This article has been updated from the original
The script is predictable: Two newscasters sit side by side on the evening news.
“It goes by many names. Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti.
“A local couple claims they saw…”
A few sideways glances. A smirk.
“I’d like to have what they were drinking.”
A joke about drugs. “This was in Colorado, right?”
That’s it. It is a joke. But the question needs to be asked. Why do people believe in Sasquatch? Why do so many people study them, especially when this is the inevitable reaction? Perhaps it is because people continue to see them. To hear them. They get so frightened of them that they leave the woods and never return. There is a constant refrain from critics and debunkers, “If they exist, why isn’t there any evidence?” Well, what kind of evidence would you like, for there is much evidence. Historical, visual sightings, photographic and video, physical evidence such as handprints and footprints, impossible sounds and recordings, and interactions.
A Look at the Different Types of Evidence
Historical: Some stories date back hundreds of years from indigenous peoples of this continent.
(See the footnote for a deep dive into footprints.) Native American tribes all over the continent have names for this creature tells us much. People saw and interacted with them, not in the mythological, archetypal realm, but as fellow creatures that shared the land. The names often tell of the perceptions of the tribes toward this creature.
Here are a few examples;
Zuni-Atahsaia, The Cannibal Demon.
Dakota (East)/Sioux, Chiha tanka, Big Elder Brother.
Seminole, Esti Capcaki, Tall Man.
Cherokee, Kecleh-Kudleh, Hairy Savage.
Yakama/Klickitat, Qui yihahs, The Five Brothers.
Iroquois/Seneca, Ge no sqwa, Stone Giants.
Many academics, scientists, and skeptics simply dismiss the accounts, believing
that they, many of whom may have never set foot outside a city, know more about the natural
world than the ones who lived their entire lives there.
Verbal/written reports: From the past, there are stories from trappers, miners, and settlers in this country’s history. In “The Wilderness Hunter,” Theodore Roosevelt tells a story where a trapper named Bauman recounted having seen a “Half human, half devil, or half goblin beast,” which killed his companion. The Bigfoot Research Organization (known as BFRO) has a database that
lists approximately 5500 sightings. And most states have at least one Bigfoot organization, each
with its own database. Many reports are from more modern times, from people who have seen
something inexplicable and outside their frame of reference. But there are also many reports long before Sasquatch became so iconic in our culture, from a time when people had no idea what they saw.
Photographic and video: There are hundreds of photos and videos. Admittedly there are many
where someone has to say, “Look, see, there are the eyes, there is a nose.” Be skeptical, and
don’t accept every “blobsquatch” photo. But, even after weeding those out, there are at least a
hundred interesting videos.
Audio evidence: Many people have heard cries, growls, whoops, and other noises, sometimes so
loud that people say, “I felt it in my body, in my chest. I thought it would stop my heart.” Good
recordings are rare, however. But there are some recordings of vocalizations, most notably the Ron Morehead, Sierra recordings. These were made over several weeks in the 70s and subsequent trips. Night after night, these vocalizations went on around them. The men could look through the cracks of their ramshackle cabin and see these creatures all around them. After listening to the tapes (which were done on recorders powered by car batteries lugged up into the mountains), Scott Nelson, a retired Navy crypto linguist with 30 years of experience, concluded that it was a language with syntax. It was not human and not faked. See the end notes for a sampling of the Sierra sounds in which you can hear the creatures and, occasionally, the men trying to interact. See the end note for Scott Nelson’s paper. Further analysis was done by Dr. R. Kirlin, an electrical sound engineer at the University of Wyoming, who, after a year of study, concluded that there was no manipulation and that they were recorded as reported by Moorehead and his companions. Nancy Logan, Human Sound Expert, succinctly concluded after extensive study, “I don’t think these tapes are fake.”
Physical evidence: Footprints, handprints and impressions, hair, and scat have been found.
Plaster casts of the footprints and handprints abound.
Interactions: These could be as tame as waking up and finding your firewood has been moved
under cover. Or leaving a gift on a tree stump and finding something offered in return the next
day. Or having basketball-sized rocks hurled at you with uncanny accuracy.
The Critics’ Response
The response to this evidence? The most common, knee-jerk reactions consist of, “It’s fake. It’s
a bear. It’s shadows. It’s pareidolia (seeing faces in clouds). It’s a guy in a monkey suit. It’s just
a bear paw print.” And, of course, “what were they drinking?” Let’s not forget the previously mentioned, “Colorado, right?” A person makes joint smoking motions. “Got a little wacky tobacky thing going?” Essentially, it comes down to, “I don’t know what it is, but it isn’t a Bigfoot because Bigfoot doesn’t exist.” Or perhaps another way to see it is that Bigfoot doesn’t exist because there is no evidence. After all, you discount all the evidence.
But let me lay a bit of wisdom on you: Cynicism is not wisdom nor a sign of intelligence.
Cynicism is a lazy, knee-jerk reaction, a shortcut to actual thinking.
That is not to say you should not be skeptical. Skepticism, asking questions, and observing with
a critical eye is crucial.
The Patterson Gimlin Film
Figure 1 It is a long trek from Yakima, Washington to Bluff Creek in Northern California
In 1967, Roger Patterson heard about the discovery of large footprints at Bluff Creek in Northern
California. After a brief delay, while his friend, Bob Gimlin, got his ranch in order, they drove
from Yakima, Washington, to their destination in Northern California (Figure 1).
After a month of riding horseback about thirty miles a day, they stumbled into a clearing and
onto the object of their quest. And, when reality blindsided them, they almost did not get the
film. Roger had trouble getting the camera from the saddle bag while being bucked off his horse. While running, looking for a better vantage point, he fell into the creek, all while Bob stood by with a rifle at the ready. To this day, there has not been a film as clear and informative.
It is important to remember the images from that film have become iconic, but they only entered
the public eye in 1967, when they eventually became engraved in our culture. But when these
two men set out on their quest, no modern white person had ever seen one, so they had no clue
what they were looking for. They only knew that they would recognize it when they saw it.
The Rubber Meets the Road or Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty
Before we go further, we need to discuss the claim that the film is debunked as a hoax by
someone claiming to have been in on the plan to pass off “a guy in a monkey suit.” Remember
that even though someone claims to have been in on it does not make it so. Yet, people hang on
to the claims of debunkers, who offer little to no proof, and dismiss any evidence to the contrary.
A picture exists showing a Sasquatch suit that Roger Patterson is supposed to have made,
indicating that he may have been prepared to hoax a sighting. But whether a hoax was intended
or not, Patterson and Gimlin DID find what they were looking for, and ultimately no hoax was
necessary! See the below article for the story of the suit.
Let’s examine this idea of “It’s a guy in a monkey suit” a bit closer by asking a question.
How could they have made this suit when they did not know what they were looking for? Every
subsequent bit of good footage taken since looks remarkably like the creature in the film. But
let’s step back even further for a moment and do a thought experiment regarding the inevitable
claims of “folks in monkey suits.”
How many readers have seen a man in a gorilla suit on a street corner, often twirling a sign to
advertise a sandwich shop or a car wash? Has anyone ever once said, “Oh my God! It’s a gorilla
on the loose! Call the police!” Or has anyone gone to the primate house at the zoo and lamented
all the people in monkey suits?
Nobody says these things because the proportions are all wrong. Arms too long or too short.
Legs are wrong. The posture is incorrect. A man in a monkey suit does not look like a monkey!
No one made Bigfoot suits then because this was the first time it had been photographed.
Hollywood’s best special effects folks have said they could not duplicate it. Or, has anyone ever donned a monkey suit and tried running through the woods? Running gracefully down a hillside or wading in a swamp that you share with snakes and alligators while wearing giant fake feet with a big helmet restricting your vision is not easy. So I would imagine, anyway. I have never actually tried it. Now let’s go back to even before these events when a logger named Jerry Crew made plaster casts of footprints in 1958 in the same Bluff Creek area that late was immortalized in the Patterson-Gimlin film.
Figure 2 Jerry Crew Cast from 1958 (nine years before the PG film, in the same Bluff Creek
Area.
Figure 3 Bob Titmus and Syl McCoy with casts taken 60 miles south of Bluff Creek where the
Patterson Gimlin video was shot.
Within days of the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin sighting, there were numerous pictures of the
footprints and at least ten plaster casts of the footprints. These prints told an amazing story,
especially when connected with the footage.
Figure 4 Patterson and Gimlin returned directly after taking the film to be mailed and cast these
prints.
Patterson and Gimlin returned to the site as soon as they had mailed the film to make casts of the prints. (The story of how they barely got out with their lives during a massive rainstorm is truly an edge-of-your-seat tale.) When the word got out as to what had transpired, many people, including Bob Titmus, rushed to the location in Bluff Creek to make their own casts of the footprints and perform other tests. Some of the test results and measurements showed a 14-inch footprint and a 42-inch stride which became a 68-to-72-inch stride when investigators tracked it into the woods, where it appeared to break into a run. It took 700 to 800 pounds to create any impressions in the sand bar. There were still traces of the footprints a year later. This showed a creature with a foot that differed from a human. Notice the cast print in Figure 5 above does not have an arch but is flexed in the middle of the foot, not at the toe. This would be difficult, if not impossible, for a person to duplicate. A person has to push off with their toe, even if wearing a prosthetic on their feet.
The creature also walks with what is called a compliant gait, whereby the walker’s feet are one in
front of the other, not side by side. (See Figure 6). Dr. Jeff Meldrum, a University of Idaho professor of anatomy and anthropology, studied these prints and reverse-engineered the foot, leg, and hip structures that would create these impressions. (Figures 7 and 8). As mentioned above, he showed that the creature appears to push off with the entire front half of its foot as opposed to humans who propel themselves by pushing off with their toes. (See the footnote for a deep dive into footprints.)
Figure 5 Image of prints photographed attributed to Lyle Laverty right after hearing of
Patterson and Gimlin getting the footage. (Note the Midtarsal Break, the flex point is in the
middle of the foot vs. humans who flex and push off at the toe. 15
Figure 6 In a compliant gait, an animal walks with one foot in front of another.
Figure 7 1 t would appear that the Sasquatch pushes off with the front half of its foot.
Ranchers are intelligent people. You must be to do the work that they do. But could these two
have been able to design an entirely new anatomical foot design and create models to fake the
contrived prints? That stretches credulity. Would they have thought to attach breasts to the
monkey suit? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I’ve met Bob and have a hard time imagining him
running around with breasts, natural or not.
Figure 8 Note the difference between the proposed Sasquatch anatomy as back engineered by
Jeff Meldrum on the left and the human on the right, the left being more robust with the weight
downloading straight down.
Cliff Barakman, a world-renowned researcher, was asked at the 2018 Bigfoot conference in
Hastings, Nebraska, “What is the greatest single piece of evidence you have seen.” After
thinking for a moment, he said, “There is no single piece of evidence. But the similarities of
evidence across the world that I have seen is, to me, the most striking thing.” He elaborated,
saying he has seen identical footprints and hand prints from California to Kentucky to China. 16
Final Thoughts
In closing, it is essential to admit the obvious. We really know almost nothing. Lots of
inferences, speculation, and anthropomorphism. That being said, they are magnificently adapted to their environment. The hunched posture and the big orbital over the brow would seem to be a logical adaption for a creature running through the woods, especially at night. Observation and video would indicate that they are fast! We can infer that they can see infrared, as evidenced by how they avoid camera traps with infrared sensors. That would also be a valuable adaption for a night creature. We can also reasonably speculate infrasound judging by people’s reactions to the sizzling phenomenon mentioned above.
We know they are big, they are hairy, that they have a different foot structure from humans, and
that they often smell really bad. Scientists have worked out the physics and mechanical
advantages of their limbs, all derived from photos and videos. Be skeptical, but you do not have to check your common sense at the door.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Could a person in a monkey suit with big floppy feet and a helmet on their head go dashing
gracefully through the woods or rocks?
Would a person go wading in a swamp with lots of dangerous snakes and alligators, while
wearing a monkey suit?
Does the creature in the video have human proportions?
And most of all is the question of why. Why would people do this if there were no payoffs?
Indeed, there have been no payoffs for anyone so far. There was no positive payoff for Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin. They were the objects of ridicule, harassment, and abuse for years.
Keep an open mind. Everyone filters rationality through individual lenses and has their own
basic assumptions. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character says, “There is more in heaven
and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” The brightest minds once dismissed and
mocked now commonplace ideas. The concept of snow on the equator was the subject of total
derision by the great scientists of the day. A giant squid was relegated to mariner’s tales. The
snow leopard was dismissed as a myth, legend—until it was found. Or put succinctly: It is unscientific to disbelieve in something just because it is unscientific.
disbelieve in something just because it is unscientific.
Footnotes
1 http://www.nativevillage.org.
https://sasquatchchronicles.com/native-american-names-for-bigfoot/
http://www.native-languages.org/legends-bigfoot.htm
2 https://bearstatebooks.com/blog/2021/01/04/teddy-roosevelt-wrote-about-a-fatal-bigfoot-
encounter/
3 The Quantum Bigfoot, Ron Moorehead, Chapter 12
4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGfIIjN-P7o
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bigfoot+vocal+recordings
5 https://www.nabigfootsearch.com/Bigfootlanguage.html?fbclid=IwAR2vpdtb0-
xeMELDg_qPqW–IbqgujBc-cIC29colg-Bz1jzRY503MLDsHo
6 The Quantum Bigfoot, Ron Moorehead, chapter 12
7 ibid
8 https://cliffbarackman.com/home/projects/footprint-database/
9 A short documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqWInI8fBcs
A shorter, more concise video, stabilized, slowed and enhanced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us6jo8bl2lk
An interview with Bob Gimlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGkex9vWaQw
10 http://www.cryptozoonews.com/morris-obit/
11 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.4360203/cowboy-
behind-legendary-patterson-gimlin-bigfoot-film-marks-50th-anniversary-1.436
12 https://cliffbarackman.com/home/projects/footprint-database/
13 Talk from Bob Gimlin Bigfoot Conference Hastings, NE 2018
14 http://www.bigfoot-lives.com/html/bigfoot_footprints.html
Dr Meldrum talks about anatomy implied from casts of footprints:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHrn4nru6iY
Excellent interview by Dr. Meldrum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heDQ-TFicmA
15 http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/laverty2.htm
16 Talk at Bigfoot Conference Hastings NE 2018
16 In the Dark Pine, Scott Barta, Chapter 20
Society for Arcane Studies 
Interesting research. For more info on Sasquatch, please visit: http://www.scenicsasquatch.com
LikeLike