William Dranginis saw a bigfoot once. It was hairy, a good 7 feet tall, and sprinting through the woods of Virginia. In the decade since that 12-second sighting, Dranginis has dedicated himself to getting another look. To improve his chances, the 45-year-old surveillance and security expert from Manassas, Virginia, bought a 24-foot mobile veterinary unit and converted it into the Bigfoot Primate Research Lab.
So far, Dranginis has spent about $50,000 to outfit the mystery mobile with state-of-the-art gear, much of it custom-built. He mounted a Raytheon NightSight 200 thermal camera on a 25-foot-tall crank-up mast. (The camera can detect an animal in the dark 800 yards away.) He’s also got two night-vision scopes, a surface-to-aircraft radio, and TV monitors that can combine images from roof-mounted videocams into one 360-degree view, or receive feeds from remote cams in the woods. He deploys at least two weekends a month.
And still no second sighting. "Early on, I said if I could just look into the eyes of this thing I would sell all my equipment and get back to my life," he says. "But my main goal now is to try to establish contact, then push for legislation to protect the areas they inhabit." You are now exiting Sasquatch territory.
- Mark Yarm
credit Photo by Robyn Twomey
William Drangini
credit Photo by Robyn Twomey
Proof positive: Onboard video gear for recording the next sighting.
credit Photo by Robyn Twomey
Letés roll: The Bigfoot Primate Research Lab.
credit Photo by Robyn Twomey
Hominid at 800 yards! A long-range thermal cam.
credit Photo by Robyn Twomey
Tracking bigfoot on foot: A pocket-size IR cam.
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