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{{Short description|Mythical human or ape-like creature in North American folklore}}{{Redirect|Sasquatch|other uses|Bigfoot (disambiguation)|and|Sasquatch (disambiguation)}}{{Pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}

factoids

|Folklore = |Grouping =

• Canada
• United States

{edih}|Region = North America|Details = |First_Attested = |Similar_entities = }}Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a large and hairy human-like mythical creature alleged by some to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.JOURNAL, Bartholomew, Robert E., Regal, Brian, From wild man to monster: the historical evolution of bigfoot in New York State, Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore, 2009, 35, 3, 6 December 2023,weblink 1551-7268, February 16, 2024,weblink{{!, A218112087&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=aa9170f1 |url-status=live }}BOOK, Regal, Brian, Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads, and Cryptozoology, 2011, Springer, 978-0-230-11829-4, 91,weblink December 9, 2023, December 9, 2023,weblink live, Example definitions include:

• "A large, hairy, manlike creature supposedly inhabiting the north-western United States and western Canada." (Oxford English Dictionary {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216154021weblink |date=February 16, 2024 }})
• "Bigfoot is a large and mysterious humanoid creature purported to inhabit the wild and forested areas of Oregon and the West Coast of North America" (Oregon Encyclopedia {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418050928weblink |date=April 18, 2021 }})
• (Bigfoot redirected to Sasquatch) "A hairy creature like a human being reported to exist in the northwestern U.S. and western Canada and said to be a primate between 6 and 15 feet (1.8 and 4.6 meters) tall." (Mirriam-Webster online {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424085438weblink |date=April 24, 2019 }})
• "A very large, hairy, humanlike creature purported to inhabit the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Also called Sasquatch." (American Heritage Dictionary {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602215854weblink |date=June 2, 2023 }})
• "Sasquatch, also called Bigfoot, (from Salish se’sxac: “wild men”) a large, hairy, humanlike creature believed by some people to exist in the northwestern United States and western Canada." (Britannica {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629073800weblink |date=June 29, 2023 }}) Bigfoot is featured in both American and Canadian folklore, and since the mid-20th century has grown into a cultural icon, permeating popular culture and becoming the subject of its own distinct subculture.WEB, Eliot, Krissy, June 28, 2018, So, Why Do People Believe In Bigfoot Anyway?,weblink dead,weblink March 2, 2021, March 16, 2021, alumni.berkeley.edu, Cal Alumni Association, WEB, Bigfoot's pop culture footprint,weblink March 16, 2021, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2021,weblink live,

Enthusiasts of Bigfoot, such as those within the pseudoscience of cryptozoology, have offered various forms of dubious evidence to prove Bigfoot's existence, including anecdotal claims of sightings as well as alleged photographs, video and audio recordings, hair samples, and casts of large footprints.BOOK, Rossi, Lorenzo, A Review of Cryptozoology: Towards a Scientific Approach to the Study of "Hidden Animals", Problematic Wildlife, 18 December 2015, 573–588, 10.1007/978-3-319-22246-2_26, 978-3-319-22245-5, JOURNAL, Regal, Brian, Entering Dubious Realms: Grover Krantz, Science, and Sasquatch, Annals of Science, 13 Feb 2009, 66, 1, 83–102, 10.1080/00033790802202421, 19831199, 23736660, BOOK, Daegling, David J., Bigfoot exposed: an anthropologist examines America's enduring legend, 2004, Rowman Altamira, 0-7591-0538-3,weblink March 16, 2021, February 16, 2024,weblink live, JOURNAL, Williams, Sarah C. P., 'Bigfoot' samples analyzed in lab: First peer-reviewed genetic analysis looks at more than 50 samples believed to belong to elusive creatures, Science, July 1, 2014,weblink February 28, 2023, February 28, 2023,weblink live, However, the scientific consensus is that Bigfoot, and alleged evidence, is a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax rather than a living animal.BOOK, Frangou, Anna, Ladle, Richard J., Malhado, Ana C.M., Whitaker, Robert J., Brooks, Anathea, Arico, Salvatore, Tracking Key Trends in Biodiversity Science and Policy: based on the proceedings of a UNESCO International Conference on Biodiversity Science and Policy, 2013, UNESCO, 978-92-3-001118-5, 50,weblink Wildlife in a warming world, WEB, Pappas, Evan, Bigfoot hoax exposed (again) and other infamous hoaxes,weblink seattlepi.com, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 16, 2021, April 7, 2014, June 10, 2021,weblink live, JOURNAL, Crair, Ben, Why Do So Many People Still Want to Believe in Bigfoot?, Smithsonian Magazine, September 2018,weblink February 28, 2023, December 17, 2020,weblink live, Folklorists trace the phenomenon of Bigfoot to a combination of factors and sources, including the European wild man figure, folk tales, and indigenous cultures.WEB, Blitz, Matt, People Say They've Seen Bigfoot — Can We Really Rule Out That Possibility?,weblink yahoo.com, Yahoo!, August 6, 2021, August 5, 2021, August 6, 2021,weblink live, Examples of similar folk tales of wild, hair-covered humanoids exist throughout the world,WEB, McClelland, John, October 2011, Tracking the Legend of Bigfoot,weblink January 3, 2022, statemuseum.arizona.edu, Arizona State Museum, January 3, 2022,weblink live, WEB, McNeill, Lynne, March 8, 2012, Using Folklore to Tackle Bigfoot: 'Animal Planet' Comes to USU,weblink December 27, 2021, usu.edu, Utah State University, December 27, 2021,weblink live, such as the Skunk ape of the southeastern United States, the Almas, Yeren, and Yeti in Asia, the Australian Yowie,WEB, Beyond Bigfoot,weblink March 18, 2021, amnh.org, American Museum of Natural History, April 11, 2021,weblink live, and creatures in the mythologies of indigenous people.JOURNAL, Jilek-Aall, Louise, June 1972, What is a Sasquatch — or, the Problematics of Reality Testing, Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 17, 3, 243–247, 10.1177/070674377201700312, 3205204, free, WEB, Munro, Kate, May 14, 2019, North America's Sasquatch: finding fact within the fable,weblink December 27, 2021, sbs.com, NITV, December 27, 2021,weblink live, Wishful thinking, a cultural increase in environmental concerns, and overall societal awareness of the subject have been cited as additional factors.Walls, Robert E. 1996. "Bigfoot" in Brunvand, Jan Harold (editor). American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, p. 158–159. Garland Publishing, Inc.

Description

File:2016ShawneeBigfoot.jpg|thumb|upright|"Sassy the Sasquatch" roadside attraction statue in the Garden of the Gods Wilderness within the (Shawnee National Forest]], Illinois.WEB, Shawnee Forest Bigfoot,weblink enjoyillinois.com, April 12, 2021, April 12, 2021,weblink live, )Bigfoot is often described as a large, muscular, and bipedal human or ape-like creature covered in black, dark brown, or dark reddish hair.WEB,weblink Bigfoot [a.k.a. Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, Mapinguari (the Amazon), Sasquatch, Yowie (Australia) and Yeti (Asia)], The Skeptic's Dictionary, August 17, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080914040152weblink">weblink September 14, 2008, live, ENCYCLOPEDIA, 2008, Sasquatch, Encyclopædia Britannica,weblink April 7, 2013, May 15, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130515045710weblink">weblink live, Anecdotal descriptions estimate a height of roughly {{convert|6|-|9|ft}}, with some descriptions having the creatures standing as tall as {{convert|10|-|15|ft}}.WEB, Sasquatch,weblink merriam-webster.com, Merriam-Webster, May 11, 2021, April 24, 2019,weblink live, Some alleged observations describe Bigfoot as more human than ape,WEB, Boivin, John, Bigfoot or moose? Possible sighting shocks, excites residents of small B.C. community,weblink globalnews.ca, Global News, December 21, 2021, January 16, 2021, December 21, 2021,weblink live, particularly in regard to the face.WEB, Aziz, Saba, Bigfoot in Canada: Inside the hunt for proof — or at least a good photo,weblink globalnews.ca, Global News, December 21, 2021, August 14, 2021, December 21, 2021,weblink live, WEB, 'No joke': B.C. minister laughs off lawsuit claiming proof of Bigfoot,weblink ctvnews.ca, CTV News, December 21, 2021, October 31, 2017, December 21, 2021,weblink live, In 1971, multiple people in The Dalles, Oregon, filed a police report describing an "overgrown ape", and one of the men claimed to have sighted the creature in the scope of his rifle but could not bring himself to shoot it because "it looked more human than animal".WEB, Cahill, Tim, Giant Hairy Apes in the North Woods: A Bigfoot Study,weblink rollingstone.com, Rolling Stone, February 25, 2022, May 10, 1973, February 25, 2022,weblink live, Common descriptions include broad shoulders, no visible neck, and long arms, which many skeptics attribute to misidentification of a bear standing upright.NEWS, Brulliard, Karin, Is bigfoot just an upright-walking bear? We asked the experts.,weblink March 18, 2021, The Washington Post, July 5, 2016, November 4, 2020,weblink live, Some alleged nighttime sightings have stated the creature's eyes "glowed" yellow or red.NEWS, Hodgin, Carrie, Glowing Red-Eyes: Bigfoot Sightings Reported At Night In Mocksville,weblink March 18, 2021, WFMY-TV, CBS News, January 11, 2019, May 23, 2022,weblink live, However, eyeshine is not present in humans or any other known great apes, and so proposed explanations for observable eyeshine off of the ground in the forest include owls, raccoons, or opossums perched in foliage.WEB, Nickell, Joe, Bigfoot Eyeshine: A Contradiction,weblink centerforinquiry.org, Center for Inquiry, March 18, 2021, September 28, 2017, June 16, 2022,weblink live, Michael Rugg, the owner of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum, claims to have smelled Bigfoot, stating, "Imagine a skunk that had rolled around in dead animals and had hung around the garbage pits."WEB, Robertson, Michelle, 'We know it's a Bigfoot because of the scream and the smell': The man who saw Sasquatch,weblink sfgate.com, SFGate, December 21, 2021, December 20, 2021, December 21, 2021,weblink live, The enormous footprints for which the creature is named are claimed to be as large as {{convert|24|in}} long and {{convert|8|in}} wide. Some footprint casts have also contained claw marks, making it likely that they came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws.WEB,weblink Investigative Files: Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest, Part I, Joe, Nickell, Joe Nickell, January 2007, October 20, 2009, Skeptical Inquirer, August 28, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110828034302weblink">weblink live, WEB, May 24, 2010, SDNHM – Black Bear Sign,weblink January 25, 2022,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100524154832weblink">weblink May 24, 2010, dead,

History

Folklore and early records

Ecologist Robert Pyle argues that most cultures have accounts of human-like giants in their folk history, expressing a need for "some larger-than-life creature".WEB, Goodavage, Maria, Hunt for Bigfoot Attracts True Believers, USA Today, May 24, 1996,weblink July 19, 2007, March 14, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170314183111weblink">weblink dead, Each language had its name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names mean something like "wild man" or "hairy man", although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees.BOOK, Meldrum, Jeff, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, Macmillan, 2007, 50,weblink February 19, 2010, 978-0-7653-1217-4, February 16, 2024,weblink live, European folklore traditionally had many instances of the "wild man of the woods," or "wild people," often described as "a naked creature covered in hair, with only the face, feet and hands (and in some cases the knees, elbows, or breasts) remaining bare"JOURNAL, Forth, Gregory, Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe, Folklore, 2007, 118, 3, 261–281, 10.1080/00155870701621772, 161789895, These European wild people ranged from human hermits, to human-like monsters. Upon migrating to North America, myths of the "wild people" persisted, with documented sightings of "wild people" reported in what is now New York state and Pennsylvania. In a 2007 paper titled "Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe" it stated: {{Cquote|quote= "To be sure, the modern sasquatch is largely the product of a European-derived culture, as possibly to an even greater extent is the Australian yahoo; accordingly, traces of the European wildman are discernible in both figures. Yet the sasquatch is partly rooted in Amerindian representations of hairy hominoids, even though the relationship between these, which are often described as small, and the giant sasquatch of the popular Canadian and American imagination is hardly straightforward"|author=Gregory Forth|source=}}Many of the indigenous cultures across the North American continent include tales of mysterious hair-covered creatures living in forests,WEB, Sasquatch,weblink oregonwild.org, November 26, 2021, November 26, 2021,weblink live, and according to anthropologist David Daegling, these legends existed long before contemporary reports of the creature described as Bigfoot. These stories differed in their details regionally and between families in the same community and are particularly prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.Daegling 2004, p. 28 Chief Mischelle of the Nlaka'pamux at Lytton, British Columbia, told such a story to Charles Hill-Tout in 1898.WEB, Chandler, Nathan, What's the Difference Between Sasquatch and Bigfoot?,weblink science.howstuffworks.com, HowStuffWorks, January 3, 2022, April 9, 2020, January 21, 2022,weblink live, BOOK, Hill-Tout, Charles, Maud, Ralph, The Salish People: The Local Contribution of Charles Hill-Tout Volume I: The Thompson and the Okanagan, 1978, Vancouver : Talonbooks, 978-0-88922-148-2,weblink File:Painted_Rock_Tulare_County.jpg|thumb|left|A reproduction of the petroglyphs at Painted Rock.]]On the Tule River Indian Reservation, petroglyphs created by a tribe of Yokuts at a site called Painted Rock are alleged by Kathy Moskowitz Strain, author of the 2008 book Giants, Cannibals, Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture, to depict a group of Bigfoots called "the Family".WEB, Was Big Foot at the Reservation?,weblink recorderonline.com, Porterville Recorder, May 10, 2021, November 14, 2013, May 10, 2021,weblink live, The largest glyph is called "Hairy Man", and they are estimated to be 1,000 years old.WEB, Moskowitz Strain, Kathy, MAYAK DATAT: THE HAIRY MAN PICTOGRAPHS,weblink isu.edu, THE RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY, 11 March 2024, 2012, According to the Tulare County Board of Education in 1975, "Big Foot, the Hairy Man, was a creature that was like a great big giant with long, shaggy hair. His long shaggy hair made him look like a big animal. He was good in a way, because he ate the animals that might harm people.", and Yokuts parents warned their children not to venture near the river at night or they may encounter the creature.WEB, Bays, Ruby, Big Foot, The Hairy Man,weblink tulerivertribe-nsn.gov, Tulare County Board of Education, 11 March 2024, 1975, 16th-century Spanish explorers and Mexican settlers told tales of the los Vigilantes Oscuros, or "Dark Watchers", large creatures alleged to stalk their camps at night.NEWS, Almond, Elliott, Trekking California's mysterious Bigfoot trail,weblink February 3, 2022, The Mercury News, January 31, 2022, February 2, 2022,weblink live, In the region that is now Mississippi, a Jesuit priest was living with the Natchez in 1721 and reported stories of hairy creatures in the forest known to scream loudly and steal livestock.WEB, Grayson, Walt, Focused on Mississippi: "Bigfoot Bash" to be held in Natchez on November 4th,weblink wjtv.com, WJTV, November 26, 2021, November 1, 2021, November 26, 2021,weblink live, In 1929, Indian agent and teacher J.W. Burns, who lived and worked with the Sts'ailes Nation (then called the Chehalis First Nation), published a collection of stories titled, Introducing B.C.'s Hairy Giants: A collection of strange tales about British Columbia's wild men as told by those who say they have seen them, in Maclean's magazine.WEB, Peters, Hammerson, How the Sasquatch Got Its Name,weblink mysteriesofcanada.com, 11 March 2024, 12 July 2018, The stories offered various anecdotal reports of wild people; including an encounter a tribal member had with a hairy wild woman who could speak the language of the Douglas First Nation. Burns coined the term "Sasquatch", believed to be the anglicized version of sasq'ets (sas-kets), roughly translating to "hairy man" in the Halq'emeylem language.WEB, Kadane, Lisa, The true origin of Sasquatch,weblink bbc.com, BBC, August 10, 2022, July 21, 2022, August 11, 2022,weblink live, Burns describes the Sasquatch as, "a tribe of hairy people whom they claim have always lived in the mountains- in tunnels and caves".The folklore of the Cherokee includes tales of the Tsul 'Kalu, who were described as "slant-eyed giants" that resided in the Appalachian Mountains, and is sometimes associated with Bigfoot.WEB, Lee, D.W., IN THE SHADOWS: The legend of Judaculla, the Cherokee Devil,weblink stilwelldemocrat.com, The Stilwell Democrat Journal, 31 January 2024, 29 December 2023, January 31, 2024,weblink live, Members of the Lummi tell tales about creatures known as Ts'emekwes. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creature's diet and activities.JOURNAL, Rasmus, Stacy M., Repatriating Words: Local Knowledge in a Global Context, American Indian Quarterly, 2002, 26, 2, 286–307, 10.1353/aiq.2003.0018, 4128463, 163062209, Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures: the stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race, and children were warned against saying the names so that the "monsters" would not come and carry them off to be killed.WEB, Rigsby, Bruce, Some Pacific Northwest Native Language Names for the Sasquatch Phenomenon, Bigfoot: Fact or Fantasy?,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081205183546weblink">weblink December 5, 2008, August 18, 2008, The Iroquois tell of an aggressive, hair covered giant with rock-hard skin known as the Ot ne yar heh or "Stone Giant", more commonly referred to as the Genoskwa.BOOK, Mart, T.S., Ayers, Mel, The Legend of Bigfoot: Leaving His Mark on the World, 2020, Indiana University Press, 978-1-68435-140-4, 24–25,weblink December 12, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live, In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the natives about skoocooms, a race of cannibalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, in his 1893 book, The Wilderness Hunter, writes of a story he was told by an elderly mountain man named Bauman in which a foul-smelling, bipedal creature ransacked his beaver trapping camp, stalked him, and later became hostile when it fatally broke his companion's neck.WEB, Roosevelt Relates 'Bigfoot Story',weblink tampabay.com, March 18, 2021, July 27, 2010, May 19, 2022,weblink live, Roosevelt notes that Bauman appeared fearful while telling the story but attributed the trapper's German ancestry to have potentially influenced him.WEB, Teddy Roosevelt Wrote About A Fatal Bigfoot Encounter,weblink bearstatebooks.com, January 4, 2021, Bear State Books, March 18, 2021, May 9, 2021,weblink live, The Alutiiq of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska tell of the Nantinaq, a Bigfoot-like creature.WEB, Armstrong, Michael, New reality-TV show explores Nantinaq stories,weblink peninsulaclarion.com, Peninsula Clarion, 6 December 2023, 15 December 2021, December 7, 2023,weblink live, This folklore was featured in the Discovery+ television series, Alaskan Killer Bigfoot, which claims the Nantinaq was responsible for the population decrease of Portlock in the 1940s.WEB, 2021-11-30, New Show Set in Portlock Explores Legend of Bigfoot,weblink 2023-12-06, KBBI AM 890, en, February 12, 2024,weblink live, Less menacing versions have been recorded, such as one by Reverend Elkanah Walker in 1840. Walker was a Protestant missionary who recorded stories of giants among the natives living near Spokane, Washington. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fishermen's nets.WEB,weblink The Diary of Elkanah Walker, Bigfoot Encounters, August 1, 2007, October 7, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20181007085252weblink">weblink live,

Ape Canyon incident

On July 16, 1924, an article in The Oregonian made national news when a story was published describing a conflict between a group of gold prospectors and a group of "ape-men" in a gorge near Mount St. Helens.{{Citation|last = Pyle|first = Robert Michael|title = Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books, 1995| page = 131| isbn = 0-395-85701-5| year = 1995}} The prospectors reported encountering "gorilla men" near their remote cabin. One of the men, Fred Beck, indicated that he struck one of the creatures with rifle fire. That night, they reported coming under attack by the creatures, who were said to have thrown large rocks at the cabin, damaging the roof and knocking Beck unconscious. The men fled the area the following morning. The U.S. Forest Service investigated the site of the alleged incident. The investigators found no compelling evidence of the event and concluded it was likely a fabrication. Stories of large, hair covered bipedal ape-men or "mountain devils" had been a persistent piece of folklore in the area for centuries prior to the alleged incident. Today, the area is known as Ape Canyon and is cemented within Bigfoot-related folklore.WEB, Perry, Douglas, How a 1924 Bigfoot battle on Mt. St. Helens helped launch a legend: Throwback Thursday,weblink oregonlive.com, The Oregonian, 31 May 2023, 25 January 2018, April 14, 2021,weblink live,

Origin of the "Bigfoot" name

Jerry Crew and Andrew Genzoli

In 1958, Jerry Crew, bulldozer operator for a logging company in Humboldt County, California, discovered a set of large, {{convert|16|in}} human-like footprints sunk deep within the mud in the Six Rivers National Forest.WEB, Bailey, Eric, Bigfoot's Big Feat: New Life,weblink Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2021, April 19, 2003, August 22, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160822012255weblink">weblink live, Upon informing his coworkers, many claimed to have seen similar tracks on previous job sites as well as telling of odd incidents such as an oil drum weighing {{convert|450|lb}} having been moved without explanation. The logging company men soon began utilizing "Bigfoot" to describe the apparent culprit.WEB, Flight, Tim, The Hairy History of Bigfoot in 20 Intriguing Events,weblink historycollection.com, April 13, 2021, November 9, 2018, April 13, 2021,weblink live, Crew and others initially believed someone was playing a prank on them. After observing more of these massive footprints, he contacted reporter Andrew Genzoli of the Humboldt Times newspaper. Genzoli interviewed lumber workers and wrote articles about the mysterious footprints, introducing the name "Bigfoot" in relation to the tracks and the local tales of large, hairy wild men.NEWS, McPhate, Mike, When California introduced Bigfoot to the world,weblink March 18, 2021, California Sun, August 7, 2018, April 17, 2021,weblink live, A plaster cast was made of the footprints and Crew appeared, holding one of the casts, on the front page of the newspaper on October 6, 1958. The story spread rapidly as Genzoli began to receive correspondence from major media outlets including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.BOOK, Buhs, Joshua Blu, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, 2009, University of Chicago Press, 978-0-226-50215-1, 75,weblink December 16, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live, As a result, the term Bigfoot became widespread as a reference to an apparently large, unknown creature leaving massive footprints in Northern California.JOURNAL, Nickell, Joe, Joe Nickell, Bigfoot As Big Myth: 7 Phases of Mythmaking, Skeptical Inquirer, 2017, 41, 5, 52–57,weblinkweblink dead, August 26, 2018, August 26, 2018, As a result, Willow Creek and Humboldt County are considered by some to be the "Bigfoot Capital of the World".WEB, Eliot, Krissy, Greetings from Willow Creek, Bigfoot Capital of the World,weblink alumni.berkeley.edu, UC Berkeley, March 18, 2021, February 20, 2021,weblink dead,

Ray Wallace and Rant Mullens

In 2002, the family of Jerry Crew's deceased coworker Ray Wallace revealed a collection of large, carved wooden feet stored in his basement. They stated that Wallace had been secretly making the footprints and was responsible for the tracks discovered by Crew.WEB, The enduring legend of Bigfoot,weblink theweek.com, The Week, March 18, 2021, April 6, 2019, November 7, 2020,weblink live, Wallace was inspired by another hoaxer, Rant Mullens, who revealed information about his hoaxes in 1982. In the 1930s in Toledo, Washington, Mullens and a group of other foresters carved pairs of large feet made of wood and used them to create footprints in the mud to scare huckleberry pickers in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.WEB, Morgan, Jake, The True Legend of Toledo's Bigfoot,weblink lewiscountytribune.com, Lewis County Tribune, April 18, 2023, April 18, 2023,weblink live, The group would also claim to be responsible for hoaxing the alleged Ape Canyon incident in 1924.WEB, Toledo Retiree Admits Bigfoot Hoax in 1982,weblink chronline.com, The Daily Chronicle, April 18, 2023, April 11, 2007, April 18, 2023,weblink live, Mullens and the group of foresters began referring to themselves as the St. Helens Apes, and would later have a cave dedicated to them.WEB, Mt St Helens Ape Caves,weblink visitmtsthelens.com, April 18, 2023, April 18, 2023,weblink live, Wallace, also from Toledo, knew Mullens and stated he collaborated with him to obtain a pair of the large wooden feet and subsequently used them to create footprints on the 1958 construction site as a means to scare away potential thieves.WEB, Sexton, Owen, Hundreds Attend 'Bigfoot: Real or Hoax?' Event in Chehalis,weblink chronline.com, The Daily Chronicle, April 18, 2023, April 17, 2023, April 18, 2023,weblink live,

Other historical uses of "Bigfoot"

In the 1830s, a Wyandot chief was nicknamed "Big Foot" due to his significant size, strength and large feet.NEWS, Sketches of Western Adventure,weblink May 8, 2018, Newbern Sentinel, p. 1, May 3, 1833, May 9, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180509151235weblink">weblink live, Potawatomi Chief Maumksuck, known as Chief "Big Foot", is today synonymous with the area of Walworth County, Wisconsin, and has a state park and school named for him.WEB, Why is your high school named Big Foot?,weblink bigfoot.k12.wi.us, April 13, 2021, April 14, 2021,weblink dead, William A. A. Wallace, a famous 19th century Texas Ranger, was nicknamed "Bigfoot" due to his large feet and today has a town named for him: Bigfoot, Texas.WEB, Texas Ranger "Big Foot" Wallace born,weblink history.com, A&E Television Networks, April 14, 2021, November 16, 2009, April 14, 2021,weblink live, Lakota leader Spotted Elk was also called "Chief Big Foot". In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at least two enormous marauding grizzly bears were widely noted in the press and each nicknamed "Bigfoot." The first grizzly bear called "Bigfoot" was reportedly killed near Fresno, California, in 1895 after killing sheep for 15 years; his weight was estimated at 2,000 pounds (900 kg).NEWS, Had Slain His Thousand,weblink October 22, 2016, Placerville Mountain Democrat, p. 7, February 9, 1895, February 16, 2024,weblink live, The second one was active in Idaho in the 1890s and 1900s between the Snake and Salmon rivers, and supernatural powers were attributed to it.NEWS, A Terror to Ranchmen. "Bigfoot," the Giant Grizzly, and his Costly Depredations,weblink October 22, 2016, Goshen Daily Democrat, p. 8, May 24, 1902, February 16, 2024,weblink live,

Regional and other names

File:Pikes Peak Bigfoot P4160515.jpg|thumb|left|upright|"Bigfoot" carving at the Crystal Creek ReservoirCrystal Creek ReservoirMany regions have differentiating names for the creatures.WEB, AKA Bigfoot World Map,weblink google.com, April 4, 2021, November 28, 2023,weblink live, In Canada, the name Sasquatch is widely used although often interchangeably with the name Bigfoot.WEB, Thomas, Nicki, Sasquatch,weblink thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, April 4, 2021, January 26, 2018, March 3, 2021,weblink live, The United States uses both of these names but also has numerous names and descriptions of the creatures depending on the region and area in which they are allegedly sighted.WEB, Walls, Robert, Bigfoot (Sasquatch) legend,weblink oregonencyclopedia.org, April 4, 2021, January 22, 2021, April 18, 2021,weblink live, These include the Skunk ape in Florida and other southern states,WEB,weblink Geographical Database of Bigfoot/Sasquatch Sightings & Reports, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, April 10, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090228213753weblink">weblink February 28, 2009, live, Grassman in Ohio,WEB, Keating, Don, The Legend of Bigfoot at Salt Fork State Park,weblink visitguernseycounty.com, February 10, 2017, Guernsey County, March 23, 2021, February 26, 2021,weblink live, Fouke Monster in Arkansas,WEB, Thompson, Amy Michelle, Fouke Monster,weblink encyclopediaofarkansas.net, March 23, 2021, February 28, 2017, April 13, 2021,weblink live, Wood Booger in Virginia,WEB, Sorrell, Robert, Fans, experts assemble for first ever Virginia Bigfoot Conference,weblink richmond.com, Richmond Times, April 4, 2021, August 26, 2016, June 16, 2022,weblink live, the Monster of Whitehall in Whitehall, New York,NEWS, Price, Mark, NY town proclaims Bigfoot its official animal. 'It can't hurt,' town official says.,weblink April 4, 2021, The Charlotte Observer, July 16, 2018, June 21, 2022,weblink live, Momo in Missouri,NEWS, Banias, MJ, The Missouri Monster 'Momo' Is the Cryptid Time Forgot,weblink March 11, 2021, Vice (magazine), Vice, September 30, 2019, April 3, 2021,weblink live, Honey Island Swamp Monster in Louisiana,WEB, Big Foot,weblink honeyislandswamp.com, March 10, 2021, January 28, 2021,weblink live, Dewey Lake Monster in Michigan,NEWS, Dimick, Aaron, Michigan Monsters: Dewey Lake Monster legend comes to the surface,weblink April 11, 2021, WWMT, May 30, 2016, April 11, 2021,weblink live, Mogollon Monster in Arizona,NEWS, Ford, Erin, Searching for the Mogollon Monster,weblink April 11, 2021, Grand Canyon News, October 24, 2017, April 11, 2021,weblink live, the Big Muddy Monster in southern Illinois,NEWS, Cates, Kristen, Chasing Monsters: Big Muddy Monster still has Murphysboro residents wondering,weblink April 9, 2021, The Southern Illinoisan, October 26, 2005, April 11, 2021,weblink live, and The Old Men of the Mountain in West Virginia.WEB, Todd, Roxy, New W.Va. Bigfoot Museum Highlights A Local Take On The Mountain State's Sasquatch,weblink wvpublic.org, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, December 21, 2021, October 29, 2021, December 21, 2021,weblink live, The term Wood Ape is also used by some as a means to deviate from the perceived mythical connotation surrounding the name "Bigfoot".WEB, Bozek, Rachel, Habitat Of The Wood Ape,weblink aetv.com, A&E Networks, A&E, April 1, 2021, April 13, 2021,weblink live, Other names include Bushman, Treeman, and Wildman.WEB, Chandler, Nathan, What's the Difference Between Sasquatch and Bigfoot?,weblink howstuffworks.com, June 24, 2021, April 9, 2020, June 24, 2021,weblink live,

Proposed explanations

(File:Black bear large.jpg|thumb|upright|A black bear showcasing its ability to sit in a human-like fashion.)Various explanations have been suggested for sightings and to offer conjecture on what existing animal has been misidentified in supposed sightings of Bigfoot. Scientists typically attribute sightings to hoaxes or misidentifications of known animals and their tracks, particularly black bears.WEB, Holmes, Bob, Bigfoot's likely haunts 'revealed',weblink New Scientist, January 2, 2016, July 6, 2009, November 6, 2018,weblink live, NEWS, Price, Mark, Images of beast on 2 feet inspires talk of Bigfoot in North Carolina. It's a bear.,weblink November 22, 2021, The Sacramento Bee, November 10, 2021, April 13, 2023,weblink live,

Misidentification

Bears

Scientists theorize that mistaken identification of American black bears as Bigfoot are a likely explanation for most reported sightings, particularly when observers view a subject from afar, are in dense foliage, or there are poor lighting conditions.NEWS, Nickell, Joe, Bigfoot Lookalikes: Tracking Hairy Man-Beasts,weblink skepticalinquirer.com, Skeptical Inquirer, April 13, 2021, October 2013, June 9, 2021,weblink live, Additionally, black bears have been observed and recorded walking upright, often as the result of an injury.WEB, Handwerk, Brian, Watch: Tough Bear Powers Through Injury by Walking Upright,weblinkweblink dead, April 13, 2021, nationalgeographic.com, National Geographic, April 13, 2021, July 7, 2016, While upright, adult black bears stand roughly {{convert|5|-|7|ft}},WEB, Facts about Black Bears,weblinkweblink October 9, 2022, live, njfishandwildlife.com, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife, April 21, 2021, and grizzly bears roughly {{convert|8|-|9|ft}}.WEB, Brown Bears,weblink nps.gov, National Park Service, April 21, 2021, April 21, 2021,weblink live, According to data scientist Floe Foxon, more people report seeing Bigfoot in areas with documented black bear populations. Foxon concludes, "If bigfoot is there, it may be many bears".WEB, Lattimer, Dustin, Data scientist openly claims most Bigfoot sightings in the United States and Canada "are probably black bears",weblink wgnradio.com, KSNF, February 20, 2023, February 4, 2023, February 20, 2023,weblink live, Foxon acknowledges that alleged Bigfoot sightings have been reported in areas with minimal or no known black bear populations. She states, "Although this may be interpreted as evidence for the existence of an unknown hominid in North America, it is also explained by misidentification of other animals (including humans), among other possibilities".WEB, Casella, Carly, Bigfoot Has a Very Simple Explanation, Scientist Says,weblink sciencealert.com, Science Alert, March 28, 2023, January 31, 2023, March 25, 2023,weblink live,

Escaped apes

Some have proposed that sightings of Bigfoot may simply be people observing and misidentifying known great apes such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans that have escaped from captivity such as zoos, circuses, and exotic pets belonging to private owners.WEB, Radford, Ben, Could Escaped Animals Account for Bigfoot Reports?,weblink seeker.com, Seeker (media company), Seeker, April 21, 2021, August 14, 2012, April 21, 2021,weblink live, This explanation is often proposed in relation to the Skunk ape, as some scientists argue the humid subtropical climate of the southeastern United States could potentially support a population of escaped apes.WEB, Poling, Dean, Planet of the Skunk Apes,weblink valdostadailytimes.com, Valdosta Daily Times, April 21, 2021, September 11, 2014, April 21, 2021,weblink live,

Humans

Humans have been mistaken for Bigfoot, with some incidents leading to injuries. In 2013, a 21-year-old man in Oklahoma was arrested after he told law enforcement he accidentally shot his friend in the back while their group was allegedly hunting for Bigfoot.NEWS, Jauregui, Andres, 'Bigfoot Hunt' Goes Wrong, Ends With Man Shot, Three Arrested,weblink April 13, 2021, HuffPost, December 6, 2017, April 13, 2021,weblink live, In 2017, a shamanist wearing clothing made of animal furs was vacationing in a North Carolina forest when local reports of alleged Bigfoot sightings flooded in. The Greenville Police Department issued a public notice not to shoot Bigfoot for fear of mistakenly injuring or killing someone in a fur suit.NEWS, Man in suit believes he may have been mistaken as Bigfoot in NC,weblink April 13, 2021, ABC News, WTVD, August 10, 2017, April 13, 2021,weblink live, In 2018, a person was shot at multiple times by a hunter near Helena, Montana, who claimed he mistook him for a Bigfoot.NEWS, Casiano, Louis, Hunter thought he was firing at Bigfoot, 'victim' tells police,weblink April 13, 2021, Fox News, December 19, 2018, April 13, 2021,weblink live, Additionally, some have attributed feral humans or hermits living in the wilderness as being another explanation for alleged Bigfoot sightings.WEB, Cooke, Bruno, Are there feral people in national parks? Behind TikTok's cannibal claims,weblink thefocus.news, March 31, 2021, April 21, 2021, April 21, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Jones, Terry, Louisiana's Wild Men,weblink countryroadsmagazine.com, April 21, 2021, April 14, 2017, April 21, 2021,weblink live, One story, the Wild Man of the Navidad, tells of a wild ape-man who roamed the wilderness of eastern Texas in the mid-19th century, stealing food and goods from residents. A search party allegedly captured an escaped African slave attributed to the story.WEB, Reese, Randy, Wildman of the Navidad: Truth or Tall Tale?,weblink bfro.net, April 21, 2021, July 23, 2002, April 21, 2021,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20210421214615weblink">weblink live, During the 1980s, several psychologically damaged American Vietnam veterans were stated by the state of Washington's veterans' affairs director, Randy Fisher, to have been living in remote wooded areas of the state.NEWS, U.S Wilds Hide Scars of Vietnam,weblink The New York Times, April 21, 2021, December 31, 1983, April 21, 2021,weblink live,

Pareidolia

Some have proposed that pareidolia may explain Bigfoot sightings, specifically the tendency to observe human-like faces and figures within the natural environment.WEB, When it looks like aliens, but it's just Nature!,weblink yankeeskeptic.com, May 11, 2021, September 11, 2016, May 11, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Plait, Phil, Sunsquatch,weblink discovermagazine.com, Discover (magazine), Discover Magazine, May 11, 2021, October 9, 2011, May 11, 2021,weblink live, Photos and videos of poor quality alleged to depict Bigfoots are often attributed to this phenomenon and commonly referred to as "Blobsquatch".WEB, Klee, Miles, America, Meet 'Blobsquatch',weblink blackbookmag.com, BlackBook, May 11, 2021, November 6, 2012, May 11, 2021,weblink dead,

Misidentified vocalizations

The majority of mainstream scientists maintain that the source of the sounds often attributed to Bigfoot are either hoaxes, anthropomorphization, or likely misidentified and produced by known animals such as owl, wolf, coyote, and fox.NEWS, Cockle, Richard, Bigfoot or animals? Strange sounds coming from swamp on Umatilla Indian Reservation,weblink March 24, 2021, The Oregonian, January 20, 2013, January 25, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Stollznow, Karen, (Big)foot in Mouth: Bigfoot Language,weblink July 24, 2013, Scientific American, March 24, 2021, April 15, 2021,weblink live, NEWS, Tuggle, Zach, An Ohio woman is convinced she recorded Bigfoot. Experts say it could be something else.,weblink August 8, 2022, Mansfield News Journal, USA Today, August 2, 2022, August 8, 2022,weblink live,

Hoaxes

Both Bigfoot believers and non-believers agree that many reported sightings are hoaxes.WEB,weblink Bigfoot at 50 Evaluating a Half-Century of Bigfoot Evidence, Radford, Benjamin, Skeptical Inquirer, March–April 2002, August 17, 2008, August 23, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110823171112weblink">weblink live,

Gigantopithecus

(File:Gigantopithecus blacki mandible 010112.jpg|thumb|Fossil jaw of the extinct primate Gigantopithecus blacki)Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey H. Bourne both believed that Bigfoot could be a relict population of the extinct southeast Asian ape species Gigantopithecus blacki. According to Bourne, G. blacki may have followed the many other species of animals that migrated across the Bering land bridge to the Americas.BOOK, The Gentle Giants: The Gorilla Story, Bourne,weblink Geoffrey H., Cohen, Maury, 1975, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 978-0-399-11528-8, 296–300, July 22, 2022, February 16, 2024,weblink live, To date, no Gigantopithecus fossils have been found in the Americas. In Asia, the only recovered fossils have been of mandibles and teeth, leaving uncertainty about G. blacki{{'}}s locomotion. Krantz has argued that G. blacki could have been bipedal, based on his extrapolation from the shape of its mandible. However, the relevant part of the mandible is not present in any fossils.Daegling 2004, p. 14 The consensus view is that G. blacki was quadrupedal, as its enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait.WEB, Tarlach, Gemma, 2019-11-23, Ancient Proteins Tell Story Of Gigantopithecus, Largest-Ever Primate,weblink 2024-02-18, Discover Magazine, en, Anthropologist Matt Cartmill criticizes the G. blacki 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.Cartmill 2008, p. 117Paleoanthropologist Bernard G. Campbell writes: "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."BOOK, Campbell, Bernard Grant, Loy, James D., Cruz-Uribe, Kathryn, Humankind Emerging, 2005, Pearson Allyn and Bacon, 978-0-205-42380-4,weblink December 16, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live,

Extinct hominidae

Primatologist John R. Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg have suggested a species of Paranthropus as a possible candidate for Bigfoot's identity, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its gorilla-like crested skull and bipedal gaitWEB,weblink Scientific Names for Bigfoot, Coleman, Loren, BFRO, August 19, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080909091922weblink">weblink September 9, 2008, live, —despite the fact that fossils of Paranthropus are found only in Africa.WEB, Blaxland, Beth, Dorey, Fran, 2022-04-29, Paranthropus genus,weblink 2024-02-18, The Australian Museum, en, 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.WEB,weblink Bigfoot Discovery Project Media, April 4, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100419030214weblink">weblink April 19, 2010, Bigfoot enthusiasts that think Bigfoot may be the "missing link" between apes and humans have promoted the idea that Bigfoot is a descendant of Gigantopithecus blacki, but that ape diverged from orangutans around 12 million years ago and is not related to humans.WEB, Ciaccia, Chris, November 14, 2019, Missing link found? 'Original Bigfoot' was close relative of orangutan, study says,weblink February 8, 2022, foxnews.com, Fox News, February 8, 2022,weblink live, Some suggest Neanderthal, Homo erectus, or Homo heidelbergensis to be the creature, but, like all other great apes, no remains of any of those species have been found in the Americas.Daegling 2004, p. 16

Scientific view

Expert consensus is that allegations of the existence of Bigfoot are not credible.BOOK, Stewart, Robert B., Intelligent Design: William A. Dembski & Michael Ruse in Dialogue, 2007, Fortress Press, 978-0-8006-6218-9, 83,weblink September 23, 2016, December 12, 2023,weblink live, Belief in the existence of such a large, ape-like creature is more often attributed to hoaxes, confusion, 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." The author of one review article states that, in their opinion, it is impossible even to consider cryptozoology a science if it continues to consider Bigfoot seriously.As with other similar beings, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature's survival in reported habitats unlikely.BOOK, Sjögren, Bengt, Berömda vidunder, Settern, 1980, 978-91-7586-023-7, sv, Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized nonhuman apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. Great apes have not been found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains are known to have been found. Phillips Stevens, a cultural anthropologist at the University at Buffalo, summarized the scientific consensus as follows:{{Blockquote|text=It defies all logic that there is a population of these things sufficient to keep them going. What it takes to maintain any species, especially a long-lived species, is having a breeding population. That requires a substantial number, spread out over a fairly wide area where they can find sufficient food and shelter to keep hidden from all the investigators.WEB,weblink Bigfoot hunting, Earls, Stephanie, January 2, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100129061319weblink">weblink January 29, 2010, mdy-all, }}In the 1970s, when Bigfoot "experts" were frequently given high-profile media coverage, McLeod writes that the scientific community generally avoided lending credence to such fringe theories by refusing even to debate them.Primatologist Jane Goodall was asked for her personal opinion of Bigfoot in a 2002 interview on National Public Radio's "Science Friday". Goodall responded saying, "Well, now you will be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist."WEB,weblink Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, NPR, August 9, 2020, April 30, 2020,weblink live, She later added, "Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist," and "Of course, the big, the big criticism of all this is, "Where is the body?" You know, why isn't there a body? I can't answer that, and maybe they don't exist, but I want them to." Paleontologist and author Darren Naish states in a 2016 article for Scientific American that if "Bigfoot" existed, an abundance of evidence would also exist that cannot be found anywhere today, making the existence of such a creature exceedingly unlikely.Naish summarizes the evidence for "Bigfoot" that would exist if the creature itself existed:

• If "Bigfoot" existed, so would consistent reports of uniform vocalizations throughout North America as can be identified for any existing large animal in the region, rather than the scattered and widely varied "Bigfoot" sounds haphazardly reported;
• If "Bigfoot" existed, so would many tracks that would be easy for experts to find, just as they easily find tracks for other rare megafauna in North America, rather than a complete lack of such tracks alongside "tracks" that experts agree are fraudulent;
• Finally, if "Bigfoot" existed, an abundance of "Bigfoot" DNA would already have been found, again as it has been found for similar animals, instead of the current state of affairs, where there is no confirmed DNA for such a creature whatsoever.WEB, Naish, Darren, If Bigfoot Were Real,weblink Scientific American, March 24, 2021, June 27, 2016, April 14, 2021,weblink live,

Researchers

Ivan T. Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans, founders of the study of cryptozoology, spent parts of their career searching for Bigfoot.JOURNAL, Science, November 5, 1999, 286, 5442, 1079c–1079, 10.1126/science.286.5442.1079c, Museum Accepts Cryptic Collection, 220103223, Later scientists who researched the topic included Jason Jarvis, Carleton S. Coon, George Allen Agogino and William Charles Osman Hill, though they later stopped their research due to lack of evidence for the alleged creature.JOURNAL, Regal, Brian, June 2008, Amateur versus professional: the search for Bigfoot, Endeavour, 32, 2, 53–7, 10.1016/j.endeavour.2008.04.005,weblink September 11, 2009, 18514914,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100528021504weblink">weblink May 28, 2010, John Napier asserts that the scientific community's attitude towards Bigfoot stems primarily from insufficient evidence.Napier 1973 Other scientists who have shown varying degrees of interest in the creature are Grover Krantz, Jeffrey Meldrum, John Bindernagel, David J. Daegling,Daegling 2004 George Schaller,NEWS, Bailey, Eric, Bigfoot's Big Feat: New Life,weblink November 10, 2014, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2003, December 21, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20141221011835weblink">weblink live, Napier 1973, p. 197 Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, Esteban Sarmiento,NEWS, Stein, Theo, Bigfoot Believers, The Denver Post, January 5, 2003, and Mireya Mayor.WEB, Mayor, Mireya, Bigfoot: Worth Investigating?,weblink mireyamayor.com, February 9, 2022, March 18, 2021, February 9, 2022,weblink live,

Formal studies

(File:Bigfoot trap.jpg|thumb|right|2007 photograph of the Bigfoot trap within the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.)One study was conducted by John Napier and published in his book Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality in 1973.Napier, John. Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality. 1973, {{ISBN|0-525-06658-6}} Napier wrote that if a conclusion is to be reached based on scant extant "'hard' evidence," science must declare "Bigfoot does not exist."Napier, 197 However, he found it difficult to entirely reject thousands of alleged tracks, "scattered over 125,000 square miles" (325,000 km2) 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."Napier, 205In 1974, the National Wildlife Federation funded a field study seeking Bigfoot evidence. No formal federation members were involved and the study made no notable discoveries.Bourne, Geoffrey H, The Gentle Giants: The Gorilla Story 1975, {{ISBN|0-399-11528-5}}, p. 295 Also in 1974, the now defunct North American Wildlife Research Team constructed a "Bigfoot trap" in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. It was baited with animal carcasses and captured multiple bears, but no Bigfoot.WEB, Willford, Tyler, Oregon is Home to the World's Only Bigfoot Trap,weblink thatoregonlife.com, March 8, 2022, May 5, 2018, March 8, 2022,weblink live, Upkeep of the trap ended in the early 1980s, but in 2006 the United States Forest Service repaired the trap, which today is a tourist destination along the Collings Mountain hiking trail.WEB, Bigfoot Trap Hike,weblink oregonhikers.org, March 8, 2022, August 15, 2021, March 8, 2022,weblink live, Beginning in the late 1970s, physical anthropologist Grover Krantz published several articles and four book-length treatments of Bigfoot. However, his work was found to contain multiple scientific failings including falling for hoaxes.BOOK, Buhs, Joshua Blu, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, 2009, University of Chicago Press, 978-0-226-50215-1, 227,weblink A study published in 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 preferred ecological parameters. They found a very close match with the ecological parameters of the American black bear. They also note that an upright bear looks much like a Bigfoot's purported appearance and consider it highly improbable that two species should have very similar ecological preferences, concluding that Bigfoot sightings are likely misidentified sightings of black bears.JOURNAL, Lozier, J. D., Aniello, P., Hickerson, M. J., Predicting the distribution of Sasquatch in western North America: anything goes with ecological niche modelling, Journal of Biogeography, September 2009, 36, 9, 1623–1627, 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02152.x, free, 2009JBiog..36.1623L, In the first systematic genetic analysis of 30 hair samples that were suspected to be from Bigfoot-like creatures, only one was found to be primate in origin, and that was identified as human. A joint study by the 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. 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 bears accounted for most of the samples, other animals include cow, horse, dog/wolf/coyote, sheep, goat, deer, raccoon, porcupine, and tapir. The last two samples were thought to match a fossilized genetic sample of a 40,000 year old polar bear of the Pleistocene epoch;JOURNAL, Sykes, B, Mullis, R, Hagenmuller, C, Melton, T, Sartori, M, Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281, 1789, 20140161, July 2, 2014, 10.1098/rspb.2014.0161, 25994680, 4455819, a second test identified these hairs as being from a rare type of brown bear.NEWS, Scientists challenge 'Abominable Snowman DNA' results,weblink Steven McKenzie, BBC News, December 17, 2014, September 14, 2016, October 1, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20161001062344weblink">weblink live, NEWS, Yeti Debate Swirls: Study Reveals Origin of Mysterious Hairs,weblink Laura Geggel, Live Science, March 16, 2015, September 14, 2016, October 10, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20161010211704weblink">weblink live, In 2019, the FBI declassified an analysis it conducted on alleged Bigfoot hairs in 1976. Bigfoot researcher Peter Byrne sent the FBI 15 hairs attached to a small skin fragment and asked if the bureau could assist him in identifying it. Jay Cochran, Jr., assistant director of the FBI's Scientific and Technical Services division responded in 1977 that the hairs were of deer family origin.WEB, Little, Becky, Bigfoot Was Investigated by the FBI. Here's What They Found,weblink History.com, History (American TV network), History, March 23, 2021, January 22, 2020, March 11, 2021,weblink live, JOURNAL, Radford, Ben, Ben Radford, Old FBI Documents Reveal Mundane Bigfoot 'Investigation', Skeptical Inquirer, 2019, 43, 5, 11, Committee for Skeptical Inquirer,

Claims

Claims about the origins and characteristics of Bigfoot vary. The subject of Bigfoot has crossed over with other paranormal claims, including that Bigfoot, extraterrestrials, and UFOs are related or that Bigfoot are psychic, can shapeshift, are able to cross into different dimensions, or are completely supernatural in origin.{{R|"Nickell2017"}} Additionally, claims regarding Bigfoot have been associated with conspiracy theories including a government cover-up.WEB, Mancini, Mark, January 10, 2015, 11 Crazy Bigfoot Conspiracy Theories,weblink The Week, February 8, 2022, February 8, 2022,weblink live, There have also been claims that Bigfoot is responsible for the disappearances of people in the wilderness, such as the 1969 disappearance of Dennis Martin in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.WEB, Keenehan, Katelyn, The Vanished - Dennis Martin and the biggest national park search of all time,weblink wbir.com, KGTV, 10 April 2024, 16 May 2023, Additionally, there have been claims that Bigfoot has been responsible for vehicle accidents, vandalizing property, delaying construction, and killing people.WEB, Yudin, Eli, The 5 Most Ridiculous Things Blamed on Bigfoot,weblink cracked.com, Cracked.com, 23 April 2024, 23 April 2024, In 2022, a man from Oklahoma claimed he killed his friend because he believed he had summoned Bigfoot and was going to be sacrificed to the creature.NEWS, Goodman, Jessica, Man found guilty of murdering friend he thought had summoned Bigfoot,weblink 23 April 2024, KIRO-TV, 19 April 2024,

Sightings

According to Live Science, there have been over 10,000 reported Bigfoot sightings in the continental United States.WEB, Radford, Benjamin, Patrick Pester, Bigfoot: Is the Sasquatch real?,weblink livescience.com, LiveScience, February 25, 2022, January 14, 2022, February 25, 2022,weblink live, About one-third of all claims of Bigfoot sightings are located in the Pacific Northwest, with the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America.WEB,weblink Geographical Database of Bigfoot/Sasquatch Sightings and Reports, Bigfoot Field Research Organization, August 19, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080819051923weblink">weblink August 19, 2008, live, JOURNAL, Cartmill, Matt, Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend/Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 135, 1, 118, January 2008, 10.1002/ajpa.20691, Most reports are considered mistakes or hoaxes, even by those researchers who claim Bigfoot exists.WEB, Radford, Benjamin, Bigfoot: Man-Monster or Myth?,weblink Live Science, January 2, 2016, November 6, 2012, April 25, 2019,weblink live, Sightings predominantly occur in the northwestern region of Washington state, Oregon, Northern California, and British Columbia. According to data collected from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization's (BFRO) Bigfoot sightings database in 2019, Washington has over 2,000 reported sightings, California over 1,600, Pennsylvania over 1,300, New York and Oregon over 1,000, and Texas has just over 800.NEWS, Where has Bigfoot Been Sighted the Most? Washington, California, Pennsylvania Among Top States,weblink March 23, 2021, Newsweek, May 9, 2019, April 21, 2021,weblink live, 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.BOOK, Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot, McLeod, Michael, University of California Press, 978-0-520-25571-5,weblink 4, 2009, Berkeley,

Alleged behavior

Some Bigfoot researchers allege that Bigfoot throws rocks as territorial displays and for communication.WEB, Kimmick, Ed, 'Sasquatch Watch' researcher keeps on looking for rock-throwing beast,weblink missoulian.com, Missoulian, May 10, 2021, August 19, 2012, May 11, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Enzastiga, Adrian, The hunt to prove the existence of Sasquatch,weblink dailyiowan.com, The Daily Iowan, May 18, 2021, September 20, 2018, May 18, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Bryan, Saint, Real or hoax? A new Bigfoot exhibit is drawing standing-room crowds in Lacey,weblink king5.com, KING-TV, May 18, 2021, August 20, 2019, May 18, 2021,weblink live, Other alleged behaviors include audible blows struck against trees or "wood knocking", further alleged to be communicative.WEB, Meier, Eric, Wood knock warning,weblink wrkr.com, WRKR, August 31, 2021, September 27, 2016, August 31, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Sain, Johnny Carrol, Finding bigfoot – In the woods in search of North America's great, wild ape,weblink hatchmag.com, Hatch Magazine, August 31, 2021, September 25, 2020, August 31, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Do Squatches Go Knock in the Night?,weblink animalplanet.com, Animal Planet, August 31, 2021, August 31, 2021,weblink live, Skeptics argue that these behaviors are easily hoaxed.WEB, Carlisle, John, On the trail of Bigfoot in an Upper Peninsula Michigan forest,weblink wusa9.com, WUSA (TV), WUSA, May 18, 2021, December 27, 2016, May 18, 2021,weblink live, Additionally, structures of broken and twisted foliage seemingly placed in specific areas have been attributed by some to Bigfoot behavior.WEB,weblink Behavior, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, November 16, 2020, November 14, 2020,weblink live, In some reports, lodgepole pine and other small trees have been observed bent, uprooted, or stacked in patterns such as weaved and crisscrossed, leading some to theorize that they are potential territorial markings.WEB, Carey, Liz, Could Kentucky's Deep Forests Hide a Piece of the 'Bigfoot Puzzle',weblink dailyyonder.com, Daily Yonder, May 10, 2021, March 19, 2021, May 11, 2021,weblink live, Some instances have also included entire deer skeletons being suspended high in trees.WEB, Therriault, Ednor, In Search of Bigfoot,weblink mtoutlaw.com, December 28, 2020, Mountain Outlaw magazine, March 24, 2021, March 26, 2021,weblink live, Some researchers and enthusiasts believe Bigfoot construct teepee-like structures out of dead trees and foliage.NEWS, Sandweiss, Ethan, For Bigfoot enthusiasts, research is no small feat,weblink March 28, 2023, WTIU, March 24, 2023, March 28, 2023,weblink live, In Washington state, a team of amateur Bigfoot researchers called the Olympic Project claimed to have discovered a collection of nests. The group brought in primatologists to study them, with the conclusion being that they appear to have been created by a primate.WEB, Neuharth, Spencer, What's the Best Evidence Bigfoot Exists?,weblink themeateater.com, MeatEater, March 18, 2021, Jeremiah Byron, Bigfoot Society Podcast, September 2, 2020, October 27, 2020,weblink live, Jeremiah Byron, host of the Bigfoot Society Podcast, believes Bigfoot are omnivores, stating, "They eat both plants and meat. I've seen accounts that they eat everything from berries, leaves, nuts, and fruit to salmon, rabbit, elk, and bear. Ronny Le Blanc, host of Expedition Bigfoot on the Travel Channel indicated he has heard anecdotal reports of Bigfoot allegedly hunting and consuming deer.WEB, Neuharth, Spencer, What does Bigfoot eat?,weblink themeateater.com, MeatEater, December 21, 2021, September 25, 2020, December 21, 2021,weblink live, Some Bigfoot researchers have reported the creatures moving or taking possession of intentional "gifts" left by humans such as food and jewelry, and leaving items in their places such as rocks and twigs.WEB, Gifts From The Other Side,weblink sasquatchinvestigations.org, January 24, 2013, Sasquatch Investigations of The Rockies, March 31, 2021, November 11, 2020,weblink live, Many alleged sightings are reported to occur at night leading some cryptozoologists to hypothesize that Bigfoot may possess nocturnal tendencies.NEWS, Harrison, Shawn, Hiker believes he might have found evidence of Bigfoot,weblink March 18, 2021, The Herald Journal, Idaho State Journal, July 23, 2020, February 2, 2021,weblink live, However, experts find such behavior untenable in a supposed ape- or human-like creature, as all known apes, including humans, are diurnal, with only lesser primates exhibiting nocturnality.JOURNAL, Martin, Robert, Primates, Current Biology, September 25, 2009, 22, 18, R785–R790, 10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.015, 23017987, 235311971, free, Most anecdotal sightings of Bigfoot describe the creatures allegedly observed as solitary, although some reports have described groups being allegedly observed together.WEB, Kelley, Michael, Portland author explores lore of Bigfoot in Maine,weblink pressherald.com, The Forecaster, May 18, 2021, May 18, 2021, May 18, 2021,weblink live,

Alleged vocalizations

Alleged vocalizations such as howls, screams, moans, grunts, whistles, and even a form of supposed language have been reported and allegedly recorded.WEB, Weisberger, Mindy, 'Expedition Bigfoot' Scours Oregon Woods for Signs of the Mythical and Elusive Beast,weblink livescience.com, Live Science, March 18, 2021, December 8, 2019, March 3, 2021,weblink live, NEWS, Mullane, JD, A scream in the night, but was it Bigfoot in that PA forest?,weblink November 26, 2021, Courier Times, November 25, 2021, November 26, 2021,weblink live, Some of these alleged vocalization recordings have been analyzed by individuals such as retired U.S. Navy cryptologic linguist Scott Nelson. He analyzed audio recordings from the early 1970s said to be recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains dubbed the "Sierra Sounds" and stated, "It is definitely a language, it is definitely not human in origin, and it could not have been faked".NEWS, Retired Navy man studies Bigfoot sounds,weblink November 17, 2020, The Hastings Tribune, February 18, 2019, January 29, 2021,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20210129044911weblink">weblink live, Les Stroud has spoken of a strange vocalization he heard in the wilderness while filming Survivorman that he stated sounded primate in origin.WEB, Cleary, Tom, Joe Rogan Says These Sounds Are the 'Weirdest S*** Ever',weblink heavy.com, Heavy (website), Heavy, March 24, 2021, March 21, 2021, March 27, 2021,weblink live, A number of anecdotal reports of Bigfoot encounters have resulted in witnesses claiming to be disoriented, dizzy and anxious. Some Bigfoot researchers, such as paranormal author Nick Redfern, have proposed that Bigfoot may produce infrasound, which could explain reports of this nature.BOOK, Redfern, Nick, The Bigfoot Book: The Encyclopedia of Sasquatch, Yeti and Cryptid Primates, 2015, Visible Ink Press, 978-1-57859-577-8, 121–123,weblink December 12, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live,

Alleged encounters

In Fouke, Arkansas, in 1971, a family reported that a large, hair-covered creature startled a woman after reaching through a window. This alleged incident caused hysteria in the Fouke area and inspired the horror movie, The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972). The report was later deemed a hoax.NEWS, Charton, Scott, 15 Summers After Tracks Found, Fouke Monster Called Hoax,weblink apnews.com, Associated Press, March 31, 2021, July 20, 1986, March 24, 2022,weblink live, In 1974, the New York Times presented the dubious tale of Albert Ostman, a Canadian prospector, who stated that he was kidnapped and held captive by a family of Bigfoot for six days in 1924.NEWS, Anderson, David, It's hard to prove that something, even a monster, does not exist,weblink The New York Times, December 22, 2021, January 20, 1974, December 22, 2021,weblink live, In 1994, former U.S. Forest Service ranger Paul Freeman, a Bigfoot researcher, videotaped an alleged Bigfoot he reportedly encountered in the Blue Mountains in Oregon. The tape, often referred to as the Freeman footage, continues to be scrutinized and its authenticity debated.WEB, Kent, Lauren, The 10 Most Convincing Bigfoot Sightings,weblink outsideonline.com, Outside magazine, 6 June 2023, 10 March 2023, January 3, 2023,weblink live, Freeman had previously gained media recognition in the 1980s for documenting alleged Bigfoot tracks, claiming they possessed dermal ridges.BOOK, Freeman, Michael, Freeman Bigfoot Files, 2022, Hangar 1 Publishing, 165,weblink December 12, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live, On May 26, 1996, Lori Pate, who was on a camping trip near the Washington state-Canada border, videotaped a dark subject she reported encountering running across a field and claimed it was Bigfoot. The film, dubbed the Memorial Day Bigfoot footage, is often depicted in Bigfoot-related media, most notably in the 2003 documentary, (Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science). In his research, Daniel Perez of the Skeptical Inquirer concluded that the footage was likely a hoax perpetuated by a human in a gorilla costume.WEB, Perez, Daniel, The Memorial Day Bigfoot Video: A Closer Look,weblink skepticalinquirer.org, Skeptical Inquirer, 6 June 2023, 1 September 2007, June 6, 2023,weblink live, In 2018, Bigfoot researcher Claudia Ackley garnered international attention after filing a lawsuit with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for failing to acknowledge the existence of Bigfoot. Ackley claimed to have encountered and filmed a Bigfoot in the San Bernardino Mountains in 2017, describing what she saw as a "Neanderthal man with a lot of hair". Ackley contacted emergency services as well as the CDFW; a state investigator concluded that she encountered a bear.WEB, McMillan, Rob, Woman claims she saw Bigfoot; sues California to prove it,weblink abc7chicago.com, KABC-TV, 6 July 2023, 16 February 2018, July 7, 2023,weblink live, Until her death in 2023, Ackley also ran an online support group for individuals claiming to experience psychological trauma as a result of alleged Bigfoot encounters.NEWS, Rajput, Tanisha, Who was Claudia Ackley? Famous Bigfoot hunter passes away at 51,weblink 6 July 2023, WION, 6 July 2023, July 6, 2023,weblink live, In October 2023, a woman named Shannon Parker uploaded a video of an alleged Bigfoot to Facebook. The footage went viral on social media and was shared via various news publications. Shannon Parker reported she and others observed the subject while riding a train on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. The authenticity of the video was debated across social media.NEWS, Lagatta, Eric, 'Feels like a hoax': Purported Bigfoot video from Colorado attracts skeptics, believers,weblink 13 October 2023, USA Today, 13 October 2023, October 14, 2023,weblink live, Skeptics on Reddit speculated it was a publicity hoax perpetrated by an RV company located the area, Sasquatch Expedition Campers. The company denied the allegations.NEWS, Factor, Jacob, Bigfoot in Colorado? The "ever-elusive creature" may have been caught on camera from Durango train,weblink 13 October 2023, The Denver Post, 12 October 2023, October 14, 2023,weblink live, In the early 1990s, 9-1-1 audio recordings were made public in which a homeowner in Kitsap County, Washington, called law enforcement for assistance with a large subject, described by him as being "all in black", having entered his backyard. He previously reported to law enforcement that his dog was killed recently when it was thrown over his fence.WEB, Bigfoot 911 Call in Washington State,weblinkweblink November 23, 2021, live, youtube.com, March 31, 2021, {{cbignore}}WEB, 1990 Bigfoot 911 calls in (HD),weblinkweblink November 23, 2021, live, youtube.com, March 31, 2021, {{cbignore}} Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum notes that any large predatory animal is potentially dangerous, specifically if provoked, but indicates that most anecdotal accounts of Bigfoot encounter result in the creatures hiding or fleeing from people.WEB, Neuharth, Spencer, Is Bigfoot Dangerous?,weblink themeateater.com, MeatEater, March 31, 2021, September 16, 2020, November 29, 2021,weblink live, The 2021 Hulu documentary series, Sasquatch, describes marijuana farmers telling stories of Bigfoots harassing and killing people within the Emerald Triangle region in the 1970s through the 1990s; and specifically the alleged murder of three migrant workers in 1993.NEWS, Ali, Lorraine, Weed culture. True crime. Bigfoot lore. 'Sasquatch' has something for everyone,weblink April 21, 2021, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2021, April 21, 2021,weblink live, Investigative journalist David Holthouse attributes the stories to illegal drug operations using the local Bigfoot lore to scare away the competition, specifically superstitious immigrants, and that the high rate of murder and missing persons in the area is attributed to human actions.WEB, White, Peter, 'Sasquatch': Director Joshua Rofé On Bringing Together Bigfoot, Weed & Murder In Hulu Doc Series,weblink deadline.com, Deadline Hollywood, April 21, 2021, April 20, 2021, April 21, 2021,weblink live, Skeptics argue that many of these alleged encounters are easily hoaxed, the result of misidentification, or are outright fabrications.NEWS, Judd, Ron, The legend of Sasquatch won't die. (But if just one Bigfoot would — die, that is — Ron Judd would become a believer.),weblink March 31, 2021, The Seattle Times, September 30, 2019, May 6, 2021,weblink live,

Patterson-Gimlin film

(File:Patterson Gimlin Bigfoot Film Unedited.webm|thumb|The Patterson-Gimlin)The most well-known video of an alleged Bigfoot, the Patterson-Gimlin film, was recorded on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson and Robert "Bob" Gimlin in an area called Bluff Creek in Northern California. The 59.5-second-long video has become an iconic piece of Bigfoot lore, and continues to be a highly scrutinized, analyzed, and debated subject.WEB, Rosman, John, Film Introducing Bigfoot To World Still Mysterious 50 Years Later,weblink opb.org, Oregon Public Broadcasting, March 18, 2021, May 18, 2019,weblink live, Academic experts from related fields have typically judged the film as providing no supportive data of any scientific value,BOOK, Daegling, David J., Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend, 2004, Rowman Altamira, 978-0-7591-1523-1, 108,weblink December 12, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live, with perhaps the most common proposed explanation being that it was a hoax.BOOK, Buhs, Joshua Blu, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, 2009, University of Chicago Press, 978-0-226-50215-1, 75,weblink December 16, 2023, December 12, 2023,weblink live,

Evidence claims

A body print taken in the year 2000 from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state dubbed the Skookum cast is also believed by some to have been made by a Bigfoot that sat down in the mud to eat fruit left out by researchers during the filming of an episode of the Animal X television show. Skeptics believe the cast to have been made by a known animal such as an elk.WEB, Alford, Glenn, October 23, 2000, Idaho State University Researcher Coordinates Analysis of Body Imprint That May Belong to a Sasquatch,weblink June 23, 2008, June 25, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080625080640weblink">weblink live, Alleged Bigfoot footprints are often suggested by Bigfoot enthusiasts as evidence for the creature's existence. Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, who specializes in the study of primate bipedalism, possesses over 300 footprint casts that he maintains could not be made by wood carvings or human feet based on their anatomy, but instead are evidence of a large, non-human primate present today in North America.WEB, Willis, Bryanna, The Science Behind Bigfoot an Interview With Dr. Jeff Meldrum,weblink byui.edu, BYU-Idaho Radio, March 18, 2021, September 19, 2018, May 20, 2021,weblink dead, In 2005, Matt Crowley obtained a copy of an alleged Bigfoot footprint cast, called the "Onion Mountain Cast", and was able to painstakingly recreate the dermal ridges. Michael Dennett of the Skeptical Inquirer spoke to police investigator and primate fingerprint expert Jimmy Chilcutt in 2006 for comment on the replica and he stated, "Matt has shown artifacts can be created, at least under laboratory conditions, and field researchers need to take precautions".WEB, Dennett, Michael, Experiments Cast Doubt On Bigfoot 'Evidence',weblink skepticalinquirer.org, Skeptical Inquirer, April 13, 2021, September 1, 2006, April 13, 2021,weblink live, Chilcutt had previously stated that some of the alleged Bigfoot footprint plaster casts he examined were genuine due to the presence of "unique dermal ridges".WEB, Texan says he's got proof of Bigfoot,weblink upi.com, United Press International, December 21, 2021, October 2, 2003, December 21, 2021,weblink live, Dennett states that Chilcutt published nothing to substantiate his claims, nor had anyone else published anything on that topic, with Chilcutt making his statements solely through a posting on the Internet. Dennett states further that no reviews on Chilcutt's statements had been performed beyond those by what Dennett states to be, "other Bigfoot enthusiasts".(File:Croped BFRO image.jpg|thumb|2007 photograph alleged by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization to depict a juvenile Bigfoot.)In 2007, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization claimed to have photographs depicting a juvenile Bigfoot allegedly captured on a camera trap in the Allegheny National Forest. The Pennsylvania Game Commission, however, stated that the photos were of a bear with mange.WEB,weblink Hunter's pics revive lively Bigfoot debate, NBC News, October 29, 2007, February 11, 2023, February 12, 2023,weblink live, The Pennsylvania Game Commission unsuccessfully attempted to locate the suspected mangey bear. Scientist Vanessa Woods, after estimating that the subject in the photo had approximately {{convert|22|in}} long arms and a {{convert|18.75|in}} torso, concluded it was more comparable to a chimpanzee.JOURNAL, Bigfoot Science Fiction Or Science Fact?, Scientriffic, November 2008, 58, 17, ISSN 1442-2212, In 2015, Centralia College professor Michael Townsend claimed to have discovered prey bones with "human-like" bite impressions on the southside of Mount St. Helens. Townsend claimed the bites were over two times wider than a human bite, and that he and two of his students also found 16-inch footprints in the area.WEB, Tomtas, Justyna, Proof of Bigfoot Is in the Bones, Winlock Man Says,weblink yakimaherald.com, Yakima Herald, December 21, 2021, May 14, 2015, December 21, 2021,weblink live,

Melba Ketchum press release

After what The Huffington Post described as "a five-year study of purported Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) DNA samples",WEB, Speigel, Lee, Bigfoot DNA Tests: Science Journal's Credibility Called Into Question,weblink February 14, 2013, Huffington Post, March 1, 2013, February 22, 2019,weblink live, but prior to peer review of the work, DNA Diagnostics, a veterinary laboratory headed by veterinarian Melba Ketchum issued a press release on November 24, 2012, claiming 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."NEWS, Nicholson, Eric, A Texas Geneticist Apparently Invented a Science Journal to Publish Her DNA Proof of Bigfoot,weblink March 2, 2013, Dallas Observer, February 15, 2013, February 18, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130218061320weblink">weblink dead, 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.JOURNAL, Ketchum, M. S., Wojtkiewicz, P. W., Watts, A. B., Spence, D. W., Holzenburg, A. K., Toler, D. G., Prychitko, T. M., Zhang, F., Bollinger, S., Shoulders, R., Smith, R., Novel North American Hominins, Next Generation Sequencing of Three Whole Genomes and Associated Studies, DeNovo Journal of Science, 2013, 1, 1,weblink 2326-2869, subscription, February 9, 2014, May 26, 2020,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20200526150752weblink">weblink live, NEWS, Radford, Benjamin, 'Bigfoot DNA' Study Seeks Yeti Rights,weblink March 1, 2013, Discovery News, February 14, 2013, December 31, 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151231204446weblink">weblink dead, The title "DeNovo: Journal of Science" in which the paper was published was found to be a Web site—registered anonymously only nine days before the paper was announced—whose first and only "journal" issue contained nothing but the "Sasquatch" article. Shortly after publication, the paper was analyzed and outlined by Sharon Hill of Doubtful News for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Hill reported on the questionable journal, mismanaged DNA testing and poor quality paper, stating that "The few experienced geneticists who viewed the paper reported a dismal opinion of it noting it made little sense."WEB, Hill, Sharon, Sharon A. Hill, The Ketchum Project: What to Believe about Bigfoot DNA 'Science',weblink The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, September 12, 2013, Center for Inquiry, February 7, 2017, live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170502102912weblink">weblink May 2, 2017, The Scientist magazine also analyzed the paper, reporting that:{{Blockquote|text=Geneticists who have seen the paper are not impressed. "To state the obvious, no data or analyses are presented that in any way support the claim that their samples come from a new primate or human-primate hybrid," Leonid Kruglyak of Princeton University told the Houston Chronicle. "Instead, analyses either come back as 100 percent human, or fail in ways that suggest technical artifacts." The website for the DeNovo Journal of Science was {{sic|setu|p|nolink=y}} on February 4, and there is no indication that Ketchum's work, the only study it has published, was peer-reviewed.WEB, Cossins, Dan, Bigfoot DNA is Bunk,weblink The Scientist (magazine), The Scientist, February 8, 2017, February 15, 2013, February 8, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170208033549weblink">weblink live, }}

Documented hoaxes

• In 1968, the frozen corpse of a supposed hair-covered hominid measuring {{convert|1.8|m|order=flip}} was paraded around the United States as part of a traveling exhibition. Many stories surfaced as to its origin, such as its having been killed by hunters in Minnesota or American soldiers near Da Nang during the Vietnam War. It was attributed by some to be proof of Bigfoot-like creatures. Primatologist John R. Napier studied the subject and concluded it was a hoax made of latex. Others disputed this, claiming Napier did not study the original subject. As of 2013, the subject, dubbed the Minnesota Iceman, was on display at the "Museum of the Weird" in Austin, Texas.WEB, Naish, Darren, The Strange Case of the Minnesota Iceman,weblink Scientific American, April 13, 2021, January 2, 2017, April 13, 2021,weblink live,
• Tom Biscardi, long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.", appeared on the Coast to Coast AM paranormal radio show on July 14, 2005, and said that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they had been tracking in the Happy Camp, California, area."WEB,weblink OregonBigfoot.com, Georgia Bigfoot body in freezer, March 30, 2010, May 13, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130513150247weblink">weblink live, A month later, he 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. He appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. He blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and said that the show's audience was gullible.
• On July 9, 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube, claiming that they had discovered the body of a dead Bigfoot in a forest in northern Georgia, which they named "Rickmat".WEB, DNA evidence and photo evidence to be presented at a PRESS CONFERENCE to be held on;, Rickmat is Bigfoot,weblink February 15, 2023,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080819220843weblink">weblink August 19, 2008, August 12, 2008, Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc."NEWS,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081206031312weblink">weblink December 6, 2008, Searching for Bigfoot group to sue Georgia hoaxers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 20, 2008, Christian, Boone, Kathy Jefcoats, The story was covered by many major news networks, including BBC,NEWS,weblink BBC News, Americans 'find body of Bigfoot', August 15, 2008, March 31, 2010, October 17, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20181017151438weblink">weblink live, CNN,NEWS,weblink Body proves Bigfoot no myth, hunters say, CNN, August 15, 2008, March 31, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100318004729weblink">weblink March 18, 2010, live, ABC News,NEWS,weblink Legend of Bigfoot: Discovery or Hoax?, ABC News, August 15, 2008, Ki Mae Heusser, March 30, 2010, February 11, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170211050527weblink">weblink dead, and Fox News.NEWS,weblink Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot, September 16, 2008, Malia, Wollan, April 1, 2010, Fox News, November 7, 2018,weblink live, Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body was delivered in a block of ice in a freezer with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, observers found that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber.NEWS,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081206031259weblink">weblink December 6, 2008, Cox News Service, Bigfoot's body a hoax, California site reveals, Bob, Keefe, August 19, 2008, April 1, 2010, Dyer and Whitton admitted that it was a hoax after being confronted by Steve Kulls, executive director of SquatchDetective.com.NEWS,weblink A Monster Discovery? It Was Just a Costume, Ki Mae Heusser, August 19, 2008, ABC News, October 22, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080929221419weblink">weblink September 29, 2008, live,
• In August 2012, a man in Montana was killed by a car while perpetrating a Bigfoot hoax using a ghillie suit.NEWS, Lynch, Rene, Bigfoot hoax ends badly: Montana jokester hit, killed by car,weblink December 24, 2013, Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2012, December 24, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131224122204weblink">weblink live, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 36 6, Nov. 2012, p. 9
• In January 2014, Rick Dyer, perpetrator of a previous Bigfoot hoax, said that he had killed a Bigfoot in September 2012 outside San Antonio, Texas. He claimed to have had scientific tests conducted 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."WEB,weblink Bigfoot Hunter Rick Dyer Claims He Killed The Hairy Beast And Will Take It On Tour, Lee Speigel, January 5, 2014, January 7, 2014, The Huffington Post, April 25, 2018,weblink live, NEWS,weblink Bigfoot hunter shares pictures of dead creature, Tim Gerber, January 2, 2014, KSAT-TV, January 7, 2014,weblink January 8, 2014, He said that he had kept the body in a hidden location, and he intended to take it on tour across North America in 2014. He released photos of the body and a video showing a few individuals' reactions to seeing it,AV MEDIA,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140106142129weblink">weblink January 6, 2014, dead, YouTube, People's Reactions Seeing a Real Bigfoot, Rick Dyer, but never released any of the tests or scans. He refused to disclose the test results or to provide biological samples. He said that the DNA results were done by an undisclosed lab and could not be matched to identify any known animal.NEWS,weblink Rick Dyer, Bigfoot Hunter, Shares New Photos Of Alleged 'Monster' Sasquatch, Zoe Mintz, January 29, 2014, International Business Times, February 1, 2014, April 25, 2019,weblink live, Dyer said that he would reveal the body and tests on February 9, 2014, at a news conference at Washington University,WEB,weblink Bigfoot Revealed February 9, 2014, Philly.com, January 15, 2014, January 17, 2014, Mucha, Peter, November 18, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20181118164641weblink">weblink live, but he never made the test results available.WEB,weblink Bigfoot On Tour, WGHP, February 8, 2014, February 10, 2014, April 25, 2019,weblink live, After the tour, the Bigfoot body was taken to Houston, Texas.WEB,weblink Bigfoot On Tour in Houston, Interactive One, February 5, 2014, February 10, 2014, Uhl, Norm,weblink February 11, 2014,
• On March 28, 2014, Dyer admitted on his Facebook page that his "Bigfoot corpse" was another hoax. He had paid Chris Russel of "Twisted Toybox" to manufacture the prop from latex, foam, and camel hair, which he nicknamed "Hank". Dyer earned approximately US$60,000 from the tour of this second fake Bigfoot corpse. He stated that he did kill a Bigfoot, but did not take the real body on tour for fear that it would be stolen.WEB,weblink Bigfoot Killed in San Antonio?, March 31, 2014, Snopes.com, April 2, 2014, February 16, 2024,weblink live, NEWS,weblink Bigfoot hunter Rick Dyer admits he lied about killing the beast, Landau, Joel, March 31, 2014, Daily News (New York), Daily News, April 2, 2014, April 25, 2019,weblink live,
• In April 2022, a man in Mobile, Alabama posted photos he claimed were of a Bigfoot to his Facebook page, indicating the Mobile County Sheriff's Office validated their authenticity and the team from Finding Bigfoot was being dispatched. The photos circulated on social media, attracting the attention of NBC 15. The man admitted the photos were an April Fools' Day hoax.NEWS, Lane, Keith, First the leprechaun and now this? Photos of Wilmer Bigfoot hoax go viral,weblink April 18, 2022, WPMI-TV, April 15, 2022, April 19, 2022,weblink live,
• On July 7, 2022, wildlife educator and media personality Coyote Peterson released a Facebook post in which he claimed to have excavated a large primate skull in British Columbia and smuggled it into the United States, further claiming to have initially hidden the discovery due to concerns of government intervention. The post went viral, garnering the attention of multiple scientists who dismissed the finding as a likely replica gorilla skull. Darren Naish, a vertebrate paleontologist, stated, "I'm told that Coyote Peterson does this sort of thing fairly often as clickbait, and that this is a stunt done to promote an upcoming video. Maybe this is meant to be taken as harmless fun. But in an age where anti-scientific feelings and conspiracy culture are a serious problem it—again—really isn't a good look. I think this stunt has backfired".WEB, Lanese, Nicoletta, Scientists dismiss Coyote Peterson's 'large primate skull' discovery as fake,weblink livescience.com, Live Science, July 11, 2022, July 8, 2022, August 15, 2023,weblink live, In a follow-up video, Peterson claimed the situation was staged as a hypothetical example of what not to do in response to such a discovery.{{Citation |last=Brave Wilderness |title=Bigfoot Skull Revealed and WHAT NOT to Do! |date=16 Jul 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DtptFYYmLk |access-date=2023-12-12 |language=en |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212205510weblink |url-status=live }}

In popular culture

File:Pikes peak highway big foot.jpg|thumb|A tongue-in-cheek sign warning of Bigfoot crossings on Pikes Peak HighwayPikes Peak HighwayBigfoot has a demonstrable impact in popular culture,WEB, Donaldson, Kevin, Bigfoot: The Next Big Paranormal Pop Culture Craze?,weblink Young Hollywood, March 23, 2021, June 6, 2014, April 12, 2021,weblink live, and has been compared to Michael Jordan as a cultural icon.Daegling 2004, p. 4. In 2018, Smithsonian magazine declared, "Interest in the existence of the creature is at an all-time high".WEB, Crair, Ben, Why Do So Many People Still Want to Believe in Bigfoot?,weblink Smithsonian (magazine), Smithsonian, December 14, 2020, September 2018, December 17, 2020,weblink live, A poll in 2020 suggested that about 1 in 10 American adults believe Bigfoot to be "a real, living creature".WEB, Brode, Noah, Bigfoot is Real (For 11% of U.S. Adults),weblink civicscience.com, CivicScience, March 23, 2021, May 11, 2020, April 10, 2021,weblink live, According to a May 2023 data study, the terms "Bigfoot" and "Sasquatch" are inputted via internet search engines over 200,000 times annually in the United States, and over 660,000 times worldwide.WEB, Fechino, Ashlee, Myths and Legends: The Most Popular Cryptids in Every US State,weblink wealthofgeeks.com, 13 September 2023, 2 May 2023, September 30, 2023,weblink live, The creature has inspired the naming of a medical company, music festival, amusement park ride, monster truck, a Marvel Comics superhero and more. Two National Basketball Association teams located in the Pacific Northwest have used Bigfoot as a mascot; Squatch of the now-defunct Seattle SuperSonics from 1993 until 2008, and Douglas Fur of the Portland Trail Blazers.WEB, Cuthill, Meagan, A Bigfoot with a beanie is the Portland Trail Blazers' 2nd mascot,weblink opb.org, Oregon Public Broadcasting, March 20, 2023, March 15, 2023, March 15, 2023,weblink live, Legend the Bigfoot was selected as the official mascot for the 2022 World Athletics Championships being held in Eugene, Oregon.NEWS, 'Legend the Bigfoot' is World Athletics Championships official mascot,weblink May 17, 2022, KVAL-TV, May 17, 2022, June 20, 2022,weblink live, Laws and ordinances exist regarding harming or killing Bigfoot, specifically in the state of Washington. In 1969 in Skamania County, a law was passed making killing a Bigfoot punishable by a felony conviction resulting in a monetary fine up to $10,000 or five years imprisonment. In 1984, the law was amended to a misdemeanor and the entire county was declared a "Sasquatch refuge". Whatcom County followed suit in 1991, declaring the county a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area".WEB, Ilacqua, Joan, Sasquatch and the Law: The Implications of Bigfoot Preservation Laws in Washington State,weblink scholarworks.umb.edu, February 16, 2022, 2014, February 16, 2022,weblink live, WEB, Sasquatch Sightings,weblink skamania.org, Skamania County Chamber of Commerce, February 16, 2022, February 16, 2022,weblink live, In 2022, Grays Harbor County, Washington, passed a similar resolution after a local elementary school in Hoquiam submitted a classroom project asking for a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area" to be granted.NEWS, Gebhardt, Erika, Bigfoot gets unlikely allies,weblink April 19, 2022, The Daily World (Aberdeen), April 19, 2022, April 21, 2022,weblink live, In 2021, U.S. Representative Justin Humphrey, in an effort to bolster tourism, proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season in Oklahoma, indicating that the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation would regulate permits and the state would offer a $3 million bounty if such a creature was captured alive and unharmed.NEWS, Johnson, Lauren M., Oklahoma lawmaker proposes a bill that calls for creation of a Bigfoot hunting season,weblink June 22, 2021, CNN, January 25, 2021, June 24, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Lawmaker invites world to participate in Oklahoma's $3 million Bigfoot bounty,weblink koco.com, KOCO-TV, June 22, 2021, May 26, 2021, June 24, 2021,weblink live, Some have been critical of Bigfoot's rise to fame, arguing that the appearance of the creatures in cartoons, reality shows, and advertisements further reduces the potential validity of serious scientific research.WEB, Bigfoot Mania: The Rise of Sasquatch as a Pop Icon,weblink walkingbear.org, May 9, 2020, Walking Bear, March 23, 2021, September 19, 2020,weblink live, Others propose that society's fascination with the concept of Bigfoot stems from human interest in mystery, the paranormal, and loneliness.WEB, Wayne, Rachel, A Pop Cultural History of Bigfoot,weblink rachelwayne.medium.com, March 23, 2021, July 17, 2019, January 21, 2021,weblink live, In a 2022 article discussing recent Bigfoot sightings, journalist John Keilman of the Chicago Tribune states, "As UFOs have gained newfound respect, becoming the subject of a Pentagon investigative panel, the alleged Bigfoot sighting is a reminder that other paranormal phenomena are still out there, entrancing true believers and amusing skeptics".NEWS, Keilman, John, Alleged Bigfoot sighting in Illinois adds to legendary creature's fame,weblink January 21, 2022, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 21, 2022, January 21, 2022,weblink live, In the 2018 podcast Wild Thing, creator and journalist Laura Krantz argues that the concept of Bigfoot can be an important part of environmental interest and protection, stating, "If you look at it from the angle that Bigfoot is a creature that has eluded capture or hasn't left any concrete evidence behind, then you just have a group of people who are curious about the environment and want to know more about it, which isn't that far off from what naturalists have done for centuries".WEB, Kuta, Sarah, Searching for Bigfoot. Former CU Boulder Journalism Fellow Laura Krantz explores all things Bigfoot in Wild Thing, which the Atlantic named one of 2018's Best Podcasts.,weblink colorado.edu, University of Colorado Boulder, March 23, 2021, 2019, April 14, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Wild Thing,weblink January 4, 2022, Foxtopus Ink, en-US, January 4, 2022,weblink live, Bigfoot has been used for nature and conservation advocacy. The 360 mile "Bigfoot Trail" in Oregon, is named for the creature.WEB, The Bigfoot Trail,weblink bigfoottrail.org, The Bigfoot Trail Alliance, 11 March 2024, Bigfoot was used in an environmental protection campaign, albeit comedically, by the U.S. Forest Service in 2015.WEB, Holloway, Tiffany, Loss of space threatening North American Sasquatch,weblink fs.usda.gov, U.S. Department of Agriculture, April 9, 2021, April 1, 2015, June 20, 2021,weblink live, During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bigfoot became a part of many North American social distancing promotion campaigns, with the creature being referred to as the "Social Distancing Champion" and as the subject of various internet memes related to the pandemic.NEWS, Williams, Austin, North Carolina town declares Bigfoot 'world's social distancing champion',weblink March 18, 2021, Fox News, September 18, 2020, March 20, 2021,weblink live, NEWS, Hay, Mark, The Weird Culture War Over Bigfoot as a COVID-19 Icon,weblink March 18, 2021, The Daily Beast, October 25, 2020, March 12, 2021,weblink live,

Bigfoot subculture

There is an entire subculture surrounding Bigfoot.BOOK, O'Connor, John, The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster, 2024, Sourcebooks, 978-1464216633, The act of searching for the creatures is often referred to as "Squatching", "Squatchin'" or "Squatch'n",WEB, Agnone, Annie, How to: Find Bigfoot,weblinkweblink dead, March 25, 2022, nationalgeographic.com, National Geographic, March 18, 2021, September 20, 2013, popularized by the Animal Planet series, Finding Bigfoot.NEWS, Mcglaughlin, Clay, 'Gone squatchin': Animal Planet's 'Finding Bigfoot' show features Humboldt County,weblink April 9, 2021, Times-Standard, July 30, 2018, March 11, 2022,weblink live, Bigfoot researchers and believers are often called "Bigfooters" or "Squatchers".WEB, Keough, Peter, In Focus: Are you a 'Squatcher'? That's what believers in Bigfoot are called,weblink The Boston Globe, July 16, 2021, April 14, 2021, July 16, 2021,weblink live, 20th century Bigfooters Peter C. Byrne, René Dahinden, John Green and Grover Krantz have been dubbed by cryptozoologist and author Loren Coleman as the "Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery".JOURNAL, Coleman, Loren, John Willison Green, The Relict Hominoid Inquiry, 2015, 4, 3,weblink 23 February 2024, The 2024 book The Secret History of Bigfoot by journalist John O'Connor explores this subculture of Bigfooters, particularly the wide assortment of beliefs enthusiasts of the subject hold. In 2004, David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post published an article describing a feud between Bigfoot researchers in the eastern and western United States. Fahrenthold writes, "On the one hand, East Coast Bigfooters say they have to fight discrimination from Western counterparts who think the creature does not live east of the Rocky Mountains. On the other, they have to deal with reports from a more urban population, which includes some who are unfamiliar with wildlife and apt to mistake a black bear for the missing link".WEB, Fahrenthold, David, In hunt for Bigfoot, West Coast has a leg up over Easterners,weblink archive.boston.com, The Washington Post, 7 June 2023, 3 October 2004, May 17, 2023,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20230517194510weblink">weblink live, October 20, the anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin film recording, is considered by some enthusiasts as "National Sasquatch Awareness Day".WEB, What we know about Bigfoot in California {{!, National Sasquatch Awareness Day |url=https://www.abc10.com/article/entertainment/what-we-know-about-bigfoot-in-california/103-e84d9253-4eee-4a72-86ed-be68facf7141 |website=abc10.com |publisher=KXTV |access-date=October 22, 2021 |date=October 20, 2021 |archive-date=October 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021140006weblink |url-status=live }} In 2015, World Champion taxidermist Ken Walker completed what he believes to be a lifelike Bigfoot model based on the subject in the Patterson–Gimlin film.WEB, Johnson, Wes, Do you believe? Sasquatch replica draws curious,weblink news-leader.com, Springfield News-Leader, June 21, 2021, May 6, 2015, June 24, 2021,weblink live, He entered it into the 2015 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Missouri and was the subject of Dan Wayne's 2019 documentary Big Fur.WEB, Hobson, Louis, Big Fur brings Alberta taxidermist's dream Sasquatch to life,weblink calgaryherald.com, Calgary Herald, June 21, 2021, August 14, 2020, April 11, 2021,weblink live,

Organizations and events

There are several organizations dedicated to Bigfoot. The oldest and largest is the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).WEB,weblink BFRO Animal Planet, Discovery Communications, LLC, January 24, 2014, May 16, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130516000733weblink">weblink live, 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 BFRO researchers. Other similar organizations exist throughout many U.S. states and their members come from a variety of backgrounds.WEB, Researchers,weblink kybigfoot.com, Kentucky Bigfoot Research Organization, April 9, 2021, 2020, January 26, 2022,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20220126110409weblink">weblink live, WEB, Gavis, Karen, Hey, Bigfoot Believers: the 2018 Texas Bigfoot Conference Is Coming Up,weblink dallasobserver.com, Dallas Observer, April 9, 2021, September 11, 2018, October 22, 2020,weblink live, The North American Wood Ape Conservancy (NAWAC), a nonprofit organization, states its mission is to "ultimately have the wood ape species documented, protected, and the land they inhabit protected.WEB,weblink North American Wood Ape Conservancy, November 17, 2020, November 11, 2020,weblink live, Author Mike Mays of NAWAC states, "If just anyone hauled in a Bigfoot carcass the blowback from animal rights groups and beyond would be ruinous".WEB, Larson, Lauren, In the Misinformation Age, Believing In Bigfoot Is Harder Than Ever,weblink texasmonthly.com, Texas Monthly, 11 December 2023, 28 November 2023, December 11, 2023,weblink live, Some organizations, as well as private researchers and enthusiasts own and operate Bigfoot museums.NEWS, Hold up, Bigfoot Has Moved to the East Coast??,weblink June 21, 2021, WPVI-TV, June 14, 2021, November 30, 2021,weblink live, NEWS, West Virginia Bigfoot Museum to celebrate grand opening,weblink June 21, 2021, WSAZ-TV, June 15, 2021, June 21, 2021,weblink live, In 2019, Bigfoot researcher Cliff Barackman, notable for his role on Finding Bigfoot, opened the North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, Oregon.NEWS, Wesleigh, Ogle, North American Bigfoot Center opens in Boring,weblink 6 July 2023, KATU, 30 August 2019, July 7, 2023,weblink live, In 2022, The Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum and Research Center in Hastings, Nebraska, was selected for addition into the archives of the U.S. Library of Congress.NEWS, Rosales, Melissa, Hastings Bigfoot Museum Will Be Featured In U.S. Library of Congress,weblink April 15, 2022, Nebraska Public Media, January 13, 2022, June 16, 2022,weblink live, Conferences and festivals dedicated to Bigfoot draw thousands of attendees.WEB, Ohio Bigfoot Conference is sold out,weblink daily-jeff.com, May 25, 2021, April 26, 2021, May 25, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Whipkey, Brian, New Bigfoot festival in Forest County, Pa., continues search for Sasquatch in June,weblink goerie.com, May 25, 2021, May 12, 2021, May 25, 2021,weblink live, These events commonly include guest speakers, research and lore presentations, and sometimes live music, vendors, food trucks, and other activities such as costume contests and "Bigfoot howl" competitions.WEB, Carden, Curtis, Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival coming to Townsend May 22,weblink wate.com, WATE-TV, May 25, 2021, February 26, 2021, May 25, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Conley, Mike, Western NC Bigfoot Festival coming back for 2021,weblink statesville.com, The McDowell News, May 25, 2021, March 26, 2021, May 25, 2021,weblink live, The Chamber of Commerce in Willow Creek, California, has hosted the "Bigfoot Daze" festival annually since the 1960s, drawing on the popularity of the local lore.WEB, Painter, Alysia, Bigfoot Days Will Stomp Back Into Willow Creek,weblink nbclosangeles.com, July 21, 2021, KNBC, July 22, 2021, July 22, 2021,weblink live, Some receive collaboration between local government and corporations, such as the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival in Townsend, Tennessee, which is sponsored by Monster Energy.NEWS, Bigfoot festival an impressive feat for Blount County,weblink April 15, 2022, Johnson City Press, April 11, 2022, June 20, 2022,weblink live, The 2023 Bigfoot Festival in Marion, North Carolina, saw approximately 40,000 people in attendance, resulting in a large economic boost for the small town of less than 8,000 residents.NEWS, Seymour, Joel, An estimated 40,000 people take in all things Bigfoot during Marion's Bigfoot Fest,weblink 23 May 2023, WLOS, 20 May 2023, May 21, 2023,weblink live, In February 2016, the University of New Mexico at Gallup held a two-day Bigfoot conference at a cost of $7,000 in university funds.WEB, Zamudio-Suarez, Fernanda, U. of New Mexico at Gallup Spent $7,000 on Bigfoot Conference,weblink chronicle.com, The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 15, 2022, November 3, 2016, June 16, 2022,weblink live,

See also

• (Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend) – 2009 book published by University of Chicago Press
• (Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science) – 2003 film documentary aired on Discovery Channel
• (Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science) – 2006 book published by Forge
• The Secret History of Bigfoot – 2024 book about the culture of Bigfoot hunters by Sourcebooks

Similar alleged creatures

{hide}columns-list|colwidth=20em|style=max-width: 130em;|

• Almas â€“ Central Asia
• Am Fear Liath Mòr â€“ United Kingdom
• Amomongo â€“ Philippines
• Barmanou â€“ Afghanistan/Pakistan
• Bukit Timah Monkey Man - Singapore
• Ebu gogo - Indonesia
• Fouke Monster â€“ United States
• Hibagon â€“ Japan
• Mande Barung â€“ India
• Momo the Monster â€“ United States
• Nittaewo - Sri Lanka
• Orang Mawas â€“ Malaysia
• Orang Pendek â€“ Indonesia
• Skunk ape â€“ United States
• Wild Man of the Navidad
• Yeren â€“ China
• Yowie â€“ Australia

{edih}

Citations

{{Reflist}}

General and cited references

• BOOK, Buhs, Joshua Blu, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, University of Chicago Press, 978-0-226-50215-1, 227, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, August 1, 2009,
• Green, John (2004). The Best of Bigfoot/Sasquatch. Hancock House Publishers. p. 144. {{ISBN|978-0-88839-546-7}}
• Green, John (2006). Sasquatch: the Apes Among Us. Hancock House Publishers. p. 492. {{ISBN|978-0-88839-123-0}}.
• BOOK, Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend, Daegling, David J., 2004, Altamira Press, 978-0-7591-0539-3, Dae04, 62–63,
• BOOK, Bigfoot: The Sasquatch and Yeti in Myth and Reality, Napier, John Russell, 1973, E.P. Dutton, 978-0-525-06658-3, Nap73,
• Wágner, Karel (2013). Bigfoot Alias Sasquatch. Jonathan Livingston. {{ISBN|978-80-87835-23-4}}.

External links

• {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Apes|state=collapsed}}{{Authority control}}