to discount its\/their existence. During my time working as a teacher on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation, I heard from students and elders very detailed and grave encounters with a large humanlike primate in the swamp. In the course of publishing Islandia Journal, a periodical<\/a> of hidden local folklore and history, I also meet swamp enthusiasts\u2014historians, hunters, hydrologists, et cetera\u2014who describe encounters clearly. Though I\u2019ve never had an encounter myself, I believe these stories intuitively, told by those who have nothing to gain from their telling. Unfortunately, no biological evidence supports the idea that Bigfoot exists. Attendees of the conference wax rhapsodically about what the future holds thanks to eDNA<\/a>. The discovery of primate DNA in the water or dirt near an encounter location would rekindle the possibility of a biological Bigfoot, but for now, we\u2019re waiting.<\/p>\n

This absence of harder proof meant that the conference was, predictably, rife with speculation. At the VIP dinner, I sat next to Monica, one of my few fellow thirtysomethings in attendance. \u00a0She was sunburnt and wore small round gold-rimmed glasses. She\u2019d moved to Jacksonville from West Virginia with her partner, Joey, who told me later that she was just there to support Monica\u2019s varying interests. While looking down and shuffling BBQ beans and mac and cheese around her styrofoam plate, Monica asked if I\u2019d heard about the latest paranormal goings-on at Skinwalker Ranch in the Utah desert. Talking about large objects under mesas and anomalies in the sky, she gestured wildly. This struck me as off-base: we were at a Bigfoot conference, not storming Area 51. \u201cIt\u2019s all connected,\u201d she said, before explaining that Bigfoot tracks disappearing into dry creek beds weren\u2019t the product of hoaxes but rather because Bigfoot travels using interdimensional portals. I expressed some doubt. \u201cYou can either close your mind,\u201d she told me, \u201cor open it to the very real possibility of infinite dimensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the VIP dinner, I drove down Ocala\u2019s State Road 200\u2014an asphalt expanse of strip malls\u2014to Gator\u2019s Dockside Restaurant. The person behind the popular Instagram account<\/a> called @florida_bigfoot_hq was hosting a pre-conference get-together. The account is run<\/a> by Brooke Moreland, a self-described \u201cresearcher of the strange and unusual,\u201d who posts a combination of bikini, tattoo, fitness, and gun content on her personal Instagram. I saw her the next day at the conference wearing a BIGFOOT SPECIAL FORCES<\/small> tank top. Against a setting sun, the tank\u2019s Bigfoot walked holding an assault rifle. \u201cHe always sees you,\u201d the shirt read, \u201cBut you will never see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the happy hour, I sat down next to Thomas and Todd, who\u2019d driven down from Mississippi. In his free time, Todd designs Bigfoot-themed coasters. He doesn\u2019t have an Etsy shop and wasn\u2019t a vendor for the conference. \u201cI just make \u2018em for myself and for friends,\u201d he told me. \u201cTake one.\u201d He handed me a coaster which read \u201cFlorida Skunk Ape: The Original Florida Man.\u201d The coaster, disintegrating beneath the ring where his beer had been, was red, green, yellow, and black\u2014the same colors you might find on a head shop ashtray. Thomas told me he was an HVAC repairman and heavy metal guitarist with a long ponytail who filled his time driving between jobs listening to Bigfoot podcasts. His dad got him into it. \u201cIt\u2019s intergenerational for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The etymology of the name \u201cBigfoot\u201d can be traced to Bluff Creek in California. In 1958, a bulldozer operator working for a logging outfit spotted sixteen-inch footprints next to his vehicle. His crew also reported encounters with a harmless area creature. Bigfoot hysteria entered the American psyche more broadly in the seventies after the release of the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film, which purported to capture Bigfoot walking across Bluff Creek, California, in 16mm glory. Roger Patterson rented out movie theaters and screened the documentary which included the footage, and eventually sold rights to the BBC for use in one of their own TV docudramas. All of a sudden, people were heading into the woods in search of the creature. In 2019, the FBI released a trove<\/a> of documents related to inquiries by Peter Byrne, the director of Oregon\u2019s Bigfoot Information Center from all the way back in 1976. He\u2019d been requesting an investigation into area sightings and a specific hair sample. Fifty years later, he finally got a reply in the files: the hair was from a deer. Many Floridians saw the possible existence of Bigfoot as a disruption to regularly scheduled hunting and real estate development. They wanted nothing to do with their resident Skunk Ape and took to the woods in angry mobs, except instead of pitchforks and torches, they brought rifles. They found clues, including a series of seventeen-inch footprints, but they were breadcrumbs that led nowhere. In 1977, hoping to quell the hysteria behind these hunts, Florida state representative Paul Nuckolls sponsored a bill to protect Skunk Apes from being hunted. The proposed law made it a misdemeanor to \u201ctake, possess, harm, or molest the Skunk Ape.\u201d Ultimately, it did not make it through the legislature.<\/p>\n

According to the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, which maintains the most extensive database<\/a> of reported Bigfoot encounters around the world, Washington state has the most listed encounters and California has the second. These are not surprises. The Paterson-Gimlin film assured Bigfoot\u2019s association with the woods and mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Florida comes in at number three. This surprises many. Florida has long marketed itself as a destination for beachgoing and fishing\u2014a place where you can take a break from the coast and go see an alligator by the side of a road. The pine woods of Ocala\u2019s National Forest and the mammal-rich cypress hammocks of the southern part of the state don\u2019t make it onto postcards as often.<\/p>\n

I asked my new friends at the @florida_bigfoot_hq event about this: Why is Florida a hotbed of Bigfoot encounters? \u201cPlain and simple,\u201d Todd replied, \u201cYou\u2019ve got year-round freshwater and food.\u201d He was referring to Florida\u2019s weather, its springs, and a constantly replenishing store of wild turkeys, hogs, and other huntable animals. It was a sober, reasonable answer, and probably the best one I got the whole weekend, assuming you believe that Bigfoot is a biological being that requires food.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Skunk ape in costume. Photograph by Josh Aronson.<\/p><\/div>\n

The next morning I drove to Rainbow Springs to take a dip in the seventy-two-degree water and mull over my own question. While driving, I\u2019d passed the Villages, a retirement community with the power to influence presidential elections. I drove past swaths of clear-cut forest. I drove past roadside attractions like the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, the Zipline Adventure Park, and Gatorland. Florida\u2019s retirement communities and roadside attractions invite transplants to escape the malaise of a perceived American decline; they also often function as hotbeds of eccentricity, conspiracy theories, and right-wing politics. In 2021, at the first annual Great Florida Bigfoot Conference I\u2019d attended, peak pandemic, it was paranoia which held my nose captive. Mask mandates were flouted in the merch aisles. Vendors sold SQUATCH LIVES MATTER<\/small> stickers. One media company called the Soul Trap played a loop of a video about the Mark of the Beast.<\/p>\n

In his recently published book The Secret History of Bigfoot<\/em>, John O\u2019Connor asked the scientist and writer Robert Michael Pyle if he thought Bigfooting and Trumpism were related. \u201cYes,\u201d Pyle replied. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot in common. As with the January 6th people, Bigfooters are all white guys. And they love their gear and their big trucks and their big guns and all of their infrared things. It\u2019s not exactly the same crowd as January 6th, but it\u2019s some of the same people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the tone was different at the 2024 Great Florida Bigfoot Conference, which took place on June 8. Only one vendor called What the Sas? even really went there<\/em>. When I asked them how sales were going for their gray tee with an illustration<\/a> of a Bigfoot holding a LET’S GO BRANDON<\/small>\u00a0poster and storming the Capitol, the salesman shrugged and said, \u201cNot as good as last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the host, Gather Up Events, there were more than two thousand people at Ocala\u2019s World Equestrian Center for the 2024 conference. The event was held in a giant, white warehouse with fifty-foot ceilings. Lines were twenty-deep at concession stands along one side of the room, where giant pretzels shaped like big feet were sold. Jovial attendees dipped their toes in cups of mustard. The center part of the hall was split in half. On one side were all the vendors, including a company<\/a> called Area 52 Media Group, which offered a full suite of video editing and posting services for Bigfooters on expedition. Other tables sold night scopes, custom hunting knives, lawn signs, and advertised their YouTube channels and podcasts. A fifty-foot-wide screen hung above the stage on the other side of the room where lectures and panel discussions took place. The sides of the room were split by a wall of step-and-repeat head-in-hole boards, a space where, for a few minutes, you could become Bigfoot.<\/p>\n

Many of the attendees were in the crowd to see a keynote address by Ranae Holland, the self-proclaimed \u201cSkeptical Scientist\u201d of the Bigfooting world. Holland does not believe in a biological Bigfoot. She was a star of Animal Planet\u2019s Finding Bigfoot<\/em>, a show which ran for a hundred episodes between 2011 and 2018. The show was a low budget, high-ad-dollar documentary-style and personality-driven program. The names of her costars still echo as refrains through the communities, like a Mount Rushmore of a Bigfooters. Spend time at a conference and you\u2019ll hear them: Bobo Fay, Cliff Barackman, Matt Moneymaker, Ranae Holland. The cast never found a Bigfoot, but they had real, mysterious encounters and gave airtime to thousands of witnesses and local Bigfooting organizations. The show helped establish an industry which is thriving today.<\/p>\n

Despite some scoffs from the crowd, Holland used her time on the Florida stage to champion LGBTQ rights in the Bigfooting world, espouse the virtues of indigenous land stewardship, and also revile her trolls, the so-called \u201cRanaesayers\u201d of a very online community. Holland does not believe in a biological Bigfoot but rather an exquisite corpse of a celestial Bigfoot aggregated from various indigenous oral histories throughout the Pacific Northwest. The word Sasquatch<\/em>, after all, is thought to derive from the Salish word Sasq\u2019ets<\/em>, which translates to \u201chairy man.”<\/p>\n

When it came time for the Q&A, I stood up and asked Holland my enduring question: \u201cWhy Florida?\u201d At first, she equivocated, but eventually came to a philosophical answer of sorts. \u201cFlorida,\u201d she said. \u201cIt seems people in Florida are more open to sharing their experiences than in other places, for some reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason intersects in some ways with conspiracy, certainly, and the state government\u2019s movement toward freedom-cloaked fascism. But to funnel all Florida Bigfooters into an Erlenmeyer flask of religious fanaticism and conspiracy theory doesn\u2019t do the subject justice. Bigfooters abound on all sides of the political spectrum, and our ranks include Peter Matthiessen, a left-wing political activist, environmental champion, and founding editor of The Paris Review<\/em>. Matthiessen\u2019s nephew Jeff Wheelwright has written extensively<\/a> about his uncle’s passion. During his time in Nepal, researching a book that would become The Snow Leopard<\/em>, Matthiessen claimed to spot \u201ca dark shape\u201d jump behind a boulder near a creek in a canyon. Bigfoot!<\/p>\n

On my way out of the conference, I ran into the master of ceremonies and asked him how he felt. \u201cIt\u2019s just so nice,\u201d he said, \u201cfor people to have an event like this where they can talk about their experiences without feeling judged.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her keynote address, Holland talked about one of the most positive impacts of all this Bigfooting: that more people are getting outside and into the woods. Beyond that, maybe, people are looking to experience an awestruck, body-freezing encounter out in whatever wilderness is accessible. When I first got my driver\u2019s license, I\u2019d use the freedom to light out of Miami and speed on the Tamiami Trail into the Everglades. My friends and I would park at trailheads and hike in the ever-unfolding swamp, wondering if we might see something different this time. On one such trip, we pulled onto a dirt road near the Big Cypress to shoot scenes for a short film about a mythical golden alligator of the Everglades. We stopped the car, rolled down the windows, and took in the sound of the wind in the trees. We both heard the crackle of branches and agreed there was a shadowy shape along the road\u2019s tree line. We ran out after it but found nothing in its wake but more trees, and solitude.<\/p>\n

Rather than a fear of their fellow man, it might be that Florida Bigfooters are instead fearful of a world where the possibility of a Bigfoot doesn\u2019t exist, that we live in a world which has been so overdeveloped that the numinous is relegated to plays of light and shadows. O\u2019Connor writes in his Secret History<\/em> about the 2009 Texas Bigfoot Conference, where Peter Matthiessen was convinced to give a keynote address. Talking to a local reporter about his interest in the subject, he waxed about the human need for story and myth. He ended his remarks by saying, \u201cYou know, stranger things have happened than Bigfoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jason Katz is the founding editor of<\/em> Islandia Journal, a Miami-based periodical of subtropical myth, folklore, ecology, and cryptozoology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2510,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68551],"tags":[68679,67827,1886],"class_list":["post-168202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dispatch","tag-dispatch","tag-featured","tag-florida"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAt the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference by Jason Katz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"July 31, 2024 \u2013 \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference by Jason Katz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 31, 2024 \u2013 \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-31T14:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1697\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Katz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Katz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jason Katz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b1f2623f89b611cb271d9eefb74e7b11\"},\"headline\":\"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-31T14:00:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\"},\"wordCount\":2656,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-1024x679.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"dispatch\",\"Featured\",\"Florida\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Dispatch\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\",\"name\":\"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference by Jason Katz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-1024x679.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-31T14:00:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"July 31, 2024 \u2013 \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1697},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b1f2623f89b611cb271d9eefb74e7b11\",\"name\":\"Jason Katz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e2dd5fb69784821b666d5bee1755827abf6790e035feb021b9680b513877b3a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e2dd5fb69784821b666d5bee1755827abf6790e035feb021b9680b513877b3a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jason Katz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jkatz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference by Jason Katz","description":"July 31, 2024 \u2013 \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference by Jason Katz","og_description":"July 31, 2024 \u2013 \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2024-07-31T14:00:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1697,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jason Katz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Katz","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/"},"author":{"name":"Jason Katz","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b1f2623f89b611cb271d9eefb74e7b11"},"headline":"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference","datePublished":"2024-07-31T14:00:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/"},"wordCount":2656,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-1024x679.jpg","keywords":["dispatch","Featured","Florida"],"articleSection":["Dispatch"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/","name":"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference by Jason Katz","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-1024x679.jpg","datePublished":"2024-07-31T14:00:17+00:00","description":"July 31, 2024 \u2013 \u201cI was on an airboat near Turner River Road in the Glades and I saw it there.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/52112-jar-022-12-fnllofi-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1697},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/31\/at-the-great-florida-bigfoot-conference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b1f2623f89b611cb271d9eefb74e7b11","name":"Jason Katz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e2dd5fb69784821b666d5bee1755827abf6790e035feb021b9680b513877b3a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e2dd5fb69784821b666d5bee1755827abf6790e035feb021b9680b513877b3a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jason Katz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jkatz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168202"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168216,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168202\/revisions\/168216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}