On September 6, 2009, when hiker Jonathan Doyle began a tongue-in-cheek ascent up Mount Monadnock, he had no idea he was on a path to becoming a free speech activist. The 29-year-old performance artist stuffed a Bigfoot Halloween costume in his backpack and hiked to the summit with his girlfriend. At the top, he changed into the suit and interviewed random hikers with his camcorder. Had they heard about any Sasquatch sightings in the area and would they be willing to discuss such rumors?

Doyle was so pleased with that first video, “Bigfoot on Mount Monadnock,” that he returned to the state park two weeks later for a more ambitious scripted film with five friends—one dressed as Yoda and another dressed as a pirate. Aware of the amateur crew’s planned presence from some local media coverage, a park ranger met Doyle on the mountain and told him that he had received complaints from annoyed hikers. The state official ordered the crew to immediately leave because they were engaged in a full commercial film production and needed a $100 special use permit and a $2 million insurance policy for liability. Doyle did not finish his second film, “Bigfoot Captured on Mt. Monadnock.”

Annoyed that his simple video was being treated like a Stephen Spielberg production, the filmmaker brought his case to the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union (NHCLU). They represented him pro bono in hearings before Merrimack Superior Court in 2010 and 2011. The state suggested that the Bigfoot stunt scared and endangered hikers on one of the world’s most used mountain trails. Doyle countered that the spectacle of unexpectedly seeing Bigfoot at the crowded summit provided a bonding opportunity for groups of strangers. Judge Larry Smukler sided with the state, ruling last May that Doyle's YouTube venture was "far more than a simple attempt at spontaneous expression. It was a full-fledged commercial production."

Doyle and the NHCLU appealed. They took the case to the state Supreme Court last November, with the filmmaker claiming that the state’s permit demand was an unconstitutional violation of his right to free speech. “Benjamin Franklin once said that people willing to trade their freedom for security deserve neither and will lose both,” says Doyle, reflecting on the ordeal. “I’ve been put into this karmic situation and I felt compelled to respond. I’m a fighter.”