I feel very lucky or
should I say blessed with the many experiences that have manifested to me in my
lifetime. As both an experiencer and investigator, my life has shared different
things ranging from the paranormal to just the plain ordinary. With the help of
many friends over the countless years, we’ve investigated a vast number of odd
and unexplainable phenomena without any explanation as to what it was. Some
could be explained and others not so, and this is what makes it so exciting.
With my health on a downward spiral because of my heart, I would like to tell a
little about myself and what we did.
Growing up in southern California during the
1950’s and 60’s was an exciting time for me. This was before the influx of mass
population when open land was still quite plentiful. While in school, reading
in different newspapers about strange creatures being confronted in places like
San Diego, Anza Borrego, Riverside, San Bernardino National Forest, Angeles
National Forest, Los Padres National Forest, Tehachapi, Victorville and many
other locals in southern California area was somewhat common at that time. This
fascinated me beyond all leaps and bounds, and I found myself yearning to be a
part of this. Call it whatever you like, but for me it was the call of the
wild. Names like Bigfoot, the Sandmen of Borrego and the wild man of Riverside
captivated me. I wanted to know about them and learn as much as I could.
Besides the other strange and odd things happening to me at the time, this is
where I took a serious interest in the paranormal and it captivated me.
After moving to Utah
with my parents in 1972, I thought that my Bigfoot interest had disappeared for
good. I told my friends, Bigfoot in Utah, come on get serious, Bigfoot is most
likely not there. It took me many years to get my interest in Bigfoot sparking
again and after some time, I found things not as bad as I thought they were
where Bigfoot was concerned. My UFO and abduction experiences were becoming
more frequent and Bigfoot was there in the background waiting for me to get
serious again. Working with Darrell Smith, Derek VonHatten, and others, we
searched extensively for Bigfoot evidence throughout Utah. I collected my first
foot print casts, one at 12 inches long and the other at 13 inches, at Hoyt
Peak with Darrell Smith. Things were starting to look up for me and in May of
2012, we finally hit payday, when my cousin and I actually come across one in
the Book Cliffs of Carbon County, Utah. This is the big one, the holy grail of
Bigfoot hunting.
I don’t know why, but
there seems to be a curse associated with Bigfoot. People seem to die after
encountering one. Approximately every five years, someone working with me in
Sasquatch research dies and know about five years later, I develop heart
disease, and in need of a heart transplant, so I assume it’s my turn next. Was
it all worth it? Indeed it was and I would do it again. The long trips
searching, the hard work and aggravation makes for a lifetime of
experience.
“The time will come
when diligence research over long periods will bring to light things which now
lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would
not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject… And so this knowledge
will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when
our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to
them… Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us
will have been effected”.
-Seneca Naturales
Quaestiones
Ron Johnson
Utah Bigfoot Hunter