Jon Downes of The Center for Fortean Zoology has released this statement on August 3, 2017:
I have just received an instant message from Paul Vella’s brother Dermot: “It was just to let you know that Paul passed away on Saturday the 15th [...] basically as a result of the health issues he had over the last year or so. He passed away peacefully seemingly without any pain. I’m just trying to contact as many of his friends as best I can to let them know. If you can think of anyone else that would like to know I would appreciate it if you passed it on.”
As you probably all know, Paul was for many years in charge of the CFZ BHM Study Group, and will be missed by his many friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Stephen Law, Adrian Shine, Paul Vella and Nick Pope: March 2010.
Paul had been involved in cryptozoology research for over a decade. He had a boyhood passion for the Bigfoot field, mitigated by a scientific approach. Paul ran the CFZ BHM Study Group since 2004.
Paul frequently gave talks at the CFZ events, such as the one entitled “40 Years of the Patterson-Gimlin Film” at 2007 Weird Weekend. He also gave a workshop on Bigfoot evidence.
Paul did have some glory days and fun in the field.
In August 2009, Paul Vella gave a talk, “Bigfoot for Kids” at the CFZ Weird Weekend. This cartoon appeared in the September 2009 issue of Fortean Times depicting his presentation.
Paul actually was a critic of some of the personality conflicts in the field. He became involved in one of the Bigfoot community’s misunderstanding in May of 2009 (see
here). But Paul was a far-reaching Bigfoot traveler, making it to conferences in Texas, and the Willow Creek Museum in California.
Above and below is Bigfoot historian Al Hodgson at the Willow Creek – China Flats Museum in northern California, giving a tour to Paul Vella. (Photos: Paul Vella/Jerry Riedel)
To the end, Paul contributed to the CFZ, and was an early supporter of the International Cryptozoology Museum (ICM). He was always figuring out a way to send some tidbit from the U.K. to Maine, and was especially upset to learn that none of Erik Beckjord’s collection was given to the ICM. He also expressed hope in 2015 he could come to the USA to see the body of the Minnesota Iceman replica on loan from Texas to Maine.
He didn’t make it, but he kept in touch about it and other thoughts on his mind.
In February 2016, Paul Vella had decided to distant himself from Bigfootery. He emailed me:
I’ve withdrawn a lot. I’m tired of the ridiculous claims some groups are making and the amateurish of some of the so-called ‘research’ that is going on. I put so much of my energy into BF that I nearly lost a grip on reality and my work. I had to withdraw or I’d go crazy. I’m very despondent. A decade ago I thought I could make a difference and introduce my expertise of Forensic Science to BF researchers, but it simply wasn’t possible. I now begin to understand how the likes of John Green feel. :(
I’m beginning to think this mystery won’t be resolved in my lifetime, and that hurts.
Another friend to me and to the field has passed away too soon.
Biographical info:
Paul was born October 31, 1968, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, lived in Stevenage, and was living in Miton Keynes, England, UK, at the time of his death. Most recently, he said he was 42 years old on one of his social media pages.
Paul was a member of St. Michael’s RC Boys School, Steven College of Further Education (in Computer Science), and The John Henry Newman School – and noted he graduated from all in 1985. He worked from 1990 to 1997 as a systems manager at Rosengrens and a system engineer from 1997 to 1999 at the EDS Corporation.
an amateur cryptozoologist based in Northamptonshire, England. He was a founding member and served on the Board of Directors of The Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers (but resigned before his death), was an active regional representative for the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and was a member of the Zoological Society of London.
Vella was a Forensic Examiner and Expert Witness by profession who specialized in the forensic recovery, examination and analysis of computer and mobile phone data, including the analysis of digital imagery, and had been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the attempted impeachment of (now retired) Circuit Court Judge Brian Curtin in 2006 by the Oireachtas Éireann (House of Parliament) in the Irish Republic, and the case of the ’7/7′ terrorist attacks in London.
Vella at one time wrote a regular column on Bigfoot in the magazine Animals & Men and was one of the few people in Britain who took Bigfoot research seriously. He, as noted, regularly attended conferences in the United Kingdom, presenting “Bigfoot/Sasquatch:Evidence’”- a two hour presentation of the best evidence for the existence of Bigfoot. He was an administrator at Bigfoot Forums, posting as “paul1968uk,” and thus his discussions will live on forever on the Internet.
In recent years, Paul Vella had dealt with health issues, but had traveled to Kenya in 2013.
“I’m beginning to think this mystery won’t be resolved in my lifetime, and that hurts.” As have said all the others. Something that probably doesn’t ‘exist’ in the way we ordinarily think of that word makes resolving the mystery impossible. And he did use the word ‘mystery’ rather than ‘animal’, so it appears he had moved from the ‘flesh and blood’ theory in some respects. He was “upset to learn that none of Erik Beckjord’s collection” … and wasn’t Beckjord a staunch supporter of a paranormal explanation? Paranormal (ESP) and Supernatural (ghosts) are words with an unavoidable stigma, a new word is needed to that comes with no negative preconceived notions. With the idea that our existence & reality is some type of simulation gains a lot of supporters, maybe ‘supra-real’ is more appropriate.
[...] for knowledge amongst believers? And finally, Loren Coleman brings us the sad news that CFZ Bigfoot Study Chair Paul Vella Died on August 15, the result of health issues from the past year or so. Paul ran the BFZ CHM study [...]