The sasquatch, or wood ape, commonly known as bigfoot due to its enormous foot prints, resembles a mix between a gorilla and a human. Bigfoot is covered in reddish-brown hair similar to that of an orangutan and walks on two legs. There have been claims of bigfoot sightings all over north America, Canada, and even some in the Himalayan mountains. Sightings of the beast-like human occur mainly in dense forests, far from human population, but it has been known to cross over busy streets and through people’s wooded backyards. Today, there are many organizations, such as NAWAC and NABS, tv shows, such as Finding Bigfootand Mountain Monsters and even websites from multiple states, which are dedicated to finding and sharing evidence on the historical creature. Those who have claimed to see bigfoot have a strong belief in its existence and wish to spread awareness about the mysterious beast, due to the lack of factual evidence on it. The existence of bigfoot could mean there are other creatures in the world that have yet to be discovered and it could also contribute to the theory of evolution.
Sightings of the sasquatch in North America began as early as the 1830s. Evidence of bigfoot has been found in multiple forms, including video footage, eye witness accounts, foot tracks, voice recordings and body samples, such as hair and blood. Most of the evidence comes from that of eyewitnesses, but because a negative cannot be proven, this type of evidence is not dependable. There have been hundreds of thousands of accounts supporting the existence of bigfoot, but the majority have been proven to be a hoax. For example, human reenactments of bigfoot footage show it is highly possible that a man or woman could have put on a costume to portray themselves as bigfoot, in order to convince people of its existence. People have also been known to walk through wooded areas with handmade shoes to create bigfoot tracks in order to fool bigfoot believers. Of all the evidence, real or fake, one thing is for sure, those who believe in the extraordinary bigfoot will likely never stop.
People who believe in extraordinary things are often mistaken due to confirmation bias. They look for any information that has the potential to support their belief. For example, bigfoot hunters travel to the wilderness where multiple sightings of the beast have occurred. Their hope is to capture evidence for the scientific world to prove that the sasquatch in fact exists. With the mindset that the skeptical beast is real, these people often will hear a simple coyote howl or bear grunt and automatically think it’s the animal they have been searching for. Believers also misinterpret evidence due to practical jokers who disguise themselves as a sasquatch and deceivingly have someone record them while they act with strange mannerisms that do not correspond to that of a human. With the support of others who believe in the wood ape, the believers have a hard time changing their views.
Bigfoot believers, also known as bigfooters, come from all over the world, but they are mainly people who have had personal experiences with the beast, whether that be seeing it for themselves, or hearing accounts of friends or family who witnessed the wood ape. Such people usually dwell close to forests or mountains where civilization is dispersed scarcely throughout. These small knit communities often have town meetings to discuss personal accounts of bigfoot sightings with those whom are interested. These town meetings often contribute to the confirmation bias of those who view the sasquatch as real.
People who believe in this fictitious creature likely sustain their belief due to the phenomena of confirmation bias as well as the support of others who are also firm believers in the extraordinary bigfoot. The belief likely provides a sense of curiosity because other creatures may be out in the world that have yet to be discovered. Although it can be comforting to think that new species are still being discovered, it can also blind one from reality. A majority of sasquatch evidence that has been studied, has been proven to be fraud, and the rest very much has the potential to be a hoax. So, is bigfoot really out there?
Sources:
Benjamin Radford. “Bigfoot: Man-Monster or Myth.” Live Science, 6 Nov. 2012,
https://www.livescience.com/24598-bigfoot.html. Accessed 7 Feb. 2019
Benjamin Radford. “Bigfiit at 50 Evaluating a Half-Century of Bigfoot Evidence.” CSI, Volume 26.2, April 2002,
https://www.csicop.org/SI/show/bigfoot_at_50_evaluating_a_half%20century_of_bigfoot_evidence. Acessed 10 Feb.2019
Tom Harris. “How Bigfoot Works.” How Stuff Works, 2019 https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-
myth/strange-creatures/bigfoot2.htm. Accessed 8 Feb. 2019
What do you think is the animal that is most frequently confused with Bigfoot? Since there aren’t usually monkey-like creatures in North America, I would guess bears!
I would guess bears as well!
I remember watching the show Finding Bigfoot quite often when I was younger, looking back I can now point out many cognitive elements that would continue to this persistent belief. I can recall many times when the main guy / bigfooter whatever would have an unsuccessful trip, and every time it was because it was a certain season, or the wrong time, or the equipment wasn’t working, etc. Instead of giving up, it’s mysterious element allowed him an increased conviction.
So, I actually have a great uncle who claims to be a certified Bigfoot hunter (during off-peak hours when he isn’t working his real job as a bank teller), and so I just thought it would be interesting to direct everyone to the Ohio Bigfoot Conference that’s held every year: http://ohiobigfootconference.org/
Oh wow, that’s really cool. I would like to know more about this. Has your uncle ever claimed of seeing Bigfoot before. If yes, what was his experience like? How did he describe it to you? This is really fascinating.
I know i’ve caught a few episodes of finding bigfoot, and I think its the suspense that the show creates each episode is what draws viewers. I personally don’t think bigfoot is out there. With the population of this country, i think that by now we would have gathered some more solid evidence and proof. More realistically, I think people are seeing some sort of bear and creating the illusion in their heads that the bear is much larger or does not look like a bear so it must be bigfoot
I am in a primate evolution class right now, and we have been talking a lot about extinct ape fossils. There is one called gigantopithecus. Gigantopithecus fossil remains indicate that it was 10 feet tall! My professor told us that there is a primatologist that he went to grad school with that currently teaches in Idaho that believes in bigfoot. According to him Bigfoot is alive and is either a gigantopithecus, or a gigantopithecus relative. Did you find this professor at all in your research? I think its incredible that someone with such a deep primatological background believes in bigfoot!
I did not find this professor in my research, but I do remember reading about gigantopithecus!
I’ll be honest, I love the idea of Bigfoot. It’s such a delightful little slice of backwoods Americana and really appeals to a certain childlike part of myself. There’s an absolutely phenomenal podcast on Bigfoot called Wild Thing. It’s put together by Laura Krantz, an NPR producer who found out that her long-lost cousin was one of the “Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery” (yes, that’s a real thing). She examines the belief systems, scientific elements, and, more importantly in my opinion, why she thinks believing in Bigfoot matters to people and how the idea of Bigfoot has created certain communities. It’s almost cute because, unlike a lot of extraordinary beliefs, there doesn’t seem to be any huge negative outcome that results from people believing in it.
Here’s the podcast, it’s a quick miniseries- https://www.foxtopus.ink/wildthing/listen
The belief in Bigfoot is so fascinating. It is such a classic, and has been around for so long, but it is also made such a pop culture joke. Watching shows like “finding Bigfoot” has been a guilty pleasure of sorts, and most sightings are not reported as authentic, or taken seriously. Yet the theory still prevails. I think that’s interesting and honestly would love to see it proven definitively true.
Bigfoot was the first extraordinary belief that I had heard of. I thought it was simply a folktale or legend that originated as an interesting story. I feel like it would be difficult to sustain such a belief when faced with little to no evidence of its existence, so the believers who display confirmation bias must use confabulation and find evidence out of nothing.
Bigfoot should be the most famous monster. But just like the Nessie and Mothman, after they become more popular, there is no more photographic evidence can prove they still exist. But I still hold an opinion that they live somewhere in the forest to stay away from the human settlement. If they can use the tools and live in a population, it’s possible that they have offspring. I think we will record them with the photograph one day if they truly live in somewhere.
Although I do not believe even a little bit of the whole Bigfoot theory, to be honest, I was still filled with anxiety while my family went for hiking and there’s no one else around. It’s sounds kind of silly, but that really happened to me when I first watched a documentary about Bigfoot. It’s really let me think why this happened. It might be part of mental mechanism we have to deal with terror.