OK, OK so everyone is tired of the forest fire map. I get it already.
So I've been doing some research and I need a little help.
I'm currently reading a book that Sandy gave me for Christmas.

It's interesting but kind of dry, basically a textbook written by a primate researcher at Idaho State University.
As some of you might imagine it brings up a lot of childhood memories. For those that don't know in the early 1970s I spent many months sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor next to my parents bed. We lived on the very edge of Iowa City (there was a corn field abutting our back yard) and there was kind of a fad related to the paranormal. Bigfoot in particular captured my imagination/attention and also scared the holy crap out of me. I was pretty sure that Bigfoot could hide all day long in a cornfield.
So I've been thinking about that time a lot and trying to remember better what was going on. One thing I remember pretty well is that my Mom made me a tape of the song Whistle A Happy Tune for me to go to sleep by. I think it was sung by Julie Andrews, it appears that it was from The King And I. If I knew a way, I'd post a recording of it here for you to listen to. I suspect I'd get sent to copyright prison for that though.
Another thing I seem to remember is a commercial for some program or movie about bigfoot that scared me a lot. The problem is I was very young and over the years many people have told me stories about this, so it's hard for me to know what is really a memory and what has been imprinted in my brain from other people reminiscing. So I'm trying to figure out what this show was that scared me so bad so I can watch it and see how hilarious it it now that I'm an adult. Hopefully this won't end up with me in a mental hospital. I was really scared of bigfoot.
One vivid image from the commercial I have is an exerpt from the Patterson Gimlin film which is this:

That's Arthur C. Clarke at the end of that clip. The following address will get you to a stabilized version of the clip if you're interested.
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/files/mk_davis_pgf.gif
This film from 1967 is a much discussed piece of evidence in the book I'm reading. I'll summarize the discussion by saying that a lot of people like to say this is obviously a guy in a gorilla costume but there's not really evidence of that in the film. If you think about what Hollywood special effects were like in the late '60s it's hard to imagine a couple of cowboys making something that doesn't look hilariously fake. Think of the original Planet of the Apes and watch the stabilized version and let me know which seems more realistic.
Another thing I remember is a scene where this big shadow moves across a window behind a woman watching TV. I'm pretty sure this scene is from a movie called Mysterious Monsters which came out in 1976. I found a promotion for it on Youtube but I can't embed it here because that function has been disabled for this particular clip, but here's the address for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxkrgOrqhwQ
It's worth the extra effort to check it out just to see what movie previews were like in the '70s if nothing else. The scene in question starts at 1:39. The first time I watched this the other night my blood ran cold when I saw the outside view of that house before it cuts to the lady inside watching TV. I didn't have a specific memory of seeing that house before but as soon I saw it I knew what was coming up.
So anyway at the beginning of this long ramble I said I needed some help. What I'd like to know from anyone who can remember the early '70 (which for a variety of reasons might not be all that many people) is how old was I when all this was going on? I was 8 in 1976 when Mysterious Monsters came out. Is that when I was sleeping in the Charlie Brown sleeping bag next to my parents bed? I would've guessed I was younger than that. I know I was over it when we moved to the Court St. house and that was also in 1976.
There's lots of other media on this topic from that era so it's possible that there was other stuff prior to Mysterious Monsters that had me worried. Is there anything specific that you remember that might help me exorcize this childhood trauma?