Recently I was was given an advance copy of the Finding Jay documentary to review. But then I thought since I found him, I’d steal a little more time for an interview as well. And steal is what I had to do because he’s a busy man. Busy family life, full time job, runs own production company; Chum Bucket Studios and continuing his work and investigating sightings inside the Kettle Moraine . So as I always am when someone can squeeze me in, I’m thankful for the time…
So here it is, a Q&A with Jay…
Q.What prompted your interest in the paranormal?
A.We’ll have to go way back to answer this one. I think it was my fascination with Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The old Creature Features were simply the best. Of course seeing The movie ‘Monster Mysteries’ really peaked my interest with Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti. Bottom line anything supernatural peeked my interest.
Q. What was your first interest in the paranormal field and why?
A. Had to be in 1977 when my brothers, sister , mom and I witnessed the most amazing display of a well lit object in the dark sky. It moved like nothing we’ve ever seen before in our lives. Of course that made me think this was an alien craft with extraterrestrial life on it. Oh the imagination of a 10 year old as my mind raced trying to figure out what this UFO was. So throughout my life I have always looked up in the sky and wanted to see another UFO. By doing so I’ve actually seen six different UFOs in my lifetime.
Q. What was your first personal paranormal experience?
A. The craziest thing that has happened to me was when I was a young boy. I was over at my friend’s house next-door, and we were playing with Star Wars figures in his bedroom. We were up on the ledge by his window of his bedroom. It was a beautiful sunny day in the afternoon. All of a sudden everything went black for about four seconds. The odd thing about this is that my friend asked me “did the lights just go out?” How could two little kids experience a black out at the same time?
Q. Who were your role models in this field and why?
A. My two role models in the world of crypto zoology has always been Linda Godfrey and Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum. They both look at everything scientifically and do their due diligence in trying to prove or disprove what is out there . Yet they have an open mind about the unknown and undiscovered.
Pictured here with Linda Godfrey out on an investigation.
Q. What made you decide to pursue this field and start WPI Hunts the Truth?
A. After having a honeymoon on the East Coast, my wife Katie and I ended up in Salem Massachusetts. We went on a ghost tour that really peaked my interest. So when we returned to Wisconsin we thought we would begin our own investigation team and try to find the truth. Because at this time the ghost phenomenon was just the beginning on TV. Our group investigated cemeteries and in abandoned buildings reported to have paranormal activities.
Q. You started out focusing on hauntings, what types of paranormal experiences did you witness if at all?
A. There was this one investigation in Rockton Illinois. It was about three am and I was in the basement of this person‘s home we were investigating. All of a sudden this coldness surrounded my entire body. I felt like I was in some sort of electric field. All the hair on my body stood up like the redwood trees in CA. The coldness did eventually go away and I wasn’t frightened at any time during this encounter, but it was truly bizarre.
Q. Any particular call or investigation that stands out to you?
A. We investigated the Ohio State reformatory in Mansfield Ohio. We were walking through the guard’s room. We heard what sounded like old jail type keys being rattled right next to us but there was nobody there. But the biggest capture was an EVP caught in the warden’s room. It sounded like a woman crying and then a gunshot then the woman screaming louder. All of this happened while the two of us were just looking around. We heard absolutely nothing because it was so quiet. We later learned from the tour guide there, that the warden’s wife was shot back in the 1940s in that same very office.
Q. Did you work with a team on those investigations?
A. Yes. Since 2007 we constantly had a revolving door with different teammates. The most we ever had was a team of 10 and at the very least a team of 5.
Q. What prompted your shift to cryptids?
A. While I was still fascinated with the ghost phenomenon it wasn’t until October 2013 when I entered the Kettle Moraine. We heard what sounded like a simian type yell in the distant woods. We couldn’t identify it. Personally, I’ve never been the big outdoor man and didn’t know all the sounds of the woods. That’s why I went onto the computer to find some sounds of the indigenous animals in Southeast Wisconsin. We couldn’t find a match. And It intrigued me so much that I thought, maybe there is something to this Bigfoot.
Inside the Kettle Moraine.
Q. What is your personal philosophy in regards to being out there in your research areas? What do you carry? What is your mindset?
A. My philosophy is simple. If you want to find an aggressive animal, bang on some trees and yell until your blue in the face. But I see Bigfoot more of a person. So if you want to look for a person you treat them with respect because you are in their home, not yours. My mindset is pretty easy going in the woods. I always go out there with the intentions of a hike with friends. I never have any high expectations of running into a Bigfoot or a Dogman or anything unknown. I do this because if something is out there and they want to make contact with me, I want to show them that I am no threat. This is why I do not carry firearms or bright lights. However, as I practice safety first, I do carry a machete and have some bear spray just in case I run into some predator animals. I feel if I carry a gun they can sense it and may not approach me. I have a 35 pound backpack filled with supplies, first aid kit, extra batteries, fire starter, rain ponchos, hunting knives, extra flashlights, toilet paper, bug spray and one extra set of underwear (no joke). You never know!
I may have to consider this underwear thing for myself now that it’s out there…
In the Kettle Moraine with Scott Markus of, “What’s your Ghost Story?”
Q. What made you pick the areas inside the Kettle you investigate and what brought you to the kettle for the first time? And what is your favorite time of day to hike?
A. We ended up in the Kettle Moraine because we were looking for the Beast of Bray Road. We figured the Kettle Moraine was not too far away from Bray Road and this was a perfect place to look. This is when we heard the simian type yell that we could not identify and peaked my interest ever since. The best time to go out is at night. You weed out any other people that might be out there hiking, biking or horseback riding. I never like to go out during the day because you can get a false positive reading when it ends up being a person. At least at night you weed out a large percentage of human contamination.
Out in the Kettle for a night hike
Q. How does it feel living right near Bray Road? Is it just a regular street to you now since you drive on it daily?
A. It’s very nice to have Bray Road in my backyard. It has never become a regular street to me because of the two sightings I’ve seen in the past five years on that road. 2 things I can’t explain but sure were weird.
Bray Road, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
Q. Do you feel as though your research and interest in encountering Dogman has waned or are you still actively investigating those encounters?
A. Not really. My main focus is in the Kettle Moraine in search of the Wisconsin Sasquatch. However, with that said I am still always looking out for ‘The Beast’ as a drive up to the Kettle.
Q. What was your first BF encounter like?
A. I have had four encounters of Bigfoot. They all weren’t up close Harry and The Henderson’s style, but unique enough to know what it was. The first one was really quite extraordinary. It was at night in the woods with no light, the snow filled the forest floor and you can see like an animal without any lights. I saw this 8 foot being swaying from side to side and then it glided as if it was on the wire to another tree. I wasn’t scared as I was more intrigued.
Q. What gave you the push to create a documentary?
A. As I am the type of guy that carries around a camera and takes pictures and videos daily, you can imagine what I do when I’m out in the field. So I have 2 external hard drives filled with over 4 TB of documented video, pictures and audio. It was in 2018 that I wanted to go back and look at all of my documentation for research sake. Then I thought maybe I’d put out a :20 minute video of me talking about my 5 year journey to and out to people at events or conferences. While I have loads and loads of testimonies of the people I went out with I thought maybe I could get them on camera to talk about some of those encounters. The next thing I knew I had a full blown documentary going on. By early 2019 FINDING JAY was born.
Q. I’m sure many man hours went into this project, how does it feel now that it’s complete? What is the official release date? And where will you premiere it?
A. I lost track of how many hours I put into this project last September. I have put my whole heart and soul, blood sweat and tears into this project. I finally finished FINDING JAY in March 2019. As I put my hands up like Rocky Balboa in Rocky I was relieved, exhausted and excited all rolled into one. I will be preparing this film at the PA Bigfoot camping adventure in Farmington Pennsylvania on May 31st in front of a captive audience. The Blu-ray disc will be available June 1st, as I’m taking pre-orders now. FINDING JAY will be released to stream on Amazon Prime Video July 1st.
Q. You can say you’ve probably investigated all things paranormal, do you feel each phenomena is it’s own entity or do you feel like they may be all from the same pot so to speak?
A. I wish I had the answer but when it comes down to it … I really don’t know. However, if you really want my theory I’d tell you I speculate all things cryptid, paranormal and alien are from one in the same.
Q. If you were in a position to bring a Bigfoot In alive or dead, do you think you would leave them free or bring in the proof.
A. I’m an advocate for Bigfoot. Whether part man, part animal, or all animal, I have the utmost respect for them. I would love to have a million dollars and appear on Jimmy Fallon and be the envy of millions of people but honestly at the end of the day, I truly like being ‘Just Jay’. Close my eyes at night knowing I have integrity, a good heart knowing I’m a simple man. So to answer your question, I’d leave them free and respect their dead if a body was found (documented with video & photos of course).
Q. What is your thoughts on how mainstream bigfoot has become, he is a household name now, do you think it helps us or hursts us?
A. I think it helps bring awareness. It also helps people talk about and come forward to report their sightings/encounters without being ridiculed. That in itself will help us move forward with new data and finally learn the truth: Bigfoot Does Exist.
Q. What is the most important thing you’d like us to take away from watching Finding Jay?
A. I want people to watch this film with an open mind and come to their own conclusion without me telling them what it is.
Q. You’ve mentioned in a recent social media post you may have found a pathway bigfoot could possibly be using. Is this your next focus? And can we hopefully expect documentary number two from your findings?
A. Yes, maybe in another 5 years I’ll have enough data to create another film. In fact my youngest daughter already has the title for my second film called ‘Found Jay’. Now as far as ‘the corridor’ I have no idea …just a hunch. While I google this area for Google Earth I clearly see where the forest is thicker and thinner I theorized this is a great place to cross.
Q. If you never found any evidence if this documentary could never be made, Would you consider time out in those woods as wasted?
A. No. It’s never a waste of time because 13 out of 15 trips in the woods has only given me squirrels and birds anyway. Still, if there wasn’t any evidence at least I’m getting out in nature to get away from technology and hear myself think.
I second that one…
Q. What advice would you give to an up and coming researcher if you could?
A. My advice is get out there and Discover for Yourself! Question everything yet have an open mind. There clearly are no experts in this field because not one person has all the answers. There are also clearly hoaxes and/or misidentifications. The only true way to discover is to ‘be out there’ whether it’s the woods, a cemetery, a creepy road or looking up into the sky once and a while. DISCOVER FOR YOURSELF.
And now the review…
I’ve popped the popcorn and settled into another Bigfoot documentary, or have I? And keep in mind I’ve seen quite a few. First thing that reeled me in was an adorable boy (I wonder who’s) advertising Chum Bucket Studios. This beginning reminds us that like other cryptid documentaries it is self produced, directed and edited. We are not in this field for the money, we are in it for the love of this creature and to educate people on his existence. With that said, most documentaries are the telling of witness encounters and pontificating on what manner of species he could be. And there is nothing wrong with that. I enjoy many of them. I believe witness encounters because I believe he exists. Sometimes you just have to have faith. But in Finding Jay there needn’t be any pontification because there was actual proof to see, hear and believe…or not for yourself. The film was the culmination of 5 years of filming and documenting that researcher Jay Bachochin had from his adventures inside the Kettle Moraine. If you don’t know the Kettle, which is located in Wisconsin. It is a forest known for being a hot bed of all things paranormal.
The Kettle Moraine State Forest
Just like my stomping ground The Freetown Forest here in Massachusetts it has everything from aliens to bizarre cryptids. Never a dull moment. And that is much like the ride this documentary takes you on. Never a dull moment. There are witness accounts, of course, both Linda Godfrey and Mary Marshall The Paranormal MD make an appearance here amongst others, discussing their investigations out there with Jay.
Jay with Mary Marshall inside the Kettle.
But you will be busy thinking on the evidence put forth for you. I don’t want to give anything away because you need to see it for yourself and decide what you believe for yourself, but I will say there are moments I don’t think you will be able to logically explain away, but with every piece of evidence there was also documented attempts to debunk it.
I don’t want to give away anything but this picture is a “what is that” moment.
This documentary has a running time of 2 hours and 6 minutes. I know most documentaries you see on Amazon are maybe at most a little more than an hour, But this moves at a fast past and is expertly edited but again you will focus on the evidence. And you will most likely be making it longer by rewinding a few parts saying to yourself, “what is that?” I really enjoyed this documentary and I recommend it. It makes me want to head to The Kettle myself someday, then someone can film a documentary about finding me because I most likely won’t find my way out…
Finding Jay is available for pre-order now for Blu-Ray and will be available for streaming services on July 1st. You can also catch Jay at the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Camping Adventure next month. He will be presenting there with his son Blake.
And also on the Travel Channel next month in, In Search of Monsters.
Finding Jay Trailer: