Bigfoot: Examine Before You Doubt

The debate over whether or not Bigfoot is real has existed for many centuries. Many people have a similar story of their encounter with this large, hairy “ape man,” but for some reason his existence is denied and belief in his existence if often ridiculed. Many people label encounters with the beast pure coincidence and made up stories. They refuse to accept even the possibility that some unknown primate exits somewhere in the world. Many people may not have seen him physically, however there is evidence that strongly supports the fact that Bigfoot does actually exist.

According to Bigfoot--A Contemporary Belief Legend by Joyce Bynum, Bigfoot is just a legend that has existed for centuries and has transformed throughout the years. Stories of hairy man-like creatures date back to the 19^th century and are believed to have impacted the accounts of encounters with Bigfoot today. It wasn’t until the first report of Bigfoot that sightings of Bigfoot began to increase (352). Some people believe that Bigfoot stories arise from the stories of others, and this is said to be the reason why there are so many similarities in the reports of Bigfoot encounters. It is a known fact that as a society many of us tend to deny things that we can’t see for ourselves, and we call others crazy when they come across things that we cannot simply explain. As a result, people tend to keep their supernatural experiences to themselves out of fear of what others might think of them. Bigfoot encounters may have been occurring long before the first sighting was reported, but it wasn’t until afterwards that people felt comfortable enough to share their experiences.

Bigfoot’s existence isn’t accepted because there isn’t “concrete” evidence to prove that he is real. There is evidence that supports his existence, but a carcass is the only form of evidence that will satisfy everyone. “The only ‘hard’ evidence we have of Bigfoot's existence consists of casts of large footprints, some poorly-focused photographs, and some hair, blood and feces samples” (352). If Bigfoot was just a made up character based on legends of the past then how exactly did these pieces of evidence come into existence? You can’t just make fake blood and feces and expect no one to know about it. In any other instance a photograph of a person caught stealing would be enough for people to believe the person is a thief, and blood samples taken from a crime scene is enough to convict a suspect, but why isn’t it enough to prove that Bigfoot is out there somewhere?

“Ray Wallace… started the whole Bigfoot phenomenon. Wallace… had a love of practical jokes, and in 1958 he had a friend carve a pair of 16-inch-long feet, then he put them on and made some footprints” (Goldman 25). The first Bigfoot sightings were reported in the 1800’s so there’s no way possible that Ray Wallace could have started the whole phenomenon. Bigfoot is also spotted in many different parts of the world and the size the footprints are very large, but they vary in length and width. It is impossible for one man to travel around the world and lay down false tracks, especially when some were made even before he even began his pranks, and also before he was even born. “They [members of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization]… also obtained some hair samples that an independent lab found to belong to an ‘unknown primate’” (25). This proves that the world isn’t exactly as we know it, and that there are species out there that exist and haven’t been come across. If the world was what we knew it to be, the hair samples would have been easy to identify and matched to some creature. This is one of the reasons why we should neither throw away the beliefs of others, nor poke fun at people when they claim to come across things that we haven’t experienced or that we cannot explain.  Anything is possible, and it is definitely impossible for us to know every single detail of life, especially when the universe in which we live is so enormous.

The number one explanation for Bigfoot existence is tales of the past. This explanation is prevalent among many of those who deny Bigfoot’s existence. “Hufford asserts that ‘large hair-covered bipeds’ re-ported in different parts of the world under a variety of names might actually exist” (Milligan 83). The name Bigfoot was given not too long ago to describe the creature because of the size of his large feet, and the amount of tracks found as evidence to support his existence. “This consistency cannot always be explained through tradition since many of his informants were un-aware of traditional accounts elsewhere and even were ignorant of the various names given the creature” (84). Tales differ from place to place, and if Bigfoot was simply made up and based on folktales then the stories of his encounter would do the same. Many people that come across Bigfoot have no knowledge of the tales that existed of creatures that may have been similar to Bigfoot. Some people just happen to come across a being that they know as far different from anything they’ve ever seen.

 

The debate over whether or not Bigfoot exists will probably never be settled. Although evidence of his existence highly favors that he is real, admitting he is real years sown the line can cause a lot of disappointment in the world of science. The fact that the universe is so large and no one can possibly know every single detail of it should be the reason why scientists should not cast so much doubt on the existence of Bigfoot. Proving them to be wrong can result in a huge loss of faith by many because if they can be wrong about the existence of Bigfoot, just imagine the great number of other debatable topics they could also be wrong about.

Many pieces of evidence support the idea that Bigfoot does actually exist. Many encounters that people have with Bigfoot contradict the explanations that those who do not believe in Bigfoot make. It is possible for people to dress in Bigfoot costumes, but Bigfoot moves faster than any human and animal that we know today. Bigfoot is large enough to rule out the possibility to mistake him for another animal, especially if he is sighted clearly. Witness account may not be the most credible source, but when there is a great amount of witnesses who are having pretty much the same experience with the same beast, their stories are way more believable. Evidence is the largest and most important factor when supporting Bigfoot’s existence, and although there is a great deal of evidence supporting his existence, unless its Bigfoot's dead body, scientist throws it away.

 

Work Cited:

• Bynum, Joyce. “Bigfoot—A Contemporary Belief Legend.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics 49.3 (1992): 352-357. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2012
• Goldman, David. “Bigfoot or Big Fake?” Biography 7.6 (2003): 25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2012  
• Milligan, Linda. The “Truth” About the Bigfoot Legend. Western States: Western States Folklore Society, 1990. 83-89. Print. Between Pulpit and Pew: The Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2011. Print