The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California [Paperback]

David Paulides (Author), Harvey Pratt (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0888396538 | ISBN-13: 978-0888396532 | Publication Date: August 31, 2008 | Edition: 1

David Paulides, a former police investigator, has applied his skills to questioning Bigfoot witnesses. The results he has achieved in gaining access to witnesses and getting detailed information from them is both remarkable and intriguing. A commissioned forensic police artist meet with witnesses and sketch the creatures as they saw them. These drawings provide insights into the creature's nature never realized before. On October 2, 1958, Jerry Crew, a road construction worker, found unusual, large human-like footprints near his bulldozer, in a road under construction, near Bluff Cree in Northern California. He had seeing same type of footprint before, but this time he made a plaster cast to preserve the evidence, and reported the findings to a local newspaper, referring to the creature that made them as Bigfoot.
The Newspaper story was picked up by the Associate Press wires and the word "Bigfoot" became the common name for the large creature in the United States of America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Hancock House; 1 edition (August 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888396538
• ISBN-13: 978-0888396532
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Paulides received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of San Francisco, and, 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 were invaluable in researching Bigfoot/Sasquatch sightings, encounters and behavior. He spent two years living among the Hoopa tribal members, listening to and recording their Bigfoot stories. The Hoopa Project is his first book, 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. These two books have been called the new standard for crypto research.
The Hoopa Project- 2008
Tribal Bigfoot- 2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT!!!!!!, September 13, 2008

By 

H.M. 2005 - See all my reviews

This book, written by former police investigator Paulides, covers a 3-year investigation into the Hoopa Reservation and town just 14 miles north of the Bigfoot Capitol of the World, Willow Creek, California. He interviews many natives of the area and has each of them sign an affidavit, attesting to each witness' truthfulness. There are photos of all the witnesses, and also of the locations these sightings took place in. An interesting note is that some of the sightings took place in the same proximity and within less than a mile from each other. The witnesses' tales are quite compelling and stark in their detail, but Paulides has gone beyond just giving witnesses' descriptions-he also brings in forensic artist Harvey Pratt, who has done quite a bit of sketch work for the FBI and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and did the initial sketches of the BTK Killer, the Green River Killer, Ted Bundy, Henry Lucas, Otis O'Toole and many other famous cases, and utilizes his skills in forensic art to bring a truer picture of the witnesses' sightings to life, which he does in bold detail. The Sasquatch creatures portrayed by Pratt as described by the witnesses describe a more humanlike face than apelike, whcih is quite fascinating. I highly recommend this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cryptozoology Done Right (Finally), February 9, 2009

By 

Rabid Reader (Near Niagara Falls, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California (Paperback)

Oh, for a world in which cryptozoology were taken seriously!
The Hoopa Project is certainly a large step in the correct direction. This slim book is a credit to the endeavor, and should be read as a practical how-to by any serious investigator. It also contains a wealth of information for anyone else interested in learning about Bigfoot/Sasquatch and the continuing search for proof of its existence.

Mr. Paulides has forged new investigative ground.
He is not a scientist and does not pretend to be. Instead, as a former police investigator, he has created an exemplary template for interviewing even reluctant witnesses and for extracting from them the most useful information possible, including rather startling forensic drawings supplied by Mr. Harvey Pratt.

The book is riveting reading, consisting of one interview after another (with photos of each witness & the forensic sketches that go with their sightings). The writing style is dry, no-nonsense, and has some characteristics in common with lab reports: a methodical, repeatable approach to extracting information. Credibility is given top billing, and there are no bells or whistles.

I was pleased to see that since this research was done in and around a Native American reservation and tribal holdings every effort was made to remain respectful of witnesses and their culture.
There is absolutely no sensationalization herein. It clearly was a relief to witnesses who otherwise feared ridicule and this adds greatly to the serious tone of the book.

It is greatly to Mr. Paulides's credit that his interest in the animal appears to stem from the wish to protect it with legislation--rather than to exploit it.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in Cryptozoology or Bigfoot/Sasquatch, and hope that Mr. Paulides will continue his impressive work at other sighting "hotspots" around the continent.

Caveat: The book could have used some editing for "typos" --at times the errors are distracting, but this is a small criticism aimed at the publisher and not at the writer.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hoopa Project: Good news, bad news, April 20, 2009

By 

Arthur Kincaid (Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California (Paperback)

This book presents quite a paradox. The author has done yeoman's work in finding and interviewing approximately three dozen individuals who report bigfoot encounters in a small area of Northwestern California over the last 50 years. Lots of interesting stories (paraphrased rather than word-for-word from witnesses) and an unusually large amount of physical detail of creatures said to have been seen. Any bigfoot enthusiast will find much to like about this book (but shouldn't hesitate to skip or briefly skim the first 60 pages or so.)

However, a bigfoot skeptic looking to discredit this work will find a great deal of ammunition. It is very amateurishly written -- apparently self-edited -- and despite containing quite a lot of irrelevant information, very obvious questions to be posed to witnesses were often not asked, or the answers didn't fit the author's objective. Many witness reports contain internal contradictions, and there are numerous simple mathematical errors.

Despite the frustration these deficiencies caused, I found the book quite worthwhile, but bigfoot has been a fascination of mine for several decades. Anyone less interested can probably get all they want from this book by looking at sketches and skimming a few of the encounter reports.