Jon-Erik Beckjord

Jon-Erik Beckjord (April 26, 1939 – June 22, 2008) was an American paranormal investigator, photographer, and cryptozoologist interested in UFOs, crop circles, the Loch Ness Monster, and Bigfoot. Throughout his life, he owned three separate, small-scale museums that featured displays, mostly photographs, of alleged UFO, Nessie, and Bigfoot sightings. He made guest appearances on national radio and television shows, but was criticized by skeptics and fellow cryptozoologists alike for not providing substantive evidence to back up his claims of the existence of paranormal beings.

Personal life Born Cedric Jon Beckjord in Duluth, Minnesota, he was the son of Col. Philip Beckjord, a World War II army physician, and Margaret (née McGilvry) Beckjord. He had three siblings: Ross, Peter, and Pam.

Education Beckjord attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado for two years. at Tulane University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1961.

He studied law for one year at Boalt Hall at University of California, Berkeley.

Career After graduation, Beckjord became a city planner in the Bay area, but wearied of a traditional job and decided to hunt for Bigfoot instead.

In 1983, Beckjord, then director of the Crypto Zoological Society, spent a week in Scotland videotaping what he believed were three monsters in Loch Ness. The museum had its start on October 31, 1986, when he opened his home to visitors to see his collection.

On October 31, 1996, Halloween, Beckjord opened the in San Francisco, California, which featured crop circles. He charged a nominal entrance fee ($3 for adults; $2 for children), but the museum's closing, reportedly, was "due to lack of any substantial evidence."

Cryptozoology Jon-Erik Beckjord stands with a poster he made to demonstrate Bigfoot's size. Beckjord defined cryptozoology as "the search for mysterious creatures." While he insisted that the exact location not be revealed to the public, Beckjord did agree to take skeptic Robert Sheaffer on a five-day expedition there in 1999. It was only after Sheaffer left the site, having seen nothing unusual, that Beckjord reported manifestations of Bigfoot. Along with the photographs of leaves and shadows Beckjord believed showed images of Bigfoot,

Beckjord explained away the need for physical evidence, such as hair, blood and bones, to prove the existence of Bigfoot by arguing that the creature is an "inter-dimensional shape-shifter that can warp in and out of physical reality."

Loch Ness Monster To Beckjord, the Loch Ness monster (Nessie) was a space alien pet left on Earth in a form of energy that could interact with human beings. He described Nessie as a cat-like faced creature, 15–30 feet long, 7–10 feet thick with a body that "looks like a cross between Halley's Comet and the Concorde jet." Beckjord admitted that the images might not be "exactly and positively" Nessie, but asserted that "90 percent of the people who have viewed the films believe the images are alive."

UFOlogy Beckjord believed in space alien visitations to Earth, crop circles and creative forces that sculpted rock, lava and sand on Mars to resemble people on Earth like Ted Kennedy, Tammy Faye Bakker and others. He tried to sell his Kennedy-on-Mars photos, which Beckjord discovered while analyzing NASA satellite photos of the planet,

Beckjord took images of what he described as three "blobs-of-light" UFOs and witnessed two instances of unexplained light over Malibu and Sepulveda Pass, respectively. Beckjord believed in a government cover up of the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence and advocated making that information available to the general public.

Beckjord maintained that "With the card-carrying skeptics, we will never win. There are more people who have seen UFOs than voted for President Clinton."