Tennessee Wildman and Cryptid Con 2025

Join us, Saturday, August 16th 2025 for a day of Guest Speakers and Experiencers on many varied cryptid topics - ranging from Bigfoot to Dogman to UFOs and more, as well as our expansive Vendor Hall where you'll be able to find all the Bigfoot and Cryptid related merchandise for your wants and needs!
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Across the Volunteer State, a myriad of local and regional names stand for Bigfoot-like creatures seen and encountered just outside local townships and communities. From the Flintville Monster to the White Screamer of White Bluff, to "Old Green Eyes" of Lookout Mountain and the Screaming Jacks of the Cumberland Plateau - reports of hairy Wildmen have remained consistent across the ages.

Whether captured in the tall tales of the European frontiersmen whom first entered it's remote foothills and hollows or the matter of fact re-tellings of the Indigenous peoples whom once lived here along side them, within Tennessee's wooded, rural deep country, legends not only walk and wail, they leave imprints everywhere - Upon the wild grounds on which they tread and in the lives of those that encounter them, the communities they haunt and the mythic stories and legends they leave echo across the state's history.

From the Smoky Mountains in the east to the karst-ridden Cumberland Mountains of Middle Tennessee, and from the river and lake bottoms of the Tennessee basin to the sprawling floodplains along the Mississippi river at our western edge, the Volunteer State has always held a deep history marked with the mysterious, the extraordinary, the paranormal and the bizarre.

Most infamous of Tennessee's fortean folklores is quite likely the Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee - But did you know that a 6ft 5inch hair-covered Wildman was tracked, hunted down and captured in Middle Tennessee, near Sparta, in the late 1800's?

Have you ever heard of the "Tennessee Pygmies" purportedly discovered throughout the nineteenth century, with thousands of them seemingly buried en-mass with their remains interned in acres-large slate-box graveyards along the western edge of the Cumberland Mountains? Were you aware that the local indigenous tribes of the region all accepted their existence quite matter of factly and both respected and feared them?

Were you aware that one of America's first reported cryptids, the "Cheeklaceela" described as a 4 foot tall "Dragon", was made by multiple military soldiers serving during the Nickajack Expedition of 1794, a few miles northeast of Cookeville, Tennessee?

Did you know that the region west of Nashville, near Dickson, Burns and White Bluff are legendary for sightings and encounters with the infamous "Werewolf" of Burns/Montgomery Bell? Did you know those legends stem from an encounter two brothers had that was reported in the regional papers of the time, in an area that's now within the state park itself, that purportedly ended in the death of one of the brothers via the attack from a large, hairy man-thing?

The great state of Tennessee has a long and lengthy history with cryptozoology and strange phenomenon. So let's explore some of it with the Researchers, Field Investigators and Experiencers that are out looking for these mysterious phenomenon, shall we?

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Guest Speaker: M.K. Davis

Speaking on the subject of Bigfoot and the Patterson/Gimlin film!

For the last 29 years has been researching the subject of the Sasquatch.
M.K.'s quest began quietly with his interest in astro-photography where he gained experience with film and how to photograph the very faint objects in the heavens. One day, all those years ago, M.K. saw two very high quality frames from the famous Patterson Bigfoot film and they were nothing like what was commonly shown on television and the movie theaters.
M.K. began an inquiry into this famous piece of cinema that has taken him around the country until he had obtained the highest quality frames from the film. From there he reprocessed the frames and removed all hand motion to produce the clearest and most stable version of the film to date.
This led to a wider pursuit in search of the answers such as "What is the nature of the Sasquatch?" and "What is the importance of the Sasquatch and how does it relate to each of us?"
M.K. has travelled to and hiked many of the major wilderness areas in his quest for the answers to such questions. From Bluff Creek in Northern California to the Jarbidge Wilderness in Northern Nevada and down to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks in the Mojave desert, Texas hill country, Louisiana swamps, The Everglades, and most everywhere in between, M.K. has been there.
M.K.Davis has been married to Debbie Davis for 46 years and they have four children and five grandchildren along with their dog Buddy and cat Neffi. M.K. has enjoyed a long career in the Chemical industry and now devotes his spare time to researching the unexplained.
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Guest Speaker: Chester Moore

Speaking on the subject of the dangers of the Outdoors!

Author of 15 books including the recently released expanded edition of ".

is an award-winning wildlife journalist, conservationist and investigator.

He is the host of , a podcast that investigates true crime, strange encounters and human-wildlife conflict in the great outdoors as well as the wildlife investigative podcast Higher Calling Wildlife®.

He has been seen on many wildlife television programs including Animal Planet’s “Animal X”, Nat Geo’s “When Sharks Attack” and various programs on Discovery, The Travel Channel, The Outdoors Channel and Destination America.

He and his wife Lisa are children’s advocates that are founders of the that grants wildlife encounters for children with a critical illness, traumatic loss and other life struggles.

He contributes to dozens of magazines and web platforms, is Editor-In-Chief of and produces weekly content on his blog at highercalling.net.

His favorite place to be is in the woods or on the water, often with a fly rod in hand and usually in the company of family and friends.

Host "Moore Outdoors" Newstalk AM 560 KLVI
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Guest Speaker - Darrell Denton

Speaking on the subject of Bigfoot and other cryptid hominids

Admin of the online Cryptid Community .

While growing up in Tennessee Mr. Denton had hunted his Grandfathers Cannon County farm all of his life, but in November of 1992 his life would be changed for ever, when while 25 feet up in a Deer Stand Mr. Denton saw a "Monster" in the woods. This first encounter scared Mr. Denton like he’d never known before, and he didn’t go into the woods for many years after. Then approximately 7 years after that encounter, Mr. Denton had his secound encounter while fishing on the Cumberland River with a different type of creature. This Creature was unexpected but not aggressive like the first. Since then Mr. Denton has researched, and experienced and had many encounters and sightings both good and bad with the Forest People, Bigfoot and in the last 5 years, Dogman. Mr. Denton's Research team consist of some of his closest friends, Martin Groves, Barton Nunnelly, and now Mr. Ron Morehead, as well as still researching a certain area with his good friend Billy Howell. After nearly 32 years Mr. Denton has seen and experienced things that he would never have believed could exist in our woods and National and Federal Parks. Mr. Denton knows for a fact, there are MONSTERS in Tennessee.
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Guest Speaker: Martin Groves

Speaking on the subject of Dogman!

Author of the books and "the Devil's Backbone".

As seen in the documentary "Cryptic Expeditions: The Land Between the Lakes".

A retired Law Enforcement Officer with 32 years of active service, Mr. Martin Groves was certified in the following job skills

BASIC AND ADVANCED CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS

ADVANCE CRIME SCENE TECHNICIAN /DNA EVIDENCE

ADVANCED FINGERPRINT PATENT/LATENT / DNA EXPERT

ADVANCED COMBAT TRACKING IN URBAN/RURAL AREAS- MAN OR ANIMAL

CIRT TEAM-CRITICAL INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAM / HOSTAGE RESCUE

ADVANCED ACTIVE SHOOTER RESPONSE OFFICER.

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After his encounter in the Land Between the Lakes, Mr. Groves has spent the last thirty (30) years actively investigating and interviewing experiencers, with now over 300 witnesses to strange encounters and/or attacks in the area. Mr. Groves also has researched Bigfoot and Dogman sightings in the Smokeys and Appalachian Mountains of both Kentucky and Tennessee. Mr. Groves never intended to go public with his encounter, but has since become so overwhelmed by the missing person reports in the Land Between the Lakes and other National Parks that it is now his goal to save as many people and, hopefully, give answers to the families whom wish for closure due to their loved ones becoming missing in such fashion.

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Guest Speaker: Jessi and Joe Doyle of Hellbent Holler

Speaking on the subject of Paranormal field investigations!

Hailing from The Carolinas, is a two person research team that investigates all manners of High Strangeness in the Southern Appalachians. From the forests of the Land Between the Lakes to the mountains of North Georgia, Hellbent Holler takes a tech-driven, yet unconventional approach to exploring mysterious phenomena. The duo has researched Sasquatch, Dogman, anomalous lights, and wilderness paranormal activity.

Hellbent Holler consists of Joe Doyle, who has spent the last two decades looking into the existence of Bigfoot in the southern states, and Jessi Doyle, a longtime researcher of the paranormal and occult. The two members combine (and sometimes contrast) their research methods and philosophies on various phenomena to create a unique and holistic approach to their search for answers.

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Guest Speaker: R. Scott Nelson

Speaking on the subject of Bigfoot Language in the Sierra Sounds/Berry-Moorehead recordings.

R Scott Nelson, as one of few two-time graduates of the Defense Language Institute, served 20 years in the US Navy as a Cryptologic Technician Interpreter, a “Crypto-Linguist” in Russian, Spanish and Persian, during which time he conducted the Collection, Transcription and Analysis of hundreds of hours of the human voice on tape. After retiring from the Navy, Scott spent 20 years teaching at Wentworth Military College, and another three years at Missouri Military Academy as Chair of the Philosophy and Language Department.
Peripheral to his teaching career, in 2008, Scott stumbled upon the “Sierra Sounds”, which he now calls “The Berry/Morehead Tapes” in which he recognized that the creatures were speaking a complex Human-like Language

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