It's a big alien. I had expected Beckjord to be an easy interview, probably happy to get some free PR for his new museum. Instead, I found myself bickering with him about whether or not a certain Bigfoot hunter in Washington had been looking for Bigfoot as long as he claimed, and whether another man in Oregon secretly meant to kill a sasquatch. Then, as one might expect of someone who's listened to a lot of conspiracy theories and has a deep distrust of the press, Beckjord pulled out a tape recorder and began to record our conversation. Bigfoot is a surprisingly emotional topic for the dozens of people who spend large chunks of their lives searching for it.
Some searchers have more of a sense of humor about it than others.
And some have less. Beckjord assured me he was serious about everything he put on the walls. He believes his museum can provide an important service to visitors, more than 300 of whom stopped by in his first two months of business. He also provides copies of The Roswell Declaration, a letter calling for an executive order declassifying U.S. government information about UFOs. If museum visitors fill in the bottom part of the letter, Beckjord will mail it for them.