Back around 2009, a local individual contacted me about Bigfoot. And back then I didn't mind sharing what I knew as I was going into the field often and had some amazing encounters. So I took him out several times over the next year and shared many of my experiences and insights with him. He soon brought his young son over to my house as well. We were close enough to where I even gave my favorite 3' long toy battleship to his son. The person I am referring to is Toby Johnson, who was very green and really couldn't get enough of bigfoot. Long story short, it wasn't long before Toby elevated himself to the point of wanting to put on a Symposium about Bigfoot. He asked me to be a speaker at his first Oregon Sasquatch Symposium (OSS), to which I agreed. He also asked me who I felt might be good speakers and so I gave him several names. One of the names I gave him was David Paulides. I had been conversing with David about a few missing person's incidents that I too was looking into. David and I had never met before that and only conversed through email and I think by phone once or twice. I also felt that his being a speaker, would be a great opportunity for us to talk directly with one another and share more details.
Well the event came up and Toby said he had to un-invite David because there were some people who said they wouldn't come if he was there. I suggested to Toby that he has to realize that there are many different personalities in this field and that not everyone gets along. I expressed that David was doing some valuable documentation of witnesses and he should find a way to include him. Unfortunately David was already removed from the Roster so my pressing it was in vain. It wasn't long before I discovered that David Paulides was convinced that I was responsible for him being booted from the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium (OSS) as a speaker. Thing is, while I was a speaker, I had absolutely NOTHING to do with scheduling whatsoever, and I surely had zero authority to boot someone as a Speaker. My being the person who 'recommended' Dave as a speaker in the first place, why would I then want to see him booted? It made no sense! In fact I was very much looking forward to sitting down with David when he came up, to discuss those missing person's cases here in Oregon that he and I were discussing. (One case involved a Professor who disappeared just a week after I was on the same exact trail.) This was a case I was looking into because it was in an area where I have hunted and hiked for decades.
To this day it boggles my mind that Paulides blames me for him not speaking at that event! I tried clearing it up with David several times, but he would have none of it. Then when Rhonda and I were together, she got involved in the discussion as well. I really had tried my best to convince David that he had things mixed up because I had zero involvement or power to remove him as a speaker. I also let him know that I defended him both with Toby and online in different forum discussions. David then had the gall to say I never defended him during public discussions. I even sent him Screen Captures of a few of the times I did just that. He still denied it. He even said I slandered him, so I asked him to send me something that corroborates this. He never did and simply called me names. He even went so far as to say to me in email I still have "We will have our day, don't worry", which in itself sounded like a threat. For whatever reason, David Paulides holds a strong grudge against me for something I didn't do and he was completely wrong about.
I kinda wondered if a certain Toby Johnson threw me under the bus, in order to not take the blame himself for cutting David as a Speaker? Pretty rotten if he did but he also burned me after sucking up to someone else over another event that I'll address below! Seriously, nothing in the exchanges between David and I, or myself and others, makes sense to have led David to believe I was responsible for removing him. So there has to be some other factor I am not aware of! Someone seems to have made me their scapegoat back then! That or David completely screwed up who he thinks he was talking to? Either way, to this day David Paulides has things completely wrong!
I really did try to find out from David why he blamed me, since I had nothing to do with scheduling. For some unknown reason, he didn't even want to believe Scheduling wasn't my decision, while I WAS the person who highly recommended him as a speaker. So who told David that I was responsible for cutting him? Either David was lying, I am lying, or someone else is lying to David! But my correspondence from David sure appears to imply that he thinks I cut him. I had nothing to do with actual scheduling or removing speakers, so that leaves only two options. That David Paulides is off his rocker, or someone lied to David! And being there was only one person in charge of Scheduling of the OSS, it's not hard to deduce who that was. Maybe David should have done the logical thing and asked any one of the other speakers at that event (like Jeff Meldrum, Ron Morehead, Thom Powell, Cliff Barackman, Kathi Strain, Autumn Williams, etc) just who was in charge of scheduling? David still could (and should) do this to clear up his major error!
Unfortunately David didn't seem to care for the truth, and continued to blame me. I've kinda lost respect for him since for not wanting to hear the truth. It's unfortunate too because he was wrong and he refused to consider that. It's an issue today for me because he may have told others that I burned him and that carries on today, so I am forced to go public about it once and for all.
The following image was part of a discussion between David Paulides and Rhonda well after the second OSS. She and I had only been together a few months, yet as seen here, David seemed to think we had been together a very long time. While Rhonda and I are no longer together, who could David be thinking about? In some strange way, did David think I was 'Toby' saying I cancelled him? We are two different people though so that doesn't seem possible.
Frankly David, I don't know who you think you are talking about here. Rhonda and I met at the first OSS Conference and even by the second one, we weren't together yet. So no, we had not been together a "very long time" as you stated. Then you say I lied to people about why you weren't there and other BS. David, I never talked bad about you before this. Granted you have since earned my negative respect, but that is all your doing!
David saying I was down talking him was really messed up. He also says I never defended him, yet here I am doing just that on an old BFF (Bigfoot Forums) discussion where I felt others had the wrong idea about him, plus BFF was falling apart and soon imploded. At the time David was investigating a claim by MK Davis that there was a Massacre at Bluff Creek and I think of BF being Human. Many will remember that the discussion pages everywhere came unglued. While much context is lost here, I was merely trying to explain to other posters that this wasn't David's position but instead he was only reporting on what MK was claiming. (Of course David's position may have since changed, I don't know?)
"But since you did bring up the reference of this blog cutting people down. It was done here unfairly as well. Not in this thread because BFF really needs a good shakeup, but with respect to another independent researcher. I am speaking of David Paulides. It started with some very misleading statements written by a certain other blogger that have grown out of proportion. From what I've seen, Paulides NEVER himself claimed that there was a massacre at Bluff Creek. Paulides was a law enforcement investigator. He was 'investigating' claims by MK Davis, but some people just needed to use it as an opportunity to go after Paulides. The 'he said she said' crap just gets completely out of hand, and people begin believing every story out there. One email that was merely part of the investigative process, was turned into some holy grail of a false case. Paulides has potential and he's accomplished a few projects that are noteworthy. He may be different from many researchers because of his law enforcement background, and his personality may rub some people wrong, but everyone has their different styles. Ray Crowe felt confident enough in Paulides to entrust his decades of work with him. If anybody doubts that Ray had good judgement, well then you aren't very savvy about bigfooting history. Paulides knows how to go about securing government documents too and that is a major plus for this field. I think some people can be misunderstood, especially when there are a few people who have an agenda against the up and coming. Anyway, Paulides may well be an important player in this field, and that's something to keep in mind."
In fact, when David was looking into MK's claims, I had asked David if he could ask MK about something re the Lovelock Caves and the missing hand prints that disappeared after some researcher's visit. This was around the same time as the OSS as well. David never got back to me so I never found out any more about it.
And here's another time on the old NABigfootSearch site from when Paulides was discussed:
In Statement rtfd text in MK's folder. At the time I still went by the handle MultipleEncounters.
In Statement rtfd text in MK's folder. At the time I still went by the handle MultipleEncounters.
114. MultipleEncounters
"I try to live by the principle ‘calmer minds prevail’. I like to listen to all the evidence. I don’t start name calling or say ‘get yourself some meds’ and stuff like that. Its unprofessional no matter who is being talked about. Its the same kind of childish behavior we see coming from the mainstream towards those who research sasquatch. If we want the world to take us seriously and with an open mind, then maybe we should practice what we preach.
From my perspective, it would seem Dave Paulides has simply been investigating the claims made by MK Davis. That’s what investigators do. Paulides has a strong law enforcement background, he’s doing what he knows by looking into things in detail. When on a case, an investigator looks at all aspects no matter what or where they lead. Let him do a thorough job if that’s what he’s doing. I’m sure he will offer an unbiased conclusion when he is done. Why begin throwing stones at him too? Its childish."
The above was part of a much longer discussion where I engaged detractors of David Paulides because of the work he was doing. Unfortunately I can't locate the entire conversation at this time so again much context is lost. I might have the threads archived on an old computer if I absolutely needed to find them. The point is, I had defended David several times regardless of what he believed! (I do wonder however if my defending David was a big mistake.)
The above was part of a much longer discussion where I engaged detractors of David Paulides because of the work he was doing. Unfortunately I can't locate the entire conversation at this time so again much context is lost. I might have the threads archived on an old computer if I absolutely needed to find them. The point is, I had defended David several times regardless of what he believed! (I do wonder however if my defending David was a big mistake.)
Unfortunately I wasn't privy to discussions between David Paulides and Toby Johnson either, so I can only speculate on what David was told. Toby did tell me that he pulled David from speaking and I questioned why he would do that. And when I read more about it, I implored Toby to find a way to make it work. Ironically I was kept from being a speaker the second year, near my own research area up river. My impression was that Toby was enjoying being a King Maker, and I was not included because I questioned why he removed Paulides the year before. Of course Toby was no longer on my Christmas list either as he sucked up to Matt Moneymaker by keeping me out of a BFRO Town Hall Meeting at a local restaurant, being I was the first to investigate a phony video of Bigfoot allegedly taken by local guides that I knew a year or so before. I also have plenty of dated photos as well as postings about it. https://www.bfro.net/news/mckenzie.asp MM of course wanted that sighting to be a big draw for his Town Hall. This was before the second OSS and probably also had something to do with Toby keeping me from being a Speaker. Toby met me at the door of the Town Hall and told me MM didn't want me there. Don't ya love it when friends stab you in the back just to suck up to someone!
I recall the following was from the old Bigfoot Lunch Club web site. Again I never had ANY decision making into who Toby removed as speaker as I only made suggestions who he should invite. And at the time, David was doing good work in my opinion, although he had gotten into it with a few researchers over something I can't even recall back then.
David Paulides, you need to come to terms with the fact that there was only ONE PERSON who Controlled Scheduling at the OSS back then, and that there are others in the field who would confirm this even today. Either way, it wasn't me! Maybe its time you did your Due Diligence and asked one of them!? I was likely scapegoated to keep you from blaming the person who really made those decisions. You owe me a long overdue apology David! You also owe Rhonda an apology for what you said to her! But also important to me, is that if you told others that I burned you and removed you from being a Speaker at the OSS, or whatever negative things you have said about me since, like you said to Rhonda, then I ask that you undo them because it seemed to have impacted my reputation.
Anyway David, once and for all, you need to ask one of those past Speakers at the OSS just WHO was in charge of Scheduling Speakers! Then please undo any negative things you have said about me to others as a result of your 'misunderstanding'. I only wanted positive conversations with you regarding bigfoot back then, but somehow you progressed to thinking I was responsible for something I wasn't. A few long overdue apologies to myself and one other person would be nice!
David Rodriguez
(Side Note: I do have a few other posts that I tabled years ago that I intend to finish & publish, so keep an eye open on my blog because they will shed light on a few other topics in the Bigfoot world.)
