Throughout the globe, there are countless numbers of cryptozoological creatures, more commonly known as cryptids. The most famous, having relatives (sometimes multiple) on nearly every continent on Earth, is Sasquatch.
Tales of hairy, human-like creatures date back centuries to when the Native Americans ruled North America. Nearly every tribe has stories and legends of a creature that matches what we now refer to as Bigfoot. The creature managed to mainly stay in the shadows, until the late 1960s. Though sightings by Native Americans and the settlers date way back, it wasn’t until the late 60s that the encounters started to make headlines. Extremely large human footprints were found at a construction site in California. That was put in the newspapers and then reached Roger Patterson. That led Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin to film some of the first-ever footage of Bigfoot, the Patterson-Gimlin Film, in Bluff Creek, California in the year 1967. Though its authenticity has been put into question countless times, no one has ever been able to prove it to be a hoax. If you haven’t seen it, or want to see it again (I could never get tired of watching it myself) check it out below. October 20th is actually National Bigfoot Day in the United States because it is the anniversary of the day the footage was taken back in 1967.
Flash forward now to 2021, there are countless sightings that have been documented and investigated by both amateur and professional Bigfooters. There are countless credible photos and videos of Sasquatch and its cousins such as the Yeti, Yowie, and Orang-Pendek. There are a few credible television shows that are dedicated to proving the existence of Bigfoot, such as Finding Bigfoot and Mountain Monsters. There are numerous excellent books on the subject, such as Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science by the amazing Dr. Jeff Meldrum, a Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology through the Department of Anthropology at Idaho State University. There are organizations dedicated to investigating sightings of the famous creature, such as the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), founded by Matt Moneymaker from Finding Bigfoot.
Sasquatches are very complex creatures. While not a ton is known due to their highly elusive nature, what we do know is fascinating. The main thing is their communication. Because they are fairly social creatures, Bigfoots have many ways of communicating. The most common is knocking. They will hit a stick or a rock against a tree to make a wood on wood knocking sound, or clack two rocks together. This can be done to communicate a number of things. The most frequent is location. Rather than using something more noticeable, Sasquatches can make a knocking sound and locate each other through that sound. It is kind of like humans playing “Marco Polo.” Researchers have also found that Sasquatches will knock to notify each other of how many humans are in the area. If there are five people, they will knock five times. This isn’t always true, however, as in most situations, the knocks do not correlate to the number of people in the area.
The second most common form of Sasquatch communication is vocalizations. There are a variety of different types of vocalization. They include whoops, howls, and screams. Whoops are loud and short, and sound as you would expect. Howls are longer, and tend to start lower then get louder before dying out at the end. Screams are the loudest, and can sometimes be confused with a human scream. Those who hear a Sasquatch scream tend to also report feeling intense fear as a result of the sound.
Sasquatches also make a couple of other sounds, but they are much rarer than the ones mentioned above. They have been known to whistle, and make a vocalization that sounds like a person speaking gibberish with what to me sounds like a Chinese accent also mixed with ape-like sounds. They have become known as the Sierra Sounds. Below are recordings of a Bigfoot whistle, and of the original Sierra Sounds recorded by researchers Ron Morehead and Al Berry. Wood knocks and other vocalizations are also mixed in with the Sierra Sounds, as they happened intermittently with them. The sounds are both intriguing and frightening.
There are many other Bigfoot sound recordings out there. You can hear some of the best on the BFRO website and on Cliff Barackman’s website.
Sasquatches have ways of marking their territory, as well as protecting it. They will throw rocks and branches to intimidate people out of their area. They mark territory with stick structures.
Every cryptid researcher has their own theories regarding Bigfoot. Here are mine, most of which are shared by other researchers.
I believe that Sasquatches use waterways as travel routes. Now, the bulk of Sasquatches establish home ranges. Sometimes they can be chased out by other Sasquatches or by those trying to prove their existence. They still use the waterways in their territory, however, to travel within and for food and water. But there are some Bigfoots that are more nomadic or that travel between territories. In Pennsylvania, the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (AIMS) discovered a map of the waterways from Pennsylvania to West Virginia in a cave used by a Bigfoot known as the Dustman. West Virginia’s most famous Bigfoot, known locally as the Yahoo because of his call that sounds like someone yelling “yahoo,” was heard in Perry County, Ohio, which is also part of the home range of the Ohio Grassman. Members of a clan of Bigfoots from Kentucky known as the Midnight Whistler were found in West Virginia. With waterways that run throughout these areas, I as well as the AIMS team theorize that Sasquatches may travel via waterways if they are nomadic and if possible.
A highly debated theory is that Bigfoot are aliens or aren’t physical creatures. I do not subscribe to this theory myself. Through my research, I have found many reports of Bigfoot encounters that coincide with sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). But it seems unlikely that Sasquatches are an extraterrestrial species themselves. The reason they are often seen in the vicinity of UFOs is that they are easy targets. Bigfoots live out in the woods. It is much easier and safer for extraterrestrials to abduct them than to track down a human that is in the middle of nowhere when most are in cities that are highly populated and often protected by the military from bases that typically aren’t too far away. I also believe that Bigfoots are physical creatures. Researchers have documented plenty of physical evidence left behind that points to that, like footprints, hair, and even faceprints/handprints. But there are some instances of spectral Sasquatches however. Humans can become ghosts, as can animals. Camels, which used to roam the wilds of the United States after being turned loose by the military, have most likely all died off. There are reports now of spectral camels. If you want to learn more about that (because it is quite interesting), read Nick Redfern’s book Monster Diary: On the Road in Search of Strange and Sinister Creatures. So it stands to reason deceased Bigfoots could become ghosts as well. There also appear to be some Sasquatch-like creatures that possess paranormal powers, though those cases are a lot more complicated to research. And while some may consider this to be crazy talk (and may even close this article right here and now), there is evidence to back up these claims. The Bigfoot phenomenon really isn’t as cut and dry as it may seem.
This is just some of the basic information about Sasquatch. There is much more information available from many more researchers, many of which are professional and have been researching these creatures for much longer than I have. People such as Matt Moneymaker, Cliff Barackman, James “Bobo” Fay, Loren Coleman (who owns the International Cryptozoology Museum in Maine), Nick Redfern, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, and so many more. There are countless incredibly well-written books on the subject as well, many of which are written by some of the very same people mentioned above.
If you have a Bigfoot encounter of your own, or an encounter with any other mysterious creature/strange phenomenon, and you would like to tell it, please contact me! I would love to hear it, no matter how strange it is.
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