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Ambulance chasing in Bigfoot research

So, what do we mean by "ambulance chasing" in the Bigfoot community?

Simple: It's when researchers travel all over the place and check out locations where a recent sighting has been reported. Or even where a report had been turned in from a year or two ago, and they are visiting the area in hopes of scoring a sighting.

Just like some lawyers who chase after ambulances for potential customers, these researchers are chasing sightings in hopes of a potential encounter, or worse yet, just to be able to claim they were present at that site. It's like those who travel to Bluff Creek just so they can say they went there.

I have found a lot of researchers tend to do this, instead of focusing on their own research areas, which would more than likely produce more results than traveling around the country and going to other sites.

One group in particular I was trying my best to advise on how to do the best research possible – and that I held in high regard, that they could become great researchers – fell into this early on and could not be dissuaded from this tactic.

How can you tell someone is ambulance-chasing? Look at the pictures that they post: Do they show them at different locations, like in the Pacific Northwest or other well-known locations? Do they make it a point to tell you where they are and why they are there?

The researchers I tried to guide through this have posted thousands of pictures of themselves going across the southeast part of the country, a multitude of pictures across the South and Southwest, and now are venturing into the Pacific Northwest, all the while having a prime piece of land noted for having lots of activity as the research area.

Why does this seem to matter? Because it waters down the credible research being brought in, as they offer up “research” from these areas. A perfect example: Salt Fork Park in Ohio, has become one of the ultimate pilgrimages for ambulance chasers and wannabe celebrities to visit and walk around a little bit, before proclaiming they were there, and do the whole "look at me" bit.

It also dilutes the legitimate research that has been done at Salt Fork Park by others, because people are just showing up there to say they were there.

Over the years, I’ve had other researchers approach me and say, “Hey, I have a couple of new areas we need to check out.” And my response is, "I already have too many actual research areas to keep track of."

A researcher I know well and respect had the bad habit of hearing about activity at a location, and doing everything possible to be allowed into the area, even when it belonged to another researcher. The fact that activity happened days earlier didn’t seem to sink in, and when the researcher showed up, there would be activity days later. When they would get into a few spots, and nothing happened, they would vent for days and weeks that nothing happened originally, or it would have happened for them while they were there.

I’ve done research for years, I know if an area’s activity picks up, it can suddenly die off as quickly as it started, and may not have anything happen for several years before it picks up again.

For those who ambulance chase, it just really keeps their credibility down. You should find your own research area and cultivate it, grow it and make something of it.