Speakers and guests at the PNW Conference on Primal People

Thom Cantrall:

Thom is a 4th generation native son of the west. He grew up on stories of Sasquatch in and around his northern California home beginning with the stories coming from the far north engendered by the finds of road builder Jerry Crews. Thom lived his life out of doors in proximity to the source, where these tales could assume a new sense of wonder and immediacy.
After spending nine years in the US Navy as a Polaris Missile Technician, Thom was discharged while living on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, a place of extreme wonderment to an outdoors person. He began college in Port Angeles, WA and finished his degree in Logging Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. Ask Thom and he will tell you that, when cut, he bleeds purple and gold! He owned and operated a small logging and forestry consulting company on the Peninsula, working and playing in the habitat of the elusive and enigmatic Sasquatch people. It was encounters and sightings in this era that kindled his interest in the creature and led, eventually, to his life today.
Thom is a prolific and liked writer, having written and published numerous articles on subjects varying from construction and logging to hunting and fishing and, recently, more to the subject of Sasquatch and his place in the community of man. He has authored books on historical subjects as well as on Sasquatch. His works include “Ghosts of Ruby Ridge”, “Across the Wide Missouri” and “They Call Me Sasquatch”.
Today, he is a popular speaker and lecturer as well. Thom has a personal relationship with his subject and speaks from a unique perspective. He, with certain others make up a cadre of ambassadors for these magnificent Primal People.

Alex Evans:

The Artist, Alex Evans

Bob Gimlin:

Bob Gimlin

The one man in the Sasquatch world who needs no introduction. Bob was gracious enough to rearrange his schedule to be able to attend this conference and he generously accepted our offer to be our dinner speaker for the Saturday night banquet.

Bob is former U.S. Marine who served in war during the Korean Conflict. After returning to his Yakima, Washington area home, he began working with rough stock and was a rodeo rider in his off time.

During this time, he traveled with and rode in rodeos with his friend and neighbor, Roger Patterson. During their travels and performances, and whenever he could get Bob to stand still, Roger shared his growing knowledge of all things sasquatch with his reluctant friend. This interest and Roger’s persistence culminated in a visit to northern California in the fall of 1967 in an attempt to film a documentary on these elusive giants we call Sasquatch. What happened those forty-four years ago is now a matter of history. Together, Roger and Bob brought us the finest piece of Sasquatch evidence to have ever come forth.

We are honored to provide this time to Bob Gimlin this time to share with us the events and truth of that day.

Paul Graves

Paul Graves

Lenny Green:

Singer/Songwriter Lenny Green

Songwriter since 1956
DelFi Recording Artist 1962
Country bandleader & front for 25 yrs.
Staff songwriter in Nashville in the 80s

Songs recorded by Floyd Cramer,
Pat Boone, Wynn Stewart,
Don Gibson, The Texas Playboys,
The Cascades, Moe Bandy, etc.

Song performances of Lenny’s songs by various artists on radio and TV,
include the Johnny Carson Show,
The Nashville Network, and the
Academy of Country Music Awards.

Kelly Milner Halls:

Kelly's Latest Book

Kelly Milner Halls is a full-time children’s writer specializing in high interest nonfiction for kids 10 and up. She’s written more than 1,500

Kelly with student demoing 60's era costumes

articles for Highlights for Children, Boys Life, Dig, Ask, Guidepost for Kids, Children’s Digest, US Kids, Teen PEOPLE, Writer’s Digest, the Denver Post, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Spokesman Review. She’s also written almost 30 books including her latest, IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) , TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS (Millbrook), SAVING THE BAGHDAD ZOO (HarperCollins), DINOSAUR PARADE (Sterling) and others.

Her interest in cryptozoology began with watching sea monster documentaries as a child. After writing TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS, she discovered the evidence for Sasquatch being real was substantial. She also saw how much the stories meant to young readers. After speaking to thousands of young people at schools and libraries across the country, she decided to write another book — a nonfiction look at the evidence of Sasquatch’s existance and the people who collect it. She read dozens of credible books and documents to prepare for the project, she did amateur field work, and she attended the Bigfoot Round-up and tribute to Bob Gimlin in Yakima, Washington in 2009. Thanks to the contacts she made there, and others, she was able to document the quest to prove Sasquatch could be real — and if he was, would be in need of study and human protection. Halls makes her home in Spokane, Washington.

Dr. Melba Ketchum:

Dr. Melba S. Ketchum grew up in Texas City, Texas. She is a Moody Scholar and attended Texas A&M University where she received her

Dr. Melba Ketchum

doctorate in Veterinary Medicine after just five years at the university. She had a mixed veterinary practice until she founded DNA Diagnostics.
Dr. Ketchum has shown horses extensively and has a ranch in Texas where she still maintains registered Quarter Horses and American Paint Horses as well as a herd of Charolais cattle.
Dr. Ketchum is the president and founder of DNA Diagnostics, Inc. dba Shelter Wood Labratories. Established in 1985, DNA Diagnostics ahs become a leader in all types of DNA testing including: human and animal forensics, human and animal paternity, disease diagnostics, trait tests, animal and human identity testing, species identification and sex determination. Most common species of animals are tested at DNA Diagnostics.
Dr. Ketchum has also establisheda research program ranging from gene mapping to developing the VeriSNP ™ (Patent Pending) platform for universal genetic evaluation in multiple species of animals. Other research includes genetics of disease, population genetics and other genetically important traits such as coat color in animals.
Dr. Ketchum is a past three-term Chairperson of the International Society of Animal Genetics Equine Genetics Standing Committee. She has also been Dog Map Chairperson and a Committee Member on the Dog and Cat Parentage Committee. She is currently the Treasurer for AFDAA, the Association of DNA Analysts and Administrators. Dr. Melba Ketchum has a daughter and a son and lives on her Attoyac Valley Ranch in East Texas.

Dr. Jeff Meldrum:

Dr. Jeff Meldrum

Dr. Jeff Meldrum holds a doctorate in anatomical sciences from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is currently an Associate Professor of Anatomy & Anthropology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University. His formal study of primates began with the terrestrial adaptations of

Dr Meldrum and "friend"

African primates, and has since taken him from the skeletal cabinets of far-flung museums, to the remote badlands of Colombia and Argentina in search of fossil New World primates. He has published extensively on the evolutionary history of the South American primates and has described several new extinct species. His attentions are also directed at the emergence of modern human bipedalism and the analysis of fossil hominid footprints. His co-edited volume, From Biped to Strider: the Emergence of Modern Human Walking, Running, and Resource Transport, redirects attention from the origins of simply walking on two legs, to the pattern of emergence of the innovations specifically unique to modern human gait. His interests in the footprints attributed to an unrecognized North American ape, commonly known as sasquatch, came into focus when he literally crossed paths with an enigmatic set of tracks in the mountains of Washington State. He has conducted collaborative laboratory research and field work throughout the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West, as well as China and Russia, and has spoken about his findings in numerous interviews, television appearances, public and professional presentations. His book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science was described by Dr. Jane Goodall as bringing “a much-needed level of scientific analysis to the sasquatch – Bigfoot – debate.” He currently edits The Relict Hominoid Inquiry, a refereed on-line journal promoting scientific dialogue on this intriguing question.

Ron Morehead:

Ron Morehead

Ron Morehead is a Veteran of the U.S. Air Force, private pilot, musician, developer of a local hospitality industry, and researcher. He is best known for his audio evidence of indistinguishable vocalization, known as The Sierra Sounds. The Sierra Sounds Volume #1 “Bigfoot Recordings” is a selection of audio clips captured by Morehead, that reveal very clear Bigfoot vocalizations captured on a crisp night at a remote wilderness camp.
The efforts to have these vocalization studied and authenticated started in 1978. The year long study by a Professor Kirlin states that these creatures have a vocal capability that exceeds the human vocal range. More recently, in 2008, another yearlong study was made by a crypto-linguistic team headed by R. Scott Nelson, and a complex language was discovered.

R. Scott Nelson, Cryptolinguist:

Scott Nelson

Scott Nelson is a retired Navy Cryptolinguist with over 30 years of training and experience in Foreign Language and Linguistics. This includes, among other duties, the collection, transcription, analysis and reporting of voice communications. Mr. Nelson has logged thousands of hours of voice transcription in his target languages. He has served as a Russian and Spanish interpreter as well as serving a tour in the Persian Gulf as a Tactical Persian Linguist.
Scott received his BS Degree from the State University of New York in Literature and Languages. He has taught Philosophy, Comparative Religion, Russian and Spanish at the Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, MO.
Mr. Nelson has studied the Berry/Morehead Tapes recorded in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of what is purported to be an unknown language and shares his findings with the scientific community.

David Paulides:

David Paulides received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of San Francisco in that city. Dave has a professional background that includes twenty years in law enforcement and senior executive positions in the technology sector. In 2004 he formed “North America Bigfoot Search”, www.nabigfootsearch.com where his investigative and analytical experience have been invaluable in researching Sasquatch or Bigfoot sightings, encounters and behaviors.
Dave spent two years living among the Hoopa Tribal Members in Humboldt County, California listening to their stories and recording their anecdotes and traditions. “The Hoopa Project” is David’s first book and is based upon his experiences in the Bluff Creek area of northern California. David’s second book, “Tribal Bigfoot”, is a quantum step forward in Bigfoot research and allows for a common sense understanding of this elusive biped. His third work is a compilation of 17 years of newsletters written by Oregon Bigfoot researcher Ray Crowe and is placed on a CD. 3000 pages of documents and an 80 page index make this a valuable tool for all researchers. These two books and the CD have been called the new standard for crypto research.

Derek Randles

Derek Randles... The Olympic Project

Thom Powell:

Thom Powell, Author

Thom Powell is a legend in the field of Sasquatch research. His many years investigating reports and summarizing the results have led to a very unique and deep appreciation for these beings we call Primal People. His writings are quoted wherever Sasquatch researchers gather.
Thom authored the Sasquatch research book “The Locals” which was described by reviewer Lisa Kearns as, “a brilliant combination of science and storytelling”. His was the first book to suggest many new ideas that have since been endorsed by most contemporary researchers. These concepts of habituation, infrasound, and certain paranormal elements were the vanguard of thinking at the time. Thom has postulated human levels of intelligence in the Sasquatch as well as an awareness of cameras and much more.
Thom has completed his latest novel, “Shady Neighbors”. It is a fictional account of the Oregon Sasquatch phenomena told from the familiar point of view of a middle school science teacher that is thrust into a hairy mystery.

Ben Vasion:

Ben Vasion, Washington

Arla Williams:

…Grew up in Oklahoma in the Native American culture. She has spent the majority of her life hiking and being a part of the natural world around her. Her talents include using natural materials to create beautiful Native American jewelry and drums a well as teaching courses to those interested in learning to create Native American art.
Arla has had life long interactions and knowledge of what many call Bigfoot. She had her first encounter as a child of 6 with a young juvenile. She always knew they were there and accepted the fact that they were a people. Arla has a personal relationship with them and has learned much about their life and how they live. Much of the knowledge she has gained comes from a Bigfoot Teacher named Kashima. Arla travels and shares the wisdom of her Native American Elders and the teachings she has been given. She has helped to spread Kashima’s messages to others as well as what she was taught by the Elders. Her message is that it is imperative that we return to a place of respect for all that is around us and see that we are all related to each other. She has been taught that so many have forgotten that and have lost respect, even for themselves.
Arla travels to help support the vision of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers as a “Sister Grandmother”. she also shares stories of her life in connection with the Bigfoot People with those she encounters. In addition to her speaking engagements, she helps to facilitate gatherings that bring together people who want to have a better understanding of the Bigfoot People. In addition, she travels where others are working with groups of Bigfoot People to help bring about a positive outcome in such interactions. Arla can be found on various radio programs and Blog Talk Radio sharing what she knows and what has been given to her throughout her life in her interaction with the Bigfoot People.