Tampa Taxi Shots

Lee Roy Selmon - The Greatest

Lee Roy Selmon left the world better then he found it. That is an indisputable fact. It was not just football that made him great, even though without it, we would not have had him as ours.

Lee Roy Selmon was the greatest ever to play in a Tampa Bay Buccaneer uniform. Lee Roy Selmon had the greatest impact on the Tampa community then anyone in recent memory. Lee Roy Selmon leaves a legacy of giving to causes that made us all better. Lee Roy Selmon set an example of how all of us should conduct our affairs. Because of Lee Roy, the bar will be at a mythical height. That is why he will be missed.

He was a mild mannered man. That reflected the wholesome family structure that he grew up in in rural Oklahoma. He was a great football player as a youth, and went on to be the first Tampa Bay Buccaneer inducted into the Hall Of Fame.

He was a beast in the NFL, and one of the only players in football history to have never been called for a personal foul. That reflected his 'gentle giant' nature. He never wanted to hurt anyone. He simply wanted to do his job and make a tackle.

The measure of any man is what they say about him after his passing. The outpouring has been remarkable - what would you have expected. Nobody ever had a bad word to say about Lee Roy Selmon. That is so rare today. Most narcissistic athletes think the world owes them something, and they don't really care about the fans or the community. They are ready to flee for a better contract in any city. We are better for Lee Roy hanging around all these years.

Most people remember his stature as a man, and his humble nature. He did not have to contribute to this community. He could have gone back home to Oklahoma, where he was a hero. He adopted Tampa and we adopted him. All of us are better for him being just who he was.

He was one of those rare people,that when they pass, you wonder how the world will replace him. You can't. All you can hope for is his legacy will inspire others to dream of things they did not think were possible.

When Leroy helped establish the USF football program, they printed a tee shirt that day that said "USF 53 -Notre Dame 0."  The day before he died, it was USF 23 - Notre Dame 20. Dreams really do come true.

Leroy left the world better then he found it.

So long buddy.

Tom Biscardi The Worlds Greatest Bigfoot Hunter Comes To Florida To Work With Tim Fasano

Tom Biscardi of California came to Florida last week to work with Tim Fasano in the Green Swamp of Central Florida looking for Bigfoot. Tom has been active in Bigfoot for several decades and is determined to find the beast. I turned him on to many good swamp locations where we would have a good chance of finding something.

Tim Fasano And Tom Biscardi In The West Track

He brought a team of four experienced Bigfoot hunters with him. We entered the area and began looking for an area that would be great for night operations. The theory is that Bigfoot is a nocturnal creature and the best results are obtained by using night thermal optical equipment which Biscardi has. This area was rich with animal tracks and we knew it would be good to deploy the night optics. Part of the reason I have been away from this blog is that I have been busy with this project.

Driving out to the camp where it is along a river miles from the main road

Biscardi is a controversial figure for his involvement in the 2008 Georgia Bigfoot Hoax where the two Gerogia boys had a body in a freezer. The truth is Tom lost $50,000 to these guys. On our way into the area, Tom and his guys saw something moving in the Palmettos and went in to take a look. There are many snakes in these areas and it is risky to go into them. They found a bone and we later found a footprint where we had deployed camera traps. 

In the video below you can see what was going on as they ran through the field to find out where the dark, upright object had run off too. 

Is The Tampa Theatre Haunted?

 
Did you know the Tampa Theatre is haunted?  I found this out recently when I was at Borders Books and considering that Halloween is Sunday, I have been thinking about ghost and stuff.  In fact, it seems the Tampa Bay area is full of ghost.

According to Haunted Houses.com

"thedesign of this beautiful theater is described as being "an eclectic blend of Italian Renaissance, Greek Revival and "Florida Mediterranean styles." Gargoyles decorate the main lobby, which has a terrazzo floor. The interior is decorated by statues, terra-cottas, copper and brass jugs, detailed tapestries and banners, reproductions of paintings hang on the walls, dozens of gilt-edged mirrors highlight the decorations and atmosphere of the place. The large ceiling of the auditorium is a mass of blue sky and hundreds of twinkling stars. It originally had 10,000 light bulbs."

Foster Fink Finley is said to haunt the place.  He was the long term organist that played from 1930-1965 when he died of a heart attack during a movie showing, in the projection booth!  As with many ghost, it took years before strange manifestations began to occur.

 
People who have walked by the projection booth (which is very small) have heard knocking coming from inside.  Now that would scare the shize out me.  People inside the booth, when trying to leave, cannot get the door open.  It is as if someone is pressing it closed.  At night, people have felt someone tapping them on the shoulder.  They turn around and nobody is there. I'm running man.

It is said that if you leave an object at a specific spot, in the morning it will have moved to another place.  This was confirmed in 1984 during a controlled experiment. Someone may have been in on it.

Anyway, I was taking a man from California to the Tampa Theatre this morning to attend a wedding of of Robert and Yari (their names are on the marque) .  They picked a beautiful palce for their nuptials.  I hope they don't have an unexpected guest.  Woo!

Spontaneous Human Combustion In St. Petersburg

 The most famous case of SHC, or spontaneous human combustion occurred in St. Petersburg Florida on July 2, 1951. Police were called to the apartment of an elderly lady named Mary Resser whom the landlady had not seen in few days. What the police found in her apartment is still baffling and difficult to explain away. 

Resser seems to have literally gone up in flames. Mrs. Resser had been reduced to a pile of ashes found in the bathroom under her walker in front of the toilet. Nothing else in the room had been burned. The medical examiner said that this type of cremation would take temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees. 

The investigation ruled out an electrical short or lightning. Newspapers were found next to her, and they were not burned. This was really strange. 

The final conclusion was Mrs. Resner died of a fire of unknown origin. The official medical report stated that her death was "unusual and improbable."

Tampa, Teddy Roosevelt, And Bigfoot

 Teddy Roosevelt was very important in Tampa history. During the Spanish American War he was the officer in charge of command and control. All supplies for the war effort came out of Tampa straight for Cuba. He was also the only President that had a Bigfoot encounter. 

In his book The Wilderness Hunter he related a story told to him by a 'grizzled weather beaten old mountain hunter, named Bauman."  Near the Idaho and Montana border on the Salmon River he claimed a hunter friend of his was killed by an upright beast that raided their camp and sent him fleeing for his life. This hunter was sure that the animal was a Bigfoot. Teddy had no reason not to believe him, he wrote in his book.

Roosevelt also wrote that while camping in that area years later, he heard a loud screaming howl in the distance that terrified him. He knew animals, and this was nothing he had ever heard before. This story is legend among the Bigfoot community. It does seem to be more credible than Jimmy Carter's UFO story.

The BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) list Roosevelt's story as a class "B" sighting. That means the witness did not see the animal, he only heard it. Today, many people are getting great audio of sounds from the forest that cannot be explained. Teddy was not able to identify the animal that made the roar he heard. 

The only thing is that today with all the digital capability out there, the Patterson Film stands as the only good visual of Bigfoot. I believe we are very close to a video that will show a clearer image the Roger Patterson film of 1967 shot in 16mm.