It’s time to normalize conversations about the paranormal, especially when it comes to Bigfoot.
“Let’s make the paranormal normal,” said screenwriter and producer Jill Remensnyder during an August Zoom conversation. “How many people have we talked to who say, ‘After my sighting, I thought I was going crazy.'”
Remensnyder is one half of Resonance Productions, a film company she co-runs with her husband, Brett Eichenberger. The Oregon-based duo opened up about their passion for shedding light on one of the biggest cryptozoological phenomena in the Pacific Northwest in their documentaries A Flash of Beauty: Paranormal Bigfoot and A Flash of Beauty: Bigfoot Revealed.
Bigfoot has always been part of the territory for Eichenberger and Remensnyder. So, when the world went on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple took advantage of their open calendars to pursue their passion project.
“We definitely had some time to pursue looking for the unknown and solving mysteries,” Remensnyder admitted.
“One of the things that brought us together … was our shared fascination with the paranormal,” Eichenberger added. “My interest in Bigfoot goes back to at least the first grade.”
The Patterson-Gimlin film, shot on October 20, 1967, near Bluff Creek, California, left a lasting impression on Eichenberger.
“You have to believe that there’s something out there, and we felt compelled to go on a personal journey,” he said. “As storytellers, it was natural for us to turn that journey into a film.”
Although they shot their documentaries during the pandemic, the duo still managed to include some Canadian content.
Randy Brisson, a YouTuber who has filmed in Golden Ears Provincial Park, contributed footage for A Flash of Beauty: Bigfoot Revealed, which was first released in 2022. The footage focused on Sasquatch sightings in the area, where the creatures are said to have red hair. Additional scenes were shot on Vancouver Island by screenwriter Michael Bruce Adams.
“We really wanted to get to Canada,” Eichenberger said. “But because we were producing the first film before the borders reopened during the pandemic, we couldn’t make it.”
Despite the restrictions, the pair eventually made the trip to Canada. In June 2024, they screened their documentary in Castlegar, B.C. and even ran into fellow Bigfoot enthusiast and Nicola Valley Bigfoot podcaster Sheldon Quewezanc at a Costco in Kamloops. Eichenberger had previously appeared on his show.
“One of the reasons Sheldon interviewed Brett was because it’s so hard to get locals to talk about their sightings,” Remensnyder explained. “He said it would be like having a podcast about deer sightings.”
Currently, the duo is in production on another Bigfoot project centred on Ron Morehead’s experiences in the Sierras, documented in his book Voices in the Wilderness. This third installment of A Flash of Beauty will focus on Indigenous perspectives of the elusive cryptid.
“Every First Nation has a Sasquatch in their oral tradition,” Eichenberger said. “We’re diving into that a lot more. Some folks have tried, but we’re going to do a deep dive.”
The release date for the third documentary is set for mid- to late-2025. After that, Eichenberger and Remensnyder are intrigued by the more out-there theories surrounding Bigfoot.
“For me, it’s about getting to the bottom of the paranormal, or the ‘woo,’ behind Bigfoot because I believe that connects everything,” Eichenberger said. “Once you crack that code, you can explain so much.”
Both A Flash of Beauty: Paranormal Bigfoot and A Flash of Beauty: Bigfoot Revealed are available on Paraflixx.