(Historic) Ray Crowe
Charles Raymond Crowe (b. 1937) is a bigfoot researcher/archivist from Hillsboro, Oregon.
Ray's initial interest in the bigfoot mystery occurred after he went with a group of bigfoot hunters from nearby Vancouver, Washington (a rather militant group, according to Ray)[citation needed], who dropped Ray off on an isolated road near the forest. Ray found a set of tracks he could not explain, and he decided then and there to start a group dedicated to sasquatch research. He called it the Western Bigfoot Society and held monthly meetings in the basement of his bookshop.
Crowe also organized and held conferences in Carson, Washington called "Bigfoot Daze" in which he invited established researchers to speak. He also established a newsletter called The Track Record which told of the latest happenings in the bigfoot world, no matter how controversial or untrue. Crowe has a very open-door policy when it came to his meetings and newsletter, but he always warns his readers to "wear your skepticals."
Crowe was about to shut down the newsletter and organization in 2006 (by that time the organization had been renamed the International Bigfoot Society), but controversial researcher Tom Biscardi offered to continue the newsletter and the organization with funding, which he did. Ray continues to receive reports and media articles from around the world. After closing his bookstore, he continued to hold meetings in various places until he started holding them at Dad's Restaurant in Portland.
Ray sold the IBS/WBS to David Paulides of the North America Bigfoot Search including the Track Record newsletters.
Ray Crowe died on Tuesday, September 29, 2015, in his sleep at 10:30 a.m. (local time), apparently of a heart attack at the Timberview Care Center, Albany, Oregon.
