Scott Herriott

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Scott Herriott

Scott Herriott at CES
Born Los Angeles, California
Occupation Documentarian
Known for Co-hosting Internet Tonight
Website
Walk the Pacific Coast Trail This Exit Only

Scott "Squatch[1]" Herriott (born in Los Angeles, California)[2] is an American documentarian, comedian, and Bigfoot hunter.[3]

He obtained a degree in religious studies at Cal State Northridge and studied at the University of Leeds in England.[4]

He won a regional Emmy[5] for his hosting duties on Internet Tonight on ZDTV (later known as TechTV, now known as G4). and also was a contributor on The Screen Savers and Unscrewed with Martin Sargent. He was also a contributor on NewsNight with Aaron Brown and hosted Walt Disney World Inside Out.[2][6]

In 2006, he went on his third journey on the Pacific Crest Trail, on which he confesses he is "slightly obsessed."[1][7]

Contents

[edit] Bigfoot

Scott’s fascination with Bigfoot started when he was a little child - seeing parts of the Patterson film on television, hearing of sightings, and receiving Year of the Sasquatch by John Green from his father.[8] But it was not until 1986 that he became active in Bigfoot research, when he saw a CNN piece on a possible Bigfoot sighting. Within a year he went to the same area to conduct his own search and has been hooked ever since.[9] In his research he has been involved in the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) and says that stand-up comedy is the "worst profession if you’re interested in Bigfoot and want people to take you seriously."[3] He claims to have had at least one encounter with a Bigfoot and has made two documentaries on the phenomena. However, he is 85% sure that the Patterson-Gimlin film is fake.[8]

His alleged encounter occurred in the fall of 1992 after he heard of a sighting by two kids at the mouth of the Klamath River. He followed up this sighting by interviewing the two, trying to trip them up, and found their story to be credible. Then, with the father of one of the two kids, he made a 2 hour trek up the hill of the sighting. Near a redwood at the top, the hill started to flatten and Scott noticed a darkness near a log. That is where he saw two brown eyes that soon started to sway. At this point, the father, Daryl, started to video tape the phenomena. When the two tried to move in closer, the eyes dilated and a reddish glow appeared. The creature, though, remained stationary and at this point the two split up to try to get the creature to move. Daryl quickly turned back as he saw a side-step with his peripheral vision and recorded for about 29 seconds what he saw but stopped out of fear as he started to cry. The next day they returned to the area and found a 25 by 15 foot matted area that was similar to a gorilla’s nest.[8][9][10]

[edit] TechTV

Scott co-hosted Internet Tonght
Scott co-hosted Internet Tonght

For most of his tenure at TechTV, Scott co-hosted Internet Tonight with Michaela Pereira lending his unique sense of humor to the show. On the show, his signature was to yell "The Big List" - a list of the links from the day's show. It won multiple Northern California Area Emmys and in particular Scott won for his hosting duties.[5][11][12] By the end of 2000, Internet Tonight was slated to be cancelled under the premise that its type of programming would be incorporated into the new TechLive block. The show continued to air but only in reruns until it was finally pulled from the lineup in the fall of 2001.[13][14] After Internet Tonight was cancelled, Scott was a contributor for The Screen Savers, especially the House Call segment, Call for Help, and Unscrewed with Martin Sargent and continued to work for the network until 2002. In 2001, the reduced role at TechTV allowed him to contribute to CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown but not kept on because they "[did not] have the money."[15]

[edit] Documentaries

PCT trail overview from Forest Service brochure
PCT trail overview from Forest Service brochure

[edit] This Exit Only

This Exit Only is an hour long documentary about 17 unique places in America. Scott visits one of a kind places such as Fridgehenge, a replica of Stonehenge but build out of refrigerators and a castle being built by a conspiracy theorist.

[edit] Walk, Still Walking, and Even More Walking

Walk is Scott’s first documentary about the 2,655 mile long Pacific Crest Trail. He had no desire to hike the entire trail so instead he hiked about 50 miles while interviewing over 100 hikers attempting the journey.[7]

  • Official Selection - Greenwich Film Festival 2004
  • Official Selection - Malibu Film Festival 2004
  • Official Selection - Olympia Film Festival 2004

Still Walking is Scott’s follow up to Walk. He shot the documentary in 2005 and interviewed over 100 thru-hikers. He walks more on the trail and waits at strategic spots to do follow up interviews with hikers from the first documentary.[7]

Even More Walking is the third documentary that Scott produced about the Pacific Crest Trail. In 2006, Scott attempted to walk 1,000 miles of the trail while interviewing new thru-hikers while catching up with hikers featured in the previous two films.[7]

[edit] Journey Toward Squatchdom and Squatching

Journey Toward Squatchdom is a mockumentary about the Bigfoot phenomenon. He pokes fun at people who claim to have 14 Bigfoot sightings and find skeletons on every Bigfoot hunt.

Squatching is a slightly more serious take on Bigfoot as he journeys with Ed Marques (The Surf Guru on Internet Tonight). He uses state-of-the-art electronic monitoring equipment to try to capture video of Bigfoot. Also included is video from his 1992 supposed encounter with Bigfoot.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Butler, Bob. Trailcast 24 - Squatch - PCT Documentaries TrailCast - Podcasting on foot Podcast accessed on 2006-08-16
  2. ^ a b Meet the Filmmaker. This Exit Only, a Film by Scott Herriott. Retrieved on 2006-08-23. “A Documentary by Scott Herriott about 17 places in America that are truly one-of-a-kind...and obviously in need of some visitors.”
  3. ^ a b Buchel, Chris (December 2002). "The Bigfoot Hunter". The Wave Magazine 2 (25). 
  4. ^ G4 - Feature - Scott Herriott. TechTV Vault. G4 (1998-10-28). Retrieved on 2006-08-23.
  5. ^ a b NATAS/Norcal Chapter - Emmy Winners-2000. Emmy Recipients. NATAS/Norcal Chapter. Retrieved on 2006-08-23.
  6. ^ G4 - Feature - Scott Herriott. TechTV Vault. G4 (1998-03-31). Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  7. ^ a b c d Herriott, Scott (2006-03-16). Squatch's 2006 Pacific Crest Trail Journal. Trail Journals 2006. Trail Journals. “Awesome day of hiking...breezy with billowy clouds to cut the sun and, of course, the San Felipe Hills.”
  8. ^ a b c Brown, Brian. BIPcast 2: Scott Herriott Bigfoot Information Project Podcast accessed on 2006-08-16
  9. ^ a b Hovey, Melissa M.; Herriott, Scott (2006-07-12). Men in Bigfoot Research, Scott Herriott. The Search for Bigfoot. Retrieved on 2006-10-02. “Articles and Information on Researchers and the Search for an Undocumented North American Primate known as Bigfoot/Sasquatch”
  10. ^ Idle, Eric and Rocca, Mo. Interview with Scott Herriott Best Friends Animal Society - Best Friend Radio Podcast accessed on 2006-10-02
  11. ^ NATAS/Norcal Chapter - Emmy Winners-1999. Emmy Recipients. NATAS/Norcal Chapter. Retrieved on 2006-08-23.
  12. ^ G4 - Feature - TechTV Receives Five Northern California Emmy Awards. TechTV Vault. G4 (2000-05-22). Retrieved on 2006-10-05. “ZDTV announced today that it received five Emmy awards at the 29th Annual Northern California Area Emmy Awards Ceremony Saturday evening.”
  13. ^ The Guru (2000-12-08). Internet Tonight Dies-TechTV Dies. Editorial News. TechTV Fanatics. Archived from the original on 2001-04-06. Retrieved on 2006-10-12. “The type of information presented in Internet Tonight will be incorporated into Tech Live, as well as new and upgraded programming on our network.”
  14. ^ Scott Herriott (2001-10-01). That's All, Folks. TechTV. Archived from the original on 2001-11-15. Retrieved on 2006-10-12. “'Internet Tonight' may be no more, but we'll always have the memories. And the scars.”
  15. ^ Laporte, Leo (2001-12-23). Help Scott Get A Job. The Laporte Reporte. Archived from the original on 2005-02-15. Retrieved on 2006-10-03. “We'd like to hire Scott, but the big boys say we don't have the money.”

[edit] External links