CASE FILE BF-01-001: Agent Dunlap’s Initial Assignment (1977)
CASE FILE BF-01-001
SUBJECT: BF-01 (“Beerfoot”) – Initial Assignment Documentation
REPORTING AGENT: T.W. Dunlap, BATF-F-001
DATE FILED: March 15, 1977
DIGITIZED BY: Agent J.L. Porter, BATF-F-002
DIGITIZATION DATE: October 2019
The following is a transcription of Agent Dunlap’s original assignment documentation, filed at the establishment of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Folklore, Field Division in 1977. I’ve preserved his original wording, though I question whether phrases like “task force” and “team of specialists” were ever actually discussed by anyone in Treasury. – J.L. Porter
INVESTIGATOR’S PREFACE
Agent T.W. Dunlap, March 1977
Let me be clear: I didn’t ask for this assignment.
When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Folklore, Field Division was formed in 1977, it was supposed to be a task force. Plural. A team of specialists tracking cryptozoological threats to public recreation and commerce.
What it became was a filing cabinet in a basement office in Knoxville and one agent: me.
[The “filing cabinet” is accurate. The “threats to public recreation” language appears to be Dunlap’s own dramatization. The actual mandate was to “monitor and document folklore-adjacent incidents involving controlled substances.” – J.L.P.]
My assignment is simple in theory, impossible in practice: document Subject BF-01’s activities, warn the public, and, should the opportunity present itself, apprehend or deter the subject from further incursions into human recreational spaces.
[There is no evidence in Treasury records that “apprehension” was ever part of the mandate. Dunlap appears to have assigned himself this objective. – J.L.P.]
The problem? Subject BF-01 has gotten comfortable. Too comfortable. What began as isolated sightings in Appalachian hollows has expanded into a nationwide pattern. He’s adapting. Learning. And worse, he’s winning.
[“Nationwide pattern” is overstated. As of 1977, there were 14 documented reports, 12 of which were concentrated in East Tennessee. – J.L.P.]
I’ve submitted reports. Filed requests for additional personnel. Attended interdepartmental review meetings. The FBI won’t share intelligence. ATF thinks we’re a joke. And Treasury keeps threatening to dissolve the division entirely unless I can provide “quantifiable evidence of economic impact.”
Meanwhile, Subject BF-01 steals another round.
And I keep chasing him. Because if I don’t, who will?
[Apparently no one, since the position sat vacant for 11 years after Dunlap’s departure. – J.L.P.]
Agent Dunlap’s initial documentation establishes the scope of his assignment and his interpretation of the Bureau’s mandate. His tone suggests personal investment beyond professional obligation. Over the coming entries, I’ll be cataloging his field reports chronologically to determine if patterns exist beyond confirmation bias.
So far: one dramatic manifesto, zero actionable intelligence.
FILE STATUS: Archived