Tennessee Wildman and Cryptid Con 2024

Join us, Saturday, August 10th 2024 for a day of Guest Speakers and Experiencers on many varied cryptid topics - ranging from Bigfoot to Dogman to UFOs and more, as well as our expansive Vendor Hall where you'll be able to find all the Bigfoot and Cryptid related merchandise for your wants and needs!
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Across the Volunteer State, a myriad of local and regional names stand for Bigfoot-like creatures seen and encountered just outside local townships and communities. From the Flintville Monster to the White Screamer of White Bluff, to "Old Green Eyes" of Lookout Mountain and the Screaming Jacks of the Cumberland Plateau - reports of hairy Wildmen have remained consistent across the ages.

Whether captured in the tall tales of the European frontiersmen whom first entered it's remote foothills and hollows or the matter of fact re-tellings of the Indigenous peoples whom once lived here along side them, within Tennessee's wooded, rural deep country, legends not only walk and wail, they leave imprints everywhere - Upon the wild grounds on which they tread and in the lives of those that encounter them, the communities they haunt and the mythic stories and legends they leave echo across the state's history.

From the Smoky Mountains in the east to the karst-ridden Cumberland Mountains of Middle Tennessee, and from the river and lake bottoms of the Tennessee basin to the sprawling floodplains along the Mississippi river at our western edge, the Volunteer State has always held a deep history marked with the mysterious, the extraordinary, the paranormal and the bizarre.

Most infamous of Tennessee's fortean folklores is quite likely the Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee - But did you know that a 6ft 5inch hair-covered Wildman was tracked, hunted down and captured in Middle Tennessee, near Sparta, in the late 1800's?

Have you ever heard of the "Tennessee Pygmies" purportedly discovered throughout the nineteenth century, with thousands of them seemingly buried en-mass with their remains interned in acres-large slate-box graveyards along the western edge of the Cumberland Mountains? Were you aware that the local indigenous tribes of the region all accepted their existence quite matter of factly and both respected and feared them?

Were you aware that one of America's first reported cryptids, the "Cheeklaceela" described as a 4 foot tall "Dragon", was made by multiple military soldiers serving during the Nickajack Expedition of 1794, a few miles northeast of Cookeville, Tennessee?

Did you know that the region west of Nashville, near Dickson, Burns and White Bluff are legendary for sightings and encounters with the infamous "Werewolf" of Burns/Montgomery Bell? Did you know those legends stem from an encounter two brothers had that was reported in the regional papers of the time, in an area that's now within the state park itself, that purportedly ended in the death of one of the brothers via the attack from a large, hairy man-thing?

The great state of Tennessee has a long and lengthy history with cryptozoology and strange phenomenon. So let's explore some of it with the Researchers, Field Investigators and Experiencers that are out looking for these mysterious phenomenon, shall we?

Guest Speaker - M.K. Davis

Speaking on the subject of Bigfoot and the Patterson/Gimlin film!

For the last 28 years M.K.Davis has been researching the subject of the Sasquatch.
M.K.'s quest began quietly with his interest in astro-photography where he gained experience with film and how to photograph the very faint objects in the heavens. One day, all those years ago, M.K. saw two very high quality frames from the famous Patterson Bigfoot film and they were nothing like what was commonly shown on television and the movie theaters.
M.K. began an inquiry into this famous piece of cinema that has taken him around the country until he had obtained the highest quality frames from the film. From there he reprocessed the frames and removed all hand motion to produce the clearest and most stable version of the film to date.
This led to a wider pursuit in search of the answers such as "What is the nature of the Sasquatch?" and "What is the importance of the Sasquatch and how does it relate to each of us?"
M.K. has travelled to and hiked many of the major wilderness areas in his quest for the answers to such questions. From Bluff Creek in Northern California to the Jarbidge Wilderness in Northern Nevada and down to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks in the Mojave desert, Texas hill country, Louisiana swamps, The Everglades, and most everywhere in between, M.K. has been there.
M.K.Davis has been married to Debbie Davis for 46 years and they have four children and five grandchildren along with their dog Buddy and cat Neffi. M.K. has enjoyed a long career in the Chemical industry and now devotes his spare time to researching the unexplained.

Guest Speakers - Jessi and Joe Doyle of Hellbent Holler

Speaking on the subject of Paranormal field investigations!

Hailing from The Carolinas, Hellbent Holler is a two person research team that investigates all manners of High Strangeness in the Southern Appalachians. From the forests of the Land Between the Lakes to the mountains of North Georgia, Hellbent Holler takes a tech-driven, yet unconventional approach to exploring mysterious phenomena. The duo has researched Sasquatch, Dogman, anomalous lights, and wilderness paranormal activity.

Hellbent Holler consists of Joe Doyle, who has spent the last two decades looking into the existence of Bigfoot in the southern states, and Jessi Doyle, a longtime researcher of the paranormal and occult. The two members combine (and sometimes contrast) their research methods and philosophies on various phenomena to create a unique and holistic approach to their search for answers.

Guest Speaker - Chester Moore

Speaking on the subject of the dangers of the Outdoors!

Author of 15 books including the recently released expanded edition of "Bigfoot South: Examining Cryptozoology’s Greatest Mystery in the Southern United States".

Chester Moore is an award-winning wildlife journalist, conservationist and investigator.

He is the host of Dark Outdoors, a podcast that investigates true crime, strange encounters and human-wildlife conflict in the great outdoors as well as the wildlife investigative podcast Higher Calling Wildlife®.

He has been seen on many wildlife television programs including Animal Planet’s “Animal X”, Nat Geo’s “When Sharks Attack” and various programs on Discovery, The Travel Channel, The Outdoors Channel and Destination America.

He and his wife Lisa are children’s advocates that are founders of the Wild Wishes® program that grants wildlife encounters for children with a critical illness, traumatic loss and other life struggles.

He contributes to dozens of magazines and web platforms, is Editor-In-Chief of Texas Fish & Game magazine and produces weekly content on his blog at highercalling.net.

His favorite place to be is in the woods or on the water, often with a fly rod in hand and usually in the company of family and friends.

Host "Moore Outdoors" Newstalk AM 560 KLVI

Guest Speaker - Martin Groves

Speaking on the subject of Dogman!

Author of the book "Beasts Between the Rivers"

A retired Law Enforcement Officer with 32 years of active service, Mr. Martin Groves was certified in the following job skills

BASIC AND ADVANCED CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS

ADVANCE CRIME SCENE TECHNICIAN /DNA EVIDENCE

ADVANCED FINGERPRINT PATENT/LATENT / DNA EXPERT

ADVANCED COMBAT TRACKING IN URBAN/RURAL AREAS- MAN OR ANIMAL

CIRT TEAM-CRITICAL INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAM / HOSTAGE RESCUE

ADVANCED ACTIVE SHOOTER RESPONSE OFFICER.

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After his encounter in the Land Between the Lakes, Mr. Groves has spent the last thirty (30) years actively investigating and interviewing experiencers, with now over 300 witnesses to strange encounters and/or attacks in the area. Mr. Groves also has researched Bigfoot and Dogman sightings in the Smokeys and Appalachian Mountains of both Kentucky and Tennessee. Mr. Groves never intended to go public with his encounter, but has since become so overwhelmed by the missing person reports in the Land Between the Lakes and other National Parks that it is now his goal to save as many people and, hopefully, give answers to the families whom wish for closure due to their loved ones becoming missing in such fashion.

Guest Speaker - Darrell Denton

Speaking on the subject of Bigfoot and other cryptid hominids

Admin of the online Cryptid Community Bigfoot Believers and Other Creatures.

While growing up in Tennessee Mr. Denton had hunted his Grandfathers Cannon County farm all of his life, but in November of 1992 his life would be changed for ever, when while 25 feet up in a Deer Stand Mr. Denton saw a "Monster" in the woods. This first encounter scared Mr. Denton like he’d never known before, and he didn’t go into the woods for many years after. Then approximately 7 years after that encounter, Mr. Denton had his secound encounter while fishing on the Cumberland River with a different type of creature. This Creature was unexpected but not aggressive like the first. Since then Mr. Denton has researched, and experienced and had many encounters and sightings both good and bad with the Forest People, Bigfoot and in the last 5 years, Dogman. Mr. Denton's Research team consist of some of his closest friends, Martin Groves, Barton Nunnelly, and now Mr. Ron Morehead, as well as still researching a certain area with his good friend Billy Howell. After nearly 32 years Mr. Denton has seen and experienced things that he would never have believed could exist in our woods and National and Federal Parks. Mr. Denton knows for a fact, there are MONSTERS in Tennessee.

Guest Speaker - Dewey Edwards

Speaking on the subject of UFOs/UAPs!

Author of the books, "Execution of Murder", "Lights Out! Trials and Tribulations", "Vigilante Justice", "A Ridge Too Far", "Something Wicked! Ghostly Whispers", "Season of the Critters", "Eye in the Sky", and his most recent, "12 o’clock High", and has ghost-written and published three other books as well.

Born and raised in Robertson County Tennessee
Married to childhood sweetheart Deloris for 52 years
Three daughters, five grandchildren

Paranormal Investigator 40+ years and founder of Cryptids and Critters Paranormal.

His hobbies include ghost hunting, cryptid and paranormal research and investigations, handguns, fishing, genealogy, old cemetery documentation & restoration, and writing historical newspaper and magazine articles.

Guest Speaker - K. A. Shaffer

Speaking on the subject of Ghosts, Spirits and the Paranormal

Author of the book, "The Paranormal Pages"

Founder and Director, K2 Paranormal Research since 2010

Founder and Researcher, Historical Hunters since 2000

Producer and Host, The Cemetery Files Podcast since June 2023

Host, Paranormal Triangle Podcast since December 2023

Info@K2PN.com

Deep in the book stacks of the local library is where Kelly’s love of the paranormal developed. She read every book on Sasquatch, ghosts, and UFOs she could get into her hands. By the time she reached the fiction section and discovered Nancy Drew, she was hooked. Her father spurred her continued fascination with the paranormal by taking her out to look for UFOs under the guise of stargazing in the backyard.

Over the years, her interest in the paranormal was put to the test living in three haunted houses. She became a weekend paranormal researcher in 2010 after going on her first public
ghost hunt with Amy Bruni (Ghost Hunters) at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma, California.

At the beginning of 2018, Kelly formed K2 Paranormal Research and became a full-time paranormal researcher with a focus on historic hauntings. This venture perfectly blended her passions for history and the paranormal. In her work as a historical haunting researcher, Kelly attempts to connect paranormal activity to a historic event or the people associated with a property.

In 2023, Kelly ventured back into her first passion, storytelling, and began to write about her adventures in the paranormal world for a book entitled, “The Paranormal Pages.”

Two of the stories can be found in the February-March Nationwide and International and the March California editions of “American Paranormal Magazine.” The book is in final edits with a planned release on February 11, 2024.

In 2023, Kelly became the co-host of two podcasts, “The Cemetery Files,” with renown podcaster, Jay D. Hill, and “Paranormal Triangle,” with Jay and their paranormal colleague, David Taylor. Both podcasts center around paranormal themes.

In 2024, Jay and Kelly will join forces with a newly formed non-profit focused on the identification and rescue of at-risk historic locations. Details to be released in the spring of 2024.

Kelly lives in Portland, Tennessee with her dog, Diamond, in a (somewhat) ghost-free house. When she’s not researching, ghost hunting, or writing, she’s planning her next adventure.

On the weekends, you can find her riding the backroads of Tennessee on “Freedom,” her 2015 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail Classic.

Guest Speaker - Randy "Evil H" Hutchings

Speaking on the subject of local Bigfoot sightings and encounters

Founder and lead-investigator of Fortean TN

Co-founder and Event Director of the Tennessee Wildman and Cryptid Con 2023-2024

Randy Hutchings was born and raised in the shadow of the region of the Appalachians known as the Cumberland Plateau, and as a child found himself often hiking and camping it's many varied gulfs and hollows. It was during such a trip to a local abandoned quarry that he and his cousin both witnessed having a boulder thrown at them from some distance, all the while whatever was responsible bellowed and yelled like "something between an angry Bull and a Howler Monkey". This began a trek into Cryptozoology that he never really meant to find himself on, becoming a boots-on-the-ground field investigator for several Bigfoot research groups such as the BFRO (Bigfoot Field Research Organization), GCBRO (Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization), SRI (Sasquatch Research Initiative) and several others, before finally founding Fortean TN in 2015 - a field investigative group that researches fringe topics within the state of Tennessee, be it Bigfoot and other Cryptid sightings, Paranormal experiences such as hauntings, UFO/UAP sightings and encounters as well as "forbidden archeology" within the state.

He is the author of two upcoming books, "Bear Mountain Bigfoot" and "Tennessee Wildman and other Cryptids of the Cumberlands".

He is married to Nova Cant and has four children and still resides within the shadow of the Cumberland Plateau, in his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee.

Guest Speaker - Catman "Gato" Hero

Speaking on the subect of local Bigfoot sightings and Tennessee Pygmies.

Co-Founder and Field Investigator for Fortean TN

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Catman Hero moved to Tennessee in 1996, where he's resided in McMinnville ever since. Catman's unique name is taken from his involvement with the RLSH community (Real Life Super Heroes, or RLSH for short, is a term coined by the news media for a phenomenon where individuals take on personas partially inspired by the fictional superheroes portrayed in various media - such as in comic books, television shows, and movies - in the real world in an effort to make the world a better place through community advocacy and social networking) for over eighteen (18) years, working primarily within Middle Tennessee during that time.

It was during the Summer of 2016 that Catman was initiated into the Cryptozoological world, when he and two other witnesses experienced "something with chocolate brown hair all over it" seemingly engaging in a "peek-a-boo" fashion from between several downed trees. This instance cumulated quickly into Catman witnessing first hand as this creature "spider-crawled" backwards away from him. Ever since, Catman has been steadily involving himself more and more with interviewing experiencers and tracking down eyewitnesses to cryptid occurrances all over the state of Tennessee.

The Venue - Milner Recreation Center

The newly renovated Milner Recreation Center, in McMinnville TN, will be the site of the second annual Tennessee Wildman and Cryptid Con.

McMinnville is centrally located between Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, making it the perfect location to draw attendants from all three regions.

The 5,431 Square Feet Banquet Hall will host our Guest Speakers during their talks on all things Bigfoot and Cryptid related with the capacity of seating over 400!

The expansive Gymnasium will host our Vendor Hall, allowing vendors plenty of space to showcase their various crafts and specialty wares!

Each vendor space is 10ft by 10ft and will come with one table and two (2) chairs.

Tennessee Wildman and Cryptid Con 2024 Producers - Houston and Kala Merriman.

Co-Founder and Field Investigator for Fortean TN

Co-Founder and Producer of the Tennessee Wildman and Cryptid Con 2023-2024

Houston was born and raised in McMinnville, TN, and grew up loving the natural wonders that his home state of Tennessee provided in abundance. Over the years of deep woods hiking, he heard stories from fellow outdoorsmen, always similar to one another, of people encountering hairy creatures that supposedly didn't exist. Finally, on one of his first outings as a field investigator with Fortean TN, Houston came face-to-face with a 3/4 facial imprint of a suspected Bigfoot on a glass door, 7 1/2 feet off the ground, which sent him down a rabbit hole of investigations into local sightings of cryptid wildmen - some accounts going back decades.