Bigfoot

"Sasquatch" redirects here. For other uses, see Sasquatch (disambiguation) and Bigfoot (disambiguation).

Bigfoot

Frame 352 from 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film; some claim it shows a Bigfoot, and others a man in a gorilla suit.
Similar creatures	Skunk Ape, Yeren, Yowie, Mande Barung, Orang Pendek, Almas, Yeti, Barmanou
Other name(s)	Sasquatch
Country	United States, Canada
Region	Pacific Northwest
Habitat	Well-watered mountains, forest

Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) is the name given to a cryptid simian-, ape-, hominid-, or Hominin-like creature that is said to inhabit forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid. The term sasquatch is an Anglicized derivative of the Halkomelem word sásq'ets.

Most scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot and consider it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than a living animal, because of the lack of physical evidence and the large numbers of creatures that would be necessary to maintain a breeding population. However, a few scientists, such as Grover Krantz and Jeffrey Meldrum, have focused research on the alleged creature for the greater parts of their careers, or, in the case of John Bindernagel, for significant parts of it.

Reported descriptions

Appearance and anatomy

Bigfoot is described in reports as a large, hairy, muscular, bipedal ape-like creature, with adults in a range of 1.8–3 m (5.9–9.8 ft) tall, and usually estimated to weigh from 280 to 1,000 pounds (130 to 450 kg). It is reportedly covered in hair that is usually black, dark brown, or dark reddish. "The skin, when it can be seen, is generally dark", "but sometimes light."

Hair is described as straight and short or medium length. Rupert Matthews noted the occasional presence of a mane, or "mantle", of hair.

With respect to the torso, Rupert Matthews states: "Their shoulders are wider in proportion to their height than is usual for a human and that width is maintained right down to the equally wide hips"; he characterized the chest as deep.

Matthews describes females as having "visible breasts" (unlike gorillas). Breasts have been reported to be located lower on the chest than a human's. A lack of detail on genitalia in reports have led some to conclude they are inconspicuous.

The arms are reported as long. "Their hands are large and wide with stubby fingers and short thumbs that are not opposable to the fingers."

The neck is purportedly thick and so short as to be unobservable. Claimed witnesses have described the head as being flat-faced, like a human, or exhibiting slight prognathism; having a pronounced brow ridge; and having a low-set forehead with the skull behind it being noticeably higher in back than in front, culminating in a top that is rounded and crested, similar to the sagittal crest of the male gorilla.

Locomotion, gait, and posture

John Bindernagel describes three reported elements of Bigfoot's gait as: gracefulness and smoothness, owing to its bent-knee or compliant gait; an exaggerated arm-swing; and a high shank-lift, which "brings the sole of the foot to an almost vertical position at the end of each stride." John Green (1978) writes, "Whether walking or running, they almost always took long steps."

Bindernagel further states that a "hunched or stooped posture" is "noted in many Sasquatch reports" . . ., with "their long arms dangling" when standing. Sasquatches have been reported crouching, squatting, and sitting. "Swimming . . . appears to be an important means of locomotion, ... especially on the west coast."

Claimed "sign"

("Sign: The trail or trace of wild animals, etc." A synonym for "spoor".)

• Tracks. Features of the foot have mostly been inferred from footprints. Green writes, "The bottom of the foot is flat; there is no longitudinal arch of the foot, nor a transverse one." The feet seem to be somewhat flexible, though not as much as those of apes. Fahrenbach's analysis finds the average foot length to be 15.6 inches, with a low end of 7 inches and a high of 27. Grover Krantz writes, "... for individuals of the same stature [t]he sasquatch foot is 23 percent longer than the human. It is also about one-third wider for the same length ...."

While most casts have five toes — like all known apes — some casts of Bigfoot tracks have had numbers ranging from two to six. Some have also contained claw marks, making it likely that a portion came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws.

• Broken or twisted-off saplings. Beds, nests, bowers, and dens. Possible instances of these are described by Bindernagel, Krantz, Alley, and Matthews. Odor. Bigfoot is often but not always reported to have a strong, unpleasant odor by those who have claimed a close encounter.

Behavioral traits

John Napier writes, "A frequent comment is that when observed, the creature stands and stares, immobile and expressionless ...." Behavioral traits claimed by John Bindernagel and others include that they occasionally sway slightly from side to side when standing; that infrequently, bristling hair (piloerection) has been observed on the shoulders and neck; and that reports of them sleeping are rare – but that a face-down position appears in some accounts. Drinking from cupped hands, as a man would.

Proponents further claim that Bigfoot is omnivorous and mainly nocturnal.

History

Native American accounts

Wild men stories are found among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Grover Krantz writes, "Native stories that can confidently be related to the sasquatch occur throughout the Pacific Northwest. Their distribution corresponds to the area where White Man accounts are concentrated." According to David Daegling, the legends existed before there was a single name for the creature; and that they differed in their details both regionally and between families in the same community; and that Similar stories of wild men are found on every continent except Antarctica. Ecologist Robert Pyle argues that most cultures have human-like giants in their folk history: "We have this need for some larger-than-life creature." Each language had its own name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names meant something along the lines of "wild man" or "hairy man", although other names described common actions it was said to perform, e.g., eating clams.

Members of the Lummi tribe tell tales about Ts'emekwes, the local version of Bigfoot. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details about the creature's diet and activities differed between family stories.

Some regional legends contained more nefarious creatures. The stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race that children were told not to say the names of lest the monsters hear and come to carry off a person—sometimes to be killed. In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the native people about skoocooms: a race of cannibalistic wildmen living on the peak of Mount St. Helens. The skoocooms have been regarded as supernatural, rather than natural.

Less-menacing versions exist, such as the one recorded by Reverend Elkanah Walker. In 1840, Walker, a Protestant missionary, recorded stories of giants among the Native Americans living near present-day Spokane, Washington. The Indians said that these giants lived on and around the peaks of nearby mountains and stole salmon from the fishermen's nets.

The Sts'Ailes maintain, as do other indigenous peoples of the region, that the Sasquatch are very real, not legendary, and take great umbrage when it is suggested that they are mythical. According to Sts'Ailes eyewitness accounts, the Sasquatch prefer to avoid white men, and speak the "Douglas language", i.e., Ucwalmicwts, the language of the people at Port Douglas, British Columbia at the head of Harrison Lake. A story told to Charles Hill-Tout by Chief Mischelle of the Nlaka'pamux at Lytton, British Columbia in 1898 gives another Salishan variant of the name, meaning "the benign-faced-one."

Local stories were compiled by British Columbian Indian Agent (teacher) J. W. Burns in a series of Canadian newspaper articles in the 1920s recounting stories told to him by the Sts'Ailes people of Chehalis and others. It was Burns who first borrowed the term Sasquatch from the Halkomelem sásq'ets (IPA: [ˈsæsqʼəts]) and used it in his articles to describe a hypothetical single type of creature reflected in the stories. Burns's articles popularized the animal and its new name, making it well known in western Canada before it gained popularity in the United States. His 1929 article in MacLean's Magazine, "Introducing B.C.'s Hairy Giants", revealed some of these stories to a wider Canadian public, as did his December 1940 article (with C.V. Tench), "The Hairy Giants of British Columbia", in Wide World Magazine.

Kathy Strain's coffee-table book, Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture, contains many Bigfoot-related legends. David Paulides' books, The Hoopa Project and Tribal Bigfoot, contain reported contemporary sightings by Native Americans. Robert Alley's Raincoast Sasquatch has a long chapter devoted to native folklore, including color pictures of their artwork. Jean-Paul Debanet's Sasquatch/Bigfoot and the Mystery of the Wild Man devotes most of chapters 40–51 to Indian legends.

Prominent reported sightings

Before 1950

Distribution of reported Bigfoot sightings in North America.

About one-third of all reports of Bigfoot sightings are located in the Pacific Northwest, with the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America. (Some Bigfoot advocates have postulated that unknown hominoids of various types are a worldwide phenomenon.) The most notable reports include:

• 1850s (late). Chris Murphy wrote, "Remarkably, the first major published report of a possible Sasquatch encounter is in a book entitled The Wilderness Hunter (1895) by Theodore Roosevelt... In his book, Roosevelt provides a very detailed account of a story he was told by a trapper named Bauman. As the story goes, Bauman's trapping companion [in Idaho] was viciously killed by a 'beast creature' that walked on two legs... By this time Bauman was an old man, so the incident he related probably took place in the late 1850s." However, contrary to nearly all reports of Bigfoot teeth (see the "Appearance and Anatomy" section), he said "there were four great fang marks in the throat" of the victim.
• 1870: "The Wild Man of Crow Canyon." An anonymous "correspondent of the Antioch Ledger writing from Grayson" stated that he observed, from hiding, a Bigfoot visit his campfire. "It was in the image of a man, but it could not have been human." It was "joined by another—a female, unmistakably" and they both swung sticks from his campfire around "until the fire on the end had gone out." He said the first one "stood fully five feet high, and disproportionately broad and square at the foreshoulders, with arms of great length. The legs were short, and the body long. The head was small compared to the rest of the creature, and appeared to be set upon his shoulders without a neck. The whole was covered with a dark brown and cinnamon-colored hair, quite long in some parts; that on the head standing in a shock and growing close down to the eyes .... I have told this story many times since then and ... I have met one person who has seen the mysterious creatures, and a dozen who have come across their tracks...." This account was reprinted in several California newspapers at the time.
• 1895: The Winsted Wildman. ""While (Riley Smith) was stooped over picking berries, his bulldog (Ned), which is noted for its pluck, ran with a whine to him and stationed itself between his legs,' accounts from the Aug. 21, 1895 Winsted [Connecticut] Herald reported. 'A second afterward a large man, stark naked and covered with hair all over his body, ran out of a clump of bushes and, with fearful yells and cries, made for the woods at lightening [sic] speed where he soon disappeared. Selectman Smith is a powerful, wiry man and has a reputation for having lots of sand, and his bulldog is also noted for his pluck, but Riley admits that he was badly scared and his dog was fairly paralyzed with fear.' Word of Smith's tale spread throughout the little town quickly and it eventually piqued the interest of newspapers from New York and Boston. Soon after newsmen converged on Winsted — on what was then a very active rail service — to not only write about the incident, but to try and capture the wildman and bring him back to the city on a return train trip. According to [local historian] Wentworth, the gaggle of reporters were unsuccessful and all they went home with were sunburns and hangovers from the local beer. Townsfolk were scared, however, and a local posse was formed to find the mysterious creature. But like the reporters, the posse also was unsuccessful." However, this tale has not held up well under the scrutiny of Brandon T. Bisceglia in a January 11, 2010 article in The Examiner titled, "The truth about the Winsted Wildman."
• 1924: Prospector Albert Ostman said he had been camped near Toba Inlet in Vancouver Island, British Columbia when he was abducted by a Sasquatch and held captive by him and his family for up to six days. He went public by writing to a newspaper that had written about William Roe's Bigfoot encounter in 1955. John Green wrote that Ostman had a credible demeanor, that he was never tripped up in cross-examination, and that, "with no pattern to follow", he "was able to describe ... facial features, teeth, fingernails, and a lot of other details ... with nothing ... that conflicted with the consensus of later detailed opinion." On the other hand, Green said there two things that were "very much wrong with" his story: The area's actual geography versus what Ostman described, and the too-human-ness of the Sasquatches' behavior and family living pattern. John Napier, after pointing out that the combined weight of Ostman's Bigfoot family was around 3000 pounds, and that Ostman described little food-gathering activity, and, quoting Frank Beebe, that the vegetation in the area was of "the very poorest quality of low-energy food", concluded: "Albert Ostman's story fails to convince me primarily on the grounds of the limited food resources available."

• 1924: Fred Beck said that he and four other miners were attacked one night in July 1924, by several "apemen" throwing rocks at their cabin in an area later called Ape Canyon, Washington. Beck said the miners shot and possibly killed at least one of the creatures, precipitating an attack on their cabin, during which the creatures bombarded the cabin with rocks and tried to break in. The incident was reported in the local-area press at the time. Roger Patterson interviewed Beck in 1966 and printed its gist in his book, Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist? along with drawings, a photo of the miners, a map, a reprint of a contemporary newspaper story on the incident, plus reprints of three newspaper stories about subsequent spooky activity in Ape Canyon.

Portions of Patterson's lengthier taped interview are reprinted in Green's Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us. Cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall pointed out that in it Beck significantly increased the ape-men's foot size (to 19 inches, on page 94), height (to eight feet, on page 95), and weight (to "six or eight hundred pounds", on page 96), from what he had told the press in earlier interviews. (Hall is profiled in Cryptozoology A to Z.)

Beck co-wrote, with his paranormalist son, a 22-page pamphlet about the event in 1967, in which he said that the creatures were mystical beings from another dimension, stating that he had experienced psychic premonitions and visions his entire life of which the apemen were only one component. Chris Murphy writes, "The first person to publicly declare that sasquatch were inter-dimensional travelers was none other than Fred Beck." Speleologist William Halliday said in 1983 that the story arose from an incident in which hikers from a nearby camp had thrown rocks into the canyon. There are also local rumors that pranksters harassed the men and planted faked footprints.

• 1941: Native American Jeannie Chapman said she and her three children had fled their home in Ruby Creek, British Columbia when a 7.5 feet (2.3 m) tall Sasquatch approached it in September. Her husband and co-workers found tracks that crushed potatoes under them and that stepped without breaking stride over a fence; a broken shed door; and a smashed 55-gallon tub of salt fish inside, with fish scattered around. "In the days that followed, the Bigfoot returned to the house every night for a week ... and the experience was too much for the family, and they left the house for good." John Green wrote, "The story had been publicized at the time and had been investigated by Joe Dunn, a deputy sheriff from [nearby] Bellingham, Washington [who] measured and cast the tracks.... [O]ne of his sons showed me a report he had written that confirmed what I had already been told." However, in separate interviews, she provided differing details in her account. In one version, she fled down the railway tracks until she met her husband; in another, she ran to her father's house in the village. But Green, who interviewed her twice, as well as others who had talked to Mrs. Chapman at the time, and who visited the scene, did not consider such discrepancies significant.

After 1950

• 1955: William Roe, a highway worker, reported that he was hiking alone up Mica Mountain near the British Columbia/Alberta border and the little town of Tete Jaune Cache. He sat down when he saw a dark shape ahead of him. He described features of a female ape-like creature he claims to have observed in an affidavit. He averred that it approached within 20 feet of him and began eating leaves. It noticed him, backed away, turned, and departed, looking over its shoulder and making a "kind of whinny" at one point. He said he did not shoot it, because he thought it might be a man. Roe said he followed its tracks and some areas where it had slept. In March 1960 True magazine published Ivan Sanderson's "A New Look At America's Mystery Giant", about the Roe encounter, and reprinted his affidavit. His daughter made a drawing of it under his direction. However, the drawing gives the creature long hair on the back of the head and a distinct neck, unlike what Roe had described.
• 1958: On Monday morning, August 27, 1958 Gerald Crew first discovered large footprints around his bulldozer, a discovery that was to be repeated in subsequent months, at a road-construction site on a mountainside above Bluff Creek in Del Norte County, California. Crew reported that he cast the prints in plaster on October 3 after not being taken seriously, following instructions provided by his friend, taxidermist Bob Titmus. The story was published on October 5 in the Humboldt Times, along with a photo of Crew holding one of the claimed casts. Locals had been calling the unseen track-maker "Big Foot" since the late summer, which Humboldt Times columnist and editor Andrew Genzoli shortened to "Bigfoot" in his article. Bigfoot gained international attention when the story was picked up by the Associated Press. In December 1959, True magazine printed Ivan Sanderson's "The Jerry Crew Story", which was read by millions, including Roger Patterson.

Crew's crew was overseen by Wilbur L. Wallace, brother of Ray Wallace, of the Toledo, Washington-state-based Wallace Brothers Construction Company. After Ray Wallace's death, his son, nephew and other relatives came forward with a pair of 16-inch (41 cm) wooden feet, which they said Ray had used to fake the Bigfoot tracks in 1958. In addition, the wife of L. W. "Scoop" Beal, the editor of the Humboldt Standard, which later combined with the Humboldt Times, in which Genzoli's story had appeared, stated that her husband was in on the hoax with Wallace. However, Chris Murphy notes that Ed Schillinger, "who is the only living witness from the Bluff Creek job" and "who considers himself almost an adopted son of the man [Ray]", strongly disputes the family's allegations.

Wallace is poorly regarded by many Bigfoot proponents. John Napier wrote, "I do not feel impressed with Mr. Wallace's story" regarding having over 15,000 feet (4,600 m) of film showing Bigfoot. Peter Byrne tells of Wallace's attempt to sell a supposedly captured Bigfoot to Tom Slick for $1 million. However, cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall was a persistent critic of the authenticity of Crew's 1958 tracks, and of certain other Bluff Creek tracks. Another cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, has been similarly critical.

• 1964: Mrs. John Utrup said she was chased into her house near Dewey Lake in Dowagiac Michigan on the night of Tuesday, June 10, by a 9-foot tall hairy biped weighing some 500 pounds, which shook ground beneath her. She claimed her dog, which was visibly wounded in the attack, saved her. Police were dispatched, large footprints were found and plaster casts, and photos were taken. The story was picked up by the AP and UPI, covered by over 100 American newspapers, and became known as the Dewey Lake Monster case. Cass County Undersheriff Ernest Kraus said "about 10 persons have claimed they saw the monster." Residents of the Sister Lakes area have reported seeing the "thing" for from two to five years, always during the summer months. As well, the "monster" made a daylight appearance on Thursday, June 11, 1964 terrorizing three young girls and causing one of them to faint. After the "monster" fled, the fainter revived and they ran to a neighboring home and telephoned police. Sheriff's deputies armed with rifles rushed to the area.
• 1967: Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reported that, on October 20, they had filmed a Bigfoot at Bluff Creek, California. (This was in the wake of tracks examined nearby in late August by John Green and René Dahinden.) This came to be known as the Patterson–Gimlin film. Patterson sought various experts to examine the film. Patterson, Gimlin, and Al DeAtley, Patterson's brother-in-law, screened the film for Dale Sheets, head of the Documentary Film Department, and unnamed technicians "in the special effects department at Universal Studios in Hollywood... Their conclusion was: 'We could try (faking it), but we would have to create a completely new system of artificial muscles and find an actor who could be trained to walk like that. It might be done, but we would have to say that it would be almost impossible.'" In 1999, Bob Heironimus, an acquaintance of Patterson's, said that he had worn an ape costume for the making of the film, although he didn't reveal his name and the details of his claim until 2004 in Greg Long's book, The Making of Bigfoot.
• 1967: Chris Murphy wrote, "Three Sasquatch—a male, female, and juvenile—were observed in November 1967 by Glen Thomas (who was taking a break from sawing trees to assist the construction of a nearby forest road) in a natural rock and boulder pile near Estacada, Oregon, searching for rodents. When rodents were found and caught, the Sasquatch would eat them ... The largest Sasquatch ... actually dug a deep pit in the rocks." Thomas subsequently claimed three more Bigfoot sightings, in spring, November, and December 1968 in the same general area of Oregon. Thomas's fullest accounts are in John Green's Encounters with Bigfoot and in Beelart and Olson's Oregon Bigfoot Highway. In February 1969 Thomas found a long trackway made by two individuals walking alongside each other.
• 1969: "On 24 August on the construction site of the Big Horn Dam ... in Alberta", five construction workers claimed they observed a very tall Sasquatch atop a 300-foot high bank on the opposite side of the North Saskatchewan River for 85 minutes. When they went public, others in the area came forward with accounts of their own sightings.
• 1969: "The Bigfoot of Lake Worth, Texas, was seen repeatedly during 1969 ... [and] locals watched the famous beast cavort up and down a bluff. At one time some of them apparently annoyed it and it picked up a spare [automobile] wheel and hurled it some 500 feet towards the onlookers..."John Green wrote that although there was some evidence of Bigfoots in northwest Texas, and some seemingly sincere testimony about the Lake Worth monster, "If there ever was a story that should be nonsense, this is it" and "If there ever was a case where mass hysteria took over after the first report this would appear to be the one."
• 1972: The Legend of Boggy Creek, a low-budget docudrama re-enacting several bigfoot encounters in swampy areas of Arkansas, was released, to great success. Buhs writes, "The Legend of Boggy Creek caught the imagination of a generation; it was probably the most influential piece of Sasquatchian ever produced."
• 1975: The Vancouver Sun reported, "on the Lummi Indian Reserve ... Bigfeet were seen more than a hundred times and the witnesses included the reserve policemen." Sightings occurred from October 2 until "a few days after" October 24. The Bigfoot Encounters site says, "The Lummi Reservation is seven miles northwest of Bellingham, Washington, in the western portion of Whatcom County, 95 miles north of Seattle. The reservation is a five mile long peninsula." "When reading these reports, we wish the police and public would carry cameras rather than guns."
• 1975: Terry Reams of Yakima, Washington was riding in an eastbound car on December 6 with three others on I-84 just upstream of Bonneville Dam [east of Portland, Oregon]. It was 7 PM [dark in December there]. A figure running along the divider in the same direction veered into the road and the car slowed sharply. Then, he said, he had a close-up and longer-than usual sighting of a Bigfoot while it ran alongside his car. Thom Powell writes, "Terry reported his sighting to the Hood River Sheriff's Office and they acknowledged that they had several other calls reporting the same event."
• 1994: The Freeman video was shot by the controversial Paul Freeman in southeastern Washington. Nothing obviously phony has been detected in it so far.
• 1995: The "Redwoods footage" was videotaped in August near Crescent City, California in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, near the Oregon border. The observers were the crew of Adventures television shooting an episode featuring a drive up the California coast highway ... in Del Norte County, California. A cameraman shot a 30-second video of a figure walking along a minor road, then crossing it right in front of their RV. Comments on the video can be found on the Bigfoot Encounters website, including "a BBC article and on-going comments by the late Richard Greenwell, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Dave Bittner, Daniel Perez, Larry Lund and Robert Stansberry." Opinions of Bigfooters were split on its authenticity. The BBC Wildlife magazine article concluded, "In our view, there are only two hypotheses about the Sasquatch, both of which seem improbable. One is that the Sasquatch doesn't exist and the thousands of reports are spurious. The other is that a giant, non-human, bipedal primate inhabits the forests of the US Pacific Northwest and western Canada and has so far eluded conventional scientific observation. One must decide for oneself which is the less improbable of the two."
• 1996: "The Memorial Day video is a Hi-8mm video that is purported to show a rapidly moving Bigfoot, going from left to right. It was videotaped on May 26, 1996, by Lori Pate while on a fishing trip with family and friends at Chopaka Lake, in Okanogan County, north central Washington. ... [It] shows a figure, matching the description of a Bigfoot, running across a hill. It disappears behind a less-inclined, sloped area, then reappears briefly, walking this time, before going into the trees at the extreme right of the frame." "An elaborate forensic reconstruction was undertaken." Bigfooter Bobbie Short was skeptical of the video, based on her gait-analysis and the negative analyses of other Bigfooters.
• 2000: The Marble Mountain, California footage shows a purported Sasquatch walking down a ridgeline about 750 yards away. It was shot in July 2000 near Fort Jones, California by the leader of a group of 15 hikers, mostly youths. Bigfooter Bobbie Short commented sarcastically on her website that the subject's gait was unconvincing, and posted an image analysis by M.K. Davis showing demarcation lines indicative of clothing.
• 2000: Michael McLeod wrote, "In the summer of 2000, a psychologist named Matthew Johnson reported an encounter with a Bigfoot while hiking with his family on a trail ... at the Oregon Caves National Monument. His sighting report to BFRO is online. On the web, the Bigfoot network buzzed with excitement." McLeod was distinctly unexcited about it.
• 2005: Three Silver Star Mountain photos were taken by Randee Chase, an avid backpacker, from its peak in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington on November 17. They show a bulky figure standing atop another snow-covered peak 275 yards away, and then descending down its far side.
• 2007: On September 16, 2007, hunter Rick Jacobs captured an image of a supposed Sasquatch by using an automatically triggered camera attached to a tree. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Game Commission said that it was an image of "a bear with a severe case of mange." The photo was taken near the town of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny National Forest.

Aftermath of 1957 and 1958 events

In 1957, John Green wrote, "The village council of Harrison Hot Springs was pondering what to do with a small grant from the government of British Columbia .... Someone suggested spending it ... to finance a sasquatch hunt.... the village councillors voted to ask the provincial Centennial Committee to ask permission to use the money in that way.... The story that a government ... wanted to search for a monster was news around the world. It also started a lot of talk around Agassiz and Harrison Hot Springs and I was quickly exposed to the fact that there were local people who took sasquatch very seriously indeed, and not all of them were Indians. [One of them] told me that he had seen enormous footprints at Ruby Creek [see the 1941 event, above], only a dozen miles away." Green then had participants in the 1941 Ruby Creek incident interviewed by himself and by a magistrate, and published a story on it.

1957/1958 were watershed years, not just for the story of the Harrison Hot Springs hunt proposal and the two "Bigfoot-classic" stories of the Ruby Creek encounter and the discovery of Bigfoot footprints at Bluff Creek, but also for the additional stories they triggered and the effect of that publicity on the culture that surrounds Bigfoot. In their wake:

• Three more of the Bigfoot "classics" came to light: 1) William Roe contacted the British Columbian press in 1958 with an account of his 1955 encounter; 2) Albert Ostman contacted the newspaper that had printed the Roe story, telling of his 1924 encounter; and 3) researcher Betty Allen rediscovered the 1924 Ape Canyon apeman tale of Fred Beck.
• The first Bigfoot hunters appeared. In 1959, Tom Slick, who had funded searches for Yeti in the Himalayas earlier in the decade, organized searches for Bigfoot in the area around Bluff Creek. Members of his team included local taxidermist Bob Titmus, bear hunter Ivan Marx, Canadian Sasquatch researchers John Green and René Dahinden, and big-game hunting guide Peter Byrne.
• The December 1959 issue of True magazine carried Ivan Sanderson's detailed account of the 1958 track finds, which ignited interest in the topic among its many readers, including Roger Patterson. In 1961, Ivan Sanderson followed up with his encyclopedic Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, a worldwide survey of accounts of Bigfoot-type creatures, including recent track finds, etc., in the Bluff Creek area. It inspired Roger Patterson to compile a collection of sighting reports and track finds into his 1966 book, Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist? Sanderson's book sold well and he appeared on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show.
• John Green published his influential collections of encounters, On the Track of the Sasquatch (1968) and Year of the Sasquatch (1970), both of which sold so well that Green thereafter sold his newspaper and devoted more time to Sasquatch research.
• Rupert Matthews wrote that the printing and broadcasting of those reports in turn "encouraged people who had encountered the creature or its footprints to come forward more readily to talk to the newspapers, or to supply information to one or other of the new breed of researchers. This contributed to the massive increase in the numbers of reports being made ...." To collect these reports and make them better known, George Haas started the first Bigfoot newsletter, the influential Bigfoot Bulletin, in 1969. Buhs wrote, "The only way to receive a subscription was to submit something in exchange—a citation, an idea, a report from the field.""Subscribers to the Bigfoot Bulletin combed through old newspapers .... Enthusiasts were to ... seek out musty tomes, plunge into newspaper morgues, battle with microfilm readers, just as Charles Fort had." This is how many nineteenth century accounts of wild men, escaped gorillas, and "what-is-its?" came to light.

Proposed explanations for sightings

Various types of creatures have been suggested to explain both the sightings and what type of creature Bigfoot would be. The scientific community typically attributes sightings to either hoaxes or misidentification of known animals and their tracks. While cryptozoologists generally explain Bigfoot as an unknown ape, some attribute the phenomenon to UFOs or other paranormal causes.

Misidentification

General

Some people interpret an ambiguous shape or sound as a Bigfoot. John Green writes, "There have been numerous instances of people wanting to have seen something definite and indulging in wishful thinking. Some of them can be pretty convincing ...." Daniel Loxton writes, "Even if we were to grant that humans, bears, and Sasquatch look dissimilar, the simple fact remains that people make whoppingly huge misidentification errors all the time.... [and] given that everyone in North America is exposed to the idea that Bigfoot might exist, the vast number of animal sightings virtually guarantees that tales about encounters with Sasquatches will emerge—even in a world without Sasquatches."

Bears, and bear tracks

A study published in for 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 Bigfoot's preferred ecological parameters. They found a very close match with the ecological parameters of the American black bear, Ursus americanus, "sightings of which are thought to be sometimes confused as Bigfoot encounters (Meldrum, 2007)." They continue, "Although it is possible that Sasquatch and U. americanus share such remarkably similar bioclimatic requirements, we nonetheless suspect that many Bigfoot sightings are, in fact, of black bears."

However, Bigfoot proponents disagree. Jeff Meldrum writes, "Dr. Lynn Rogers, [a] bear biologist ... considers the chances of mistaking a bear sighting for a sasquatch possible, but unlikely for a knowledgeable observer." Unlike Sasquatches, "Bears ... rarely walk for more than a few steps .... Their gait is usually halting ... and their forelimbs do not alternately swing with each step, but instead are held out forward in front of the body." They also have "prominent rounded ears atop their heads, long snouts, sloping shoulders ... and short legs." John Bindernagel considers that misidentification "is most unlikely in the case of sightings or encounters lasting more than one or two seconds."

Continuing, Meldrum writes, "in fact, it should be considered that the very opposite may more likely be the case. The initial reaction of many eyewitnesses to a possible sasquatch sighting is to rationalize the experience by assuming they have simply seen a bear." Similarly, Bindernagel writes, "sasquatches typically move about in a crouch or stooped position when foraging. For this reason they are frequently mistaken for bears until they stand ...."

A 2007 photo of an unidentified animal the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization claims is a "juvenile Sasquatch"

In 2007, the Pennsylvania Game Commission said that photos the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization said showed a juvenile Bigfoot were of a bear with mange. Jeffrey Meldrum, on the other hand, said the limb proportions of the suspected juvenile in question were not bear-like, and stated that he felt they were "more like a chimpanzee."

Turning to bear tracks, Meldrum writes, "Bruce Marcot, a wildlife ecologist in Portland, Oregon, has maintained a web page illustrating [the] line of reasoning" that "'some, maybe many tracks of Bigfoot ... are probably tracks of large wildlife—most likely bears that are simply enlarging their own tracks by sliding, by overstepping, or by having their tracks enlarged by weather effects.'" Meldrum responds that "the 'fit' ... quickly falls apart when the aforementioned details such as absolute size, toe proportions, heel shape, claw marks, pads, and so on, are carefully examined." John Green argues similarly.

Bigfoot hoaxes

In general

Both Bigfoot believers and non-believers agree that many of the sightings are hoaxes or misidentified animals. Bigfooter Bobbie Short's site lists about two dozen suspect cases, and Bigfooter Diane Stocking criticizes a half-dozen.

Bigfooter John Green offers this observation: "I feel quite sure that the preceding sections of this chapter contain some [sighting reports] that aren't true. The reason for this is the great interest created by Roger Patterson's movie [the PGF], which hundreds of thousands of people have seen and millions must have read about." Presumably things have gotten worse since the release of The Legend of Boggy Creek and the free availability of the Patterson film, and other Bigfoot images and stories, on the Internet.

Green continues in this vein, but ends on a positive note: "Until the end of 1967 it was a rare thing to investigate a Sasquatch report that did not turn out to have something to it. From 1968 on I have found that is no longer the case. There have been half a dozen people who have told elaborate stories that ultimately collapsed from their own weight. Some less elaborate deceptions have presumably passed undetected, and while many of us have our suspicions we may be suspecting the wrong ones." .............. "Lest that sound unduly discouraging, bear in mind ... [that] if Sasquatches are to be wished back into the books of mythology, every last one of those reports has to be wrong."

Regarding non-sighting evidence, Brian Regal contends, "No super cunning or technical expertise is needed by a faker of evidence. All they need to do is throw something together and let their audience do the rest."

Instances

• An 1884 newspaper report of an apelike creature captured near Yale, British Columbia was the basis of this story. Loren Coleman explained in 2003 how the Jacko Affair achieved its popularity: "During the 1950s, a news reporter named Brian McKelvie ... found ...the ... article about Jacko.... McKelvie shared the Jacko account with researchers John Green and René Dahinden. McKelvie told them that this was the only record of the event due to a fire that had destroyed other area newspapers at the time.... The story's appearance in Ivan T. Sanderson's 1961 Abominable Snowman: Legend Come to Life propelled the Jacko story into history...." Subsequently, Jerome Clark says that research by John Green found that two contemporary British Columbia newspapers regarded the alleged capture as very dubious, Clark notes that the Mainland Guardian of New Westminster, British Columbia wrote, "Absurdity is written on the face of it." "Green ... wrote of[f] the Jacko story as a piece of probable journalistic fiction in Pursuit ... in 1975." But by then the story had taken on a life of its own.
• In January 1969, while Bigfooters were in Bossburg, Washington in the wake of Ivan Marx's cripplefoot track find there, they were approached by Joe Metlow, a prospector. He told them that he had a Bigfoot immobilized in an abandoned mine shaft, and that he had sold it. The Bigfooters said that they "would top your best offer", and a bidding war ensued. Metlow declined to give anyone a peek for $1000. Bids topped out at $55,000, which called his bluff, and interest fizzled when he wouldn't bite. He then claimed that he had a Sasquatch foot in his freezer, which started another bidding war. Again, he was evasive, changed his story, and ducked out of a trip to have potential buyers view it. At this point "it was obvious to the Sasquatch squads that they'd been had."
• Ivan Marx phoned René Dahinden on October 1970 and said, "I've got a film of the cripple[foot Bigfoot]." Bigfooters flocked to his hometown of Bossburg, Washington, near the Canadian border. After viewing his film, nearly all were convinced of its authenticity and a bidding war for rights ensued. However, Peter Byrne paid attention to a couple of children who had been saying that they knew where the film had been shot. When he arrived there, he discovered that the features of the site were inconsistent with what Marx had claimed about the circumstances of the filming and the height of the subject. Subsequent investigation turned up more red flags, and belief in the film evaporated. Peter Byrne wrote a detailed account of the episode, as did Michael McLeod.
• The Museum of Hoaxes writes that, in 1976 "Cherie Darvell was a member of a film crew searching for Bigfoot in the woods outside Eureka, California. Unfortunately for her, she found Bigfoot and he abducted her. Or so she claimed. Humboldt County organized a search party to find her, but without success. (Total cost for the search: $11,613. Humboldt County tried to sue Shasta County to make them pay a portion of the cost, but a judge struck down their suit, ruling that the search for Bigfoot had been an 'exercise in futility.') A few days later, Darvell walked into [Bluff Creek Resort], looking none the worse for wear, despite her experience as a Bride of Bigfoot. When reporters tried to ask her questions about her ordeal, her only response was to scream. Her fellow filmmakers, Ed Bush and Terry Gaston, later released a movie showing her being carried away by Bigfoot. It crossed the minds of a few people that the 'abduction' had been simply an elaborate publicity stunt."
• In May 1977 a bus driving from Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia to Vancouver stopped after a man in a gorilla suit ran across the road. The driver exited and gave chase into the forest, thinking it was a hoax—as did a passenger, who shouted after it, "You're not fooling us!" Thomas Steenberg wrote, "I have studied photos of the costume they used and I still can't see how anyone with any sense was fooled by it." However, the driver claimed his "initial anger turned to awe, then to fright, as he gazed at the beast, which he described as being about seven feet tall and weighing 350 pounds" and noticed a "horrible smell" "from about a twenty-five-foot distance." "But 24-year-old Ken Ticehurst, who wore the gorilla suit, was only 5-foot-11 and weighed 165 pounds." The police were convinced by "thirteen footprints in a hard sand creek bed .... All the prints differed slightly from each other", which they photographed. Radio stations spread the news and "before the day was out" "more than a thousand people [arrived] to view the evidence." One of them was René Dahinden, who was "suckered in." After suspicions emerged, "The result was an appearance of the four hoaxers on a radio show and a complete ... description of their coup." It involved a clever laying-down of sophisticated tracks beforehand, a roadside parked car with a walkie-talkie to alert the mime to the approach of the bus, and a passenger aboard the bus to make a fuss when he sighted the mime.
• Rupert Matthews writes, "In October 1985 the Pennsylvania police force arrested a man [from Enola] and charged him with wasting police time. He had been in the habit of dressing up in a gorilla suit and then going out at night to prance alongside remote rural roads, scaring passers-by." He did so "after seeing a local newspaper story about residents who were noticing a foul odor and screeching noises emanating from the wooded area, the chief said."
• Grover Krantz described an amusing, clever footprint-track-in-snow hoax that made it appear as though a Sasquatch had ascended a 20-degree slope while maintaining eight-foot steps. "It was later found out that ... he wore fake feet that were put on backwards and he ran down the slope."
• On July 14, 2005, Tom Biscardi, a long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of Searching for Bigfoot Inc., appeared on the Coast to Coast AM paranormal radio show and announced that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they have been tracking in the Happy Camp, California area." A month later, Biscardi 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. Biscardi appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. Biscardi blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him and the show's audience for being gullible.
• The Sonoma video was a hoax in which magicians Penn and Teller were involved and which they exposed as such on their cable TV Showtime series Bulls**t on April 24, 2006. It was intended to test Bigfooters' gullibility. Bigfooter Kathy Strain wrote, "The Sonoma video first made its appearance on November 18, 2005. [According to the hoax storyline,] Mark Nelson was out hiking with his girlfriend near Lake Sonoma [California] on November 14, 2005 and videotaped a bigfoot..." "The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO.net) alleged the film was legitimate. However, ... the vast majority of the bigfoot research community ... recognized the video as a hoax less than a month after its release."
• On July 9, 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube claiming that they had discovered the body of a dead Sasquatch in a forest in northern Georgia. Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. as a good faith gesture. The story of the men's claims was covered by many major news networks, including BBC, CNN, ABC News, and Fox News. Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body arrived in a block of ice in a freezer with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, it was discovered that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber. Dyer and Whitton subsequently admitted it was a hoax after being confronted by Steve Kulls, executive director of SquatchDetective.com.
• In August 2012, a man was run over and killed by two cars on "U.S. Highway 93, just south of Kalispell, Montana", while perpetrating a roadside Bigfoot hoax wearing a ghillie suit.
• In January 2014, Rick Dyer, perpetrator of the Georgia Bigfoot hoax mentioned above, said he had killed a Bigfoot creature in September 2012 outside of San Antonio, Texas. He said he had scientific tests performed 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." He stated that he intended to take the body, which he had kept in a hidden location, on tour across North America in 2014. He released photos of the body and a video showing a few individuals' reactions to seeing it, but never released any of the tests or scans. He refused to disclose the test results or provide biological samples, although he stated that the DNA results, which were done by an undisclosed lab, could not identify any known animal. Dyer stated he would reveal the body and tests on February 9 at a news conference at Washington University, but the test results were never made available. After the Phoenix tour, the body traveled to Houston. On March 28, 2014, Dyer admitted on his Facebook page that his "Bigfoot corpse" was another hoax. He had paid Chris Russel of Twisted Toy Box to manufacture the prop, which he nicknamed "Hank", from latex, foam, and camel hair. Dyer earned approximately US$60,000 from the tour of this second fake Bigfoot corpse. He maintains that he did kill a Bigfoot, but states that he did not take the real body on tour for fear that it would be stolen.

Gigantopithecus

Fossil jaw of Gigantopithecus blacki, an extinct primate

Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey H. Bourne believed that Bigfoot could be a relict population of Gigantopithecus. According to Bourne, all Gigantopithecus fossils were found in Asia, and, as many species of animals migrated across the Bering land bridge, it is not unreasonable to assume that Gigantopithecus might have as well. Jeffrey Meldrum, another Bigfoot devotee, has said that the fossil remains of an ancient giant ape called Gigantopithecus could turn out to be ancestors of today's commonly known Bigfoot.

Gigantopithecus fossils have not been found in the Americas. The only recovered fossils are of mandibles and teeth, leaving uncertainty about Gigantopithecus's locomotion. Krantz has argued, based on his extrapolation of the shape of its mandible, that Gigantopithecus blacki could have been bipedal. However, the relevant part of mandible is not present in any fossils. An alternative view is that Gigantopithecus was quadrupedal, and it has been said that Gigantopithecus's enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait.

Matt Cartmill presents another view regarding the Gigantopithecus 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."

Bernard G. Campbell wrote: "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."

Extinct hominidae

A species of Paranthropus, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its crested skull and bipedal gait, was suggested by primatologist John R. Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg as a possible candidate for Bigfoot's identity, despite the fact that fossils of Paranthropus are found only in Africa.

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. He favorably compares a modern tooth suspected of coming from a Bigfoot to the Meganthropus fossil teeth, noting the worn enamel on the occlusal surface. The Meganthropus fossils originated from Asia, and the tooth was found near Santa Cruz, California.

Some suggest Neanderthal, Homo erectus, or Homo heidelbergensis to be the creature, but no remains of any of those species have been found in the Americas.

Scientific view

The evidence that does exist supporting the survival of such a large, prehistoric ape-like creature has been attributed to hoaxes or delusion rather than to sightings of a genuine creature. 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."

In addition, scientists cite the fact that Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. As with other proposed megafauna cryptids, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature's survival in reported habitats unlikely. Great apes have not been found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains are known to have been found. The breeding population of such an animal would be so large that it would account for many more purported sightings than currently occur, making the existence of such an animal an almost certain impossibility. Skeptic Kenneth Wylie has published, in boiled-down, tabular form, a comprehensive, nine-page "comparison between Bigfoot 'data' and various relevant bionomic facts."

There have been a limited number of formal scientific studies of Bigfoot. Evidence such as the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film has provided "no supportive data of any scientific value."

Most mainstream scientists do not consider the subject of Bigfoot an area of credible science. In the 1970s, when Bigfoot experts were frequently given high-profile media coverage, Michael McLeod writes that the scientific community generally avoided engaging in debates with them, lest doing so lend credibility to their theories. However, as of 2003, four prominent specialists in relevant branches of science considered it science-worthy and even (in three cases) belief-worthy: George Schaller, Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, and Esteban Sarmiento (see all below).

Researchers

Strong proponents

• Bernard Heuvelmans, and Ivan T. Sanderson, cryptozoologists, spent parts of their careers searching for Bigfoot. Heuvelmans is profiled in Cryptozoology A to Z. He is mentioned frequently throughout Brian Regal's Searching for Sasquatch, and profiled as well. Sanderson is also profiled in Cryptozoology A to Z and in Anatomy of a Beast. He too is mentioned frequently throughout Brian Regal's Searching for Sasquatch, and profiled therein.
• John Green, a onetime journalist, spent over 50 years collecting, organizing, and publishing Bigfoot data. Green is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch, in Barbara Wasson's Sasquatch Apparitions, In Kenneth Wylie's Bigfoot, and in Cryptozoology A to Z.
• Grover Krantz devoted most of his career studying, and searching for, Bigfoot. Krantz is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch and in Cryptozoology A to Z. His life and career are described extensively and, in places, very critically, in Brian Regal's Searching for Sasquatch. Persistent Bigfoot field researcher René Dahinden was, on occasion, his vociferous critic.
• Jeff Meldrum has taken up where Krantz left off and devoted most of his career to the Bigfoot topic. Meldrum is profiled in Cryptozoology A to Z.
• John Bindernagel, a wildlife biologist, has done nearly the same.
• "Dr. Henner Fahrenbach, a [retired] biomedical research scientist [from the Oregon Primate Research Center], has put together a collection of ... unidentified hairs" and an analysis of footprint reports.
• Gordon Strasenburgh authored "The Crested Australopithecus Robustus and the Patterson–Gimlin Film", which reviewed four studies and opinions by scientists on the film. Strasenburgh is profiled in Barbara Wasson's Sasquatch Apparitions.

Mild proponents and others

• John Napier, who thought Bigfoot's existence was likely, wrote a book on the subject. His book is treated favorably in Kenneth Wylie's Bigfoot He is criticized by Barbara Wasson, because he disbelieved in the reality of the Bigfoot in the Patterson film.
• George W. Gill examined the "soft evidence" for Bigfoot and concluded that it "supports the possibility that these beings are natural phenomena."
• Carleton S. Coon, published (posthumously) "Why There Has to Be a Sasquatch."

Other scientists, who were intrigued by the possibility of Bigfoot's authenticity and who also researched the topic in the early days, included Don Abbott, George Allen Agogino, and William Charles Osman Hill, although they came to no definite conclusions and later drifted from this research. Later scientists who have shown varying degrees of interest and belief in the creature are David J. Daegling, George Schaller, Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, and Esteban Sarmiento.

Formal studies

• In 1970, the National Wildlife Federation funded a field study seeking Bigfoot evidence. It was headed by "a flamboyant Floridian named Robert Morgan". Morgan is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch and in Cryptozoology A to Z. No formal federation members were involved and the study made no notable discoveries.
• The first scientific study of available evidence was conducted by John Napier and published in his book, Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality, in 1973. Napier wrote that if a conclusion is to be reached based on scant extant "'hard' evidence", science must declare "Bigfoot does not exist." However, he found it difficult to entirely reject thousands of alleged tracks, "scattered over 125,000 square miles" 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."
• Beginning in the late 1970s, physical anthropologist Grover Krantz published several articles and one book-length treatment of Sasquatch. Critics objected that he had certified a phony cast as authentic; that he had gone against scientific practice by conditionally assigning a scientific name for Bigfoot; and that he had been unable to get major scientific journals to accept his papers.

DNA studies

• After what The Huffington Post described as "a five-year study of purported Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) DNA samples", Texas veterinarian Melba Ketchum and her team announced 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." 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. The Huffington Post discovered that the journal's domain had been registered anonymously only nine days before the announcement. The only edition of DeNovo was listed as Volume 1, Issue 1, and its only content was the Bigfoot research. Daniel Loxton echos that complaint, and adds that "there are also signs of serious problems with the study's data, methods, and conclusions." He quotes genetics expert John Timmer thus: "the best explanation here is contamination." Sharon Hill, a science writer, adds to the criticism. Ketchum defends herself on her Facebook page and webpage.
• In the first ever systematic genetic analysis of 30 hair samples which were suspected to be from bigfoot, yeti, sasquatch, almasty or other anomalous primates, none was found to be primate in origin except that one sample was identified to be human. A joint study by 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 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 bear accounted for most of the samples, other animals include cow, horse, dog/wolf/coyote, sheep, goat, raccoon, porcupine, deer and tapir. The last two samples matched a fossilized genetic sample of a 40,000-year-old polar bear of the Pleistocene Epoch.

Bigfoot claims

Proponent and author Chris Murphy summarizes the evidence in an illustrated online article, "Do Sasquatch Really Exist?"

The North American Wood Ape Conservancy also summarizes the evidence online.

Bigfoot organizations

Research and investigation

There are several organizations dedicated to the research and investigation of Bigfoot sightings in the United States.

• The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) is oldest and largest of them. 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 researchers to determine credibility. http://www.bfro.net/ Contact it by e-mail at ContactUs@BFRO.NET or by phone at (408) 634-BFRO (408-634-2376). Its founder, Matt Moneymaker, is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch.
• The nonprofit North American Wood Ape Conservancy (NAWAC) is a 60-member group focused on Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Missouri. It follows up on sighting reports, sponsors conferences, and has an informative website. Its Outreach page is at http://woodape.org/index.php/about-us/outreach. (Prior to 2013 its name was The Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy. Its founder, Craig Woolheater, is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch.)
• The British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club (BCSCC) is a long-established organization focused on the topics of Sasquatch and lake monsters. It publishes a quarterly bulletin. Cryptozoology A to Z devotes almost a page to it. Its founder, John Kirk, is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch and in Cryptozoology A to Z. Its website is http://www.bcscc.ca/blog/.
• Brian Regal writes, "The BFRO was followed by a number of other amateur-oriented Bigfoot societies .... There are groups now located in most of the regions of North America where Sasquatch is regularly sighted ...." Fifteen such small local-area Bigfoot societies exist across the US.

• The Bigfoot Encounters website is a large online archive of miscellaneous textual material, as well as some visual material, about Bigfoot and Bigfoot-like creatures. Its website is http://www.bigfootencounters.com. It is no longer being kept up to date, due to the death in 2013 of its founder, Bobbie Short. Short is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch and in Cryptozoology A to Z.

Museums

There are three Bigfoot museums in the US.

• The International Cryptozoology Museum was established by Loren Coleman in 2003. It's at 11 Avon Street, Portland, Maine 04101. Its website is http://cryptozoologymuseum.com/. Coleman is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch and in Cryptozoology A to Z.
• The Bigfoot Discovery Project and Museum is located in the San Lorenzo Valley in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California at 5497 Highway 9 in Felton, California 95018. Its proprietor, Michael Rugg, is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch. Its website is http://bigfootdiscoveryproject.com/.
• The Willow Creek - China Flat Museum houses a one-room Bigfoot Exhibit. It is at 38949 CA-299, Willow Creek, CA 95573. Its website is http://www.willowcreekchamber.com. A carved redwood statue of Bigfoot by Jim McClarin stands nearby.

Festivals and conferences

• Willow Creek, California, hosts an annual Bigfoot Daze parade at 10 AM on Saturday in the first week of September, followed by various festivities in a local park. 530-625-4208 x481.
• Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, is the site of an annual Sasquatch Days festival in a June weekend.
• Weekend conferences are held three or four times per year in various locations in the US, most commonly, in recent years, in Ohio and Texas. They are often sponsored by local Bigfoot societies or websites. Attendees get to hear speakers, and chat with them and one another, for a fee. The Bigfoot Times newsletter lists upcoming conferences.

Newsletters

Several Bigfoot newsletters have come and gone over the decades. Among the departed are The Bigfoot Bulletin (ed. George Haas; it ceased with Haas's death in 1972), Bigfoot Co-op (ed. Constance Cameron), Bigfoot News (ed. Peter Byrne), The Bigfoot/Sasquatch Information Service (ed. Dennis Gates), The Monthly Bigfoot Review, The Sasquatch Report (ed. Mike Quast), and The Track Record (ed. Ray Crowe). The lone survivors are:

• Bigfoot Times, published monthly. Its homepage, with contact information, is: http://www.bigfoottimes.net/. Its editor, Daniel Perez, is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch and in Cryptozoology A to Z.
• CryptoNews, The quarterly newsletter of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club (BCSCC) ("Canada's Cryptozoology Organization"), is sent to paid-up members of the Club. Its blog is http://www.bcscc.ca/blog/. Its founder, John Kirk, is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch.

Popular culture

Main article: Bigfoot in popular culture

In 1951, Eric Shipton photographed what he described as a Yeti footprint, which generated considerable attention and led to the story of the Yeti entering popular consciousness. The notoriety of ape-men grew over the decade. Loren Coleman describes "The Changing Image of Bigfoot" in popular culture, mainly in movies and TV documentaries, in Chapter 14 of his Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America.

As Bigfoot has become better known and a phenomenon in popular culture, sightings have spread throughout North America. In addition to the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region and the Southern United States have had many reports of Bigfoot sightings. 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.

Bigfoot has had a demonstrable impact as a popular culture phenomenon. It has "become entrenched in American popular culture and it is as viable an icon as Michael Jordan" with more than forty-five years having passed since reported sightings in California, and neither an animal nor "a satisfying explanation as to why folks see giant hairy men that don't exist."

See also

Regional cryptid hominoids

North American

• Bossburg, Washington Cripplefoot - 1968 tracks
• The Dewey Lake Monster - 1964 Michigan Bigfoot
• Fouke Monster - Arkansas Bigfoot
• Grassman - Ohio's Bigfoot
• Honey Island Swamp monster - Louisiana's
• Lake Worth Monster – Texan Bigfoot
• Minnesota Iceman
• Mogollon Monster - Arizona's Bigfoot
• Momo the Monster - Missouri's Bigfoot
• Old Yellow Top - Ontario's Bigfoot
• Skookum – Pacific NW Bigfoot
• Skunk ape - Florida's Bigfoot
• Tsul 'Kalu – Cherokee's Bigfoot
• Urayuli - Bigfoot of SW Alaska
• Wendigo - Algonquin etc. cannibal monster
• Wild Man of the Navidad - Human mistaken as critter

Elsewhere

• Almas (cryptozoology) - Central Asian
• Am Fear Liath Mòr - Scottish
• Barmanou - Afghani & Pakistani
• Batutut - Indochina's
• Bukit Timah Monkey Man - Singapore's
• Chuchunya - Siberia's
• Hibagon – Japan's
• Homo gardarensis - Greenland's
• Mande Barung - NE India's
• Maricoxi - South America's
• Moehau New Zealand's
• Orang Mawas - Malysia's
• Orang Pendek - Indonesia's
• Shug Monkey - British, local area
• Yeren – China's
• Yeti – Himalayan
• Yowie – Australia's

Films

• Bigfoot (2012 film) - Horror / fiction
• Creature from Black Lake - 1976 horror film about a fictional Louisiana Bigfoot
• Exists (film) – 2014 pseudo-documentary horror by the maker of The Blair Witch Project
• Harry and the Hendersons - 1987 fantasy comedy film about a captured Bigfoot
• The Legend of Boggy Creek - 1972 horror docudrama: Arkansas' "Fouke Monster"
• Patterson–Gimlin film - 1967, Bluff Creek, CA, 1 minute of "Patty"
• Sasquatch, the Legend of Bigfoot - 1977 Bigfoot-hunt pseudo-documentary
• Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science - 2003 TV documentary + book
• Willow Creek (film) 2013 pseudo-documentary + horror
• Mike Quast (2001). Big Footage: A History of Claims for the Sasquatch on Film. self-published. p. 132. 

Other

• Ape Canyon - Washington state site of Fred Beck's 1924 encounter
• Bigfoot trap - 1974 Oregon 10x10 box
• Bogeyman
• Cryptid
• Giant
• Humanoid
• List of cryptids
• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
• Skookum cast - Disputed Washington state body cast, 2000

Bibliography

Skeptical

• Buhs, Joshua Blu (August 1, 2009). Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend. University of Chicago Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-226-50215-1. 
• Robert Todd Carroll (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-27242-6. pp. 55–57.
• Daegling, David J. (2004). Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend. Altamira Press. ISBN 0-7591-0539-1. 
• Michael McLeod (2009). Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25571-5. 
• Glen Quasar (2013). Recasting Bigfoot. Brodwyn, Moor & Doane (Amazon Imprint). ASIN B00GG46J9U. 
• Daniel Loxton; Donald Prothero (2013). Abominable Science: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids. Columbia University Press. pp. 29–71. ISBN 978-0-231-15320-1. 
• Brian Regal (2013) [2008]. Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads, and Cryptozoology. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137349439. 
• Wylie, Kenneth (1980). Bigfoot: A Personal Inquiry into a Phenomenon. Viking. ISBN 0-9614105-0-7. 

Other: by scientists

• Dmitri Bayanov (1997). America's Bigfoot: Fact, Not Fiction. Moscow: Crypto-Logos. ISBN 5-900229-22-X. 
• Bindernagel, John A. (1998). North America's Great Ape:The Sasquatch. Beachcomber Books. ISBN 0-9682887-0-7. 
• Halpin, Marjorie; Ames, Michael M., eds. (1980). Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence. Hancock House. p. 336. ISBN 0-88839-018-1. 
• Grover Krantz (1999) [1992]. Bigfoot Sasquatch Evidence (originally "Big Footprints: A Scientific Inquiry Into the Reality of Sasquatch"). Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-447-0. 
• Markotic, Vladimir; Krantz, Grover, eds. (1984). The Sasquatch and Other Unknown Hominids (OP). Western Publishers, Calgary. 
• Jeff Meldrum (2006). Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. Forge Books. ISBN 978-0765312174. 
• —— (2013). Sasquatch Field Guide. Paradise Cay Publications (Amazon Imprint). p. 33. ASIN B00BQZGJGM. 
• Napier, John Russell (1973). Bigfoot: The Sasquatch and Yeti in Myth and Reality. E.P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-06658-6. 
• Robbins, Louise M. (1985). Footprints: Collection, analysis, and interpretation. Charles C. Thomas. ISBN 0-398-05138-0. 
• Sanderson, Ivan T. (2008) [1961]. Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life: The Story Of Sub-Humans On Five Continents From The Early Ice Age Until Today. Cosimo Classics. ISBN 978-1605203331. 
• Shackley, Myra (1983). Still Living?: Yeti, Sasquatch and the Neanderthal Enigma. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01298-9. 
• Roderick Sprague; Grover Krantz, eds. (1979). The Scientist Looks at the Sasquatch. University Press of Idaho. ISBN 0-89301-061-8. 
• Strain, Kathy (2008). Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture. Hancock House. ISBN 978-0-88839-650-1. 
• Tchernine, Odette (1961). The Snowman and Company. Robert Hale Limited. 

Other: by non-scientists

• Alley, J. Robert (2003). Raincoast Sasquatch: The Bigfoot/Sasquatch Records of Southeast Alaska, Coastal British Columbia, & Northwest Washington, from Puget Sound to Yakutat. Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-508-6. 
• Arment, Chad (2006). The Historical Bigfoot: Early Reports of Wildmen, Hairy giants, and Wandering Gorillas in North America. Coachwhip Publications. ISBN 1-930585-30-6. 
• Joe Beelart; Cliff Olson (2015). The Oregon Bigfoot Highway: Over A Century Of Bigfoot Tales Along Oregon's National Scenic Byway No. 5. Willamette City Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0692380819. 
• Bord, Janet and Colin, ed. (2006) [1982]. Bigfoot Casebook Updated: Sightings and Encounters from 1818 to 2004. Pine Winds Press. ISBN 0-937663-10-7. 
• Byrne, Peter (1975). The Search for Big Foot: Monster, Myth or Man?. Acropolis Books. ISBN 0-87491-159-1. 
• Coleman, Loren; Patrick Huyghe (1999). Field Guide To Bigfoot, Yeti, & Other Mystery Primates Worldwide. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0380802630. 
• ——; Jerome Clark (1999). Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature. Fireside / Simon and Schuster. pp. 39–42. ISBN 0-684-85602-6. 
• —— (2003). Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America. Paraview Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-6975-5. 
• Ray Crowe, ed. (2012). Bigfoot Behavior - I: The Anecdotal Evidence (The Best of the Track Record). Create Space (self-published). p. 326. ISBN 978-1475171464. 
• Debenat, Jean-Paul (2009). Christopher L Murphy, ed. Sasquatch/Bigfoot and the mystery of the Wild Man. Illustrated by Paul H LeBlond. Hancock House. ISBN 978-0-88839-685-3. 
• Green, John (2006) [1978]. Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us. Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-018-1. 
• —— (1980b) [1968]. On the Track of the Sasquatch. Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-341-5. 
• —— (1980a) [1970]. Encounters with Bigfoot (original title: Year of the Sasquatch). Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-340-7. 
• —— (1973). The Sasquatch File. Cheam Publishing. 
• —— (2004) [1968, 1970]. The Best of Sasquatch Bigfoot: the latest scientific developments plus all of On the Track of the Sasquatch and Encounters with Bigfoot. Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-546-9. 
• Robert & Frances Guenette (1975). The Mysterious Monsters. Sun Classics. 
• Don Hunter; René Dahinden (1993) [1973]. Sasquach/Bigfoot: The Search for North America's Incredible Creature. Brian Regal (2008), 181, wrote, "Dahinden's ... trailer full of papers was moved to his son's farm, rarely being seen by other researchers ....". Firefly Books. ISBN 1-895565-28-6. 
• Rupert Matthews (2014) [2008]. Sasquatch: North America's Enduring Mystery. Arcturus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78404-107-6. 
• Christopher Murphy (2009). Know the Sasquatch/Bigfoot: Sequel and Update to Meet the Sasquatch. Hancock House. ISBN 978-0-88839-689-1. 
• Roger Patterson & Chris Murphy (2005) [1966]. The Bigfoot Film Controversy (contains Patterson's 1966 book, Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?). Illustrated by Roger Patterson. Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-581-7. 
• David Paulides (2008). The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California. Illustrated by Harvey Pratt; Chris Murphy, in Know the Sasquatch/Bigfoot, p. 305, includes three of his illustrations and remarks on their "apparent humanness". Hancock House. ISBN 978-0-88839-653-2. 
• —— (2009). Tribal Bigfoot. Illustrated by Harvey Pratt. Hancock House. ISBN 978-0-88839-687-7. 
• Daniel Perez, ed. (1988). Big Footnotes: A Comprehensive Bibliography Concerning Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowmen and Related Beings. D. Perez Publishing. p. 189. ISBN 0-9618380-0-0. 
• Place, Marian (1974). On the Track of Bigfoot. Dodd, Mead. ISBN 0-396-06883-9. 
• —— (1978). Bigfoot All Over the Country. Dodd, Mead. ISBN 0-396-07610-6. 
• Powell, Thom (2003). The Locals: A Contemporary Investigation of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch Phenomenon. (Powell is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch, 263–65). Hancock House. ISBN 0-88839-552-3. 
• Robert Michael Pyle (1995). Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-44114-5. 
• Mike Quast (2001). Big Footage: A History of Claims for the Sasquatch on Film. self-published. p. 132. 
• Rife, Philip R. (2000). Bigfoot Across America. Writers Club Press. ISBN 0-595-14314-8. 
• Rob Riggs (2001). In the Big Thicket: On the Trail of the Wild Man (in east Texas). Paraview Press. ISBN 1-931044-26-0. 
• Thoms Steenburg (2000). In Search of Giants: Bigfoot Sasquatch Encounters (Canadian interviews). (Steenburg is profiled in Chris Murphy's Know the Sasquatch, 246–47). Hancock House. ISBN 978-0888394460. 
• Suchy, Linda Coil (2009). Who's Watching You? An Exploration of the Bigfoot Phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest. Hancock House. ISBN 978-0-88839-664-8. 
• Barbara Wasson (1979). Sasquatch Apparitions: A Critique on the Pacific Northwest Hominoid. self-published. ISBN 0-9614105-0-7. 

Further reading

• Chad Arment (2004). Cryptozopology: Science & Speculation. Coachwhip Publications. pp. 210–267, 275–84. ISBN 1-930585-15-2. 
• Bayanov, Dmitri (1996). In the Footsteps of the Russian Snowman: A Record of Investigation Compiled and Discussed by Dmitri Bayanov. Moscow: Crypto-Logos. ISBN 5-900229-18-1. 
• —— (2007). Bigfoot Research: The Russian Vision. Moscow: Crypto-Logos. ISBN 978-5-900229-36-2. 
• Loren Coleman (2007) [2001]. Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures. Paraview Pocket Books. pp. 184–230. ISBN 978-1-4165-2736-7. 
• Mike Dash (2000). Borderlands: The Ultimate Exploration of the Unknown. Dell, a division of Random House. pp. 195–204, 307, 326, 333, 341–42, 353. ISBN 0-440-23656-8. 
• Adam Davies (2014). Manbests: A Personal Investigation (Chapters 9 and 10). CFZ Press. ISBN 978-1-909488-21-2. 
• Charles W. Edson (1979). My Travels with Bigfoot: A True Life Odyssey. Crescent Publications. 
• Guttilla, Peter (2009). The Bigfoot Files. Timeless Voyager Press. ISBN 9781892264152. 
• Mark A. Hall (1999). Living Fossils (Primate Origins Series No. 2), Chapter 1, "Things Called Bigfoot". Self-published. pp. 3–32. 
• Willim Jevning (2010). Notes from the Field: Tracking North America's Sasquatch. Self-published via Amazon; ASIN: B003KGBH3A. 
• Vance Orchard (1993). Bigfoot of the Blues (Largely about Blue Mtn. activity, including Paul Freeman). Self-published. 
• Gregory Reece (2009). Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs: Mysterious Creatures, Lost Worlds, and Amazing Inventions. I.B. Tauris. pp. 11–44, 71–100. ISBN 978-1-84511-756-6. 
• Wallace, David Rains (1983). The Klamath Knot. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520236592. 

External links

• Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization
• Bigfoot Encounters
• The Bigfoot Forums
• Bigfoot at 50 Evaluating a Half-Century of Bigfoot Evidence
• Online article about Gigantopithecus that also includes relationship theory with Bigfoot and other similar cryptids, prehistoric-wildlife.com