BIG FOOT

IN THE WILDS OF NORTH AMERICA a mystical
ape-like creature hides in the shadows.
Standing over seven feet tall and having
an immense, muscled body, it should be hard
to stay concealed. Many that see him say he
just disappears into the background. Like a
man, he walks upright, but the short black
hair covering his entire body indicates he is
no homo-sapien. No bodies, bones or
remains have ever been found despite more
than two centuries of searching. The only
evidence we have of this mythical beast is its
huge tracks. That is why the creature is
named ‘Bigfoot’.
Like many legendary Native American
monsters, Bigfoot is a central part of
indigenous traditional tales. They call him
‘Sasquatch’, the ‘hairy giant of the woods’.
But it was his early personal introduction to
European settlers that sparked off real
interest. In 1811, David Thompson, a white
trader, was in the north Rocky Mountains
when he spotted a set of massive 14 by 8-inch
footprints. Over many years, the tales of
Sasquatch spread and on 4th July 1884, the
Daily Colonist newspaper in British
Columbia was proud to announce that a train
crew had caught a strange beast. In reality, the
stocky, black-haired primate that they
trapped was probably just a chimpanzee.
The American and Canadian mountains
gradually grew awash with stories of
Sasquatch appearances; there were even
reports of gangs of strange creatures
attacking people in the forests. The
Sasquatch phenomenon was never solely
focused on the idea of a single creature, and
people have always considered there might
be a breeding colony. At that time, the

mystical beasts were primarily of interest to
lumberjacks, miners and those who lived or
worked in areas where it had been sighted.
That changed in 1958 when Jerry Crew, a
bulldozer operator working in Humboldt
County, California, made casts of the bizarre
footprints he had found. A local newspaper
photographed Crew, and his picture was
syndicated across the United States. The
sight of a man holding a plaster cast record of
the tracks of a mysterious beast started the
modern Bigfoot legend. But if Crew’s
discovery helped to launch the myth, it was
an episode nine years later that sealed
Bigfoot’s place in the American consciousness.
In October 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob
Gimlin were riding on horseback through
Bluff Creek, north California. They were in
the area specifically looking for Bigfoot.
Suddenly one appeared in their path, and
Patterson was thrown from his horse. Whilst
Gimlin kept a rifle trained on the beast,
Patterson quickly regained his footing and ran
towards the creature, filming all the time with
a cine camera they had taken with them. The
result is perhaps the most enigmatic evidence
yet. The footage shows a large hairy biped
slowly strolling into the undergrowth. Experts
who have closely studied the film suggest it is
a female Bigfoot, as two mammary glands are
just discernible on its front.
Although the evidence is startling, many
have questioned its authenticity. Some
experts believe, if the film is played at a
slightly faster speed, it could easily be a
human in a costume. However, aspects of the
footage are quite amazing. For example,
biotechnology scientists have said that for a creature like Bigfoot to walk upright it would
need an extended heel. The creature on the
film has an extended heel.
Experts in the industry initially expected
the film merely to be special effects, but they
have been unable to find any tell-tale signs that it is a hoax. Similarly, a group of Russian
scientists who attempted to determine the
correct speed of the film came to the
conclusion that the creature really did have
a long, lumbering gait. However, Gimlin
himself has entertained the possibility that he might have been an unwitting participant
in a hoax orchestrated by his friend. This we shall never know as Patterson died of cancer
in 1972.
More recent sightings of the ape-man have
taken on a new and bizarre twist. People have
reported seeing UFOs in the regions of Bigfoot
appearances. Also, the creatures are now said
to have bright red eyes and be carrying
glowing orbs. This may seem a strange
development, but Sasquatches were always
reported as having a quality beyond the
physical, and it has always been suggested
that when they die, Bigfoot bodies vanish into
the ether. This is a shame, because to really
accept Bigfoot’s presence, the world needs to
see some hard, physical evidence