Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a large and hairy human-like mythical creature purported to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

Enthusiasts of the subject 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. Most of this evidence has since been identified as hoaxes or misidentification. The majority of scientists do not find any of the remaining evidence compelling, and instead generally consider it to be the result of a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than a living animal.

Folklorists trace the phenomenon of Bigfoot to a combination of factors and sources, including indigenous cultures, the European wild man figure, and folk tales. Wishful thinking, a cultural increase in environmental concerns, and overall societal awareness of the subject have been cited as additional factors. Bigfoot is an enduring element of popular culture[16] and an icon within the pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology.

History

Many of the indigenous cultures across the North American continent include tales of mysterious hair-covered creatures living in forests, and according to anthropologist David Daegling, these legends existed long before contemporary reports of the creature described as Bigfoot.

On the Tule River Indian Reservation, petroglyphs created by a tribe of Yokuts at a site called Painted Rock are alleged by some to depict a group of Bigfoot called “the Family”. The local tribespeople call the largest of the glyphs “Hairy Man”, and they are estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old. 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.

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”. Each language had its name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names mean something along the lines of “wild man” or “hairy man”, although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees. Chief Mischelle of the Nlaka’pamux at Lytton, British Columbia told such a story to Charles Hill-Tout in 1898.

The Sts’ailes people tell stories about sasq’ets, a shapeshifting creature that protects the forest. The name “Sasquatch” is the anglicized version of sasq’ets (sas-kets), roughly translating to “hairy man” in the Halq’emeylem language.

Origin of the “Bigfoot” name

In 1958, Jerry Crew, bulldozer operator for a logging company in Humboldt County, California, discovered a set of large, 16 inches (410 mm) human-like footprints sunk deep within the mud in the Six Rivers National Forest. 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 450 pounds (200 kg) having been moved without explanation. The logging company men soon began utilizing “Bigfoot” to describe the apparent culprit. 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.

Proposed explanations

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

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. Additionally, black bears have been observed and recorded walking upright, often as the result of an injury.

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.

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. Additionally, some have attributed feral humans or hermits living in the wilderness as being another explanation for alleged Bigfoot sightings.

Pareidolia

Some have proposed that pareidolia may explain Bigfoot sightings, specifically the tendency to observe human-like faces and figures within the natural environment.

Hoaxes

Both Bigfoot believers and non-believers agree that many reported sightings are hoaxes. Author Jerome Clark argues that the Jacko Affair was a hoax, involving an 1884 newspaper report of an ape-like creature captured in British Columbia.

Scientific view

Expert consensus is that allegations of the existence of Bigfoot are not credible. 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.

As with other similar beings, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature’s survival in reported habitats unlikely. 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.

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