Bigfoot Revisited
Note: This story was originally published in the UW Daily on October 14, 1997. Dan passed away at the age of 89 on December 31, 2013.
Bigfoot in his kitchen.
A bushy, white-bearded man stands outside Kane Hall twice each week, teaching UW students his version of the truth. Posing riddles and rhymes to passing students, he has been spreading his message on the UW campus since the early '80s. Red Square regulars know Bigfoot well. Bigfoot - actually 74-year-old Daniel Peger says he adopted his unusual moniker because he stomps out false conceptions. Only Uncle Sam uses his real name. His wife, his kids, his friends - they all call him Bigfoot. Bigfoot decorates the concrete walls of Kane Hall - his self-described "outdoor classroom" - with signage opposing "artificiality, materialism and conformity."
Bigfoot arrives home after a long day. The acronym on his sweater stands for the Universal Friendship Organization.
Bigfoot shows how jungle rot during WWII affected his hand.
Most students are not impressed by Bigfoot's message. "You're full of shit!" calls a passerby. Bigfoot has learned to live with rejection. "The truth is persona non grata at the University of Washington," he says. "I can talk 'till I'm blue in the face, saying things so unconventional and so radical most people dismiss it right away." A ninth-grade dropout, Bigfoot never conformed to the teachings of others. He prefers experiential learning to higher education, which is why he brings his message to Red Square. Bigfoot says he wants to save students from the mind-numbing influence of the UW.
Bigfoot heads to the Bainbridge ferry in downtown Seattle.
"Use your common sense," Bigfoot says. "Question everything." He speaks from personal experience. Bigfoot learned by doing. He fought with the Marines in World War II. After the war, he homesteaded 160 acres of land in Alaska in 1949. Like the beat author Jack Kerouac, Bigfoot lived off his pension from the military, finding adventure in travel. Bigfoot wasn't always opposed to higher education. He enrolled at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks in 1947 but quit two weeks later. He is married to his second wife and has three children. Before setting up shop at the UW, he worked at carpentry, blacksmithing and gold mining.
A spider spins a web in Bigfoot's truck.
Bigfoot dumpster dives behind the Safeway in Sequim.
Bigfoot moved to Washington in the late '70s. He continues to live unconventionally in a home he built with recycled materials. Bigfoot's cabin, situated on the outskirts of Sequim, is surrounded by flower and vegetable gardens and a pond he built himself. Bigfoot's Social Security check covers almost all of his expenses. He spends $600 in property taxes each year and $20 per month on gas to visit nearby hot springs. Ferry and bus rides to Seattle cost him a few dollars each week. Hitchhiking to the bus stop is free. Dinner doesn't cost much either. Most of it comes from the dumpster. Each morning, Bigfoot roots around through the heaps of trash behind the Sequim Safeway searching for his evening meal.
Tonight, Bigfoot feasts on Safeway's discarded potatoes and salad. Lobster mushrooms complete the meal; he found them in the woods. In the quiet of his home, Bigfoot reflects on his life's mission. Bigfoot feels ignored. He says people don't take him seriously because of the boldness of his statements. In the context of a large research university, Bigfoot's more unusual ideas about geology and the natural world don't persuade many. (He believes all the mountains were formed at once from a large collision.) But Bigfoot's main concern isn't science. He eats food most people call trash. He plants flowers and vegetables in his gardens. He calls umbrellas "bumbershoots" and toilets "thrones." He shares a message with students that most don't want to hear. "I'm working harder than I ever worked," Bigfoot chuckles, "at being ignored." Bigfoot can be reached most Tuesdays and Thursdays in Red Square.
A sign hangs above Bigfoot's table.
The article as it appeared in the student paper.
Post-script: Please see his obituary for more info: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsminer/name/daniel-peger-obituary?id=23699644
