Examiner.com writer interviews Cliff Barackman, talks Bigfoot DNA project(s) and Justin Smeja, the Sierra Kills Bigfoot Shooter

Cliff Barackman (right)

As season two of Finding Bigfoot closes in on us, we've been hearing a lot from Cliff Barackman. He's been doing interviews like he's running for President of the United States. Barackman 2012?

On Examiner.com Aaron Sagers, Paranormal Pop Culture Examiner writer, sat down with Cliff Barackman and asked him about UFOs and Bigfoot. Since this was a paranormal writer doing the interview, UFO questions comes with the territory.

Barackman was asked a number of questions and he gave some interesting answers. In one answer he mentions the Sierra Kills story and the Bigfoot DNA project(s). Here are some questions from the article we thought were interesting:

Question: Do you consider this a paranormal pursuit?

Cliff: No, absolutely not. In fact, in my opinion, there is very little in the world that is 'paranormal.' Paranormal, as far as I'm concerned, basically means stuff that we haven't explained yet. Ghosts and UFOs and stuff, there's probably some sort of explanation for those. I don't know anything about those because I found out a long time ago that the more diverse my weird interests are, the less credible I become. So I'm only a Bigfoot guy.

Question: What do you do when you're out in the woods and you encounter this thing? What happens next? Do you capture it?

Cliff: I’m going to say when I’m not with the camera crew because the more people there are, the more devices and electrical do-dads and lights and stuff, the less likely you are to get a close approach. So in my real life Bigfooting circumstances, when it’s just me alone out there, or maybe me with one other person, if one comes close, it depends on what they do. The things is, Bigfooting is not a situation for the mind-state of most hunters with their super awesome guns, wearing camouflage and all that other stuff. Because that kind of person, that kind of mentality is the kind of mentality that tries to gain control. And when you are with Sasquatches, in the woods, you are not in control. These things are super ninjas. That’s the best analogy I have. They can literally be 50 feet from you and you won’t even know. They’ll be belly crawling, they’ll be using their cover. They are intelligent. Probably almost as intelligent as we are. That’s the level of thing we’re dealing with. So when you’re in the woods and they’re nearby, you need to actually let them retain control if you are to have any success, at all. When they’re around and they come in close, they stand off in the woods, 50 yards or so and watch you. And if there’s more than one around, maybe they’re going to knock into each other or clap or whatever they’re doing to make that popping noise that they do. You can hear them. So I think the best you can do is sit tight, look interesting, maybe talk to them even, maybe throw some food out into the woods. And try to record them with a digital/audio recorder. Or if you have a thermal imager, try to catch a glimpse of one in between trees as it darts around. Again, these things are super ninjas. They’re onto us. And they don’t want to be seen. They’re hiding from us, even in the dark.

Question: Is the goal to capture it?

Cliff: No, of course not. How do you capture an 1100-pound primate with hands that’s as smart as you are? You just don’t do that. I think, as far as Bigfooting goes, everyone has their own personal goal. A lot of people’s goals center around ego, in my opinion, and they hide it under things like, ‘Oh we want to protect the Sasquatch.’ Or, ‘We want to prove it’s real to protect it.’ That’s actually ego in my opinion. They’re doing a dandy job protecting themselves now. They don’t need our help. I personally think discovery is the worst thing to ever happen to the species. They’re doing just fine without us. My personal goal is to learn about them as much as possible. Because when discovery does happen, like I said, it’s going to be pretty bad for them. People are going to go out to the woods. Fools are going to go out and try to hunt them. My personal goal is to soften the blow of discovery by learning as much about them as I can now, and then hopefully use this platform that I’ve been given by Animal Planet to educate the public. People are going to be thinking, "These things are covered with hair, so hunt them." But these things are covered with hair and speak to each other in this weird proto-language that they have. I think like this a lot. You only get one first impression. Do we want that first impression of the general public realizing that Sasquatches are real, do we want that first impression to be a bloody, corpse on a slab - or an extended video of a female interacting with its young? What would be better for the species? Clearly, the female.

Question: What is the timeline to discovery? Five, 10, 20 years? When will the really solid proof emerge?

Cliff: We’re closing in on it. I know there’s at least one DNA test going on right now. I’ve heard that there are two independent studies. There’s lots of samples of DNA out there, and there’s new techniques to extract mitochondrial DNA from hair. That job is being done right now. The DNA proof will be here within a year or two probably because those studies have been going on for a few years now. There’s a really large body of video evidence that the owner has been sitting on since 2005. I heard, rumor has it, that there’s up to a dozen, maybe two dozen pieces of footage that show these creatures that he’s going to release in conjunction with the DNA study. Now, of course, the DNA and the movies are not going to convince everybody, but it will help a lot. I think there’s going to be a rising tide of acceptance where more and more academics step forward and start studying this thing until eventually some cold-hearted person would go out and shoot one of these things. Or a trucker would just run one down on a freeway somewhere and we’d just have a body. Actually, a hunter brought down two of these things last year. I think it was last year in the Sierras. People I know have actually interviewed this guy and think he’s on the up-and-up. The bodies aren’t there anymore; what happened to them, we don’t know. But his story seems to check out. It’s really only a matter of time until that happens. I know that’s a long answer but I don’t think it’s going to be two years from now. I think there’s going to be a rising tide in acceptance. Until somehow or another, a dead one is brought in.

Question: Do you ever cringe when you see news media running what you know to be fake Bigfoot stories, or relying on the drunk redneck-type to tell his Bigfoot story?

Cliff: I’ve been doing the Bigfoot thing a long time so I guess I’m a little callous in that way. Like, when that whole Georgia hoax came out, I was following that for months. When I heard a couple of the names in involved, I was like, 'This is fake; I’m going to see how this is going to play out, but it’s fake.' As far as the guy who seems to drink a lot in North Carolina, you know what? People who drink a lot see these things, too. I’m not exactly sure, even though he was great for TV because he was a really colorful character, I’m not sure that he did not see one because he lives in an area with a lot of activity. He lives out in the rural area. Again, I’ve been doing this for 20 years now. I deal with a lot of rural folks. They do seem a little strange on the surface, especially the people who live in cities, but generally speaking, they are good, honest folks. That’s generally my impression of most people: Good, honest folks. Do I cringe when I see the falsehoods coming out? A little bit, but I’m used to it by now. I just chalk it up to they’re just looking for ratings. Everybody loves Bigfoot. Everybody knows it. They’re going to go for it.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.