A Houston-area man who has spent his whole career investigating the existence of the “Hairy Wild Man” known as Bigfoot is now offering a class so his decades of research do not get lost.
Rob Riggs grew up right outside the creepy area known as Big Thicket Preserve 100 miles east of Houston. Stories of ghosts, mystery sightings and strange wild animals have long been associated with this jungle-like wilderness.
Riggs’ class entitled, “Big Thicket – Lair of the Mysterious” at the Houston’s Leisure and Learning Center aims to highlight some of the weirdest tales and let students make up their own mind on that burning question, “Does Bigfoot exist?”
“A lot of people have no concept of what it’s like in East Texas,” says Riggs, “Big Thicket is one of only two areas in the contiguous United States that botanists consider to be jungle.”
And in that jungle, something lurks, Riggs says.
“If you’re interested in the paranormal or cryptozoology you should know there’s whole areas near Houston where these weird things happen,” Riggs continued.
The class highlights two main phenomena Riggs has documented in his 35 years on the trail.
The first is the Hairy Wild Man – The classic Bigfoot sighting, an ape-like creature appearing at specific sites around the country.
The second is a series of mysterious white lights, sometimes an orb floating slightly above the ground, sometimes a bright fog.
Both have been reported in the Houston area, according to Riggs, who says it is these stories that have convinced him there really could be something out there.
The sightings center on a little travelled road running north from Big Thicket, Bragg Road, which was once something of a Lover’s Lane.
“One lady told me an ape-like creature jumped on the hood of their pick-up and began howling at them and growling menacingly,” Riggs said, “Her guy pulled out his shotgun and fired through the windshield, all it did was run howling into the woods.”
In another story he’s been told, a young boy saw a white fog hovering above the same road.
“The boy said it looked like a small bank of fog that had a bright spot,” Riggs claims the boy described seeing the fog ball up and disappear into the bright spot with just a small circle of light remaining.
So far the only experience Riggs has had himself happened on a stake out of Little Pine Bayou near Beaumont. During the night he heard a “bone chilling howl” so loud he felt his chest vibrate.
The once local news reporter says his course is simply designed to let people know what he’s found out.
“I don’t want this information to be lost, I think it represents an aspect of nature and a perception of reality we are missing,” Riggs said.
The first two day class will be held at the Leisure and Learning Center Sept. 13 and 20 and costs $75.
