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

In a day and age where a wealth of scientific knowledge is constantly at our fingertips, one would think that extraordinary beliefs would have been on the decline long ago. However, in recent years more and more individuals have succumbed to these kinds of beliefs. Of all these that have risen in prevalence in the last few years, none stands out more than Flat Earth theory. According to livescience.com, Flat Earth theory is the belief that the Earth, rather than being a sphere, is actually a round, flat disc. The Arctic Circle lies at the center of this disk, and Antarctica is actually a 150-foot wall of ice that surrounds the outer edge. The sun and the moon are, in essence, celestial spotlights that rotate around the Earth, along with an invisible “antimoon” that accounts for lunar eclipses. Flat Earth theory also states that gravity is actually an illusion, and the reason why objects fall is because the Earth is being driven upward by so-called “dark energy” at a rate of 32 feet per second squared. Finally, those who believe in Flat Earth theory also believe that the idea of a round Earth is a conspiracy generated by NASA for some unknown purpose. Sounds like something that would be hard to believe, right? Except that this belief, while still only found in a small minority of people, is actually quite popular. According to People magazine, prominent celebrities such as rapper B.o.B. and NBA player Kyrie Irving are incredibly verbal about their belief in Flat Earth theory, with B.o.B. even going so far as to get into an argument with physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson over it on Twitter. Clearly, Flat Earth theory has taken the world by storm; but what does science have to say about this?

Proponents of Flat Earth theory have presented numerous pieces of “evidence” to explain why their theory is correct over the years. In a YouTube video posted by ODD Reality, they attempt to provide as much evidence for Flat Earth theory as possible, stating “facts” like “water always fills to a level surface” and “science disproving Flat Earth theory just uses workarounds, which isn’t real science”, when all of these are not actually facts at all. The facts that disprove Flat Earth theory, however, are both accurate and bountiful. In an article from popsci.com, they list ten different things that prove the Earth is round. One such fact is that you can’t see certain constellations from different parts of the world, (a fact that was discovered by Aristotle thousands of years ago), which would only be possible if the earth was round. The fact that the higher up you go, the further you can see, also disproves Flat Earth theory. Finally, and arguably most obviously, the fact that we have different time zones would only be possible if the Earth was round, meaning that the Earth being flat is completely impossible. Unlike the evidence that “proves” Flat Earth theory, the evidence that proves the Earth is round is specific, scientifically-backed, and in most cases incredibly obvious.

Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence that discredits Flat Earth theory, many people not only still adhere to this belief but will vehemently defend it as well. It is therefore important to ask the question: where did this belief start, and why has it not only remained prevalent but in fact grown in popularity? From a cognitive point of view, we can find several explanations for this phenomena. According to phys.org, the belief in a Flat Earth was held up until around the 3^rd century BC, when it was first postulated that the Earth might be round. Mankind did not have a full grasp on scientific knowledge at this point, and as such they maintained a more egocentric of the world in which they lived. Many would watch their family and friends sail away on boats and disappear over the horizon, only to never return. The only explanation that they could come up with was that the Earth was flat, and these ships had simply fallen off the edge. By the 15^th century, this belief largely fell to the wayside as the belief in a round Earth became more widely accepted, but there were those who held onto the old ways due to a psychological concept known as cognitive dissonance. This is a tension that one experiences when they are presented with evidence that contradicts with a previously held belief. Rather than dealing with it, many will ignore it and choose to ignore this new evidence. Others will come up with reasons why they are right after the fact, a process known as post-hoc theorizing. But these cognitive reasons can’t be the only explanation. Other forces must be at work.

The other force is the social aspect. We live in a day and age where everyone is connected through the internet, meaning more and more people have a shared space to spread their beliefs to other like-minded individuals. Not only that, but they are often able to get away with having no factual evidence to back up their beliefs, so long as their conviction is strong enough. According to phys.org, many individuals have begun to actively distrust expert opinion, choosing instead to trust the opinions of prominent figures in mainstream media, regardless of their credentials. This is because these people are often able to craft more interesting ways of telling their opinions than experts, who are restricted by the guidelines of scientific publishing. In an article on livescience.com, they call this phenomena the minority effect: the tendency to believe a minority opinion when the advocates of that opinion stay true to their beliefs. These social forces are powerful ones, and they all contribute to the longevity of this particular belief.

Flat Earth theory is an extraordinary belief that, through psychological forces, has stood this test of time and permeated itself into modern society. Despite the overwhelming evidence disproving the theory, there are many who still hold steadfast to their belief that the earth is flat. This comes from many factors, such as: an effort to reduce cognitive dissonance, the rising trend of distrusting expert opinion, and the minority effect. These things, combined with the age of internet and social media, create a climate that is ripe for a belief like this to take hold. By recognizing these causes, hopefully we can prevent the effects by bettering our education system, and give people the tools they need to evaluate information before they choose to believe it.

Works Cited

Natalie Wolchover and Live Science Staff. (2017, May 30). Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious? Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/24310-flat-earth-belief.html

Reality, O. (2016, August 29). Flat Earth in 5 Minutes ▶️️. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDKc6X8TXNE

Smarterthanthat. (2016, January 26). 10 easy ways you can tell for yourself that the Earth is not flat. Retrieved from https://www.popsci.com/10-ways-you-can-prove-earth-is-round#page-6

The Short List of Famous People Who Think the Earth Is Flat (Yes, Really). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://people.com/celebrity/flat-earth-celebrities-world-not-round/

Why do some people believe the Earth is flat? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2019-01-people-earth-flat.html