One of the things that is usually relagated to the "fairy tale" area , is the possibility of Bigfoot actually existing. Even though there are actually many credible stories of people who claim to have seen one of these creatures, and even some pictures that appear to be real; still the theory that they DO exist is always discredited. The general assumption is that if they were real; we would have found one, or the remains of one, and it would be proven that they exist. Since that has not happened (at least as far as we know), they are assumed to just be someone's overactive imagination, or an all-out hoax. However, there are at least a couple things to consider here. If you ask people from almost any Native American tribe, they will tell you that they believe that Bigfoot is real. Since they live closer to nature than most other people have done; it is more likely that they would have encountered Bigfoot than somome living in the city. If Bigfoot is actually some sort of remnant of an early humaniod creature, and they are actively avoiding any contact with people; it would be very easy for them to do so, since there are many parts of the world where no one has ever been. The panda bear was not even discovered until the late 1800's, and even though the Chinese reported that there was a black and white bear living in the mountains; no one believed them, because people had never seen one. Eventually, someone killed one, and had the skin to prove that the panda was real; but even then, it took many more years before one was finally captured. A panda bear stands out in their native habitat, so if you were anywhere close to one, it would be easy to spot a panda. They do not even try to hide from people, and still they were believed to be non-existant simply because they lived in area where people didn't go. How much more likely is it that if a creature lived in uninhabited areas of the world, and actively hid from humans, that they would also be thought to be a myth ?
I think the real problem with Big Foot is where it is supposed to live - different from its cousins the Abominable Snowman that lives in the Himalayas (supposedly) - there are a lot of people in the USA and people spend a lot of time in the woods. There is a lot of technology too - and people have spent their lives looking for evidence/proof. All the videos are like the Nessie clips, so low quality and distant that they are easy to fake or explained by optical illusions etc. I think if there is a surviving descendant from Australopithecus other than us, then it is more likely we will find him (or her ) in rain forest where they would not have been wiped out by neolithic/and later humans. 100 years ago we found an island of tiny people - like pygmies but in perfect proportion but all under 3 foot - this was on one of the Malaysia/Indonesian islands - sadly disease wiped them all out, but their skeletons and drawings from the time still exist. There are many places that are not inhabited; many little islands even off major countries shorelines (like Scotland/Philippines/mid Atlantic and Pacific) - add to this the Amazon, rain forest in Asia (including here in Thailand - occasionally there is a helicopter crash in the deep jungle - it takes weeks to find the bodies and can only be reached by another helicopter due to the density of the forest, wild tigers and leopards and high mountains. People do not live in this jungles except for the very edges and along rivers - there could be many undiscovered creatures abroad in these places.
There are native populations in many areas of the world that have "legends" of seeing something that looks like what we call Bigfoot, for lack of a better common name. They are seen in different sizes, depending on the countries that are talking about them. My thought is that there could be types of early humanoids that live in many of the uninhabited areas of the earth; and seldom be seen by people. If they have adapted to areas where humans can't or do not live, then they would rarely if ever be seen. Even if there were actual proof of them existing; it might not make it onto the news simply because it doesn't fit with our approved common theory of evolution.
I have a hundred acres of mostly wooded land in northern Maine. I have five wildlife cameras that I set up in different parts of the woods because I enjoy seeing the different animals that pass through, and have particularly enjoyed the antics of one particular bear that seems to follow me through the woods, since he finds my cameras sometimes within minutes of my being there, since I have to pick up the discs and replace batteries every now and then. While I've paid a few hundred dollars for a couple of my cameras, others cost less than a hundred, and I can't help but think that some clear photos of Bigfoot would have shown up on someone's wildlife camera at some point, since they're so prevalent.
As a teen, bigfoot and nessie were two subjects discussed lazily over board games with close friends and it was fun to think they might be real. Documentaries that suggested their reality were anticipated with pleasure; but for all that, I don't think anyone I knew had any really deep seated beliefs in either. Then, too, even if real the existence of either was rather far and away from where we lived in our little valley town in East Tennessee. I hadn't really thought of either since that time until fairly recently. Now, suddenly...Or maybe not so suddenly, since word has taken a couple of years to grow, bigfoot is back in the forefront of my mind and more so than ever before because the sightings are no longer far and away, but are on my playground in the portion of national forest area where my husband (Ken) and I camp and ride our horses. I'm thinking it was about three years ago when we were riding a trail along the edge of an old tributary. Little water still runs there. Hardly enough to be called even so much as a creek. There are a few large rocks along and a whole lot of sand. Sometimes people go down in there and walk around, as not too far down is an open place with a small public boat ramp accessing the Ocmulgee River. The place is called called Wise Creek, probably named for the old tributary. Anyway, as I was riding along I looked down into the old sandy bed and noticed some rather large footprints. I'm not sure why they attracted my attention any more than any others I might have seen there, but they did. They just looked odd and I remember thinking that maybe they were a few days old and their appearance had changed, but something inside me said different. It said to me that the prints were fresh. Unsettling, it was; but I said nothing to Ken and we rode on enjoying the day on horseback as always. I've seen those prints several times since; and, each time, there is just something that stands out about them as being unlike any others I see and immediately recognize as human. It's not strictly that they are barefoot, as sometimes I notice people's barefoot prints along and they don't stand out. It's not even their size, appearing large, but not so large as to make me think "bigfoot". So bigfoot never entered my mind until about two and a half years ago--not long after I'd seen the prints for the first time--when a new camp opened up about a mile and a half down the road from the site that we lease in Saddlehorse. The new camp was called Bigfoot Crossing, and we wondered about that for awhile. Then we started hearing rumors of people having encounters of one kind or another with bigfoot (foots? feet?). Then it got to be more than just rumors. People around us in our campground were starting to talk about having heard them--bigfoots; and, sometimes, having smelled the rotting meat smell that's supposed to be indicative of them. Then started coming the photos of footprints found various places in the woodlands, along with tales of having caught glimpses of the creatures. These are not what I would call loopy or unintelligent people. Most of them are people we have come to know and respect as camp neighbors--friends we've spent a good deal of time riding with, conversing, sharing meals sometimes and just having a good time with at night around the campfires. The bigfoot controversy has divided our camp, however, into three parts. There are those who love to talk about the experiences that have made them believers, the scoffers who are almost angry about it and want no part of any bigfoot discussion at all (who are, incidentally, the most fun to bait), and those like Ken and I who don't believe but love the discussions and hearing the tales of those who do. A lot of our favorite people from Saddlehorse have moved to Bigfoot Crossing. We continue to lose people to there as leases run out; and though they are leaving for more practical reasons than a belief in bigfoot, it seems that the ones who are going are all believers and that the Crossing is going to be made up of such. Which is fitting, I suppose. By invitation from some of our friends, Ken and I have stopped by the Crossing and checked it and the owner out. We decided we would stay put, though, as we think Saddlehorse is by far the more attractive campground. Even so, the Crossing is situated exactly on one section of trail that we ride a lot and when we see activity in the camps of our friends we stop in and visit. In this way we've also gotten to know the man who owns the Crossing, as he is usually around and likes a good chat as much as anyone. He is quite an interesting man, too. I don't remember where he said he is from. He is American, I think, but has a bit of a different accent that I can't place. He also talks as if he has always had an interest in bigfoots and seems to have travelled a great deal in search of them. He has many stories to tell about what he has seen in other places as well as what he has found in our little area. In fact, he is quite excited about what he's seen and found around our little area. Enough so, apparently, to have bought the land he's on and settled here. And moreover, he has paid "experts" to come in and assess the bigfoot situation. The "experts", too, were quite excited, saying that there is a rather large population of "smaller bigfoots" around here--apparently our variety is just a bit smaller than the norm, so I guess you could say we have "little bigfoots". Among some other of the "expert" findings were a number of "shelters" supposedly typical of having been made by bigfoots. I haven't seen one (shelter), have no idea what to look for, but would like to see one just to know what it might look like. I mean, Ken and I spend more time out there at our campsite than any other people we know--aside from the Crossing owner who now lives out there--and we have been riding in those woods for over fifteen years. We have never seen, smelled or heard anything that might lead us to believe we'd had an encounter with a bigfoot. We've talked about it, just the two of us, a lot since all this has come about. I'm not saying this is or isn't so; but with what we've put together, all of this started at or around the time the owner of the Crossing showed up. We're thinking that bigfoots might be good for his business and that could be why they seem to have appeared when he did. It wouldn't take a good hoaxer a great deal of time to build the stories up. Just some footprints here and there. A few strange noises along. Some wood knocks, which I think will become more frequent as people start to get into the stories more and more--just people knocking wood answering people knocking wood, not bigfoots communicating with one another, most likely. I'm with Ken--the administrator, here, not the husband, though he agrees as well--that there are too many of those little cameras tacked up in trees for an image of a bigfoot not to have been captured by one if there were any. Hunters never see them. And even if they were as elusive as it is said that they are, what do they do with their dead? No one has ever found one so far as I've heard. I have to say, though, that we're enjoying all the stir at the camp; and now, when I see the funny footprints I tend to imagine Gary--the Crossing owner--tromping along in some rather strange looking shoes. Time will tell, I suppose; but for now, it is rather fun to discuss.
This sounds "like things that go bump in the night". I think I agree with Ken that there are enough cameras outthere that would have picked up somehing by now if there really was a BigFoot among us.
I think that there are truths in this world that are suppressed from common knowledge. I am a conspiracy theorist to the center of my being. I love reading about these possibilities ! Who knows which ones will prove out to be true; but some of them have come to light, and are now admitted to be an actuality. It seems reasonable to me that early humanoids existed in different shapes and sies, and lived in different climates. Those who lived in cold snowy areas would have needed more hair than ones that lived in warmer areas. It is now known that early man was interbred with neanderthals in some areas, but not all areas. I see it is a possibility that some of these neanderthals (who co-existed with early man for thousands of years) are still in existance yet today, and we only get glimpses of them very occasionally. Most of the Native Americans believe in some kind of a "bigfoot" although they call it by different names. Many other countries also have legends of these hairy ape-like creatures, and just simply because the legends exist in so many places around the earth; I think that the creatures exist also. http://www.lloydpye.com/hominoids.htm
You have a point about the number of legends and how widespread they are, Yvonne. That is something that has struck me in the past, also, as being odd, if nothing else. It does make one think that there has to be at least some truth behind them all. The stories around here must be growing beyond the area of the campground now, because yesterday coming back from Monticello Ken and I saw a silhouette in the shape of a bigfoot leaning against a tree out in a pasture. The people we know who are now totally convinced have all had some experience or other that they can't put to anything other than a bigfoot to their own satisfaction. Many of them have had two or more separate experiences so far. They all say, "I know my friends think I'm crazy, but I know what I saw," along with, "When you see one yourself you'll believe." I like these people. I respect these people. And I don't think they're crazy. I don't tell them I don't believe they're seeing what they think they're seeing, because I know they're seeing "something". Besides which, I love hearing their stories. If there are bigfoots down by the Ocmulgee I would dearly love to see one myself. Until then, though, I will remain skeptical.
There are even stories of Bigfoot in Maine, although I am not personally acquainted with anyone who claims to have seen one. If you look at a map of Maine, you will see that approximately one-third of the state is uninhabited. The northwestern part of the state is owned by paper companies, for the most part. There are no roads, towns, or inhabitants. The paper companies allow people on the property but few people go there because there are absolutely no facilities for anything. There are logging roads but they may or may not be blocked at any given time, bridges may be out, or they may be otherwise impassable. No one suggests trying to drive a car on them. You might be able to get through on a dirt bike or ATV and I believe the paper companies allow it, but if you broke down, you'd be on your own, without even cellular reception.
Damn just lost my post! " the number of legends and how widespread they are" we must remember that America is a nation of immigrants - even the Native Americans were immigrants. These creature stories are not new, many are several thousand years old. It makes sense that they will be widespread - so is the story of Christ. These are not secretly held information in select cults, but highly publicised, tourist attracting, stories that permeate culture (through books, films and documentaries).
I just found a new video that is on Youtube about a possible bigfoot sighting in the Michigan upper peninsula area. Someone had put a camera high up in a tree where there was an eagle's nest because they wanted to watch the baby eagles hatch out. In this one section of the eagle cam, you can plainly see something moving down below the camera and going through the woods. It is large, but it does not move like a bear would move, even if it were (for some reason) walking on its back legs. Because so many of these turn out to be hoaxes, we tend to believe that none of them are real; but that does not mean that some of them could not actually be real photos of a bigfoot creature.
Personally, I put Bigfoot right up there with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I mean with all the supposed sightings in all these states, how come no one has even found a bone or a skeleton that could be analyzed? I mean there are hundreds of people who hunt these things, and there has been nothing analzyed by cryptozologists saying that Bigfoot is real! I don't believe it at all..but hey if they find some real evidence.I will believe it.
Absolutely...Then there are the oceans. Don`t forget the oceans. An environment even less known about. One might not come across a ''Bigfoot'' at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench...But, one could certainly come across a ''Bigfin''....!!