Our twenty question candidate for this issue of the SRI newsletter is Jon Larsen. Many of you may know him as the no nonsense Arizona bigfooter over at Bigfootforums known as jon a. larsen. After Jon posted his recent sighting of a couple of these creatures over at BFF, I thought he might make an interesting interview. I found Jon to be a very deliberate thinker who put a lot of thought into his answers. Another thing I was impressed by was his strength in backing up his experiences.

Where many people would come under the gun at the forums for claiming they had just seen a couple of sasquatch in the desert, Jon was treated respectfully and no one questioned his integrity during the peak of the thread. My instincts lead me to believe that Jon Larsen is a rugged individualist that does things his way and for that I can honestly say he truly is his own man.

Dave: You recently had a sighting in the area where you live. Would you mind recounting it for those who may not have read or heard about it?

Jon: A friend and I were coming back from Nogales at 12:20 on March 14th when I saw 2 black sasquatches on a ridge on the east side of Hwy 82. This was between the winery and the Kino Springs Road. They were facing the highway and then faced each other and walked toward and past each other, turned and walked past each other again. This took perhaps 15 to 20 seconds at a distance of 350 yards from the highway on a typically clear day near the city limits of Nogales, Arizona. The animals appeared to be of equal size and heavy body build, as well as being of the same color. They were likely to be 7 to 8 feet tall. One might suspect that these two were siblings. I saw no evidence of secondary sexual characteristics (breasts), which leads me to believe that they were males. Their behavior of milling about seemed to me to be just that…as if trying to decide what to do next.

After the sighting I drove around the area and hiked through it, finding displaced rocks and at least one footprint, and no hair or scat. I also flew over this activity area, and as much of the foothills as we could legally cover, on two occasions. Further flight was prohibited by a 24 by 44 mile “No Fly Zone” to the east and the Mexican Border immediately to the south. For those interested in reading more about this and seeing photos, the Bigfoot Forums at www.bigfootforums.com/ Sightings and Encounters/ Southwestern USA will be a source of further information.

Dave: Many people scoff at bigfoot being able to survive in desert or semi-arid areas. What is your take on that perspective?

Jon: When I came to Patagonia, Arizona eleven years ago, I didn’t expect to hear about sasquatches being in the area or to see any. I learned that there is water here, in stock ponds and tanks and in seeps and springs as well as a few lakes and creeks. As we gain altitude we find changed environments, including cooler temperatures and additional water sources. A popular term here for that is “sky-islands.” At this time of year in the Tucson area, this can mean 30+ degrees difference in a few miles. When we add to the mix their need for water, which is much less than our own, related to hunting, foraging style and insulating hair cover, we can see that survival for them is not impossible here. I have collected sighting reports from people here and have had my own sightings. Sasquatches, apparently, manage to survive their travels in desert and semi-arid areas.