Welcome To My Trap...

You may ask the question; "what the hell is a Bigfoot trap?" And you may be surprised to know there is an actual Bigfoot trap in Oregon. But my trap has less to do with catching a Bigfoot and more to do with capturing the imagination.
The real trap was built in 1974 by The North American Wildlife Research Team (NAWRT) but has never yielded any results to my knowledge. My trap was born of inspired thought August 16, 2008.
It was a Saturday evening and I was up late as I normally am. In the news that week it had been reported two Georgia hunters had claimed to have discovered the corpse of a Bigfoot in the North Georgia mountains. The media and Internet were buzzing with pictures of the 500 pound beast's disemboweled body lying crumpled in a freezer. While the pictures looked fake and the character of the two men involved was being questioned many people who "believe" these creatures exist were hopeful and curious. As the week wore on a noted Bigfoot hunter, Tom Biscardi had become involved and there was a news conference scheduled to release more evidence. To make a long story short the whole thing turned out to be a hoax. But before the news conference was held and the hoax eventually revealed, the Bigfoot trap was born as an eBay auction.
With the news reports and images of the phony Bigfoot discovery fresh in my mind I pondered what would happen if a Bigfoot came across an abandoned refrigerator in the wild. The thought of the curious creature climbing into an abandoned refrigerator and trapping itself amused me for some reason. I have always wanted to put some kind of joke auction on eBay just for the fun of it, and this was perfect. I knew it needed a creative touch so I enlisted my best friend of 34 years, Phillip. So at 11:30pm I emailed him with my idea and request for a picture. To my surprise he was awake and within 30 minutes I had the perfect picture back in an email. Everything was coming together; now all I needed was the right text. Below is the text of the ad as it appeared on eBay with the picture above.

You are bidding on one Bigfoot trap only used once by two Georgia hunters. This trap is in excellent condition and already has a Bigfoot creature's scent inside. Cleverly designed to look like an abandoned refrigerator this trap plays on the Bigfoot's childlike curiosity. Since it's already scented to attract the creature they are instinctively drawn to the trap. Once they crawl inside they are compelled to shut the door and you've got them. We suggest you may want to add some bait, such as cookies and milk. But, be very careful using this trap in late December with that bait because you could catch a Santa.

The Bigfoot Trap is very easy to set up and can be used as storage after you capture the creature. Also included is the handy Bigfoot Trap Transporter. Just what you need to haul that 500lb beast out of the mountains.

Trap may be utilized to catch cryptid creatures other than the Southeastern Bigfoot. These include but are not limited to Chupacabra, The Lizardman, The Ohio Grassman, Florida Skunk Apes, Sasquatch, The Western and Canadian Bigfoot, Yeti, The Moth Man, Giant Snakes, Super Rats, The Wisconson Dog-Man, The Black Beast of Exmoor, Mega Hogs, Birdzilla, Werewolves, Vampires and Space Aliens. Not recomended for use underwater for Nessie, Champ, Sea Monsters, Giant Squid or Mermaids.

Price includes shipping within the Continental United States. Canadian require additional shipping cost. We will deliver locally to anywhere in South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina. Please read our disclaimer below.

Actual trap and transporter may vary from the picture. Trap is purchased as is with no performance guarantee. Actual Bigfoot scent included cannot be substantiated and therefore is not guaranted. We had the residue tested three times and it came back as human, opossum and inconclusive. The two Georgia hunters mentioned are NOT "The" two Georgia hunters you're thinking of. In the event someone actually buys this I suppose we'll donate some of the proceeds to charity minus listing/ selling fees and the cost of buying an old refrigerator and shipping it. With that in mind delivery could be 2 to 3 weeks.

I amused myself when I was writing this and if that was all I accomplished it would be enough. I did send it out to my friends, family and some co-workers. I was receiving positive feedback and having fun with it. Everyone who viewed the ad was amused. It wasn't long before I started receiving questions from other eBayers who had run across my ad during a search. They ranged from asking how much shipping was to a certain location, how much it made them laugh, to whether or not the trap could be used to catch Leprechauns. I really enjoyed these questions and comments. But the most fun I had was answering them because I could post the questions and answers to the listing for all to see. Some were pretty crazy and I enjoyed giving crazy responses. The Q&A part of this listing took on a life of it's own. It became a blog of sorts which inspired me to start my Bigfoot Trap Blog.
I'm not trying to accomplish anything with this other than as an outlet for my creative ideas. I have always enjoyed being creative. It began when I was young and used to spend hours drawing. Many of those hours were in school. My love of drawing led to a fascination with comic books and eventually a dream of becoming a comic book artist. As my love of comic books and superheroes matured my appreciation for the writing did as well. Eventually a well drawn book wasn't enough unless it was accompanied by a well written story.
I truly admired those comic book artist/ writers who delivered some of the great stories that captured and nurtured my imagination during those years. It sustained me throughout my teenage years as I worked toward that goal into my early 20's. I eventually gave up on my art and got away from being creative all together. After years of collecting comics I sold my entire collection and with that I sold my dream.
It was a decade later before the creative juices within me began to stir once again and I decided to focus on writing. Never much of a student for the English language and a horrible speller I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. I started reading books on writing and books by writers about writing . I became interested in words; learning new, more creative ways to express myself. The Thesaurus and dictionary became my friends. I would listen to talk radio, specifically Rush Limbaugh and write down words Rush would use that were unfamiliar to me. Later I would look them up; learn them and incorporate them into my vocabulary. I bought books on punctuation and studied the use of the comma, semi-colon, ellipse and many other punctuation nuances. I took two adult education creative writing classes at tech, and I read.
I've found through all this that while I enjoy writing and am filled with ideas for stories of novel length I still don't make the time to pursue this endeavor. It's too easy to say I don't have the time. There are many activities that I could replace with writing and not take away from my family. The truth of the matter is I don't have the drive. It's there, deep inside me and it comes out from time to time but fades just as quickly. Reading, a good movie, an idea or conversation will light the creative fire within me but it's many times quickly extinguished by life.
I stated earlier I wasn't trying to accomplish anything with this blog. But, actually, I think... no, I hope this will be much more than an outlet for my creative expression. I hope this will be my inspiration to write something publishable. Something to carry on my name long after I have left this world. To paraphrase an old saying, "If I could make a living writing then I'd truly be doing what I love and never have to work another day in my life". If I don't make a dime, but it makes someone happy then I will have accomplished just as much.
I hope if you've stumbled into my little Trap you enjoyed your stay. I look forward to any comments or questions that may come my way. I have a long way to go toward becoming a writer. I know it's a marathon, not a sprint. This is just the first mile....