Melissa works as a Paralegal and began her research in Dallas, Texas, she then moved to Ohio in 2008. Melissa is the current President of the American Bigfoot Society (ABS). Melissa owns a blog and website forum titled The Search for Bigfoot. In 2007. Melissa began co-hosting an Internet radio show, "Let's Talk Bigfoot," on Talkshoe. Then joined Sean Forker and "The Sasquatch Experience" in February 2008. In June of 2008 she began co-hosting a new program on Talkshoe, with friend and Field Researcher Monica Rawlins, called "The Grey Area" which has now moved to BlogTalk Radio. Melissa was also featured on the all-female expedition episode of the History Channels "MonsterQuest" titled "Bigfoot".
Starting in 2006, Melissa has endeavored to discover the answer to the question, "why do artifacts happen in casting?" You can read all 13 articles on this topic here:
Wayne Larsen is 42 years old and is a lifelong Ohio resident. He is a journeyman locomotive electrician for a large eastern railroad, for which he has been employed for over 10 years.
Wayne has always held an interest in the subject of Bigfoot, since seeing The Legend of Bogey Creek as a child, but sat on the fence about it until last year. He then decided to see for himself what all the noise was about, concerning this animal. Wayne is on the ABS Board of Directors, and is the Sgt. at Arms.
Kelly Fain, ABS Secretary/Investigator
Kelly works as a catastrophe insurance adjuster handling claims for hurricanes, hail and wind storms. My job requires me to inspect losses and document all storm related damages. Kelly is a Texas resident and has been interested in cryptozoology for the majority of her life, with a special interest in Bigfoot. I first saw the Patterson/Gimlin film on the big screen of a movie theater as a child and was fascinated with the image and the idea that there was something like that out in the woods.
I also saw the Legend of Boggy Creek as a kid and had to deal with a little sister refusing to sleep in her own bed for a month because it was too close to a window. Then we got smart and moved the bed. Whenever the family went camping she and I would explore the woods searching for Bigfoot. Once I got internet service I was able to explore my interest in Bigfoot in depth and I met people online who were researchers. I became friends with Melissa and was recruited to become a member of the ABS.
Toby Tollman, ABS Tech Specialist/Investigator
Place of birth: South Eastern Wisconsin, 1974
What's the deal with the Bigfoot hunting? This is a question I have been asked more times than I can keep track of. My fascination with the idea that such a creature may exist stems from my early childhood when my father took me to the movie theater to see a film about Sasquatch in the late 70's. I can clearly remember having to find every book I could get my hands on in the elementary school library.
Many years passed by. Then about 8 years ago I purchased my first computer and was introduced to the internet. Since that time I have spent countless hours reading reports, looking at pictures and watching the videos of this purported creature.
Then in November 2007 I decided to take my interest to the next level and joined The M.A.B.R.C. which at the time was a research organization just starting out. Their group consisted of people who shared the same ideas I had on how to find and document this hairy giant.
Shortly thereafter I introduced www.wisconsinbigfoot.com to the BF community and started partaking in field expeditions and analyzing other researcher's data in hopes of tracking down this elusive beast. Along the way www.minnesotabigfoot.com and The Squatch Inc. Forums were born.
Since I started this endeavor I have found a new and exciting way to spend time in the woods. You can never have too many excuses to get outside and enjoy mother nature. I have also been extremely privileged to meet and work with people who I now call my friends.
Mike Frazee - Reports and Information Historian/Investigator
Michael has had a long time interest in photography and has spent considerable time doing photography work both in and out of the darkroom as well as retail sales (pre-digital) and has been moving into the digital realm. Michael has a love for the outdoors and being a life long resident of Washington State there is a lot of outdoors to explore. All of these interests put together make Bigfoot research feel like a natural thing to do.
Bigfoot or Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest do appear to have different characteristics from those in the Eastern United States which might be a result of the fact that there are much larger undeveloped areas in the Pacific Northwest. In discussing this with a friend and fellow researcher from an Eastern State it makes sense to me that we are all looking for a needle in a hay stack, we just have larger hay stacks out West.