Published: December 29, 2005 12:21 pm      

Is Bigfoot living in the Sulphur park area?

ADA — Could Bigfoot reside in Oklahoma? And, is it possible that he's just a community away? According to Dr. Charles Hallmark, there is good indication that he is.

Dr. Hallmark was the guest speaker at the weekly Rotary Club meeting held Wednesday, and in his presentation, he offered up startling evidence an ape-like creature roams freely through the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur.

He began to research Bigfoot in 1998 and the hobby has continued seven years later. Hallmark, along with others in the area, are currently setting traps to entice the creature.

"One of the things that we're trying to do now is to bait garbage cans, because they eat garbage," he said. "If y'all live in town and you hear a garbage can rattling at 3 in the morning, you can be sure that 95 percent of the time it's going to be Bigfoot."

According to Hallmark, the simian-like being enjoys junk food, in addition to the usual amount of garbage.

"They love Snickers candy bars, cheeseburgers and burritos," Hallmark said. "They're just like us. They're omnivorous, they eat a lot of vegetation, just about anything."

Hallmark produced several items of evidence that the beast is alive and well in the area. He brought paper cups which allegedly have Bigfoot's fingerprints on them, a cow bone that shows teeth marks that are assumed to belong to the creature and even a few photos. He estimates that the Bigfoot he photographed is approximately 8 to 9 feet tall.

Hallmark also noted Bigfoots are very much used to people.

"We have proven and documented that they recognize people," he said. "They get used to you and look at your house and stuff like that."

While Hallmark did offer items that raise the question of whether such a creature exists, no solid evidence, such as a body or remains, have been found.

"We have a problem with finding anything, like a body or skeleton, because the varmits are gonna take it apart within three or four days," he said. "If you haven't happened onto it, you're not gonna happen onto it because it'll be gone."

He also said he wasn't allowed to research further in the park, due to restrictions by park officials.

"Where I was feeding them regularly, I don't have any electricity there and the park won't give me any," he said. "If the park would give me electricity, probably in 45 days, we'd have so much footage of Bigfoot walking around and everything that it would be unbelievable."

Hallmark also said not one, but groups of families of the creature are within Oklahoma.

"I figure there are more than 300 in Oklahoma," he said. "There's probably around 45 or so around the National Park area in Sulphur. We've identified five different family groups down there. We're not sure how many are in each one but at least three in each one."

Hallmark is currently slated to start taking more photos of the elusive beasts in March.