Bigfoot: The most elusive prey of all

Bigfoot: The most Elusive prey of all

Imagine hiking in the serene beauty of the mountains in Washington, vast and grand with civilization seeming as only a distant memory. Climbing through the dense woods surround by isolation and then there is movement ahead, staring hard and intently shocked by the image ahead it becomes all too apparent that you have just seen a Bigfoot. You can’t believe your eyes as you look at this 8ft tall giant upright walking ape. Yes a Bigfoot sighting, another one of the many sightings in Washington State this year alone.

Bigfoot is said to be an 8ft tall upright walking ape humanoid type creature. Bigfoot has dark brown or black hair and a foul smell that is supposed to resemble putrid rotting fish and meat. This elusive creature has been spotted all over the world. The area with the most sightings is the Pacific Northwest. From Northern Oregon through Washington and up to southern Canada, this creature has been sighted by Native Americans and settlers for Hundreds of years. Bigfoot or Sasquatch as many people know it has its many other names such as Yeti, Skookum, and Ape Man.
Through my research of witness statements it has been found on countless occasions that a variety of people have had Bigfoot encounters. On September 23rd 2009 a mother and daughter were both eyewitness to seeing a bigfoot on there camping trip in Pennsylvania which they described the creature as a tall muscular being that had come within a few hundred feet of them. The next day they had a Bigfoot researcher come to site and he had then found large footprints in the area that could only be described as “non- human.” A Forest Worker who was fixing trails through the lowlands around Mt. Rainer spotted what she believed was a black bear. An animal she says she regularly encounters in her job. She stopped working to take a better look, when she stood up she was in shock. What she was seeing wasn’t a black bear. It was a Bigfoot, the creature was standing straight up, looking down at her, as if the creature had been watching her for some time. During my research, reading eyewitness statements. I found the majority of the sightings were from avid hikers, hunters, and forest workers. People who are aware of what animals live in the area and what they look like. (http://bigfootsightings.org) I myself am an avid hiker with the singular goal of spotting Bigfoot; though so far my expeditions have been fruitless inevitably this goal will become a reality.

With such a rich amount of sightings throughout history though I believe that there is a very real possibility of the existence of this species because new species of plant and animal are discovered around the world almost every day and the vastness of forests in Washington alone would make it quite easy for Bigfoot hide. Even wanted people can easily hide from the authorities in the vastness of the woods in Washington for example Colton Harris-Moore. A young man that has stolen planes, cars, boats, and even police cruisers yet the police have yet to catch him because the forests of Washington are so large that there are simply too many places to hide and not enough people searching. If a young man can be so elusive in the forest it really makes a person wonder about how elusive a creature that has been in that environment for untold years could be. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/08/washington.barefoot.burglar/)

The best known evidence of Bigfoot is The Patterson Film. The Patterson Film was shot on October 20, 1967. Two horseback riders were riding through the mountains of Northern California; the two men Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin witnessed this creature walking across a rocky stream bed and filmed it. Digital Scientist have gone over this film, declaring the film not tampered with. With the stride the creature takes so easily and the way the muscles move it’s impossible for the human body to recreate. Although many claim the film a hoax, Patterson the man behind the camera claimed the film was real on his death bed. (http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/strasenburgh.htm)

Bigfoot sightings have been reported for hundreds of years and all these reports predate from 147 years to 33 years. (Stephen Lindsay. "SEEKING SASQUATCH; Scientists studying phenomena believe creature exists; many questions surround Bigfoot sightings; :[ONE ZONE ONLY Edition]. " Spokesman Review 5 May 2007,Washington State Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 19 May. 2010) In the mid 1800’s Native Americans told frightening stories of The Sasquatch. The Sasquatch were a race of cannibalistic wild men that lived on the peak of Mount St. Helens. The Sasquatch would feed on Native Americans. Through time the modern name of Bigfoot has been used over that of the term Sasquatch. In Indian legend, Bigfoot has such a historical significance; with Bigfoot carved on Totem Poles and drawn in Native American art. On may 9th 1851 there was an article in the Memphis Enquirer of a bigfoot sighting and it reads as such “An animal bearing an unmistakable likeness of humanity, he was of gigantic stature, the body being covered with hair and the head with long locks that fairly enveloped the neck and shoulders. This singular creature has been long known traditionally in St. Francis, Green, and Poinsette counties, Arkansas, sportsmen and hunters describing him so long as seventeen years since.” (http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/strasenburgh.htm)

It is believed by skeptical people that the sightings themselves aren’t from credible sources. They would question the intellect behind those that had seen Bigfoot, but it is not uncommon for people to try to get their moment of attention by using a shocking fictional encounter to rouse the imagination of people. I interviewed one such person about their ridiculous sighting. It was made by a woman just off of mountain loop highway and she had told me that she would put children’s toys in her lawn and that multiple Bigfoot would come in the dead of night to barrow the toys. The woman had also claimed that after a couple days the Bigfoot would return the toys in fair condition. I personally believe the intellect of that individual was lacking at best. But one thing a person must consider is the elusiveness of the creature itself because one does not simply find Bigfoot walking through town and most witness sightings tend to be from more reliable people, such as forest rangers. One must also be weary of the many falsified youtube videos and product advertising campaigns that use Bigfoot as a mascot.

Man has come a long way through history and, though Bigfoot sightings have been very apparent throughout time, there has yet to be a Bigfoot captured or the remains of one found. With the current technology today such as thermal optics and motion sensors it would be hard to believe that an animal can be so elusive that it can’t be found. But one also must take in consideration the amount of woods available compared to the amount of area that cameras actually cover, which in comparison is not significant. Must often cameras are placed along hiking trails themselves and considering Bigfoot tends to be deep in the wilds it is unlikely that many cameras are randomly placed throughout the barrens of the forest. It is quite common in Alaska for all kinds of wildlife such as bears and cougars to be caught on motion sensor cameras on trails made for hikers, yet not a single Bigfoot has been seen in such pictures. Our ancestors of course had to rely only on their vision to actually judge what they were seeing as a creature or the mistaken identification of an animal. Could it be possible that all the Bigfoot sightings throughout the world in history are just the misinterpreted images of shadows in the night or bears in the moonlight, playing on the fears of man and getting the best of them?

In conclusion one must understand that a person cannot doubt something just because they haven’t seen it, who can see the air? Who can doubt the existence of a new breed of butterfly or the evolution of ancient humanity? The world is a large place with many discoveries waiting right around the corner and that is plenty of reason to keep thinking, to keep searching, and to never doubt the unknown until for a fact it is known.