John Green

John Willison Green was a Canadian journalist and a leading researcher of Bigfoot. John  was born on February 12, 1927, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  His father was Howard Green, a long-time Member of the Canadian Parliament. His mother, Marion Green (nee Mounce), was the first woman to graduate from the University of British Columbia school of Agricultural Sciences.He graduated from the University of British Columbia and achieved his Master's degree in Journalism at Columbia University.  He has compiled a database of more than 3000 sighting and track reports.

In 1963 he was elected Mayor of the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, BC.   It has always been a resort community, but it also has the Ranger Station Public Art Gallery, and is the closest access to Sasquatch Provincial Park.  He was responsible for the construction of the Harrison lakefront beach, and spearheaded the World Championship Sand Sculpture Competition for many years.  He also had a passion for history, founding the Kilby Historical Society in 1973, then later the Fraser heritage Society and he continued to donate his time and funds to go towards the maintenance of the site. He was a Board member for over 40 years.


John Green settled in Agassiz, BC in 1954  He purchased the local newspaper becoming the owner and editor of the Agassiz-Harrison Advance. In 1972 Green sold the local paper to pursue his Sasquatch research and interest in writing publications.  It is now known as the Agassiz-Harrison Observer and is still in publication.  He raised his family, ran a business and pursued his political aspirations. He ran for provincial office as a Conservative but lost four times.He was a competitive sailboat racer in his youth, designing and constructing the first fiberglass hull sailboat to steer through British Columbian lakes. He also was a successful investor of an inheritance he received from his father, and a philanthropist. Forty years after first being elected Mayor, he won a commissioner’s seat in 2002.
 

  Green first began investigating Sasquatch sightings and track finds in 1957. He had met René Dahinden and they collaborated in interviewing witnesses and sharing information of alleged sightings. In 1958, Green was shown a series of 15" tracks crossing a sandbar beside Bluff Creek in California and investigated the tracks in the summer of 1958. Green had access to a variety of British Columbia news and had written a fictional April Fool’s story about Sasquatch in 1953.  He was first asked seriously about Sasquatch in 1956 when René Dahinden entered came to his newspaper office looking for reports in the area. Green told Dahinden the accounts were nonsense.

This is about 20 minutes of Q & A with Mr. Green from the Sasquatch Summit in Harrison Hot Springs.





Green authored several Sasquatch books, including Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us, regarded by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) as the "best written book on the subject".  It has recently been re-issued, along with an updated combination of two earlier books, and is titled The Best of Sasquatch Bigfoot.  Green also was contracted as a speaker at a number of scientific symposiums on Bigfoot research, and appeared in several documentaries on the subject.  He surveyed Eastern and Southern hominid reports as well. He also asked his correspondents to research aboriginal tales of Bigfoot.  A relatively conservative man, he often called for pushing the envelope for the researchers.

Green made distinctions between typical reports of “Bigfoot”, and strange, far more massive footprints that were discovered.  Some researchers believed that indicated the presence of even larger creatures.  In his obituary, written by fellow researcher Loren Coleman,  it states that He holds the title as the first primary chronicler in Sasquatch studies, and his work in the field had lead some to affectionately call him “Mr. Sasquatch.”

John Green's research and personal collection of artifacts were donated to Kilby Historic Site in Harrison Mills, BC. Today this exhibit is a lasting tribute to Green's 58 years in the field of Sasquatch sightings and original castings. For more information visit www.kilby.ca  Green became so famed for his Sasquatch studies that late in his life he complained about trying to keep up with an ever-growing correspondence. He directly influenced many of the early researchers in the field, including Jim McClarin, René Dahinden, Tom Slick, Ivan T. Sanderson, Roger Patterson, Loren Coleman, Mark A. Hall, Bob Titmus, Grover Krantz, Chris Murphy, John Kirk, and Jeff Meldrum. His film of Jim McClarin at the site of the Patterson-Gimlin footage is still cited as one of the critical research analysis for the height of that Bigfoot.

John  Green passed on May 28, 2016 in Chilliwack, BC.  He was predeceased by his wife June, brother Lewis, and a grandson.  He left behind, three sons and two daughters, as well as thirteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.    In 2000, John was recognized as B.C. Senior of the Year, and has been  honoured at several public gatherings for his community service, research work and writing.




More Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Willison_Green
https://www.tourismharrison.com/hot-springs
https://www.agassizharrisonobserver.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwc331mnxc
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/06/john-green-veteran-sasquatch-researcher-and-author-has-passed-away/
http://www.cryptozoonews.com/johngreen-obit/