Strange Townhall

I live in the PNW, Washington State. One of the things the state is known for is cryptids, like Sasquatch. I'm always a bit surprised when folks tell me they think Sasquatch is a creature of imaginary folklore, such as fairies and non-internet trolls. Everyone can believe if they wish, and I admit, ignorance is bliss.

So when squandering time on YouTube I ran across an advertisement for Strange Town Hall, a 'lets talk about all things scary' meet up - soon to be held in Port Angeles, barely 20 mins from my house. . So I was counting the days up to the event! 

I was kindly greeted at the door by the host Tobe. I touched and wondered about the casts of Sasquatch tracks were at the entrance. Just below on the left you can see a Sasquatch foot print cast. To the left is a branch twisted into a circle. It is the believed to be the handiwork of a Sasquatch. On the right I have my hand on a Sasquatch handprint. 

My paw on a Sasquatch hand

The bottom footprint is an original cast

Show and Tell Table
 

This on the left, is a bit of fun artwork (CUTE!) at the doorway, crafted by one of the event hosts. The blue skinned being is an Icelandic Elf. I bragged a bit, telling the artist I've seen the colorful little elf houses many Icelandic folk have in their gardens for the elves.

The hosts of the event started off the presentations, followed by several other presenters that all had intriguing stories to share. It was fun actually meeting several folk I've watched on YouTube for years. 

So! The Strange Town Hall had a group called A Flash of Beauty on hand with camera equipment for filming all those present whom following the meeting, had experiences to share. Sadly, or more likely luckily, I have no Sasquatch experience to share. Those with experiences were invited to be filmed after the Town Hall. 

I feel the need to preface the following video, in 2 parts.

First, I believe most people do not believe in the paranormal, UFOs/UAPs, Sasquatch and other things 'off the norm'. When people have an experience with any of the above, it is so far from what they were taught to believe, that it opens their minds to 'uh.. what if I haven't been told everything?' In my case it was seeing a UFO in broad daylight, in the Bronx, when I was about 11 or 12 years old. Also in addition to the UFO, my previous home of 23 years was 'somewhat haunted'. Once you've had a paranormal experience & you come to grips with the fact that it really happened, your mind opens up quite a bit. 

Pictograph of Hopi Ant People

Secondly, think on this. I grew up most of my life reading, and being told through the media, text books, even National Geographic specials on TV, that the Indigenous peoples around the world are wrong.
That. Indigenous lore has long been excused as nothing more than mythological tales at best, or ignorance at worst. The Hopi and the Navajo of the southwest spoke of the 'Ant People' that came down from the sky, saved the Hopi people, after which the ant people retreated to live underground. The Dogon tribe of Africa had advanced astronomical knowledge including presence of stars you can not see with the naked eye, and they knew the star location before modern European scientists did - where did that knowledge come from? lastly, on almost every continent on earth, indigenous tell of 'hairy men', that go by names: Sasquatch, Skunk Ape (North America), Yeti (Nepal), Amas (Russia), Orang Pendek (Indonesia). For ages, Indigenous people around the world, shared their knowledge only to have it thrown back in their faces, ignored because: Modern science. 

What I'm getting at is that there is a world wide game going on where Indigenous people, as well as ordinary people myself, don't know what they're talking about. Saw a UFO in Viet Nam in the 60s? No, you saw swamp gas or weird light reflections. Saw a 12 ft tall, man/ape covered in shaggy 'hair' in Minnesota? Naw, you saw a bear on its hind legs, and hey, you been drinking or smoking the funny weed, right? The first time I actually believed there are Sasquatch was... let me explain. I used to watch that gawd awful TV series Finding Bigfoot. Those guys would hold town meetings all over the States. They'd ask people who saw Bigfoot to raise their hands. There'd be maybe 20 to 50 folk in the room and about 25 to 40% of the hands would shoot upward. I'm sorry, but no way in hell all of those raised hands were attached to folk who all saw 'bears on their hind legs'. If even a mere 1% of those folk's stories could not be explained away, there MUST be something out there. 

So here's the YouTube shot by A Flash of Beauty (one of my favorite YouTube Channels) featuring the folk at Strange Townhall telling their strange - very strange - tales. Lol, at the start of the vid, there is a brief view inside the meeting house during a presentation, a bald pated gentlemen & his long-haired lady sit in the 2nd row, with me in the first row, as difficult to view as a Sasquatch.