Small Evidence for Bigfoot

In the modern age, many extraordinary beliefs still prevail, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that disproves most if not all of these beliefs. Whether it be Flat Earth Theory, Area 51, or the Kennedy assassination, wild conspiracy theories and beliefs are held all around the world. However, perhaps the most well-known and prominent of these is the belief in Bigfoot. According to an article from livescience.com, Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a large, ape-like creature that is believed to roam the forests of the Pacific Northwest. While belief in this creature has permeated other cultures for a very long time, such as the Yeti in the Himalayas, the creature we know as Bigfoot has only been prevalent for the last fifty years or so. An article from unmuseum.org states that Bigfoot has been mentioned in many Native American legends, (in fact, the term Sasquatch is a Native American word for “hairy giant”), but the first sighting from a white man didn’t occur until 1811 in Alberta Canada. A man named David Thompson was working as a trader in the area when he discovered unusual animal tracks in the snow, measuring fourteen inches long and eight inches wide. Flash forward to 1958, when interest in Bigfoot in the United States finally took hold. A bulldozer operator by the name of Jerry Crew found huge footprints near his worksite, which his crew made a cast of. This photo, along with a story, ran in a local newspaper that began to circulate throughout the country. This photo of a “big foot” is what made the name Bigfoot stick. Today, roughly twenty-nine percent of Americans believe in Bigfoot, according to an article from psmag.com. This belief has become so prominent that many networks air television shows about the hunt for the creature, the most well known being the show Finding Bigfoot, which first aired in 2011 and ran for nine seasons. It is obvious that the belief in Bigfoot has only grown as the years have gone on, but is there any evidence to back this belief up?

As with any extraordinary belief, those that are proponents of Bigfoot claim to have a wealth of evidence. However, this evidence is scant at best. Livescience.com says that the most common form of evidence for Bigfoot is eyewitness reports. Anyone involved in psychology or law enforcement will tell you that this is by far the weakest form of evidence, as eyewitness testimony is known to be incredibly unreliable. Most eyewitness reports of Bigfoot are easily disproven, and even those who research Bigfoot will admit that roughly ninety-five percent of Bigfoot sightings are either mistakes or purposeful hoaxes. Another common form of “evidence” for Bigfoot is photographic, the most famous of which is the Patterson footage taken in 1967. To this day, this film is considered the best evidence for Bigfoot, even though this hurts the beliefs credibility since it is hard to believe that no better footage has arisen since this time. Even the physical evidence for Bigfoot, such as footprints, hair, and blood, has all been managed to be disproven by scientific analysis. All of these forms of evidence have been further muddied by the fact that people purposefully fake them. Some even go so far as to do it for decades. Clearly, there is no good evidence to support a belief in Bigfoot. So why do people persist on believing?

In an article from smithsonianmag.com, many reasons are proposed for why people continue to believe in Bigfoot. Some believe that Bigfoot, and other similar creatures, are symbols of freedom. They live by instinct, and refused to be pinned down by the laws of nature. By hunting for it, people get a taste of that freedom, and as such get to be incredibly in touch with nature. Searching for Bigfoot also allows people the opportunity to participate in a mode of discovery reminiscent of the exploration of the American west by settlers and pioneers. This not only allows people to channel the “frontier spirit”, but also allows them to appropriate traditions set forth by Native Americans. Some also believe that the hunt for Bigfoot plays in to the American trait of a need for attention and notoriety. So-called “evidence” for Bigfoot, regardless of its validity, will still garner quite a bit of attention and publicity. This is unfortunate, since information-sharing technology was meant to help people be more informed, and instead it has made the truth harder to find than ever.

Bigfoot has become a cultural icon, becoming a household name that has permanently solidified its place in our society. Whether it be a need to taste the freedom of nature, a sense of discovery, or simply an addiction to notoriety, it is clear that the belief in Bigfoot is not one that will soon go away. This need to give explanations to unexplainable phenomena is responsible for many other extraordinary beliefs as well, and it is important to make sure that we remain informed and skeptical of information that is presented to us before taking it to heart. By keeping this in mind, perhaps someday we will be able to dispel these beliefs once and for all.

 

Works Cited

 

Bigfoot of North America. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unmuseum.org/bigfoot.htmCrair, B. (2018, September 01).

Why Do So Many People Still Want to Believe in Bigfoot? Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-so-many-people-still-believe-in-bigfoot-180970045/Heaney, K. (2013, December 04).

Who Believes in Bigfoot? Retrieved from https://psmag.com/social-justice/believes-bigfoot-animal-planet-70933Radford, B. (2012, November 06).

Bigfoot: Man-Monster or Myth? Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/24598-bigfoot.html

15 thoughts on “Small Evidence for Bigfoot

  1. Hello!
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post on Bigfoot! I think this is a really interesting choice of topic because its such a known extraordinary belief. I think most people have heard of Bigfoot and probably have some belief is he is real or not. Why I find the topic interesting is the timeline of this belief. People started believing in this creature in the 1800s. My thought on the matter is, if he has been here for so long, how old is he really? It would be incredible to know of a creature who can live centuries! It seems a little out there to me and would make most sense that this creature is simply reproducing. This brings me to another thought that if Bigfoot has kids, then why hasn’t the population of Bigfoots multiplied over time? You would think over time, we would finally get a glimpse of who this creature is and start learning about it. You gave a lot of good information on the background and belief system of Bigfoot believers! Overall I enjoyed your blog post!!

  2. I commented on a similar post a few weeks back but I was just wondering if you knew about the Ohio Bigfoot Convention that’s hosted every year–the site promises an informative and eye-opening panel of believers who are dedicated to the ‘truth’ of finding Bigfoot. Here’s the link: http://ohiobigfootconference.org/

  3. Hello, Bodnar!
    I think your blog is interesting. Bigfoot is also well-known in my country. We always can hear some giants live in the forest and they will go out hunting at night. But it’s more like a tale that teaches their children don’t leave the house at night. But the Bigfoot is different. Many people have claimed that they have witnessed the Bigfoot, and they even have the photos, though most of these are blurry. It’s interesting that how can the Bigfoot live there alone for hundreds of years. It’s really hard to have enough food resources and stay away from the human at the same time. Overall, I like your blog of the Bigfoot and it really let me know an interesting thing.

  4. I think one of the reasons that people like to believe in bigfoot is that its kind of fun. Shows like Finding Bigfoot are addicting to watch because there is always the small bit of hope that maybe this will be the episode they find him. I find it interesting too that all the stories of bigfoot describe him as harmless. He never seems to be attacking anything or violent in anysort of way.

  5. The media circus surrounding Bigfoot is insane. I went to visit my friend at Wooster Ohio this past weekend, and there were so many gift shops carrying Bigfoot themed items. It would be really interesting if there was some sort of large creature hiding in the woods that we hadn’t discovered yet! Did you ever believe in Bigfoot when you were younger? My sister and I were always afraid to go in our woods behind our house, because we always though bigfoot might be lurking in there.

  6. I always thought the notion of Bigfoot was ridiculous. However, it was mostly because it didn’t fit with the extraordinary beliefs or urban legends that my parents had taught me. So, whenever I would see that people had evidence which was usually blurry photos, I didn’t understand why people were so easily convinced. I also find it quite fascinating on what exactly pushed people to believe one man. I feel like now, BigFoot has become more of a cash cow where people just want to discover Bigfoot to get paid while I think others do it for their own entertainment. Just like you mentioned that some people go beyond on faking footprints to trick other people. I feel like BigFoot is a tricky situation because we have the means of technology to actually capture proof but somehow no one really has any real evidence. I wonder if we develop a camera that can take an image no matter how fast an object is going, it can focus on the object and identify it clearly; if people will stop believing,

  7. I mentally group Bigfoot with other beings like the Loch Ness monster. Logistically speaking, if they did exist, how did they come to exist? Something would have had to breed and give birth to them. And how did they survive for so long; if this were the case, especially with technological innovations, they probably should have been discovered by now via drone or something. Additionally, they would have to somehow pass their genes on or have some sort of family because they did not appear out of no where one day, right?

  8. Going off the comment above me, would the longevity of the belief suggest that there are bigfoot families running around? Communities perhaps? For so many sightings, in so many places, wouldn’t there have to be a whole species abundant?

  9. I think Bigfoot is one of the most interesting conspiracy extraordinary beliefs because, as far as extraordinary beliefs go, it is relatively believable that there could be a nearly-extinct animal that we haven’t discovered yet. Now, I am by no means saying that I’m a believer (cue Smashmouth), but I feel like Bigfoot (and other similar myths like Nessie) takes fewer leaps of logic than most. Of all the extraordinary beliefs in the world, which do you think is the most possible/believable?

  10. I think you nailed it. I think a huge reason why people are fascinated with this belief is that it satisfies a need for discovery, to find something fantastical that would change the world’s perspective of biology. I would argue that the pursuit of Big Foot can mostly boil down to the need of exploration. In addition to this desire, people love conversing with other like-minded people who are pursing the same fantasy. It is definitely a belief that people can dream about and bond over together.

  11. When Finding Bigfoot first aired in 2011, little 11 year old me was very intrigued and also very easily influenced. I loved watching the show, but as I got older and developed my critical thinking skills I realized how humorous and stupid the show actually was. I began to watch it just for a comedic affect after realizing Bigfoot does not exist. I think the main reason the people on the show continued to search for Bigfoot was due to confirmation bias and their need to fit into a group.

  12. Big foot is a symbol of freedom is a really nice opinion. It answers a lot things and inspire me to view such belief from a different perspective. It fits our desires for curiousity of the world.

  13. Thank you for sharing this. At least for me, it’s hard to determine the specific reason why people would create and believe such kind of entity as Big Foot at the first glance. I think the addition of notoriety is really interesting and I never thought about. Also, considering there are multiple creatures were first discussed as part of extraordinary beliefs but now fuse as part of cultures, just like vampire and zombie. Maybe Big Foot just next mystery creatures in the history? I really don’t know.

  14. Bigfoot is one of my favorite theories to look into because of how iconic the creature has been since I was little. Bigfoot is America’s version of “The Lockness Monster.” People always claim evidence of seeing Bigfoot or finding footprints but in its own right, the legend of Bigfoot is also a tradition. It gives people the motivation to find a discovery that has been talked about for so long. I agree that people find freedom in chasing Bigfoot because of how much of a cultural influence it has been and how freeing it would be to finally make the discovery everyone has hoped to.

  15. I know I have watched a show on TV called ‘Finding Bigfoot’ where they have never found any type of evidence that bigfoot even exists. This theory is so well believed in by some many people that they can dedicate a show to it that still never proves that bigfoot is real.

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