And What About Bigfoot?

Are the sightings real or manufactured?

Is Bigfoot Real or Manufactured?

By D.S. Mitchell

A NW Childhood

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest so I’ve been hearing about Bigfoot since I was a kid along with the legend of the notorious skyjacker, D.B. Cooper. More than most other stories these two have ignited the imaginations of people, not just in my area, but all over the world. As far as D.B. Cooper goes, I think it was the boldness of the crime and the fact that he got away with a bunch of cash and was never caught. An amazing 20th century story of a man who seemingly beat the system.

Mysterious Creatures

Bigfoot, a legendary half man half ape creature is, I believe, more about humanities need to believe in magic and the mysteries of the unknown. I think it’s the same reason conspiracy theories are so popular.  Much like Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster, there is not a single iota of evidence showing that Bigfoot or Nessie are real. No bodies, no bones, no hair, no skin, no DNA; nothing, absolutely nothing, except a few giant footprints and a couple cheezy photos and a grainy video.

Basic Biology

From basic biology it seems that if a population were large enough to propagate it is unlikely, considering their enormous size, that any of these creatures could go undiscovered by scientists, certainly not any band or group of them. I would say the whole thing is impossible. However, many people are fascinated by the possibility of a mythic creature, living wild and free in many isolated parts of the world. Jane Goodall famed anthropologist and conservationist, once said of Bigfoot, “I want to believe.”

Footprints in the Mud

On August 27, 1958 a logging company employee, Jerry Crew, reported having found gigantic foot prints in the mud close to Bluff Creek in northern California while he was clearing brush and stumps near the creek. Several of Jerry’s co-workers also reported seeing mammoth footprints in the area. The news of “Bigfoot” was published in the Sunday edition of the Humboldt Times and the phenomenon known as Bigfoot was born.

Flash Forward

In 2002 one of Crew’s co-workers, a fellow named Ray Wallace, died at the age of 84. It was then that his children revealed he had carved a pair of giant wooden feet and had stomped around the Bluff Creek area leaving the mysterious tracks way back in 1958. “It was just a joke,” they told the press. When news of the hoax hit the airwaves Bigfoot believers barely batted an eye. Despite pranks, hoaxes, and other shenanigans the enthusiasts will not be dissuaded. In fact, there is more interest today than ever before.

One Big Guy  

The most famous suspected hoax came nearly ten years after Wallace’s 1958 prank. Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin produced a 59 second film showing a huge ape like creature walking around the Bluff Creek site identified in 1958. The 1967 film was later identified as a hoax when costume manufacturer, Philip Morris, claimed he had sold Patterson the gorilla suit and even introduced the overly large man who had tromped around in the costume for the camera, to the press.

Hoaxes and Tall Tales

A  prospector named Albert Ostman came forward in the midst of the excitement and told a hair raising story of being abducted from his campsite and forced to live with a Bigfoot family for six days until he escaped. Then in 2008, two Georgia men announced they had found the corpse of a Bigfoot in the Georgia mountains, but after a media frenzy it was discovered the men had bought a Bigfoot costume and filled it with road kill and animal entrails. It seems that the Bigfoot legend is fertile soil for pranksters and scammers.

Conclusion

There is even a Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) that keeps records of Bigfoot sightings around the United States. There are more than 5,000 “credible” Bigfoot sightings from every state except Hawaii. More than a third of those sightings coming from the Pacific Northwest. Serious researchers plotted Bigfoot sightings and found they correlated roughly to the American black bear’s habitat. Black bears can look frightfully tall and humanlike, it was noted, when standing upright on their back legs. Interesting theory, but most people ignore the science because they want to believe, just like Jane Goodall, that Bigfoot is real.