Bigfoot Erotica: two words I never thought I'd write about today.
But, before I had my morning coffee, the term was making headlines and Denver Riggleman, an Air Force veteran and candidate for Virginia's 5th Congresional District was on the phone with my colleagues, The Sports Junkies on DC's sports talk station 106.7 The Fan.
I immediately called him to ask how his involvement with "Bigfoot Porn" was thrust into the national spotlight.
"I have a 14-year running gag with my military buddies, with birthday pictures of my head superimposed on a Bigfoot body on Instagram. I guess for my political opponent Leslie Cockburn, that was enough proof to go around saying I was into Bigfoot Erotica," said Riggleman.
And while evidence of Bigfoot is hard to find, it was easy to find the assertions made by his political opponent.
"It's character assasination," laughed Riggleman. "And it's not even Democrats, it's far left progressives. She [Cockburn> has never worn the cloth, so she doesn't understand military humor, and just doesn't get how we could find this whole thing funny."
So, how did this curious fascination with Bigfoot really get started?
"It all started with pranking my wife 15 years ago," explained Riggleman. "I told her I was taking her on a trip for our 15th anniversary, and she actually thought it would be something like Cancun or Europe." They got off the plane the plane in Seattle, Washington and Riggleman described her reaction as less than impressed when she said, "What the hell are we doing here?"
He'd signed them up for a Bigfoot expedition. And despite her displeasure, they embarked on the adventure and met people that would eventually inspire his fascination with this mythical creature. "We found out that these people actually had different versions of their beliefs ... one believed that Bigfoot evolved from gigantopithecus blacki homo erectus, another thought they were beamed here by UFO's and another believed that Bbigfoot was guarding us from the 264 million year war against the Dracos ... I mean, think about how crazy that sounds."
Crazier yet, was when ESPN Outdoors found out (from those Bigfoot believers), that he had been on their expedition and worked for NSA. "ESPN thought it would be hilarious to have an Intelligence guy go along with them to study Bigfoot ... even more hilarious because, this all started as a prank," Riggleman said.
By 2006 Riggleman furthered his curiosity and co-wrote a parody book called, The Bigfoot Exterminators. "We put it on Amazon for 99 cents, and it was all a big joke. We laughed when we actually got death threats because we put up Bigfoot recipes."
Over a decade later and his friends never miss an opportunity to send him Bigfoot artwork, Bigfoot Erotica images, and generally bust his balls about this unusual interest in a furry mythical creature. "It's just a bunch of friends who have been doing this for 14 years because we think it's funny," Riggleman said.
Keeping a joke going longer than some marriages is something common among veterans, and that's exactly where Riggleman comes from.
With a low GPA in community college, and a pregnant wife at home, Riggleman said, "I was like well, I can serve my counrty and get health care .. .and that was pretty much my decision process as a young man."
And it turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life.
Through the early to mid 90's Riggleman was an enlisted Avionics Technician working on the C-141 Starlifters at McGuire AFB, New Jersey. He would later earn a scholarship to the University of Virginia, and go on to serve as a commisioned officer in the Air Force. His work on jets and intel systems took him around the world. "I was in Oman training the Omanis on F-16 ops, and was trained on F-15, F-16 and B-1 intelligence systems. And then 9-11 happened. I was with the Mt. Home AFB Gunfighters, and we were the emergency wing on stand by, at the time. Then we immediately deployed to Diego Garcia, and I got to help mission plan the first bombing runs in Afghanistan."
His career advanced and he went on to work in counter terrorism roles at NSA, as a defense contractor and even eventually along with his wife, Christine, fulfilled their dream of starting their own distillery. In 2013 they built, and now operate, Silverback Distillery in Afton, Virginia.
And it doesn't end with serving gin, vodka and whiskeys. He has his sights set on serving Virginia's 5th District as the Republican nominee for Congress.
But beyond politics, what's next for Riggleman?
"I'm going to publish the book, The Mating Habits of Sasquatch and Why Women Want Him," laughed Riggleman. "And maybe, I'm just smart enough to do great things ... but I'd like to thank Leslie Cockburn and the Democratic Party for being the best publicist ever."
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