Mythical creature
Bigfoot
, also commonly referred to as
Sasquatch
, is a large and hairy human-like
mythical creature
alleged by some to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the
Pacific Northwest
.
[2]
[3]
Bigfoot is featured in both
American
and
Canadian folklore
, and since the mid-20th century has grown into a
cultural icon
, permeating
popular culture
and becoming the subject of its own distinct
subculture
.
[5]
[6]
Enthusiasts of Bigfoot, such as those within the
pseudoscience
of
cryptozoology
, have offered various forms of dubious evidence to prove Bigfoot's existence, including
anecdotal
claims of sightings as well as alleged photographs, video and audio recordings, hair samples, and casts of large footprints.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
However, the scientific consensus is that Bigfoot, and alleged evidence, is a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax rather than a living animal.
[3]
[7]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
Folklorists
trace the phenomenon of Bigfoot to a combination of factors and sources, including the European
wild man
figure,
folk tales
, and
indigenous cultures
.
[14]
[15]
Examples of similar folk tales of wild, hair-covered
humanoids
exist throughout the world,
[16]
[17]
such as the
Skunk ape
of the southeastern United States, the
Almas
,
Yeren
, and
Yeti
in Asia, the Australian
Yowie
,
[14]
[18]
and creatures in the
mythologies of indigenous people
.
[19]
[20]
Wishful thinking
, a cultural increase in
environmental concerns
, and overall societal awareness of the subject have been cited as additional factors.
[21]
Description
"Sassy the Sasquatch"
roadside attraction
statue in the
Garden of the Gods Wilderness
within the
Shawnee National Forest
, Illinois.
[22]
Bigfoot is often described as a large, muscular, and
bipedal
human or
ape
-like creature covered in black, dark brown, or dark reddish hair.
[23]
[24]
Anecdotal descriptions estimate a height of roughly 6?9 feet (1.8?2.7 m), with some descriptions having the creatures standing as tall as 10?15 feet (3.0?4.6 m).
[25]
Some alleged observations describe Bigfoot as more human than ape,
[26]
particularly in regard to the face.
[27]
[28]
In 1971, multiple people in
The Dalles, Oregon
, filed a police report describing an "overgrown ape", and one of the men claimed to have sighted the creature in the
scope
of his rifle but could not bring himself to shoot it because "it looked more human than animal".
[29]
Common descriptions include broad shoulders, no visible neck, and long arms, which many skeptics attribute to misidentification of a bear standing upright.
[30]
Some alleged nighttime sightings have stated the creature's eyes "glowed" yellow or red.
[31]
However,
eyeshine
is not present in humans or any other known
great apes
, and so proposed explanations for observable eyeshine off of the ground in the forest include owls, raccoons, or opossums perched in foliage.
[32]
Michael Rugg, the owner of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum, claims to have smelled Bigfoot, stating, "Imagine a skunk that had rolled around in dead animals and had hung around the garbage pits."
[33]
The enormous footprints for which the creature is named are claimed to be as large as 24 inches (610 mm) long and 8 inches (200 mm) wide.
[24]
Some footprint casts have also contained claw marks, making it likely that they came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws.
[34]
[35]
History
Folklore and early records
Ecologist
Robert Pyle
argues that most cultures have accounts of human-like giants in their folk history, expressing a need for "some larger-than-life creature".
[36]
Each language had its name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names mean something like "wild man" or "hairy man", although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees.
[37]
European folklore traditionally had many instances of the "wild man of the woods," or "wild people," often described as "a naked creature covered in hair, with only the face, feet and hands (and in some cases the knees, elbows, or breasts) remaining bare"
[2]
[14]
These European wild people ranged from human hermits, to human-like monsters.
[2]
Upon migrating to North America, myths of the "wild people" persisted, with documented sightings of "wild people" reported in what is now New York state and Pennsylvania.
[2]
In a 2007 paper titled "Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe" it stated:
"To be sure, the modern sasquatch is largely the product of a European-derived culture, as possibly to an even greater extent is the Australian yahoo; accordingly, traces of the European wildman are discernible in both figures. Yet the sasquatch is partly rooted in Amerindian representations of hairy hominoids, even though the relationship between these, which are often described as small, and the giant sasquatch of the popular Canadian and American imagination is hardly straightforward"
Many of the indigenous cultures across the North American continent include tales of mysterious hair-covered creatures living in forests,
[38]
and according to anthropologist David Daegling, these legends existed long before contemporary reports of the creature described as Bigfoot. These stories differed in their details regionally and between families in the same community and are particularly prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.
[39]
Chief Mischelle of the
Nlaka'pamux
at
Lytton, British Columbia
, told such a story to
Charles Hill-Tout
in 1898.
[40]
[41]
A reproduction of the petroglyphs at
Painted Rock
.
On the
Tule River Indian Reservation
,
petroglyphs
created by a tribe of
Yokuts
at a site called
Painted Rock
are alleged by Kathy Moskowitz Strain, author of the 2008 book
Giants, Cannibals, Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture
, to depict a group of Bigfoots called "the Family".
[42]
The largest glyph is called "Hairy Man", and they are estimated to be 1,000 years old.
[43]
According to the Tulare County Board of Education in 1975, "Big Foot, the Hairy Man, was a creature that was like a great big giant with long, shaggy hair. His long shaggy hair made him look like a big animal. He was good in a way, because he ate the animals that might harm people.", and Yokuts parents warned their children not to venture near the river at night or they may encounter the creature.
[44]
16th-century
Spanish explorers
and
Mexican settlers
told tales of the
los Vigilantes Oscuros
, or "Dark Watchers", large creatures alleged to stalk their camps at night.
[45]
In the region that is now Mississippi, a
Jesuit
priest was living with the
Natchez
in 1721 and reported stories of hairy creatures in the forest known to scream loudly and steal livestock.
[46]
In 1929,
Indian agent
and teacher J.W. Burns, who lived and worked with the
Sts'ailes Nation
(then called the Chehalis First Nation), published a collection of stories titled,
Introducing B.C.'s Hairy Giants: A collection of strange tales about British Columbia's wild men as told by those who say they have seen them
, in
Maclean's
magazine.
[47]
The stories offered various anecdotal reports of wild people; including an encounter a tribal member had with a hairy wild woman who could speak the language of the
Douglas First Nation
. Burns coined the term "Sasquatch", believed to be the
anglicized
version of
sasq'ets
(sas-kets), roughly translating to "hairy man" in the
Halq'emeylem
language.
[48]
Burns describes the Sasquatch as, "a tribe of hairy people whom they claim have always lived in the mountains- in tunnels and caves".
The folklore of the
Cherokee
includes tales of the
Tsul 'Kalu
, who were described as "slant-eyed giants" that resided in the
Appalachian Mountains
, and is sometimes associated with Bigfoot.
[49]
Members of the
Lummi
tell tales about creatures known as
Ts'emekwes
. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of
Ts'emekwes
, but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creature's diet and activities.
[50]
Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures: the
stiyaha
or
kwi-kwiyai
were a nocturnal race, and children were warned against saying the names so that the "monsters" would not come and carry them off to be killed.
[51]
The
Iroquois
tell of an aggressive, hair covered giant with rock-hard skin known as the
Ot ne yar heh
or "Stone Giant", more commonly referred to as the
Genoskwa
.
[52]
In 1847,
Paul Kane
reported stories by the natives about
skoocooms
, a race of
cannibalistic
wild men living on the peak of
Mount St. Helens
. U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt
, in his 1893 book,
The Wilderness Hunter
, writes of a story he was told by an elderly
mountain man
named Bauman in which a foul-smelling, bipedal creature ransacked his beaver
trapping
camp, stalked him, and later became hostile when it fatally broke his companion's neck.
[53]
Roosevelt notes that Bauman appeared fearful while telling the story but attributed the trapper's
German ancestry
to have potentially influenced him.
[54]
The
Alutiiq
of the
Kenai Peninsula
in Alaska tell of the
Nantinaq
, a Bigfoot-like creature.
[55]
This folklore was featured in the
Discovery+
television series,
Alaskan Killer Bigfoot
, which claims the
Nantinaq
was responsible for the population decrease of
Portlock
in the 1940s.
[56]
Less menacing versions have been recorded, such as one by Reverend
Elkanah Walker
in 1840. Walker was a
Protestant
missionary who recorded stories of giants among the natives living near
Spokane, Washington
. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fishermen's nets.
[57]
Ape Canyon incident
On July 16, 1924, an article in
The Oregonian
made national news when a story was published describing a conflict between a group of
gold prospectors
and a group of "ape-men" in a gorge near Mount St. Helens.
[58]
The prospectors reported encountering "gorilla men" near their remote cabin. One of the men, Fred Beck, indicated that he struck one of the creatures with rifle fire. That night, they reported coming under attack by the creatures, who were said to have thrown large rocks at the cabin, damaging the roof and knocking Beck unconscious. The men fled the area the following morning. The
U.S. Forest Service
investigated the site of the alleged incident. The investigators found no compelling evidence of the event and concluded it was likely a fabrication. Stories of large, hair covered bipedal ape-men or "mountain devils" had been a persistent piece of folklore in the area for centuries prior to the alleged incident. Today, the area is known as
Ape Canyon
and is cemented within Bigfoot-related folklore.
[59]
Jerry Crew and Andrew Genzoli
In 1958, Jerry Crew, bulldozer operator for a logging company in
Humboldt County, California
, discovered a set of large, 16 inches (410 mm) human-like
footprints
sunk deep within the mud in the
Six Rivers National Forest
.
[60]
Upon informing his coworkers, many claimed to have seen similar tracks on previous job sites as well as telling of odd incidents such as an
oil drum
weighing 450 pounds (200 kg) having been moved without explanation. The logging company men soon began utilizing "Bigfoot" to describe the apparent culprit.
[61]
Crew and others initially believed someone was playing a prank on them. After observing more of these massive footprints, he contacted reporter Andrew Genzoli of the
Humboldt Times
newspaper. Genzoli interviewed lumber workers and wrote articles about the mysterious footprints, introducing the name "Bigfoot" in relation to the tracks and the local tales of large, hairy wild men.
[62]
A
plaster cast
was made of the footprints and Crew appeared, holding one of the casts, on the front page of the newspaper on October 6, 1958. The story spread rapidly as Genzoli began to receive correspondence from major media outlets including the
New York Times
and
Los Angeles Times
.
[63]
As a result, the term Bigfoot became widespread as a reference to an apparently large, unknown creature leaving massive footprints in Northern California.
[64]
As a result,
Willow Creek
and Humboldt County are considered by some to be the "Bigfoot Capital of the World".
[65]
Ray Wallace and Rant Mullens
In 2002, the family of Jerry Crew's deceased coworker
Ray Wallace
revealed a collection of large, carved wooden feet stored in his basement. They stated that Wallace had been secretly making the footprints and was responsible for the tracks discovered by Crew.
[66]
Wallace was inspired by another hoaxer, Rant Mullens, who revealed information about his hoaxes in 1982. In the 1930s in
Toledo, Washington
, Mullens and a group of other
foresters
carved pairs of large feet made of wood and used them to create footprints in the mud to scare
huckleberry
pickers in the
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
.
[67]
The group would also claim to be responsible for hoaxing the alleged Ape Canyon incident in 1924.
[68]
Mullens and the group of foresters began referring to themselves as the St. Helens Apes, and would later have a
cave
dedicated to them.
[69]
Wallace, also from Toledo, knew Mullens and stated he collaborated with him to obtain a pair of the large wooden feet and subsequently used them to create footprints on the 1958 construction site as a means to scare away potential thieves.
[70]
In the 1830s, a
Wyandot
chief was nicknamed "Big Foot" due to his significant size, strength and large feet.
[71]
Potawatomi
Chief Maumksuck, known as Chief "Big Foot", is today synonymous with the area of
Walworth County, Wisconsin
, and has a
state park
and
school
named for him.
[72]
William A. A. Wallace
, a famous 19th century
Texas Ranger
, was nicknamed "Bigfoot" due to his large feet and today has a town named for him:
Bigfoot, Texas
.
[73]
Lakota
leader
Spotted Elk
was also called "Chief Big Foot". In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at least two enormous marauding
grizzly bears
were widely noted in the press and each nicknamed "Bigfoot." The first grizzly bear called "Bigfoot" was reportedly killed near
Fresno, California
, in 1895 after killing sheep for 15 years; his weight was estimated at 2,000 pounds (900 kg).
[74]
The second one was active in Idaho in the 1890s and 1900s between the Snake and Salmon rivers, and supernatural powers were attributed to it.
[75]
Regional and other names
"Bigfoot" carving at the
Crystal Creek Reservoir
in Colorado.
Many regions have differentiating names for the creatures.
[76]
In Canada, the name
Sasquatch
is widely used although often interchangeably with the name
Bigfoot
.
[77]
The United States uses both of these names but also has numerous names and descriptions of the creatures depending on the region and area in which they are allegedly sighted.
[78]
These include the
Skunk ape
in Florida and other southern states,
[79]
Grassman
in
Ohio
,
[80]
Fouke Monster
in Arkansas,
[81]
Wood Booger
in
Virginia
,
[82]
the
Monster of Whitehall
in
Whitehall, New York
,
[83]
Momo
in Missouri,
[84]
Honey Island Swamp Monster
in Louisiana,
[85]
Dewey Lake Monster
in Michigan,
[86]
Mogollon Monster
in Arizona,
[87]
the
Big Muddy Monster
in
southern Illinois
,
[88]
and
The Old Men of the Mountain
in
West Virginia
.
[89]
The term
Wood Ape
is also used by some as a means to deviate from the perceived mythical connotation surrounding the name "Bigfoot".
[90]
Other names include
Bushman
,
Treeman
, and
Wildman
.
[91]
Proposed explanations
A black bear showcasing its ability to sit in a human-like fashion.
Various explanations have been suggested for sightings and to offer conjecture on what existing animal has been misidentified in supposed sightings of Bigfoot. Scientists typically attribute sightings to hoaxes or misidentifications of known animals and their tracks, particularly black bears.
[92]
[93]
Misidentification
Bears
Scientists theorize that mistaken identification of
American black bears
as Bigfoot are a likely explanation for most reported sightings, particularly when observers view a subject from afar, are in dense foliage, or there are poor lighting conditions.
[94]
Additionally, black bears have been observed and recorded walking upright, often as the result of an injury.
[95]
While upright, adult black bears stand roughly 5?7 feet (1.5?2.1 m),
[96]
and grizzly bears roughly 8?9 feet (2.4?2.7 m).
[97]
According to data scientist Floe Foxon, more people report seeing Bigfoot in areas with documented black bear populations. Foxon concludes, "If bigfoot is there, it may be many bears".
[98]
Foxon acknowledges that alleged Bigfoot sightings have been reported in areas with minimal or no known black bear populations. She states, "Although this may be interpreted as evidence for the existence of an unknown hominid in North America, it is also explained by misidentification of other animals (including humans), among other possibilities".
[99]
Escaped apes
Some have proposed that sightings of Bigfoot may simply be people observing and misidentifying known great apes such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans that have escaped from captivity such as zoos, circuses, and
exotic pets
belonging to private owners.
[100]
This explanation is often proposed in relation to the Skunk ape, as some scientists argue the
humid subtropical climate
of the southeastern United States could potentially support a population of escaped apes.
[101]
Humans
Humans have been mistaken for Bigfoot, with some incidents leading to injuries. In 2013, a 21-year-old man in Oklahoma was arrested after he told law enforcement he accidentally shot his friend in the back while their group was allegedly hunting for Bigfoot.
[102]
In 2017, a
shamanist
wearing clothing made of animal furs was vacationing in a North Carolina forest when local reports of alleged Bigfoot sightings flooded in. The
Greenville Police Department
issued a public notice not to shoot Bigfoot for fear of mistakenly injuring or killing someone in a fur suit.
[103]
In 2018, a person was shot at multiple times by a hunter near
Helena, Montana
, who claimed he mistook him for a Bigfoot.
[104]
Additionally, some have attributed
feral humans
or
hermits
living in the wilderness as being another explanation for alleged Bigfoot sightings.
[105]
[106]
One story, the
Wild Man of the Navidad
, tells of a wild ape-man who roamed the wilderness of eastern Texas in the mid-19th century, stealing food and goods from residents. A search party allegedly captured an escaped
African slave
attributed to the story.
[107]
During the 1980s, several
psychologically damaged
American
Vietnam veterans
were stated by the state of Washington's veterans' affairs director, Randy Fisher, to have been living in remote wooded areas of the state.
[108]
Pareidolia
Some have proposed that
pareidolia
may explain Bigfoot sightings, specifically the tendency to observe human-like faces and figures within the natural environment.
[109]
[110]
Photos and videos of poor quality alleged to depict Bigfoots are often attributed to this phenomenon and commonly referred to as "Blobsquatch".
[111]
Misidentified vocalizations
The majority of mainstream scientists maintain that the source of the sounds often attributed to Bigfoot are either hoaxes,
anthropomorphization
, or likely misidentified and produced by known animals such as owl, wolf, coyote, and fox.
[112]
[113]
[114]
Hoaxes
Both Bigfoot believers and non-believers agree that many reported sightings are hoaxes.
[115]
Gigantopithecus
Fossil jaw of the extinct primate
Gigantopithecus blacki
Bigfoot proponents
Grover Krantz
and
Geoffrey H. Bourne
both believed that Bigfoot could be a
relict population
of the extinct southeast Asian ape species
Gigantopithecus blacki
. According to Bourne,
G. blacki
may have followed the many other species of animals that migrated across the
Bering land bridge
to the Americas.
[116]
To date, no
Gigantopithecus
fossils have been found in the Americas. In Asia, the only recovered fossils have been of
mandibles
and teeth, leaving uncertainty about
G. blacki
'
s locomotion. Krantz has argued that
G. blacki
could have been bipedal, based on his extrapolation from the shape of its mandible. However, the relevant part of the mandible is not present in any fossils.
[117]
The consensus view is that
G. blacki
was
quadrupedal
, as its enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait.
[118]
Anthropologist
Matt Cartmill
criticizes the
G. blacki
hypothesis:
The trouble with this account is that
Gigantopithecus
was not a hominin and maybe not even a
crown group
hominoid; yet the physical evidence implies that Bigfoot is an upright biped with buttocks and a long, stout, permanently adducted
hallux
. These are hominin autapomorphies, not found in other mammals or other bipeds. It seems unlikely that
Gigantopithecus
would have evolved these uniquely
hominin
traits in parallel.
[119]
Paleoanthropologist Bernard G. Campbell writes: "That
Gigantopithecus
is in fact extinct has been questioned by those who believe it survives as the Yeti of the Himalayas and the Sasquatch of the north-west American coast. But the evidence for these creatures is not convincing."
[120]
Extinct hominidae
Primatologist
John R. Napier
and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg have suggested a species of
Paranthropus
as a possible candidate for Bigfoot's identity, such as
Paranthropus robustus
, with its gorilla-like crested skull and bipedal gait
[121]
?despite the fact that fossils of
Paranthropus
are found only in Africa.
[122]
Michael Rugg of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum presented a comparison between human,
Gigantopithecus,
and
Meganthropus
skulls (reconstructions made by Grover Krantz) in episodes 131 and 132 of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum Show.
[123]
Bigfoot enthusiasts that think Bigfoot may be the "
missing link
" between apes and humans have promoted the idea that Bigfoot is a descendant of
Gigantopithecus blacki
, but that ape diverged from orangutans around 12 million years ago and is not related to humans.
[124]
Some suggest
Neanderthal
,
Homo erectus
, or
Homo heidelbergensis
to be the creature, but, like all other
great apes
, no remains of any of those species have been found in the Americas.
[125]
Scientific view
Expert consensus is that allegations of the existence of Bigfoot are not credible.
[7]
[126]
Belief in the existence of such a large, ape-like creature is more often attributed to hoaxes, confusion, or delusion rather than to sightings of a genuine creature.
[23]
In a 1996
USA Today
article, Washington State zoologist John Crane said, "There is no such thing as Bigfoot. No data other than material that's clearly been fabricated has ever been presented."
[36]
The author of one review article states that, in their opinion, it is impossible even to consider cryptozoology a science if it continues to consider Bigfoot seriously.
[7]
As with other similar beings, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature's survival in reported habitats unlikely.
[7]
[127]
Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized nonhuman apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. Great apes have not been found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains are known to have been found. Phillips Stevens, a
cultural anthropologist
at the
University at Buffalo
, summarized the scientific consensus as follows:
It defies all logic that there is a population of these things sufficient to keep them going. What it takes to maintain any species, especially a long-lived species, is having a breeding population. That requires a substantial number, spread out over a fairly wide area where they can find sufficient food and shelter to keep hidden from all the investigators.
[128]
In the 1970s, when Bigfoot "experts" were frequently given high-profile media coverage, McLeod writes that the scientific community generally avoided lending credence to such fringe theories by refusing even to debate them.
[129]
Primatologist
Jane Goodall
was asked for her personal opinion of Bigfoot in a 2002 interview on
National Public Radio
's "
Science Friday
". Goodall responded saying, "Well, now you will be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist."
[130]
She later added, "Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist," and "Of course, the big, the big criticism of all this is, "Where is the body?" You know, why isn't there a body? I can't answer that, and maybe they don't exist, but I want them to."
[130]
[131]
In 2012, when asked again by the
Huffington Post
, Goodall said "I'm fascinated and would actually love them to exist," adding, "Of course, it's strange that there has never been a single authentic hide or hair of the Bigfoot, but I've read all the accounts."
[131]
Paleontologist
and author Darren Naish states in a 2016 article for
Scientific American
that if "Bigfoot" existed, an abundance of evidence would also exist that cannot be found anywhere today, making the existence of such a creature exceedingly unlikely.
[132]
Naish summarizes the evidence for "Bigfoot" that would exist if the creature itself existed:
- If "Bigfoot" existed, so would consistent reports of uniform vocalizations throughout North America as can be identified for any existing large animal in the region, rather than the scattered and widely varied "Bigfoot" sounds haphazardly reported;
- If "Bigfoot" existed, so would many tracks that would be easy for experts to find, just as they easily find tracks for other rare megafauna in North America, rather than a complete lack of such tracks alongside "tracks" that experts agree are fraudulent;
- Finally, if "Bigfoot" existed, an abundance of "Bigfoot" DNA would already have been found, again as it has been found for similar animals, instead of the current state of affairs, where there is no confirmed DNA for such a creature whatsoever.
[132]
Researchers
Ivan T. Sanderson
and
Bernard Heuvelmans
, founders of the study of cryptozoology, spent parts of their career searching for Bigfoot.
[133]
Later scientists who researched the topic included Jason Jarvis,
Carleton S. Coon
, George Allen Agogino and
William Charles Osman Hill
, though they later stopped their research due to lack of evidence for the alleged creature.
[134]
John Napier asserts that the scientific community's attitude towards Bigfoot stems primarily from insufficient evidence.
[135]
Other scientists who have shown varying degrees of interest in the creature are Grover Krantz,
Jeffrey Meldrum
,
John Bindernagel
, David J. Daegling,
[136]
George Schaller
,
[36]
[137]
[138]
Russell Mittermeier
,
Daris Swindler
,
Esteban Sarmiento
,
[139]
and
Mireya Mayor
.
[140]
Formal studies
2007 photograph of the Bigfoot trap within the Rogue River?Siskiyou National Forest.
One study was conducted by John Napier and published in his book
Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality
in 1973.
[141]
Napier wrote that if a conclusion is to be reached based on scant extant "'hard' evidence," science must declare "Bigfoot does not exist."
[142]
However, he found it difficult to entirely reject thousands of alleged tracks, "scattered over 125,000 square miles" (325,000 km
2
) or to dismiss all "the many hundreds" of eyewitness accounts. Napier concluded, "I am convinced that Sasquatch exists, but whether it is all it is cracked up to be is another matter altogether. There must be
something
in north-west America that needs explaining, and that something leaves man-like footprints."
[143]
In 1974, the
National Wildlife Federation
funded a field study seeking Bigfoot evidence. No formal federation members were involved and the study made no notable discoveries.
[144]
Also in 1974, the now defunct North American Wildlife Research Team constructed a "
Bigfoot trap
" in the
Rogue River?Siskiyou National Forest
. It was baited with animal carcasses and captured multiple bears, but no Bigfoot.
[145]
Upkeep of the trap ended in the early 1980s, but in 2006 the
United States Forest Service
repaired the trap, which today is a tourist destination along the
Collings Mountain
hiking trail.
[146]
Beginning in the late 1970s, physical anthropologist Grover Krantz published several articles and four book-length treatments of Bigfoot. However, his work was found to contain multiple scientific failings including falling for hoaxes.
[147]
A study published in the
Journal of Biogeography
in 2009 by J.D. Lozier et al. used
ecological niche modeling
on reported sightings of Bigfoot, using their locations to infer preferred ecological parameters. They found a very close match with the ecological parameters of the American black bear. They also note that an upright bear looks much like a Bigfoot's purported appearance and consider it highly improbable that two species should have very similar ecological preferences, concluding that Bigfoot sightings are likely misidentified sightings of black bears.
[148]
In the first systematic genetic analysis of 30 hair samples that were suspected to be from Bigfoot-like creatures, only one was found to be primate in origin, and that was identified as human. A joint study by the
University of Oxford
and
Lausanne's Cantonal Museum of Zoology
and published in the
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
in 2014, the team used a previously published cleaning method to remove all surface contamination and the
ribosomal mitochondrial DNA
12S fragment of the sample. The sample was sequenced and then compared to
GenBank
to identify the species origin. The samples submitted were from different parts of the world, including the United States, Russia, the Himalayas, and Sumatra. Other than one sample of human origin, all but two are from common animals. Black and brown bears accounted for most of the samples, other animals include cow, horse, dog/wolf/coyote, sheep, goat, deer, raccoon,
porcupine
, and
tapir
. The last two samples were thought to match a fossilized genetic sample of a 40,000 year old polar bear of the
Pleistocene
epoch;
[149]
a second test identified these hairs as being from a rare type of brown bear.
[150]
[151]
In 2019, the
FBI
declassified an analysis it conducted on alleged Bigfoot hairs in 1976. Bigfoot researcher Peter Byrne sent the FBI 15 hairs attached to a small skin fragment and asked if the bureau could assist him in identifying it. Jay Cochran, Jr., assistant director of the FBI's Scientific and Technical Services division responded in 1977 that the hairs were of deer family origin.
[152]
[153]
Claims
Claims about the origins and characteristics of Bigfoot vary. The subject of Bigfoot has crossed over with other
paranormal
claims, including that Bigfoot,
extraterrestrials
, and
UFOs
are related or that Bigfoot are
psychic
, can shapeshift, are able to cross into different
dimensions
, or are completely
supernatural
in origin.
[64]
Additionally, claims regarding Bigfoot have been associated with
conspiracy theories
including a
government cover-up
.
[154]
There have also been claims that Bigfoot is responsible for the disappearances of people in the wilderness, such as the
1969 disappearance of Dennis Martin
in
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
.
[155]
Additionally, there have been claims that Bigfoot has been responsible for vehicle accidents, vandalizing property, delaying construction, and killing people.
[156]
In 2022, a man from Oklahoma claimed he killed his friend because he believed he had summoned Bigfoot and was going to be sacrificed to the creature.
[157]
Sightings
According to
Live Science
, there have been over 10,000 reported Bigfoot sightings in the continental United States.
[158]
About one-third of all claims of Bigfoot sightings are located in the Pacific Northwest, with the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America.
[34]
[159]
[160]
Most reports are considered mistakes or hoaxes, even by those researchers who claim Bigfoot exists.
[161]
Sightings predominantly occur in the northwestern region of Washington state, Oregon, Northern California, and British Columbia. According to data collected from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization's (BFRO) Bigfoot sightings database in 2019, Washington has over 2,000 reported sightings, California over 1,600, Pennsylvania over 1,300, New York and Oregon over 1,000, and Texas has just over 800.
[162]
The debate over the legitimacy of Bigfoot sightings reached a peak in the 1970s, and Bigfoot has been regarded as the first widely popularized example of pseudoscience in American culture.
[129]
Alleged behavior
Some Bigfoot researchers allege that Bigfoot throws rocks as
territorial displays
and for communication.
[163]
[164]
[165]
Other alleged behaviors include audible blows struck against trees or "wood knocking", further alleged to be communicative.
[166]
[167]
[168]
Skeptics argue that these behaviors are easily hoaxed.
[169]
Additionally, structures of broken and twisted foliage seemingly placed in specific areas have been attributed by some to Bigfoot behavior.
[170]
In some reports,
lodgepole pine
and other small trees have been observed bent, uprooted, or stacked in patterns such as weaved and crisscrossed, leading some to theorize that they are potential territorial markings.
[171]
Some instances have also included entire deer skeletons being suspended high in trees.
[172]
Some researchers and enthusiasts believe Bigfoot construct
teepee
-like structures out of dead trees and foliage.
[173]
In Washington state, a team of amateur Bigfoot researchers called the Olympic Project claimed to have discovered a collection of nests. The group brought in
primatologists
to study them, with the conclusion being that they appear to have been
created by a primate
.
[174]
Jeremiah Byron, host of the
Bigfoot Society Podcast
, believes Bigfoot are
omnivores
, stating, "They eat both plants and meat. I've seen accounts that they eat everything from berries, leaves, nuts, and fruit to salmon, rabbit, elk, and bear. Ronny Le Blanc, host of
Expedition Bigfoot
on the
Travel Channel
indicated he has heard anecdotal reports of Bigfoot allegedly hunting and consuming deer.
[175]
Some Bigfoot researchers have reported the creatures moving or taking possession of intentional "gifts" left by humans such as food and jewelry, and leaving items in their places such as rocks and twigs.
[176]
Many alleged sightings are reported to occur at night leading some cryptozoologists to hypothesize that Bigfoot may possess
nocturnal
tendencies.
[177]
However, experts find such behavior untenable in a supposed ape- or human-like creature, as all known apes, including humans, are
diurnal
, with only lesser primates exhibiting nocturnality.
[178]
Most anecdotal sightings of Bigfoot describe the creatures allegedly observed as solitary, although some reports have described groups being allegedly observed together.
[179]
Alleged vocalizations
Alleged vocalizations such as howls, screams, moans, grunts, whistles, and even a form of supposed
language
have been reported and allegedly recorded.
[180]
[181]
Some of these alleged vocalization recordings have been analyzed by individuals such as retired
U.S. Navy
cryptologic
linguist
Scott Nelson. He analyzed audio recordings from the early 1970s said to be recorded in the
Sierra Nevada
mountains dubbed the "Sierra Sounds" and stated, "It is definitely a language, it is definitely not human in origin, and it could not have been faked".
[182]
Les Stroud
has spoken of a strange vocalization he heard in the wilderness while filming
Survivorman
that he stated sounded primate in origin.
[183]
A number of anecdotal reports of Bigfoot encounters have resulted in witnesses claiming to be disoriented, dizzy and anxious. Some Bigfoot researchers, such as paranormal author
Nick Redfern
, have proposed that Bigfoot may produce
infrasound
, which could explain reports of this nature.
[184]
Alleged encounters
In
Fouke, Arkansas
, in 1971, a family reported that a large, hair-covered creature startled a woman after reaching through a window. This alleged incident caused hysteria in the Fouke area and inspired the horror movie,
The Legend of Boggy Creek
(1972). The report was later deemed a hoax.
[185]
In 1974, the
New York Times
presented the dubious tale of
Albert Ostman
, a Canadian prospector, who stated that he was kidnapped and held captive by a family of Bigfoot for six days in 1924.
[186]
In 1994, former U.S. Forest Service ranger
Paul Freeman
, a Bigfoot researcher, videotaped an alleged Bigfoot he reportedly encountered in the
Blue Mountains
in Oregon. The tape, often referred to as the
Freeman footage
, continues to be scrutinized and its authenticity debated.
[187]
Freeman had previously gained media recognition in the 1980s for documenting alleged Bigfoot tracks, claiming they possessed
dermal ridges
.
[188]
On May 26, 1996, Lori Pate, who was on a camping trip near the Washington state-Canada border, videotaped a dark subject she reported encountering running across a field and claimed it was Bigfoot. The film, dubbed the
Memorial Day Bigfoot footage
, is often depicted in Bigfoot-related media, most notably in the 2003 documentary,
Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science
. In his research, Daniel Perez of the
Skeptical Inquirer
concluded that the footage was likely a hoax perpetuated by a human in a gorilla costume.
[189]
In 2018, Bigfoot researcher Claudia Ackley garnered international attention after filing a lawsuit with the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
(CDFW) for failing to acknowledge the existence of Bigfoot. Ackley claimed to have encountered and filmed a Bigfoot in the
San Bernardino Mountains
in 2017, describing what she saw as a "Neanderthal man with a lot of hair". Ackley contacted emergency services as well as the CDFW; a state investigator concluded that she encountered a bear.
[190]
Until her death in 2023, Ackley also ran an online
support group
for individuals claiming to experience
psychological trauma
as a result of alleged Bigfoot encounters.
[191]
In October 2023, a woman named Shannon Parker uploaded a video of an alleged Bigfoot to Facebook. The footage went viral on social media and was shared via various news publications. Shannon Parker reported she and others observed the subject while riding a train on the
Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
in the
San Juan Mountains
in Colorado. The authenticity of the video was debated across social media.
[192]
Skeptics on
Reddit
speculated it was a publicity hoax perpetrated by an RV company located the area, Sasquatch Expedition Campers. The company denied the allegations.
[193]
In the early 1990s,
9-1-1
audio recordings were made public in which a homeowner in
Kitsap County, Washington
, called law enforcement for assistance with a large subject, described by him as being "all in black", having entered his backyard. He previously reported to law enforcement that his dog was killed recently when it was thrown over his fence.
[194]
[195]
Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum notes that any large predatory animal is potentially dangerous, specifically if provoked, but indicates that most anecdotal accounts of Bigfoot encounter result in the creatures hiding or fleeing from people.
[196]
The 2021
Hulu
documentary series,
Sasquatch
, describes
marijuana
farmers telling stories of Bigfoots harassing and killing people within the
Emerald Triangle
region in the 1970s through the 1990s; and specifically the alleged murder of three migrant workers in 1993.
[197]
Investigative journalist David Holthouse attributes the stories to illegal drug operations using the local Bigfoot lore to scare away the competition, specifically
superstitious
immigrants, and that the high rate of murder and missing persons in the area is attributed to human actions.
[198]
Skeptics argue that many of these alleged encounters are easily hoaxed, the result of misidentification, or are outright fabrications.
[199]
Patterson-Gimlin film
The Patterson-Gimlin
The most well-known video of an alleged Bigfoot, the
Patterson-Gimlin film
, was recorded on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson and Robert "Bob" Gimlin in an area called Bluff Creek in Northern California. The 59.5-second-long video has become an iconic piece of Bigfoot lore, and continues to be a highly scrutinized, analyzed, and debated subject.
[200]
Academic experts from related fields have typically judged the film as providing no supportive data of any scientific value,
[201]
with perhaps the most common proposed explanation being that it was a hoax.
[202]
Evidence claims
A body print taken in the year 2000 from the
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
in Washington state dubbed the
Skookum cast
is also believed by some to have been made by a Bigfoot that sat down in the mud to eat fruit left out by researchers during the filming of an episode of the
Animal X
television show. Skeptics believe the cast to have been made by a known animal such as an elk.
[203]
Alleged Bigfoot footprints are often suggested by Bigfoot enthusiasts as evidence for the creature's existence. Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, who specializes in the study of primate bipedalism, possesses over 300 footprint casts that he maintains could not be made by wood carvings or human feet based on their anatomy, but instead are evidence of a large, non-human primate present today in North America.
[204]
In 2005, Matt Crowley obtained a copy of an alleged Bigfoot footprint cast, called the "Onion Mountain Cast", and was able to painstakingly recreate the dermal ridges. Michael Dennett of the
Skeptical Inquirer
spoke to police investigator and primate
fingerprint expert
Jimmy Chilcutt in 2006 for comment on the replica and he stated, "Matt has shown artifacts can be created, at least under laboratory conditions, and field researchers need to take precautions".
[205]
Chilcutt had previously stated that some of the alleged Bigfoot footprint
plaster casts
he examined were genuine due to the presence of "unique dermal ridges".
[206]
Dennett states that Chilcutt published nothing to substantiate his claims, nor had anyone else published anything on that topic, with Chilcutt making his statements solely through a posting on the Internet.
[205]
Dennett states further that no reviews on Chilcutt's statements had been performed beyond those by what Dennett states to be, "other Bigfoot enthusiasts".
[205]
2007 photograph alleged by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization to depict a juvenile Bigfoot.
In 2007, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization claimed to have photographs depicting a juvenile Bigfoot allegedly captured on a
camera trap
in the
Allegheny National Forest
. The
Pennsylvania Game Commission
, however, stated that the photos were of a bear with
mange
.
[207]
The Pennsylvania Game Commission unsuccessfully attempted to locate the suspected mangey bear. Scientist
Vanessa Woods
, after estimating that the subject in the photo had approximately 22 inches (560 mm) long arms and a 18.75 inches (476 mm) torso, concluded it was more comparable to a chimpanzee.
[208]
In 2015,
Centralia College
professor Michael Townsend claimed to have discovered prey bones with "human-like" bite impressions on the southside of Mount St. Helens. Townsend claimed the bites were over two times wider than a human bite, and that he and two of his students also found 16-inch footprints in the area.
[209]
Melba Ketchum press release
After what
The Huffington Post
described as "a five-year study of purported Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) DNA samples",
[210]
but prior to
peer review
of the work, DNA Diagnostics, a veterinary laboratory headed by
veterinarian
Melba Ketchum issued a press release on November 24, 2012, claiming that they had found proof that the Sasquatch "is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern
Homo sapiens
with an unknown primate species." Ketchum called for this to be recognized officially, saying that "Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and
Constitutional
rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a 'license' to hunt, trap, or kill them."
[211]
Failing to find a
scientific journal
that would publish their results, Ketchum announced on February 13, 2013, that their research had been published in the
DeNovo Journal of Science
.
[211]
[212]
[213]
The title "DeNovo: Journal of Science" in which the paper was published was found to be a Web site?registered anonymously only nine days before the paper was announced?whose first and only "journal" issue contained nothing but the "Sasquatch" article.
[211]
[213]
Shortly after publication, the paper was analyzed and outlined by
Sharon Hill
of Doubtful News for the
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
. Hill reported on the questionable journal, mismanaged DNA testing and poor quality paper, stating that "The few experienced
geneticists
who viewed the paper reported a dismal opinion of it noting it made little sense."
[214]
The Scientist
magazine also analyzed the paper, reporting that:
Geneticists who have seen the paper are not impressed. "To state the obvious, no data or analyses are presented that in any way support the claim that their samples come from a new primate or human-primate hybrid," Leonid Kruglyak of
Princeton University
told the
Houston Chronicle
. "Instead, analyses either come back as 100 percent human, or fail in ways that suggest technical artifacts." The website for the DeNovo Journal of Science was setup [
sic
] on February 4, and there is no indication that Ketchum's work, the only study it has published, was peer-reviewed.
[215]
Documented hoaxes
- In 1968, the frozen corpse of a supposed hair-covered hominid measuring 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m) was paraded around the United States as part of a traveling exhibition. Many stories surfaced as to its origin, such as its having been killed by hunters in Minnesota or American soldiers near
Da Nang
during the
Vietnam War
. It was attributed by some to be proof of Bigfoot-like creatures. Primatologist
John R. Napier
studied the subject and concluded it was a hoax made of latex. Others disputed this, claiming Napier did not study the original subject. As of 2013, the subject, dubbed the
Minnesota Iceman
, was on display at the "Museum of the Weird" in Austin, Texas.
[216]
- Tom Biscardi
, long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.", appeared on the
Coast to Coast AM
paranormal radio show on July 14, 2005, and said that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they had been tracking in the
Happy Camp, California
, area."
[217]
A month later, he announced on the same radio show that he had access to a captured Bigfoot and was arranging a
pay-per-view
event for people to see it. He appeared on
Coast to Coast AM
again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. He blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and said that the show's audience was gullible.
[217]
- On July 9, 2008,
Rick Dyer
and Matthew Whitton posted a video to
YouTube
, claiming that they had discovered the body of a dead Bigfoot in a forest in northern Georgia, which they named "Rickmat".
[218]
Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc."
[219]
The story was covered by many major news networks, including
BBC
,
[220]
CNN
,
[221]
ABC News
,
[222]
and
Fox News
.
[223]
Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body was delivered in a block of ice in a freezer with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, observers found that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber.
[224]
Dyer and Whitton admitted that it was a hoax after being confronted by Steve Kulls, executive director of SquatchDetective.com.
[225]
- In August 2012, a man in Montana was killed by a car while perpetrating a Bigfoot hoax using a
ghillie suit
.
[226]
[227]
- In January 2014, Rick Dyer, perpetrator of a previous Bigfoot hoax, said that he had killed a Bigfoot in September 2012 outside San Antonio, Texas. He claimed to have had scientific tests conducted on the body, "from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It's Bigfoot, and Bigfoot's here, and I shot it, and now I'm proving it to the world."
[228]
[229]
He said that he had kept the body in a hidden location, and he intended to take it on tour across North America in 2014. He released photos of the body and a video showing a few individuals' reactions to seeing it,
[230]
but never released any of the tests or scans. He refused to disclose the test results or to provide biological samples. He said that the DNA results were done by an undisclosed lab and could not be matched to identify any known animal.
[231]
Dyer said that he would reveal the body and tests on February 9, 2014, at a news conference at Washington University,
but he never made the test results available.
After the tour, the Bigfoot body was taken to Houston, Texas.
- On March 28, 2014, Dyer admitted on his
Facebook
page that his "Bigfoot corpse" was another hoax. He had paid Chris Russel of "Twisted Toybox" to manufacture the prop from latex, foam, and camel hair, which he nicknamed "Hank". Dyer earned approximately
US
$60,000 from the tour of this second fake Bigfoot corpse. He stated that he did kill a Bigfoot, but did not take the real body on tour for fear that it would be stolen.
[235]
[236]
- In April 2022, a man in Mobile, Alabama posted photos he claimed were of a Bigfoot to his Facebook page, indicating the Mobile County Sheriff's Office validated their authenticity and the team from
Finding Bigfoot
was being dispatched. The photos circulated on social media, attracting the attention of
NBC 15
. The man admitted the photos were an
April Fools' Day
hoax.
[237]
- On July 7, 2022, wildlife educator and media personality
Coyote Peterson
released a Facebook post in which he claimed to have excavated a large primate skull in British Columbia and smuggled it into the United States, further claiming to have initially hidden the discovery due to concerns of government intervention. The post went
viral
, garnering the attention of multiple scientists who dismissed the finding as a likely
replica
gorilla skull. Darren Naish, a vertebrate paleontologist, stated, "I'm told that Coyote Peterson does this sort of thing fairly often as clickbait, and that this is a stunt done to promote an upcoming video. Maybe this is meant to be taken as harmless fun. But in an age where anti-scientific feelings and conspiracy culture are a serious problem it?again?really isn't a good look. I think this stunt has backfired".
[238]
In a follow-up video, Peterson claimed the situation was staged as a hypothetical example of what
not
to do in response to such a discovery.
[239]
In popular culture
A
tongue-in-cheek
sign warning of Bigfoot crossings on
Pikes Peak Highway
in Colorado.
Bigfoot has a demonstrable impact in popular culture,
[240]
and has been compared to
Michael Jordan
as a
cultural icon
.
[241]
In 2018,
Smithsonian
magazine declared, "Interest in the existence of the creature is at an all-time high".
[242]
A poll in 2020 suggested that about 1 in 10 American adults believe Bigfoot to be "a real, living creature".
[243]
According to a May 2023 data study, the terms "Bigfoot" and "Sasquatch" are inputted via
internet search engines
over 200,000 times annually in the United States, and over 660,000 times worldwide.
[244]
The creature has inspired the naming of a
medical company
,
music festival
,
amusement park ride
,
monster truck
, a
Marvel Comics
superhero
and more. Two
National Basketball Association
teams located in the Pacific Northwest have used Bigfoot as a
mascot
;
Squatch
of the now-defunct
Seattle SuperSonics
from 1993 until 2008, and Douglas Fur of the
Portland Trail Blazers
.
[245]
Legend the Bigfoot was selected as the official mascot for the
2022 World Athletics Championships
being held in Eugene, Oregon.
[246]
Laws and ordinances exist regarding harming or killing Bigfoot, specifically in the state of Washington. In 1969 in
Skamania County
, a law was passed making killing a Bigfoot punishable by a
felony
conviction resulting in a monetary fine up to $10,000 or five years imprisonment. In 1984, the law was amended to a
misdemeanor
and the entire county was declared a "Sasquatch refuge".
Whatcom County
followed suit in 1991, declaring the county a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area".
[247]
[248]
In 2022,
Grays Harbor County
, Washington, passed a similar resolution after a local elementary school in
Hoquiam
submitted a classroom project asking for a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area" to be granted.
[249]
In 2021,
U.S. Representative
Justin Humphrey
, in an effort to bolster tourism, proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season in Oklahoma, indicating that the
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
would regulate permits and the state would offer a $3 million bounty if such a creature was captured alive and unharmed.
[250]
[251]
Some have been critical of Bigfoot's rise to fame, arguing that the appearance of the creatures in cartoons, reality shows, and advertisements further reduces the potential validity of serious scientific research.
[252]
Others propose that society's fascination with the concept of Bigfoot stems from human interest in mystery, the paranormal, and loneliness.
[253]
In a 2022 article discussing recent Bigfoot sightings, journalist John Keilman of the
Chicago Tribune
states, "As UFOs have gained newfound respect, becoming the subject of a Pentagon investigative panel, the alleged Bigfoot sighting is a reminder that other paranormal phenomena are still out there, entrancing true believers and amusing skeptics".
[254]
In the 2018 podcast
Wild Thing
, creator and journalist
Laura Krantz
argues that the concept of Bigfoot can be an important part of environmental interest and protection, stating, "If you look at it from the angle that Bigfoot is a creature that has eluded capture or hasn't left any concrete evidence behind, then you just have a group of people who are curious about the environment and want to know more about it, which isn't that far off from what naturalists have done for centuries".
[255]
[256]
Bigfoot has been used for nature and conservation advocacy. The 360 mile "Bigfoot Trail" in Oregon, is named for the creature.
[257]
Bigfoot was used in an
environmental protection
campaign, albeit comedically, by the U.S. Forest Service in 2015.
[258]
During the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic
, Bigfoot became a part of many North American
social distancing
promotion campaigns, with the creature being referred to as the "Social Distancing Champion" and as the subject of various
internet memes
related to the pandemic.
[259]
[260]
There is an entire
subculture
surrounding Bigfoot.
[261]
The act of searching for the creatures is often referred to as "Squatching", "Squatchin'" or "Squatch'n",
[262]
popularized by the Animal Planet series,
Finding Bigfoot
.
[263]
Bigfoot researchers and believers are often called "Bigfooters" or "Squatchers".
[264]
20th century Bigfooters
Peter C. Byrne
,
Rene Dahinden
,
John Green
and
Grover Krantz
have been dubbed by cryptozoologist and author
Loren Coleman
as the "Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery".
[265]
The 2024 book
The Secret History of Bigfoot
by journalist John O'Connor explores this subculture of Bigfooters, particularly the wide assortment of beliefs enthusiasts of the subject hold. In 2004,
David Fahrenthold
of
The Washington Post
published an article describing a feud between Bigfoot researchers in the eastern and western United States. Fahrenthold writes, "On the one hand, East Coast Bigfooters say they have to fight discrimination from Western counterparts who think the creature does not live east of the
Rocky Mountains
. On the other, they have to deal with reports from a more urban population, which includes some who are unfamiliar with wildlife and apt to mistake a black bear for the missing link".
[266]
October 20, the anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin film recording, is considered by some enthusiasts as "National Sasquatch Awareness Day".
[267]
In 2015, World Champion
taxidermist
Ken Walker completed what he believes to be a lifelike Bigfoot model based on the subject in the Patterson?Gimlin film.
[268]
He entered it into the 2015 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Missouri and was the subject of Dan Wayne's 2019 documentary
Big Fur
.
[269]
Organizations and events
There are several organizations dedicated to Bigfoot. The oldest and largest is the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).
[270]
The BFRO also provides a free database to individuals and other organizations. Their website includes reports from across North America that have been investigated by BFRO researchers. Other similar organizations exist throughout many U.S. states and their members come from a variety of backgrounds.
[271]
[272]
The North American Wood Ape Conservancy (NAWAC), a
nonprofit
organization, states its mission is to "ultimately have the wood ape species documented, protected, and the land they inhabit protected.
[273]
Author Mike Mays of NAWAC states, "If just anyone hauled in a Bigfoot carcass the blowback from animal rights groups and beyond would be ruinous".
[274]
Some organizations, as well as private researchers and enthusiasts own and operate Bigfoot museums.
[275]
[276]
In 2019, Bigfoot researcher Cliff Barackman, notable for his role on
Finding Bigfoot
, opened the North American Bigfoot Center in
Boring, Oregon
.
[277]
In 2022, The Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum and Research Center in
Hastings, Nebraska
, was selected for addition into the archives of the
U.S. Library of Congress
.
[278]
Conferences and festivals dedicated to Bigfoot draw thousands of attendees.
[279]
[280]
These events commonly include guest speakers, research and lore presentations, and sometimes live music, vendors, food trucks, and other activities such as costume contests and "Bigfoot howl" competitions.
[281]
[282]
The
Chamber of Commerce
in
Willow Creek, California
, has hosted the "Bigfoot Daze" festival annually since the 1960s, drawing on the popularity of the local lore.
[283]
Some receive collaboration between local government and corporations, such as the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival in
Townsend, Tennessee
, which is sponsored by
Monster Energy
.
[284]
The 2023 Bigfoot Festival in
Marion, North Carolina
, saw approximately 40,000 people in attendance, resulting in a large economic boost for the small town of less than 8,000 residents.
[285]
In February 2016, the
University of New Mexico
at
Gallup
held a two-day Bigfoot conference at a cost of $7,000 in university funds.
[286]
See also
- Similar alleged creatures
Citations
- ^
"DNA tests to help crack mystery of Bigfoot or Yeti existence"
.
The Australian
.
Associated Press
. May 24, 2012.
Archived
from the original on May 27, 2012
. Retrieved
May 21,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Bartholomew, Robert E.; Regal, Brian (2009).
"From wild man to monster: the historical evolution of bigfoot in New York State"
.
Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore
.
35
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General and cited references
External links
Media related to
Bigfoot
at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to
Bigfoot
at Wikiquote