Most everywhere they travel, Scot and Hannah Violette draw attention. Whitney has been no different for the leaders of Squatch America, a national bigfoot research group, who recently had the town buzzing with the sight of their truck. After an enlightening interview with them last week, our eyes, too, have been scanning the trees.
They travel the country in an RV, and though home-base for the time being is South Dakota, you’ll rarely find them there. This time around, the Violettes are down from Oregon; they first came to Texas in 2021 and quickly fell in love with it.
Scot Violette got his degree in anthropology after serving in the Army. His expertise is in Native American culture, more specifically petroglyphs and pictographs. After working with tribes all over the nation, Scot noticed that every single one had some manner of bigfoot legend. This got him interested.
Scot collected stories from tribal elders and began to look at the evidence. Anatomically correct footprints among other things inspired him to set out on this journey, doing as the group’s motto says: “Investigating the Unexplained – Not Explaining the Uninvestigated.”
It was 2014 when Scot decided to start a website, and it wasn’t long before reports of sasquatch started flooding in. He began to look into these reports, and after a while of putting pins in maps noticed consistent patterns of movement. Four years later, in 2018, Scot saw bigfoot with his own eyes. An adult and a juvenile, looking straight at him through the trees. He snapped a picture, and it was this event that encouraged Scot and his wife Hannah to begin “squatching” full time.
Since leaving their jobs as schoolteachers, selling their house and hitting the road, Scot and Hannah have been through more states than they haven’t.
Though hesitant to make any concrete statements, Scot told us he theorizes that bigfoot is simply another species of hominid — one that has been living and hiding in American forests for thousands of years.
The Violettes are well aware of how outlandish the prospect of sasquatch may seem. They themselves were non-believers at one time.
When asked what they had to say to the skeptics, Hannah’s response was immediate: “Skepticism is important!”
Hearkening back to Squatch America’s motto, Scot and Hannah’s efforts are investigative in nature. Their own experiences have them convinced that bigfoot does indeed exist, and they treat their investigations with due seriousness; going so far as to cease their involvement in television when it became clear that the focus of a particular show they had been part of had become more about entertainment than hunting for the truth.
For those wishing to see for themselves whether bigfoot exists, the Violettes’ first piece of advice is to just get out there. As Hannah told us, “Be willing to go off the beaten path.” Scot then chimed in, advising prospective bigfoot hunters to collect all the evidence they can.
“Anything you see, take pictures.” Scot also offers the personal assistance of Squatch America: “We’ve seen a lot of stuff in 25 years, so we can help you out.”
They also shared some of their knowledge, such as an apparent four-year migratory cycle.
“Looking at the dates, it’s weird, but we’ve figured out over the years a four-year cycle. They’ll be in an area, then they’ll be gone, and four years later they’re back in that area,” said Scot. Hannah stated that “They’re far more attuned to nature than we are. When you’re looking at the reports, think about what the weather was like, look at the food sources; there’s some common sense to this.”
One thing’s for sure: Scot and Hannah have gone all in. They could live comfortably out of nothing but their bright red rig, outfitted with infrared cameras all around for three weeks; uncomfortably for months.
Squatch America also is partnered with Fallen Outdoors, an initiative which organizes outdoor adventures for veterans.
Between the nests made of trees that were broken, twisted, snapped or even pulled right out of the ground, not cut; the footprints; pictures and first-hand sightings, Scot and Hannah seem to be hot on bigfoot’s trail. We are glad to have been Squatch America’s latest stop in their search for the truth.
As the interview was coming to an end, we asked the Violettes if they had any closing words. Hannah was quick to mention their website, squatchamerica.com, along with their wider online presence on YouTube and Facebook one more time; and with a smile on his face, Scot simply had to say: “They’re out there, folks. They’re out there.”
The Lakelander 