DATUS PERRY - Forgotten researcher

I first came across the name of Datus Perry in a book co-authored by three men : Paranormal America: ghost encounters, UFO sightings, bigfoot hunts, and other curiosities in religion and culture; by Christopher D. Bader, F. Carson Mencken and Joseph O. Baker.


The final chapter of the book was titled "Out on a limb - January 1989".  It told of Christopher Bader's  meeting with the then 76 year old Datus Perry.


"More than twenty years ago Christopher found himself in the passenger seat of a decrepit, rusted van as it hurtled through the woods near the town of Carson in Washington state. The driver did his best  to avoid trees, boulders, ditches, and other obstacles as he navigated toward a small hunting cabin deep in the woods. Wiping mud from my eyes, I looked down at my feet, only to realize that part of the rusted floorboard had given away. I spent the remainder of the terrifying ride balancing my feet on the rough edges. Each time the can sped through a puddle, dirty water shot through the hole. Eventually the van come to a lurching stop at the bottom of a hill and the driver, Datus Perry, stepped out."


And then Datus started up the hill with Bader following. The story continues :

"Suddenly he grunted and moved off the path. Standing near a large evergreen tree, he peered into the distance. Determined not to miss a potential Bigfoot sighting, I ran to his side. When I realized that Datus was urinating on the tree, I retreated to the trail, embarrassed. He snorted, giggled, zipped his fly, and resumed the hike."


Ok. Sense of humor. I was liking the legend of the man even more. A man of nature, perservering, dedicated to research, took things in stride, and a quirky sense of humor.


And then Datus told Bader some stories :


". . .  while cleaning the old cabin, Datus had spotted a nine-foot-tall, black shape in a stand of trees about 150 feet away. Assuming the shape to be a curious Bigfoot, he waved and said, 'Come on down, Sasquatch!' As the creature remained motionless Datus questioned its motives. Perhaps it was a female, he thought, and he did not know how 'sexy she might want to get'. He decided to ignore the beast and went back to work as the creature continued to stand motionless in the distance."


His closest encounter was in Canada. He came within a few feet of one that was standing on a riverbank. However, most of his other encounters happened while he was in the woods near his home. He told of them regularly raiding his rabbit pens and that he would often hear them whistling and screaming in the woods surrounding his farm.

And I was hooked. I had to know more about this man.


Datus Orestes Perry was born July 2, 1912 and died January 5, 1998. He was known for his twelve claims of sasquatch sightings and advocating local bylaws in Washington state to prevent the hunting of sasquatch. A former timber logger, engineer and a rancher, he lived almost his entire life out in the woods. And he was considered a "crackpot" by the Bigfoot world.


Robert Pyle, author of "Where Bigfoot walks: crossing the dark divide" described Datus as "a white-bearded old-timer with wild eyes and a jack-o'-lantern grin. . . "
 
From the Bigfootencounters.com article by Kyle Mizokami and updated by Bobby Short :

". . .  he was telling the truth as best as he could recollect it and that we in the Bigfoot world could have learned a lot from him. (. . .  had we listened)


An article from the Baylor University Lariat newspapers dated September 10, 2004 made this statement :


"In the early 1990s Bader [professor of Sociology and affiliate for the Institute for Studies on religion at Baylor University] met Datus Perry, a 79-year-old Bigfoot chaser in Washington. Perry is one of many Americans who dedicate years to chasing the mystical animal that was popularized in the late 1950s. Perry believes Bigfoot is a form of a nature spirit that can communicate with people and has psychic powers. Perry identifies with Bigfoot, sometimes attributing his own thoughts to the animal . . . "


Bader reports that Datus also kept a sketchbook full of his drawings of sasquatch which he captioned with information on it and what "thoughts" it might have.


One example showed the head and shoulders of an apelike creature with a "grimace" on its face. Surrounding the drawing were the following statements.


You won't find any bigger than me.
I am 11 feet tall
I was here FIRST. I am real.
I don't want to be bothered. Don't pick on me Little Man.
Let me eat your pig or your dog.
I am black and very dark.
I will see you first and I'll watch you from a bush.
Throw me a fish!


A second was a full body sketch with the statement : I am always looking for something to eat.


A profile of a sasquatch was labeled : I am not the missing link.


Along with sketches, Datus kept graphs of his tracks and sightings. He never took photographs.




Datus had his own theories about the sasquatch.


1) Sagittal crest : "That's how you know when someone is hoaxing a Bigfoot sighting, because it has a sharp Sagittal crest. If someone says Bigfoot doesn't have a pointy head they are a hoaxer."
2) Color of a sasquatch : "Bigfoot only comes in black." He felt that any other colors seen by people were because they were wearing coats made of animal skins.
3) Odors or smells of sasquatch : "If Bigfoot smells, it's because of rotten meat on the animal hides that it wears. Or maybe Bigfoot is farting."


His conclusions were that the sasquatch averaged 8 to 9 1/2 feet tall, with the tallest he ever saw being 11 ft. They were black with velvet looking fur on their faces. The eyes were generally red and they had flat noses. Their ears  were small and barely noticiable. Communication was with high pitched screechy chatter. "They have a scream that's something else. It's real loud." He was unsure of their life span. He also conjectured that they might eat their dead since no body had been found to date.


Datus also had ideas of what a sasquatch's diet consisted which included fruits, vegetables, and proteins.


Herbs; nuts; tender parts of grasses; wild ginger; salal berries for iron; black berries (of all kinds); Oregon grape berries and new leaves of the Oregon grape; huckleberries; cherries with pits and stems; apples; peaches; pears; apricots; squash,melons, carrots and potatoes from people's gardens and old abandoned ones; corn grain; wild rice from the marshes; wild wheat; goldenrod; termites; angleworms; deer; birds; rodents; beavers; some lizards; snakes; frogs; fish; freshwater mussels and clams; and crawfish. They seldom ate red berries except for strawberries and ingle berries and salmonberries.


Datus would tell people that if you shot or harmed a sasquatch you had best leave fast, staying alert to everything around you, and be gone before dark if you wanted to live. "They won't get dangerous unless you pull out a gun or pick up a rock. Hold out a flower or part of a berry bush as a peace offering," he advised.

Datus Perry and Larry Lund.
Photo courtesy of Lund.

Datus saw his first sasquatch track when he was 12 years old. "That first track I saw grabbed me."

His other 11 sightings :

1937 : Full view. 200 feet away. Observation Peak Trail, Skamania County, Washington. Gifford Pinchot National Forest. "I thought I heard a twig snap and I turned my head. There it was."

1963 : Full view. within 20 feet. It followed Datus from the saddle south of Gifford Peak.

1974 : Saw legs. Approximately 200 ft away. The dogs chased it into some brush a 1/2 mile west of his home in Carson, Skamania County, Washington, along the Columbia River Gorge.

1976 : Full face to face. From canoe on Quesnel River in British Columbia. Within 20 ft.

1975-77 : Saw one sunning itself on some rocks above Spring Creek Hatchery; 4 miles west of the Hood River/White Salmon toll bridge on state highway 14; near Portland, Oregon.

1977 : Front view. About 1000 ft away on west side of St. Peter's Dome rock slide on the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

1978 : Saw it standing in some scrub oaks 600 ft away east of Dog Creek Falls on Washington side of  Columbia River Gorge.

1979 : Rear view. Near Grant Lake in Central Sierra Nevada Range, California. Wearing a musk ox hide on its back.

1981 : Face to face. It watched him cut wood and build a trail about a mile west of his home in Carson, Washington.

1982 : Full view. At Panther Creek Bridge in the evening. In his car headlights the eyes appeared red.

1985 : Face to face. Female. "She followed me over half a mile to my shelter and stayed behind a tree while I repaired the shelter. Then she came down close to the shelter and seemed to be telling me she was available (as a mate) . . . .  She was back a couple more times and left tracks and droppings."

He seems to have been a character, full of life, always moving forward, letting no barriers stand between him and what he wanted or believed in.

He patched his clothes with duct tape, he had an impish sense of humor, and knew his woods like the back of his hand.

I like him. And hate I never got to know him personally.

photo courtesy of Findagrave.com

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

 
Sources : "Datus Perry" by Kyle Mizokami and Bobbie Short; Bigfootencounters.com ; "Datus Perry", Kookscience.com;  "Paranormal America:ghost encounters, UFO sightings, bigfoot hunts, and other curiosities in religion and culture" by Christopher D. Bader, F. Carson Mencken and Joseph O. Baker; and the Law Eugene Register-Guard april 18, 1984.