Let's see where to start. I would like to
thank my good friend Kaysie, better known as popularity kills for
suggesting this weeks article. So, now we begin. When did bigfoot
arrive on the scene? The Indians that had lived in the Pacific
northwest have always had their own legends of Sasquatch. They knew
about this creature since long before the white men came into the
area. Sasquatch is their own term for the creature, and many of us
call him that as well. White settlers heard stories told by the Indian
locals of a giant manlike creature that lurked deep in the woods. The
Indians were terrified by "Bigfoot". They preferred not to
have any contact or encounters with the hairy beast if at all
possible. They believed that if you were looked at in the eyes by a
Sasquatch that he could steal your soul. Indians, (or better known
these days as "native Americans") were not willing to come
close to the creature for that reason. They also had tales of Bigfoot
(plural for bigfoot huh?) stealing their women and children. The
Sasquatch was not really something that they cared to think about or
deal with on any level.
White men came into the region and it wasn't
until the 60's that anyone really paid any real attention to the
phenomenon. There were a few stories that always came out randomly
about a bigfoot sighting, but the major catalyst to get the creature
in the media spotlight was the "Patterson Film" of the
manlike beast. The two man party consisting of Roger Patterson and Bob
Gimlin were out searching for bigfoot on horseback in October of 1967.
When they approached a creek area, their horses became very upset and
it was then that they saw it. A large manlike creature (actually woman
like) was walking swiftly away from them. After quickly grabbing his
movie camera from the saddlebag, Patterson was able to shoot several
seconds of shaky film of the creature as it walked away from them. The
film has been the topic and also the focus of the reality of bigfoot
for years. Not too many years back, some question was brought to light
of the film. The film appeared to show a female bigfoot complete with
large mammary glands walking away in a manner that would be almost
impossible for a man to duplicate. The sceptics have recently stated
that the whole thing was set up and filmed. They say that Patterson
and others had the whole thing set up in advance for Gimlin's to
"witness". Upon viewing the film, and knowing what 60's
special effects were like, I don't tend to believe the sceptics this
time. The creature was very tall, and that would tend to make me think
that a very tall and large man would have had to be in the suit. Then
couple that with the mammary glands, I don't think that anyone would
have thought of that idea to promote the reality of the creature if it
was just a staged event. With computer enhancement of keeping the
frames locked still, you can see that it would have been beyond the
special effects of the time. As some of us remember, back in those
days, we had to put up with giant carrot men on Lost in Space!! This
film shows a creature that is just too real for the technology back
then. There are no mistakes that I could see. They also said a zipper
could be seen in the film, but yet no one has produced a frame with a
zipper in it for us to see. Then with today's technology, if they did,
I may think that they added it themselves to promote their own ends. I
will go along with the Patterson film unless someone can produce real
evidence to the contrary.
Bigfoot has too many relatives all over the
world. In the United States, we have the bigfoot, the skunkape, and a
version in Tennessee called the Tennessee Wyooter. The creature has
relatives in other parts of the world also. China has the Yeti, and
Australia has the Yowie, and there are probably other versions in
other places as well. This phenomenon is not limited to a small place
in one part of the world. There are too many reports to dismiss them
all. From Russia, China, Australia, and America, the reports can't all
be wrong. In our own country of the United States, there are reports
from the Southeast to the Pacific Northwest, from Maine to Colorado
and most places in between. Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South
Carolina, California, and yes you get the picture by now. They are
almost everywhere.
Police and officials believe in them. Police
officers have many times been the first witnesses to report bigfoot
type critters. In Colorado, a patrolman saw one in a garbage bin near
Colorado Springs and reported it immediately, and also gave chase to
it. Our own branch of the army listed them as a species in one of
their maps several decades ago. If it is good enough for the military
to believe in, I guess I'll go along with them. When a trained
observer called a police officer tells what he saw, I guess we should
believe him as well.
So where are they at? That is a good
question. Why don't we have one in captivity somewhere? This creature
is one of the most elusive in the world. Only several months ago, a
doctor was hiking in Oregon and saw one with his entire family. They
were scared to death about the incident. They immediately reported the
sighting to authorities and the Park Service went out to try to see
the creature. They couldn't find it of course (at least they made the
effort). So the Bigfoot is a master of moving away quickly. They know
how to hide in the forest so well that we could probably be within
feet of them and never notice them. They are indeed very stealthy.
They have to be stealthy though, so that we can't upset their world.
They don't have to worry about traffic jams, bills, taxes, or even
doing the laundry. If we found them, we would make them do all of
those things eventually. No wonder they are hiding.
The bottom line is that there is probably a
bigfoot type creature lurking out there in the forested areas of the
world. We don't have the time or patience to find them. We probably
could with our technology that is available today. Perhaps some people
already know where they are. If a satellite can see a pack of
cigarettes laying on the ground, I suppose they could see a bigfoot
too. If the military or some government agency knows that they exist
for sure, they wouldn't tell us anyway. Then there is always the
thought of Why haven't any bones been found? Perhaps we don't know
where to look! When was the last time you saw a complete deer skeleton
laying out for you to find? I have never seen one just laying about.
Deer die by the thousands each day, but I have never seen one in
nature just laying around. So that is a flimsy argument against the
existence of bigfoot. I think they may be out there somewhere, after
all, it's an odd place out there sometimes..... Gtars said it.
