Why do so many people believe in Bigfoot?

I suspect that most people who believe in these “commonly referred to as mythological” creatures, do so for a myriad of reasons. In my opinion, the reasons for believing in them far outnumber and outweigh other folk's reasons for not believing in them.

Here are a few reasons why I, and a rapidly growing number of people, believe Bigfoot exists….

…Footprints 

Footprints are an excellent and dependable bit of evidence for the presence of any walking animal. In fact, footprints are considered by all mainstream scientific authorities as an effective and accurate means of determining population in a given area. However, since mainstream science doesn't want to even entertain the possibility that Bigfoot exists, they've disqualified footprints as evidence of their existence. 

Every day across the USA and Canada, Sasquatch footprints are found by both those looking for them, and by random hikers and outdoorsy people enjoying nature. Now when I say they are finding footprints, I'm not talking about mere outlines of big barefoot feet placed one after another on a path somewhere. I'm saying that dynamically placed, anatomically accurate, scientifically and mechanically actual footprints are being left behind by living breathing walking bipedal creatures. They indicate a flexible foot of a creature that weighs sometimes up to 600-800 lbs. The toes are in a different position in every subsequent print, they demonstrate accurate bone structure required for a creature of that size, and they present with dermal pressure ridges. People know about these things now, but 60 yrs ago when the first tracks were cast, nobody, not even many anthropologists, had any in depth technical knowledge of what tiny details are important when considered as evidence for a previously unknown hominid. 

Microscopic details found on prints cast 50 and 60 years ago have numerous exact same aspects as prints found today on the opposite end of the country. These facts lead me to believe that most footprints found are not the product of a hoax. For a hoax to be perpetuated in this area, literally hundreds of extremely knowledgeable and skilled craftsmen who all really desire to create an ongoing flawless hoax, would have to all be in cahoots with similarly skilled craftsmen and scientists across the country over the past 60 yrs. In my opinion, the odds of that being likely are pretty close to zero.

…Eyewitnesses 

Any police officer or psychologist will tell you that the skills of accurate observation in the common person are questionable at best. This is especially the case when the witness is under physical or emotional duress. Ask an armed robbery victim what color shirt the criminal was wearing, and they are likely to tell you something totally different than what another witness says. This fact is used as the main reason mainstream science tends to disregard all Bigfoot sightings as mistaken identity. Whether it was a bear, another person, or a tree stump, they feel that even those who had up close face to face encounters with these huge terrifying creatures were incorrect when they identify what they saw 10 feet away as an 8ft hairy manlike apelike beast who growled and bared their teeth at them. It had to be a bear or a clump of branches that did all that then turned and walked away into the woods behind them. 

Well, I don't buy it. While I have no doubt that mistaken identity occurs every day, I truly do not believe that every witness account is incorrect. Maybe one or two out of ten, but I believe that the vast majority of those who say they saw one of these creatures, saw one of these creatures. The fact that many eyewitnesses have spent a lifetime exploring nature, whether hunting or fishing or hiking or camping, and have encountered the myriad of different flora and fauna out there on numerous occasions, is proof enough in my book that they are educated enough on what all is out there in their favorite patch of woods to know that what they saw 30 feet away digging for grubs in a rotten log, then stood up and growled and stomped off into a thorny plum thicket was not a stump or a bear or a guy in a hoodie. 

Witnesses in new york state report very similar creature details as witnesses in tennessee. Witnesses in mississippi report very similar creature looks and behavior as witnesses in east texas. In literally every state in the union these creatures are continuously spotted, except of course, in Hawaii. If indeed all Bigfoot sightings were the product of a hoax or mistaken identity, why do we not see Bigfoot sightings in Hawaii? Are people in Hawaii less prone to pulling pranks on others, and do those who live in Hawaii somehow magically transform into uber accurate observers? Who knows? It does give you food for thought tho.

…There is room for them to exist

Even tho these creatures can and often do inhabit areas close to where Humans live or visit, their most favored domain is most likely where they can be alone, unbothered by pesky Humans and their boom sticks and chain saws. Most people aren't aware that there are still ranges of wilderness scattered throughout the USA and Canada that either have never been visited by Humans, or are only visited by Humans every few dozen years. Steep cliffs, thick thorny fields of overgrown brush, swampy marshy, snakey wetlands, high rocky mountaintops, thick forests that go on and on for hundreds of square miles, are all places that Humans tend to avoid, and THAT, in my opinion, is the key to this species remaining hidden and unresearched, compared to other typically hidden animals. 

Regardless of how many scientists claim that any given area could not support these creatures food-wise, their vastly varied suspected diet would enable most areas to support one or more individuals over the course of the 4 seasons. While a particular spot may not be fertile enough grounds for the entire year, an adjacent valley or mountainside may provide more than enough plant and animal life to give ample sustenance. When discussing bigfoot migration possibilities, most researchers I've seen offer an opinion feel that while the creature most likely doesn't migrate long distances from season to season, their probable permanent home range of 30-100 miles offers plenty of variation in plant and animal life, as well as Human supplied snacks, to sustain a small group of wandering creatures.

By Human supplied snacks, I'm referring to pet and livestock feed, pets and livestock themselves, food discarded in garbage, back yard gardens and farming acreages. There are numerous stories out there that document the skilled scavenging techniques these creatures exhibit around homes and other Human settlements. That’s not even mentioning the scads of folks purposefully feeding these animals in habituation sites across our nation.

The three broad reasons I've listed above are just a sample of why I believe these creatures exist. I'm betting that if I laid out all the reasons I believe in Bigfoot, it would result in 8 or 10 more paragraphs.

While I have no idea if the majority of bigfoot believers out there will completely agree with my reasons for believing Bigfoot exists, I suspect that their lists of reasons wouldn't be too awfully different. Its certainly an interesting subject with a vast variety of opinions on every aspect of its existence. For every opinion out there on some detail, there is going to be a differing opinion opposing it. Until we either capture or kill one and make it available for mainstream study, it will continue to be the hugely debatable topic we find it to be today.

Some Things You May Not Know About Bigfoot

1) For most oblivious folks, it's a big hoot to make fun of the crazies who actually believe that a bipedal man/ape creature roams the backwoods across the USA. However, every day more and more video, audio, and footprint evidence, as well as respectable eyewitness accounts, are being made public. The time is rapidly approaching when the laughing disbelievers will be shown to be blatant fools who owe someone an apology. 

 With advances in affordable consumer technology showing up in backpacks everywhere, (such as HD image and HD video capable phones in everybody's hands, and high quality audio recorders and low cost night vision and infrared devices now becoming affordable by the common person) more and more people are chancing public scorn by getting out in the woods and capturing real footage of these creatures. As this occurs, it's starting to look like they may very well be a lot more numerous and wide spread than previously thought. 

While more evidence piles up, those who have had encounters but kept quiet over the years to avoid public ridicule, are starting to feel more comfortable talking about their experiences. They are coming forward, both in official sighting reports and in interviews on one of the numerous bigfoot themed Internet podcasts available almost daily for anyone to listen to. Many of these folks clearly state that they kept quiet for months or years because speaking up may have resulted in the loss of a job or business or friendships or reputation in their community. To a police officer, or ER doctor, or business owner, a damaged reputation could instantly result in the financial ruin of them and their families. 

Although many are emphatic about remaining anonymous, at least they are talking about it now, and that's a huge deal to researchers. The fact that many reputable eyewitnesses are not wanting to be identified, adds creedance to the validity of their reports. In other words they have nothing to gain (and much to lose) by making up a creature sighting report. 

It's always been the opinion of researchers that only around one in ten encounters are actually reported or even talked about. The scads of people coming out of the woodwork these days to tell their stories suggest that this number may be fairly accurate. So when skeptics say...if they were real more people would see them...they may be getting precisely what they've asked for. 

2) Contrary to popular belief, Sasquatch don't only reside in the deep dark woods way out in the sticks where few Humans visit. It's becoming common knowledge that while the Pacific Northwest may be considered the home base for Bigdootdom, they are witnessed in pretty much every US state but Hawaii. 

Any state or national park, any wildlife preserve, any hunting grounds or farmland or ranch, riverbottom or creek bed or orchard, and any acre + stand of woods can hide a sasquatch. They literally can be.....anywhere. 

I find the Hawaii thing curious. I believe it was a video by Michael Merchant a few months back regarding this phenomenon that got me to agreeing.... If we are to trust in the judgement of professionally skeptical scientists and subscribe to their opinion that most bigfoot image and video evidence is hoaxed, why aren't we seeing hoaxed fake evidence perpetrated in Hawaii? Do people in Hawaii lack a sense of humor? Do people in Hawaii tend to avoid pulling pranks on the general public? I find it odd that pranksters and hoaxers are rampant all across the continental USA, but seem to be absent in Hawaii. Weird eh? 

One other side note to the presence of bigfoot all across the USA that I suspect most people don't know....is that any smallish clump of woods or creek bed may be the home of one or more of these creatures. They have been witnessed peeking in windows and leaving footprints around homes in well pooulated suburbs and neighborhoods in many states. 

You may think, that's impossible, because there's not enough food available so close to man. Well, they love pet food and livestock food, and are able to snatch things out of back porch freezers and pantries as soon as you go back in the house. Ever wonder why your bird feeder keeps going empty faster than you think it should? Recently I heard a story about a brazen squatch who reportedly opened screened kitchen doors on a regular basis and helped himself to an occasional loaf of bread or plate of leftovers. (The muddy 17 inch footprints on the kitchen floor was a dead give away) That's not even mentioning missing pets that forever disappear, and don't forget about trashcans and dumpsters that often have a lot of discarded cooked and uncooked food tossed inside them. A bite or two of a burger you were too full to finish, along with the dozen leftover fries in that McDonald's bag may not seem like much nutritional value to you, but to a 3 foot juvenile sasquatch making the rounds at 3am, it's a tasty treat. 

These intelligent animals are expert opportunists, and have even been suspected of grabbing a bag of groceries out of open car doors and trunks as mom carries the groceries in the house in 2 or 3 trips. They are lightning fast and amazing at hiding in plain sight, so none of these possible sources of a well rounded diet can be ignored. 

3) Like with any subject, there are many schools of thought within the world of bigfoot regarding its nature of reality. As more and more people become open to the possibility that bigfoot exists, there are two differing opinions developing out of the melee. 

Group one views sasquatch as a flesh and blood animal that eats and sleeps and poops and walks the Earth the same way the rest of us do. They study the subject based upon the theory that bigfoot is born and lives and dies like all other animals. These folks consider themselves to be realists, who tend to avoid letting romantic spiritually influenced notions of how some see bigfoot to be, to interfere with their search for the actual physical creature we all know and love. 

Group two people subscribe to a varied menagerie of beliefs that most often lean toward viewing sasquatch as either a fully, or partially rendered supernatural creature that is infused with a whole slew of magical or otherwise scientifically questionable aspects and abilities. These abilities vary from them being able to communicate via telepathy or what is commonly called "mind speak" with receptive Humans, to possessing the ability to appear or disappear at will. The latter is believed possible by the creature either emitting some type of cloaking/invisibility energy, or by totally moving about between multiple metaphysical realities by way of mere thought, or by utilizing energy portals that seem to materialize in areas where sasquatch like to roam during their sporadic adventures on Earth. 

Some members of group two theorize that bigfoot and ufo's are connected, and some even feel that Bigfoot is most likely a hybrid creature created by alien beings for either entertainment value, or for some other devious reason that mere Humans can't begin to fathom. 

Group one members, for the most part, believe that while, as with pretty much every other wild animal, most bigfoot are very likely generally peaceful animals that just want to be left alone, they respect the piles of evidence out there that these creatures have a more deadly and bloody side that can and has and occasionally does result in Human injuries and deaths. 

On the other side of this coin, group two members tend to embrace the theory that bigfoot is a species of peaceful intelligent Human that loves us and protects us and enjoys the peanut butter and apples that group two habituaters are known to leave out in "gifting" areas. They do this for a myriad of reasons ranging from wanting to establish a friendship with the creatures, to feeling like they have a special spiritual responsibility to augment their natural food sources with yummy treats to demonstrate affection and kinship with them. 

Group one members tend to question the ethical and moral wisdom in feeding these wild animals, but the group two members who do it continue on with the practice regardless of negative possible results. Evidently they strongly feel that the perceived benefits gained by habituating these creatures to receiving food from Humans far outweighs any potential harm such an activity my cause. 

The multi-faceted world of bigfoot is littered with unusual quirks and beliefs. The three things I discussed above are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Regardless of where you stand on the above topics, I hope you feel a little more knowledgeable about the subject than you did before visiting this page. It's a fascinating subject that is likely to go on surprising and amazing all of us for some time to come. Just remember, learning and developing an understanding about anything is usually best approached like a sponge. I know very little about this topic, but I enjoy sharing what little I do uncover with the hopes that it inspires others to want to learn more about this wonderfully fascinating creature we call Bigfoot.

Could Bigfoot be a Gorilla that is native to North America?

While Bigfoot is believed to be a member of the great ape lineage of animals, and some aspects of their appearance and behavior mirrors gorillas, it is believed that the creature is a unique hominid relative of both great apes (like gorillas) and Humans, rather than a member of an already classified species of ape. Somewhere in the middle, in other words. Bigfoot DNA and hair analysis results, when compared to other apes and Humans, typically comes back as “Unidentified Ape Species”. This is the main reason we can definitely say that Bigfoot is not one of the already identified species of great ape on our planet (including Homo Sapiens). If it was, the DNA would prove it.

How about some differences first: Gorillas ambulate on 4 limbs. Yes, they can wobble around on their hind feet for short distances, but they don’t usually do it for long, or for any great distances. Bigfoot on the other hand, is predominantly bipedal, but occasionally is viewed on all fours like a gorilla, typically when moving at great speed. Gorillas can roar and grunt, but Bigfoot can talk and growl and whistle and very accurately mimic other animals, and yes, they can sometimes convincingly mimic Human speech also. Gorillas are herbivores. Bigfoot is an omnivore. It is theorized that for most of the year they rely mostly on plant nutrition, but in leaner times of the year they have no problem hunting and killing and eating animals such as deer and rabbits and wild pig.

How did they get to North America? Some people believe that it’s cut and dried that there could never, and has never been an ape species in North America, but a few researchers and scientists feel that Bigfoot, like mankind and other species of animals, migrated to North America via the asia/alaskan land bridge tens of thousands of years ago. They are here, and they managed somehow to get here, and they aren’t typically reported to have wings, so most likely they got here the same way our Human ancestors did, on foot.

Even though we’ve established that Bigfoot are not Gorillas, they share some unique traits. One, being the sagittal crest present in many specimens of gorilla. Although not all bigfoot reports describe an animal with a sagittal (sloping back forehead and coned skull) crest, it is a commonly reported head shape. Likewise, the often reported hooded nose demonstrates that Bigfoot also has genetic ties to Humankind. These types of comparisons are part of the reason why some people believe Bigfoot is a type of bipedal ape, while others are adamant that it is more closely related to Humans.

Other similarities between Bigfoot and Gorillas are:

It is believed that the family groups of both species, are usually made up of a dominant, or Alpha male, who has sole authority to mate with females in the group, as well as 3 to 5 breeding age females, and 2–4 lower stature males who are either related, or too young to challenge the Alpha for breeding rights. It is believed that Alphas of both species, change over time, as bigger and stronger males overtake the current Alpha and assume the leadership role of the family group.

Another similarity believed to exist is the way both species tend to avoid physical combat whenever a member of the group feels threatened. Instead, both gorillas and bigfoot prefer to put on loud displays of strength and screaming, often tearing down trees and thrashing about loudly and wildly to convince their opponent that they are very strong and powerful. They both often bluff charge, running toward the enemy, taking out trees and bushes as they rampage toward the foe, but stopping short of making contact in hopes of ending the conflict with intimidation before it comes to blows. It is believed that both species are smart enough to realize that an actual physical fight puts both animals at risk of injury or death, which, as a result, would jeopardize the overall well being and security of the entire group. While either species will attack a Human if it feels its family is in imminent danger, in almost every recorded instance, the Human leaves the situation unhurt. It is believed that Bigfoot creatures know that Humans are nowhere near as powerful as they are, but oft-reported Bigfoot behavior strongly suggests that they recognize firearms as a huge threat to their safety. The fact that they rarely physically attack Humans possibly indicates that they assume that any Human may be armed and dangerous.

Both species are recognized to be in possession of immense strength. Gorillas and bigfoot, pound for pound, are thought to be six to ten times more powerful than an equally sized Human.

There ya have it. Now we know the similarities (and a couple of differences) between Bigfoot and Gorillas, and how we know they are not the same species.

When will Bigfoot finally be found?

Bigfoot has been found, and is continuously found again almost daily across the USA. Over the last 150 yrs there have been numerous reports of sightings and various types of interactions in every state but Hawaii. The fact that pretty much every person in the country knows about Bigfoot is an indication that the creature has been found. A better question might be: Why is Bigfoot still considered to be a mythical creature even though there are daily sightings and mountains of evidence that demonstrate that they exist? Hrmm, I wonder.

In rural areas across our nation, some farmers and ranchers encounter these creatures on their property anywhere from a random once or twice a year thing, on up to some experiencing encounters or evidence on a nearly daily basis. However, if you ask them about it, they will chuckle and say they've never seen any evidence of the creatures in the decades they've been ranching/farming there. These people are good, honest, hard working pillars of society, but on this topic, they refuse to tell the truth, even to their own spouses and family members. Why do you think this is?

I think the answer is three-fold. Reason one is the obvious one, they want to avoid being laughed at by their fellow ranchers and farmers and neighbors. They prefer to pretend that nothing is going on, because apparently deluding oneself is a more palatable choice for these people than dealing with the truth of the matter. Even though those same neighbors are also having bigfoot issues on their property, grown men will succumb to peer pressure and razz anyone who is stupid enough to talk about their infestation. It's common knowledge that if a property has these visitors, their neighbors are being visited as well. Bigfoot is an equal opportunity pain in the ass.

Reason two might be because all their lives they've been told that these creatures don't exist. To admit to anyone, especially to them selves that these creatures do indeed walk and talk and roam their property at will, contrary to popular belief, would result in them having to take action to deal with them. It's just much easier to ignore the missing sweet feed, and the braided horse manes, and the footprints, and the wood knocks and monkey sounds they hear from down around the creek, than it is to face the fact that sasquatch is a living breathing animal that is creeping around their property at night. Bigfoot being primarily nocturnal helps them to carry on the charade year after year. But when the grandkids come running into the house asking you about the monkey man that was throwing dirt clods at them by the pond, the situation becomes a bit more precarious.

What I believe to be reason three is a bit sticky. Most rural ranchers and farmers and citizens in general, tend to be church going folks. Even if they hate going, they attend regularly to keep up appearances to preserve the respect of their peers that they've built up over their adult life. As with the UFO issue, admitting that sasquatch exists can very well bring along with it religious complications. Hard core xtians usually prefer to believe the bible stories that Humans are the kings of our domain, and that the boogie man is the seed of the devil. Some think that if they accept that bigfoot exists, it must mean that Satan has taken a liking to their homestead, and their family too by association. If bigfoot is there, it must be because they haven't been praying hard enough, or they've been cussing too much etc etc.

It's disappointing that some people are so shallow and gullible to believe such nonsense, but I honestly think that this is a major factor in rural folks not reporting sightings and evidence they encounter on a regular or semi regular basis. Admitting that bigfoot is a real animal that lives alongside of these God fearing people, would require a pretty deep rewiring of their belief system, as well as their psyche.

That's just one example of the problem as I see it. There are many others, but I suspect you get my point, whether you agree with it or not. Until the government stops playing games regarding admitting this species exists, honest people will continue to lie to others about their experiences. Once they let us off the hook though, I predict that a flood of reports will come to light, and we will shockingly realize that this creature is way more prevalent than anyone currently realizes. What a crazy time that will be.

Why isn't the US Government helping to find Bigfoot?

A widely held belief (based on evidence and stories) within the American bigfoot community is that the government is aware of the presence of a tall hairy man-like creature living in the woodlands in the USA, and that a concerted effort is made by gov organisations like the dept of the interior, to pretend that they aren't aware of them. Many feel that if the government openly admits that they are aware the creature exists, it will negatively effect the economy in several areas. 

Consider what might occur if tomorrow the government admits that it's aware that Bigfoot exists. First, because there can't be that many creatures out there, the tree huggers of the world would demand that it be put on the endangered species list. 

This is what many people fear: If it is put on the list, then millions of acres of woodlands, both private and public, will be locked down as protected habitats. That means the lumber industry will come to a screeching halt, the cost of available lumber would go sky high, people would stop building homes, and jillions of people whose livelihood revolves around the building industry would lose their jobs as a result. Not a good situation. 

Next....whether you are aware of it or not, hundreds of people go missing without a trace in almost all national and state parks, and across the nation in many rural/wooded areas every year. While some of these missing people are found rather quickly, safe and sound, many many others are either found dead in unusual locations and circumstances, or are never found at all and are written off as dead or missing. While some tend to attribute these missing people to predatory animal attacks, a certain percentage of these cannot be explained away easily, or at all. It is the belief of some researchers that Bigfoot is likely behind the situations where the missing people simply vanish, never to be found. 

One of the most shocking aspects to this "missing and never found" phenomenon is that the US National Park Service claims that it doesn't even keep a database or records of those who go missing in the parks. Imagine that....but it's true.

Now, if the government were to admit publicly that they are aware that Bigfoot definitely exists, it would give a lot of weight to the opinions regarding bigfoot possibly being behind the missing people. Once this happens, the actual numbers of people who turn up missing every day will become widely known over time, and people will start to avoid state and national parks like the plague. Who wants to take their family hiking or fishing or camping, knowing that the boogieman isnt make believe any more, and that 15 adults and children have vanished over the past 10 yrs right there in the vicinity of your favorite camping spot? This will result in huge losses in income to communities around these recreation areas, as well as to the government itself, which gains some income from fees collected from users of the parks. 

There are other government bigfoot issues, but Ive laid out two huge reasons why our government is staying out of the search for bigfoot. 

If you'd like to learn more about the scads of people who vanish from state and national parks every year, and learn about how the government resists sharing info on missing people,  pick up a copy of one the books in David Paulides' missing 411 series. Or you can listen to one of the dozens of podcasts of interviews with him on you tube. It's terrifying stuff. You'll never view a visit out in nature the same way again.

Is Sasquatch a Human or an Ape?

This, my friends, is one of the most debated questions in the world of bigfoot. Is Sasquatch a member of the very wide and broad family hominid, which includes modern Humans, chimps, gorillas, orangutans etc, or can it be dropped into the more specific family called hominin, which is pretty much Humans and all our direct Humanesque ancestors ?

Some researchers prefer to label Sasquatch as a North American ape species, that occasionally mimics Humans in looks and behavior, while others insist that Bigfoot is a type of hominin, or close Human relative. While nobody knows for sure, everybody seems to have an opinion.

For the purpose of brevity in this answer I am only going to focus on the North American Sasquatch or Bigfoot.

The following info is merely a broad generalization, and not intended to be represented as 100% set in stone fact. Across the USA there are several different types of bigfoot reported. Some, like the most well known patterson-gimlin bigfoot that reside in the pacific nw are big and broad with a conical head and a brow that juts out. Facially they have ape like features, while body wise they are huge and barrel chested, at around 600-800 lbs, stand at full maturity at 8-10 feet tall, (although larger specimens have been reported) and are primarily bipedal with longish arms that extend down to their knees. These are generally referred to as type 1, category 1.

Next, down in the southeastern USA, ranging from okla to georgia, are the type 1 category 2 creatures, which are often described as tall and stocky, 300-600 lbs, 6-8 feet tall, covered in hair, but are more Human like in the face. Many who encounter these creatures and get a good look at them swear that these guys look amazingly like very big and hairy Humans. Compared to the creatures in the Pacific nw, which are usually skittish around Humans, often preferring to leave the area when people are around, the creatures in the south are often reported to be a bit more angry and standoffish toward people. These guys have serious attitude issues and are well known to behave in very pissed off ways to try and get you to leave their area. In fact, there are even several stories going around where hunters or hikers or campers felt they were lucky to make it out of encounters with these creatures alive.

While there is no documented proof of a bigfoot harming or killing a Human, there are conspiracy theorists who believe that not only have these creatures kidnapped and killed Humans for food, they have an opinion that the US gov is aware of these events and make great efforts to keep them secret.

Scattered across the USA there are also what are referred to as type 2 creatures. Type 2 category 1 being the swamp or skunk apes that live in the southern swamp areas of Florida. They are typically smaller in height than your type 1's, but are still way bigger and stronger than Humans. These swamp or skunk apes are often viewed as more ape like in the face, but occasionally a report comes in of one having a very Human like face.

Lastly, there are the type 2, category 2 creatures which are often reported to have a snout like a baboon or a canine. These are the least reported Sasquatch type, so data is still being collected in an attempt to better describe this group.

While it's true that some types of these creatures live primarily in certain areas of the country, any of them can be found in many different locations in the USA. You may have type 1 category 1's and 2's living within ten miles of each other. As such, reports by witnesses sometimes say the creature they saw looked like an ape in the face and had a coned head, while others on the opposite side of the county will report that their creature looks like a big hairy cave man with Human features. It appears that somehow these different types respect each other's areas and avoid interbreeding. If they did interbreed, there would no longer be all the different types.

Ok, with all that said, are these apes or Humans? There are five aspects to them that make it possible for me to have an opinion. 1) Their footprints look almost identical to huge Human footprints. Although bigfoot has a hinge in the middle of their foot, the shape is much more like a Human's than a hand-like ape's. 2) They have what appears to be language. While nobody can interpret it yet, nor have any idea what their jibberish means, there are numerous recordings of these creatures "talking" and imitating Humans and animals. It's a well known fact that true apes do not have the throat plumbing necessary to talk. 3) In my opinion, based upon numerous stories and reports of organized behaviors by groups of these creatures, they are just too intelligent to be a mere ape. 4) Many of them have hooded noses and Human like facial features. Since I've seen Humans with ape like faces, the ape like bigfoot faces don't mean much to me when weighing it back and forth. 5) Apes in their natural habitats, are all vegetarians. While chimps will hunt and eat meat, ape's do NOT. Sasquatch is well known to be omnivorous, eating roots and bugs and berries and deer and other small game. You know, kinda like....Humans.

So in my very uneducated and unimportant opinion, Bigfoot/Sasquatch are hominin, or a member of the Human side of things. Not a direct relative, but definitely a distant relative on a nearby branch of the evolutionary tree. I predict that once one is captured or killed and DNA tests are run, we will discover that these creatures are our distant cousins, so to speak.

How will Bigfoot be announced to the world? Will the government make an announcement?

Once Sasquatch has been proven to exist, I predict it will be natgeo or animal planet or some other animal related group that makes an official announcement to the press. NOT our government.

As I've eluded to in other bigfoot related posts, I, and many others, believe the government is already well aware of the existence of a tall hairy man-like creature traipsing around in the backwoods of the USA. There are simply too many stories, accounts, and too much evidence out there to ignore this probability.

Therefore, if someone managed to capture or kill one and get the pix, video, and DNA info released to the public before the government can quash it, I believe in the short term you will hear very little from the government by way of " announcement ". I suspect that the government, at least in the beginning, will do its best to distance itself from the situation and pretend it's not interested. If a new species of bird or rodent was discovered, the government wouldn't make any kind of announcement. So I doubt discovering bigfoot would be any different.

Eventually though, animal protection groups would raise hell and a government backed official scientific inquiry would have to be fired up to determine where they live and how many there are. This research alone will take a few yrs, because they will not suddenly become easier to locate just because one got caught or killed. The only advantage would be that resources would suddenly become available to researchers that never were available before Sasquatch was proven real. No scientist or research lab would avoid helping once the myth stigma is removed from the subject, and instead groups would come out of the woodwork to try and be the first to gather solid info on these creatures in an attempt to garner fame as a result.

Now let's jump a couple years into the future. Let's assume we discover that many of our state and national parks are infested with bigfoot, and that they are scattered everywhere across our nation, some areas will be ordered to be set aside as protected bigfoot habitat. I don't think this is avoidable. While there will be some pissed off people and corporations and industries that will take a hit from this, I don't think it will be as wide spread and disastrous as many people predict.

In many folks' opinions, this situation is one of two primary reasons the government is keeping its knowledge of Sasquatch a secret; the fear of the resulting economic problems it would create. Worst case scenario....lumber and paper supplies would halt, home building would all but cease, then the financial hit our national parks and surrounding communities would take as a result of vacationers avoiding camping and hiking and fishing where a real boogie man is known to live. While I personally doubt that Bigfoot being officially accepted as a living species would result in all the economic problems listed above, it would no doubt have some negative effect on a few industries.

The second reason the government doesn't want bigfoot to be proven to exist is that someone would accuse the government of being culpable in regards to thousands of missing people who have disappeared from our national parks over the last hundred years. Once it's publicly known that the government knew that Bigfoot was sighted nearby, and that evidence found indicated weird circumstances were at play in many of these disappearances, someone at the dept of the interior is going to have to answer some hard questions in congressional hearings. The US gov would much prefer to avoid all that I suspect.

Therefore, don't expect the government to be all excited and anxious to make announcements once bigfoot is PROVEN to exist.

Have any Human deaths been linked to Bigfoot?

Keep in mind, since bigfoot is viewed by the mainstream scientific community as a mythical creature, there cannot be any official reports out there of it doing anything. It'd be the equivilent of someone reporting that unicorns are dangerous because someone fell off one once. The only difference being there is a ton of evidence that bigfoot exists, and zero evidence that unicorns are real.

While there are no "official" reports of any deaths attributed to bigfoot, there are several anecdotal "off the record" reports of bigfoot creatures killing someone. Here are a few examples of these reports...

Bigfoot researcher Tim "Coonbo" Baker told a story during an Internet radio show of a first person account he was given by someone who claims to have witnessed a bigfoot killing someone.

Apparently two men, a hunter and a guide, we're in rural Arizona or New Mexico (can't remember which) back in the 80's. During their hunting excursion they sited a bigfoot creature. Evidently the hunter decided to get famous and took a shot at the creature. However, instead of killing it, all it did was piss him off. The creature attacked the men, knocking the hunter's head off with a swipe of his hand. When he turned to the guide, the guide dropped his rifle and backed away, and managed to escape with his life.

The guide reported this event to law enforcement, and took them to the location where it occurred. There was blood scattered about and the hunter's body and severed head were lying there as the witness had reported. Even though huge footprints where everywhere and the witness clearly stated that it was a bigfoot that did it, the law enforcement officer stated at the time that his report would theorize that it was a bear attack.

Coonbo states that he spent some time researching this to see if any official report of the "death by bear attack" had been filed those years ago, but he was unable to locate any such report in the archives of the county where this supposedly took place.

A story from Canada tells of a couple friends who were camping or trapping in the sticks. During their trip they had returned to their campsite on a couple of consecutive days to find that something or someone had gone thru their belongings, opened containers that required hands and fingers to open, and found some of their food had been eaten.

Both men got spooked as it was getting dark and decided to end their trip early. One started packing up camp while the other went to go get their vehicle. When he returned 30 min or so later, he found his friend dead and headless. The victim had finished up packing and was sitting on a log facing the fire, and some kind of creature set upon him, killing him before he could react. The surviving friend seemingly missed the melee by mere minutes. He jumped in his vehicle and left the area, and his camping gear, where it sat.

Brenda Harris of the New Mexico shadow seekers, on the bigfoot outlaws Internet radio show, told the audience about a report she investigated in a small community on the Pueblo reservation earlier this year.

An elderly couple were sitting in their home one day, when a huge sasquatch creature just barged into their house through the front door without warning (or an invitation).

They grabbed brooms and other household implements and tried shooing the creature out of their house, but it grabbed the man and tore both his arms off and beat him to death with his own arm. A few days later a similar event took place a couple blocks away, when another elderly man was attacked and killed in his home by some sort of powerful creature.

Tim "Coonbo" Baker was on that radio show, and after hearing these accounts postulated that it's at least possible that heavy metal run off from those huge epa caused mine spills may be the cause. The mines leaked millions of gallons of polluted water into the river system, and since the rivers there drain into river systems near the Pueblo reservation, this pollution could possibly be the cause for this creature snapping and becoming a murderous monster.

One final story I recall off the top of my head took place in New Mexico. A border patrol officer was thrown off a cliff by what a witness reports to be a tall hairy manlike creature. Altho there was a witness to the death, and it was common knowledge by local border patrol that creatures had been sited prior to this, their official report stated that the cause of the officer falling off the cliff was undetermined.

These are just four or five of dozens of reports I've read and heard about over the years. A Google of the subject and a couple hours of research on you tube might turn up some interesting stories as well.

Native Americans tell scads of stories regarding how they view bigfoot as fellow people, and that these "people of the forest" like to snatch people walking after dark, or sneak into camps and kidnap women and children and eat them or sexually assault them, most never to be heard from again. Some tribes report that agreements were made with the bigfoot people hundreds of yrs ago that if the NA people stay out of certain areas, or give the bigfoot food on a regular basis, they would not steal people from their tribe.

For the most part bigfoot creatures are reported to be skittish and tend to avoid contact with Humans if possible, but they are extremely big, and extremely strong, and can kill a Human with very little effort. Like with Humans and other primate species, even though the vast majority of bigfoot creatures are likely not dangerous, there are those out there with nasty attitudes and murderous dispositions. To this day you still hear stories of how hunters will encounter creatures while in the woods, and that they likely wouldn't have escaped alive if they weren't armed.

If officially discovered to be a type of Human, would Bigfoot have any rights?

The debate over what bigfoot could possibly be....whether hominid or hominin, has been going on, with gusto, for decades. Even today, researchers are split right down the middle, with roughly half choosing upright ape, and half choosing the option of bigfoot being a very close relative of Humans. Both sides have impressive and convincing reasons why they feel they are right, but until either a specimen body (alive or dead) is openly studied by mainstream science, or we have copious verifiable genetic samples to test, it's all just conjecture.

One of the offshoots of opinion regarding bigfoot is whether we should or should not kill one, if given the chance. Some people (myself included) feel that as sad an occasion as it might be, we need a body. If all we have are genetic samples, there will always be questions about where the samples came from. However, if we have a body, it will be a slam dunk, end of the convo situation. I'm in favor of anything that's more of an absolute than the alternative.

Ok, in my opinion, the split between kill or no kill is roughly equal to the split between the Human or Ape groups. Tho they are not synonymous, it's quite ironic that they are all roughly 50/50. This is a perfect example of how divided, on pretty much every aspect of bigfootdom, that believers and researchers are.

Some researchers feel that regardless of whether sasquatch is a very close relative of homo sapiens, or a distantly related type of ape, it's just outright morally wrong to support killing or capturing one just for the purpose of proving they exist AND to classify it's genus for absolute certain. I've read their opinions and considered their position, but I'm still convinced, as are a lot of researchers out there, that until we have a body to study, the debate will never be laid to rest. We feel it is SO important to have definite verifiable concrete data on bigfoot, that it's worth possibly killing a close relative to Humans to get it.

Now, having said all that, where would a very close relative to Humans stand as far as rights? I believe it all starts with the creature's right to live.

A couple years ago I happened upon a debate on an online blog regarding whether a bigfoot killer could possibly be charged with murder if it was later determined that the creature was indeed a very close relative to Homo Sapien.

People were adamant, on both sides of the topic, that the opposing side was silly for holding their opinion. Some folks are so conspiracy theory oriented that they KNOW for a fact that anyone who causes bigfoot to be known and verified by mainstream science will be punished by the government and put in prison for life for murder. They feel the government is so dedicated to keeping the fact that bigfoot exists in the realm of myth, that they will ruin the person who upsets the cherry cart. While I tend to agree that the usa government likely knows bigfoot exists and will make life miserable for anyone not playing along with their demands to keep info on their existence quiet (like Bob Garrett), I'm not sure this revenge would extend to the point where they'd finagle someone into a life sentence in prison.

Then on the other side were the people (including an attorney) who have researched it and have determined that unless bigfoot is a Homo Sapien, in other words a genuine full blooded Human Being, current homicide laws won't apply. In addition, we are lucky to live in a nation where you can't retroactively enforce a new law on people who committed the now illegal act in the past. No doubt, if it becomes known for absolute fact that sasquatch is a verified close relative of Humans and a card carrying member of one of the Homo series of species, laws will be enacted asap to protect them. While the shooter may face some kind of penalty for violating wildlife laws, he won't suffer a murder charge. Oddly enough, this is what most pro kill supporters want....laws protecting the species, and no laws jeopardizing the freedom of the guy who killed that one.

Some folks are even iffy on whether wildlife related charges can be levied, since the bigfoot was not even a recognized species when it was killed. Current laws protecting them (and yes there are several places in the usa where its illegal to harm or harass a bigfoot) may become moot since it's questionable whether or not a law protecting a mythical creature can be enforced. Who knows, but it will definitely be interesting to see how it all goes down, as it inevitably will at some point.

Lastly, all other types of rights for close relatives are unknown. If memory serves me, it's been around 25,000 to 50,000 yrs since Homo Sapiens have shared the planet with a close relative, maybe even less. Regardless, they all died out before we invented written communication, so other than some anecdotal evidence gleaned from a few ancient and questionable texts regarding interactions with close relatives....whether giants or hobbits, we dont know how the issue was handled. Therefore there isn't a huge precedent in place for how such a species should be treated.

Though it all depends upon how like us bigfoot is, and whether the species can communicate in any meaningful way with Humans, I suspect that laws will be enacted world wide that set aside vast tracts of land for them to thrive in peace, and much like the laws in Brazil banning outsiders from interfering with their indigenous jungle tribes, people will be banned from bothering them or encroaching on their territory. The trick will be how to get bigfoot to respect those boundaries.

But wait...hasn't bigfoot been sighted in nearly every state but Hawaii? That's what the sighting statistics say. If that's the case, how can we effectively deal with this subject in a way that protects both Humans and Sasquatch on a long term basis? I have no idea, I haven't thought that far ahead. What comes next after giving them the right to live is a subject for another day. As for now, that will have to do.

What if you shot a Bigfoot on your property....

The other day I was pondering something.... What would I do if a squatch came at me on my property and I was able to make a kill with my .300 Blackout. So I made a list of what I'd do, and what I'd advise you to do in that situation.

1) DON'T CALL THE POLICE, or any public or governmental agency. That would be the quickest way to lose your prize. State, Fed, or military peeps would show up with machine guns and the party would be over. The body, and all your cameras and recording media would be confiscated and you will be threatened with death and disaster if you ever talk about the situation.

2) Secure the site. Get your kid, your wife, your neighbor, your brother...people with guns to the site asap. Restrict access to your property.

3) Properly take samples of skin, hair, blood, saliva, even scat and urine if you can. Freeze and hide these samples.

4) Get the body recorded...video and pix. Crystal clear well lit up close video and pix. Use up every video card you can...you'll never have too much video or photo evidence of a dead bigfoot. Hide all video and photo evidence. Then call the local news stations, (Don't tell them why you are calling, just say you have a HUGE world wide story they can be the first to document if they are so inclined) get them out there to get video evidence. Call every news station. Block your property entrance with vehicles and armed men and ONLY let the news people in. 

5) Get a veterinarian to your property asap to examine the body and take more samples. Don't tell him the truth when you call. Tell him you have 3 horses all dying and it's an emergency. Get him on camera saying that this is indeed a real creature, an undocumented species of bipedal hominid.

6) Start emailing Animal Planet and the Nat Geo folks..

7) Dig a 3 foot deep hole, wide and long enough for the body. Put the body in it and pack a layer of bags of ice all over it. Park a truck over the hole and wait for Animal Planet/Nat Geo people to arrive.

8) Contact these people. Let them know you have a body and they are welcome to come examine it to their heart's content..... Dr Jeff Meldrum, Dr John Bindernagel, Dr.Todd Disotell, Jimmy Chilcutt, Cliff Barackman, Bobo Faye, Matt Moneymaker. Then contact as many bigfoot researchers as possible and get them access to the body. Many of them have dedicated their life to researching bigfoot. They deserve to finally have their day. You will be their hero. 

Don't contact a university, most are at least partially funded by the government. However, I would gladly transport my Bigfoot body to a location where Dr Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University could study it. I suspect that he would love to do a proper exam. Unless you have a well secured cold storage facility, you will eventually have to let someone take the body. But only allow a trusted private person/group to take it for REAL scientific analysis at a secret spot, and only after many many people have taken evidence samples and video and photos. If you do it just right, you can get people there and gone before the government shows up. Unless they have a warrant you can restrict anyone's access to your property. You may not get any sleep for a couple days, but it'll be worth it. You'll be famous.

You may ask...why would I have to go to all this trouble? Why can't I just call the police and let them handle it? Good question. The federal government, believe it or not, monitors all police dept communications. If a 911 caller says, hey, I killed a bigfoot on my property (or a ufo crashed in my yard and little grey men are spread out on my lawn), within moments a federal government rep will contact that police dept and order them to NOT investigate the call, and to delete any reference to that 911 call immediately. It's also believed that either men in black or military peeps will show up and take over the site, confiscating everything, and threatening to ruin your world if you tell anyone else.  There is a guy in Texas who is a bigfoot researcher. He didn't kiss the ass of some of these men in black, and well, they pretty much shut down his life.  Shut off his facebook, shut off his you tube channel, closed his email accounts, shut off his internet service, banned him from blogs that were either his or ones he was a member of, and daily harass him and his wife any time they drive out of their driveway....essentially made him cease to exist outside of his home. The government has the ability to go into any website and simply...delete you. Scary eh? The dept of the interior is a deep and creepy entity.  

In the world of bigfoot there is a widely held belief that the federal government and military are well aware of the creature's existence, but they do not want the existence of this new species of homonid to become widely known and officially scientifically and publicly verified. The government believes (it's strongly suspected) that if we verify its existence it would lead to very bad things for our nation and its economy. The logging industry, aka the housing industry, would be shut down, since bigfoot would immediately be classified as an endangered species and it inhabits much of the logging industry's stomping grounds. Anonymous sources within the logging industry claim that the industry issues secret rules regarding what their employees are to do in the event they encounter one of the creatures. They want people to keep quiet. Period. I heard an interview with a guy who worked for a state forest conservation organisation in Wash state. He told his co-workers about seeing a bigfoot several times in his life. His boss told him to shut up about it. But he didn't, so they not only fired him, they made it so no other state or federal forestry agency in the nation will hire him. This respectable man with college degrees and 20 yrs of forestry and wildlife expertise and 10 yrs as a teacher is basically now barely surviving by parking cars at a medical facility. That's how serious the government is about keeping bigfoot a myth. 

The other reason the government would want to keep bigfoot quiet, is because of the hundreds of millions of dollars in income the national parks bring in every year, not only to the actual parks, but also to the surrounding communities. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people go missing without a trace in state and national parks every year in the USA. (Google or YouTube David Paulides and his Missing 411 books) Some believe bigfoot is the reason for these vanishing people. If bigfoot is proven real, then families would be made aware of all these missing people and sightings etc, and tend to vacation elsewhere. Lastly, if bigfoot is proven real, then eventually someone would leak that the government has known of them for decades. 

So that's why you don't want to call the police, or any other state, public, federal, or governmental agency if you happen to find yourself in the possession of a bigfoot body. 

Bigfoot...for the Beginner

The question regarding the existence of a usually nocturnal man-like hairy hominid with huge feet and an uncanny ability to avoid being detected and seen and recorded while living in the woods and meadows across the USA and other countries, is indeed a fascinating one. I've been interested in the subject since I was a kid back in the 70's and remain today intricately interested in the subject. I subscribe to a couple of blogs and websites on the topic, as well as a dozen or so YouTube channels on the subject of Sasquatch/Bigfoot.

Some of these YouTube channels are really cool, in that the researchers are going out in the woods with their HD video cameras and documenting their attempts to either find evidence of, catch a glimpse of, or interact with these shadowy creatures. While more often than not, these people are coming up empty....occasionally they post video evidence that wows the kid in all of us, and shows us that there just might be something to this whole Bigfoot thing. In the future I plan to discuss some of the wretched politics revolving around the Bigfoot world, but today I just want to lightly discuss the topic for those of you who want to get an idea of what's going on without having to do hours of research into the topic.

Where do you stand on the subject? Do you feel that all of us believers are nuts, that there is no way on Earth that this creature could possibly exist? Well, if that's the case, you might want to rethink the subject. More and more people these day, both laymen and academics alike, are starting to give this area of research a second look. The fact that more believers are coming around every day is NOT an indication that they actually exist. Instead, more and better techniques of gathering and recording evidence are being put into play every day, and this is resulting in more and harder evidence coming to light that is becoming more difficult for the world to ignore.

My personal view on the Bigfoot/Sasquatch topic is thus; Though I need some really good evidence or a personal experience to definitely know they exist, I believe that it is entirely possible that a hairy 8 foot ape/human type 'creature' may exist in the wild wooded areas where mankind typically doesn't go. Entirely too many sightings and reports of these creatures continue to stream in for it to be likely that they are all imagining things. While some may be tricks of shadowy light or mis-identification of some other known creature, an increasing number of sightings and reports that are made public are coming from dependable eye witnesses who are either trained observers, wildlife experts, law enforcement, or other people who possess spotless and respectable reputations within their communities. While I suspect that these believable witnesses have always been seeing these things, they've tended to keep it to themselves to avoid the public scorn which has historically followed behind those who claim to have seen one of these creatures. Due to the increased mainstream discussion about the subject in every day media in our society, it is only now, that more and more people are coming forth to talk about what they saw or experienced.

Evidence that Bigfoot may be in the area tends to be....stick structures, either X's or small teepee-like structures, nesting areas, trees, both dead and alive, are being pushed down to block paths, and are sometimes occurring while the researcher is nearby. Footprints, both singular and as a part of a trackway are being found across the country in many hotspots. Tree knocking happens quite often, and howls have been recorded and analyzed by experts in the vocal calls of known animals. Some of which cannot be identified as a known animal.

Bigfoot creatures are often seen crossing roads or paths in wilderness areas such as around lakes and within state parks and national forests. Hunters and bike riders and campers and families walking the dog and senior citizens just going for a relaxing walk with a loved one, all are seeing Bigfoot.

Hikers and campers enjoying the wooded areas are sometimes assailed by rocks flying at them from unseen sources, while grunts and growls and rustling in nearby bushes are scaring the bejesus out of others. People awakened in tents in the early morning hours are hearing two-legged footfalls moving around outside and within their camping areas, and some have even had a hand or a knee or some other body part of an unknown creature push in the side of the tent fabric mere inches from the faces of terrified people within. When the people get the guts to exit their tent and shine a light around the area, most often they only catch a glimpse of some hairy creature on two feet disappearing into the nearby woods or brush. However there have been a few reports of these people finding themselves standing face to face with an 8 foot menacing creature, staring at them as if they are as shocked to see the person, as the person is to see them.

Bigfoot not only visits camp sites, but home sites as well. There are many documented cases where Bigfoot regularly or sporadically makes appearances close to houses near wooded areas. They've been known to tap or scratch on walls, or move things around, or steal pet food, or just walk through the yard. Some of these cases involve dogs barking and people looking out windows and seeing a huge man-like hairy creature standing in the yard or nearby treeline, while others are of a much more personal nature. The reports that truly get to me are the ones where someone will be in the house doing normal household things. They may hear something or just get a hankering to look out a window, and find themselves looking face to face into the eyes, mere inches away, of one of these creatures that had apparently been watching them for who knows how long. This truly gives me the creeps and would likely result in my funeral if it happened to me. However, oddly enough, according to the vast majority of reports.....Bigfoot tends to be curious but harmless. Yes, one may think, umm, they are throwing huge rocks at people and growling and that doesn't sound too friendly. You are correct. But if they truly wanted to harm or kill you, they easily could accomplish that without much effort at all. While there are some sporadic reports of seemingly violent encounters with these creatures, the overwhelming statistics indicate that they do not want to harm us, and instead just want us to get out of their area and are willing to scare us to accomplish that result.

While there are a growing number of academics looking more closely at this topic, the vast majority of so called mainstream scientists avoid the subject of Bigfoot and Sasquatch for fear of being regarded with disdain within the scientific community. They simply label it as a myth, and stick to safer things to discuss or research. Although dozens of new species of previously unknown mammals, birds, plants and insects are discovered every year, for some reason the 'official' scientific community refuses to acknowledge the loads of sightings, evidence, both actual and anecdotal that is uncovered on a regular basis. They most likely prefer to wait until the creature is proven to exist, then try to get their piece of the pie at that point.

Until that occurs, dedicated researchers will continue searching and gathering evidence and sighting reports. I look forward to the day when it's common knowledge that Bigfoot actually exists. That way we can finally conduct well funded research that most likely will result in them being placed in protected status by the federal wildlife agencies.