Most were believers, but skeptics also were represented at a daylong conference held Saturday at Jefferson High School. They weren't attending a church conference or political rally. They were among the 200-plus participants at the fourth annual Texas Bigfoot Conference. Craig Woolheater of Dallas, group director and co-founder of Texas Bigfoot Research Center, isn't offended that there are people who question the existence of Bigfoot — or sasquatch — a huge, hairy, humanlike creature. Everyone who reports a sighting isn't truthful, Woolheater said. That's the reason the first instinct is to be skeptical "until you talk to them and find out exactly what they saw." Woolheater is a believer. He reported a sighting near Alexandria, La., in 1994. He said the conference held Saturday was a gathering for Bigfoot enthusiasts, researchers and the curious. Eric Jusino of Corsicana has been a believer since about 5:40 p.m. on a rainy day in December 2002.

Before that day, Jusino said he wasn't even skeptical or curious. And it's not what he saw that day that had such an effect on him. It's what he heard. While deer hunting near Streetman in Freestone County, Jusino said he was sitting near a creek when he heard a "tremendous scream, extremely loud ... a scream like nothing I had ever heard." Then he heard something "crashing through the woods running toward me, like a rhino going through the brush."

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