On dead birds, big feet

I’d set out to write a really comprehensive piece about the thousands of dead birds and other animals that have been dying in heavy concentrations these past few days, but I can’t seem to do it. Maybe, deep down inside, I’m scared. Maybe I’m afraid that I’ll come to the conclusion that our planet has reached its proverbial canary in the coal mine moment. Or, worse yet, maybe I’d convince myself that it’s irrefutable proof of Cthulhu’s ascension to power. For whatever reason, though, I can’t read through all of the articles and plot the locations where the massive animal die-offs are happening, like I’d wanted to. Instead, I’m sitting here, researching the career of Ray Young, who played an evil-fighting bigfoot in the very short-lived 1977 television program Bigfoot and Wildboy, which was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. Young apparently passed away in 1999, as the age of 59. I can’t find much online, other than that he died of lung cancer, but I’ve still got a few places to check. Right now, I’m off to look for him in the episode of CHiPs entitled Journey to a Spacecraft. Here, in the meantime, is a little clip of him as a bigfoot. You can also see him stepping into Max Baer Jr’s role of Jethro Bodine in The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies here. I know this post doesn’t make much sense, and I’m truly sorry about that.

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11 Comments

  1. Posted January 5, 2011 at 10:34 pm | Permalink

    Check out books, etc. by Charles Fort. Anomalous phenomena (Fortean) like the birds have been happening for a very long time. Some are much, much weirder.

  2. Posted January 5, 2011 at 11:35 pm | Permalink

    Why is Bigfoot hurling so many boulders? Why can’t he just leave them where they are?

  3. dan gillotte
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 1:20 am | Permalink

    I, too am left only with questions like Mr. Skinner.
    Why does Wild Boy’s hair stop growing when he is 7 and remain a bushy tousled sort of mop instead of growing and growing? And why no facial hair, Wild Boy? Surely a Bigfoot wouldn’t have learned any tonsorial skills or know how to shave, right? Secondly why does the Bigfoot leap make a sound similar to the six million dollar man? Thirdly, why is the theme song so awesome?

  4. Stella M
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 7:11 am | Permalink

    Age of the apocalypse or not, I’m just glad I grew up in the golden age of Sid & Marty Krofft. Time was, some Saturday mornings you could go as long as three hours w/out having to resort to Hanna Barbera.

  5. Edward
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 8:59 am | Permalink

    If I’m not mistaken, around this same time there was a popular film in the theaters about bigfoot, and, in it, an army of them surround a cabin and hurl boulders at it. At least that’s my memory of it. I think it kind of became a meme after that. The bigfoot in the 6 Million Dollar Man may have also hurled a boulder.

  6. Mr. X
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 9:24 am | Permalink

    If you want to see some weird video from the 70s, check this out.

    http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/05/gary-collins-six-million-dollar-man-actor-arrested-for-59-d/

  7. Eel
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 10:02 am | Permalink

    Don’t worry, while you were watching furries running through the woods with young boys, someone else was plotting the bird deaths.

    http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=201817256339889828327.0004991bca25af104a22b&t=h&ll=64.320872,16.171875&spn=87.534022,210.585938&z=2&iwloc=0004991c2e41cf55affcb&source=embed

  8. Kim
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 1:56 pm | Permalink

    I liked the alternate intro better.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCWyYOOS8FQ

  9. Andy C
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 2:09 pm | Permalink

    At first glance, I thought it was a Six Million Dollar Man spin off. For those who have watched The Venture Bros., you know how that relationship turned out.

    As for the dead animals, we would care more if they went crazy and turned on us.

  10. Steve Swan
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 3:55 pm | Permalink

    I’m working on an adult feature at the moment in which I make love to a mound of dead birds. It’s called Small Town Calligula.

    Bigfoot was the worlds first furry.

  11. Knox
    Posted January 7, 2011 at 7:05 am | Permalink

    Far superior to Saved by the Bell, which I’m watching at the moment.

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