Bigfoot Poll

[Stillborn]

I once heard a cryptozoologist give a answer that expresses my stance. "On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I believe (or think) Bigfoot is real. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I think it's a whole lot of nonsense. On Sundays, I rest." Although, I would say try to rest.

 

[Raevenskye]

I tend to lean toward the idea that Bigfoot is a paranormal manifestation, but assuming it is a real flesh and blood creature, the idea that there is not enough forest in America for it to stay hidden is nonsense.

that's what i think, too.

 

[Stillborn]

Just so I know. Anyone here resonate with the late Eric Beckjord? Oh God, please say no. If you do, there won't be a flame war. I just wanted you painted orange so I can avoid you is all.

 

[TClaeys]

Not only was Beckjord "out to lunch", but everytime I heard him, he was a complete ass. There is no problem considering even highly strange potential, but at least defend yourself and your theories with some sound rationale.

Speaking of such, what do you people think is the best evidence for this alleged creature?? I don't find the prints all too convincing. There are too many variables. And the fact that we have virtually no physical evidence(other than prints) leaves its existence highly questionable. But apparently, according to the poll, many of you think it does exist. I'm really surprised at the results so far. Even so, why do you guys and girls think it is out there lurking in the woods, or hyperspace??

 

[Stillborn]

Not only was Beckjord "out to lunch", but everytime I heard him, he was a complete ass. There is no problem considering even highly strange potential, but at least defend yourself and your theories with some sound rationale.

Speaking of such, what do you people think is the best evidence for this alleged creature?? I don't find the prints all too convincing. There are too many variables. And the fact that we have virtually no physical evidence(other than prints) leaves its existence highly questionable. But apparently, according to the poll, many of you think it does exist. I'm really surprised at the results so far. Even so, why do you guys and girls think it is out there lurking in the woods, or hyperspace??

Yes, he's been banned more places than Horn I think. Even Wikipedia banned him I hear. Over the slop he threw up pertaining to the Patterson film. He sees several Bigfoots in that film, and the boobs are a baby. I don't even know if I see one Bigfoot let alone all that puckey.

It's the preponderance of evidence if anything. Though one possible hair sample case comes to mind from Asia. The rest of the scientific community hasn't chimed in tho, so who knows if it's legit.

A series of footprint casts over a 20 yr period and a 500 mile radius is worthy of singling out too maybe. Same foot, but grew a little and has scars. What you'd expect if the creature is a living animal and grows, gets wounded etc. I can't recall the case name though.

Although could be a prank/act, or mistake, I find this one of the more interesting cases. In terms of entertainment at least, not scientific evidence. Never found out any more details on it really. Curious if anyone ever studied his dead dog etc.

The Skookum cast is thought to be good evidence. I don't see it though.

 

[7 String]

I've seen to many strange creatures growing up in northern michigan too not believe in some sort of large hominid.

BFRO is going to be poking around here some where in Tennessee in march.... I wonder how pissed off they would get if I were to follow along and just camp just outside of there site. I would love to go but I ain't paying 500 bucks to hang out with strangers.

~A

 

[Killerclown]

Speaking of such, what do you people think is the best evidence for this alleged creature?? I don't find the prints all too convincing. There are too many variables. And the fact that we have virtually no physical evidence(other than prints) leaves its existence highly questionable. But apparently, according to the poll, many of you think it does exist. I'm really surprised at the results so far. Even so, why do you guys and girls think it is out there lurking in the woods, or hyperspace??

I think the eyewitness testimony (particularly when multiple witnesses are involved) is the most compelling evidence. I don't think all such cases can be attributed to hoaxing or misidentification. As to what people are seeing I think the question remains open and I don't think we have enough info to start ruling out any theories at the moment.

It may well be that we'll never have enough information to come to a conclusion. I agree with TClaeys, the footprints have never been of interest to me. They are too easy to fake and also to misidentify. That doesn't mean there aren't some genuine casts but on their own I think they are next to useless.

Similarly I haven't yet come across a case where hair samples didn't turn out to be from other animals such as bears or even human beings but it's still early days particularly for DNA testing of samples.

The technology for extracting DNA is becoming ever cheaper and more effective. Within the next few (5-10) years it will become possible to do full DNA analysis at home using small relatively inexpensive technology. This should allow a wider variety of hair/skin samples to be analysed and hopefully this will give a fair chance of finding something previously unknown to science.

As I've said before, it may be that by then Bigfoot is already extinct (assuming it is a flesh and blood animal).

 

[Schuyler]

believe, but my Physical Anthro buddies say no way..N. America just doesn't have enough dense forest to conceal primates of that size.

They must never have been in the Pacific Northwest. Olympic National Park is HUGE, and the Cascade Range has plenty of forest for those creatures to hide in. The virgin trees in the park average 200 feet tall. They blot out the sun to the point where it is perennial dusk on the ground. It's a 'rain forest' that gets close to 100 inches of rain per year. The underbrush of ferns, salal, and nettles is quite dense. You need a machete to go anywhere--not like your average 'forest' in Georgia, for example, that you can actually walk through. I believe small bands could easily survive in those areas.

I'm an anthropology major myself and I think what you are seeing is basic scientific orthodoxy in place. Also, there are some physical anthropologists who beg to differ. I forget the name of the professor now, (Krantz?) but he was a full professor at Washington State University in Pullman who hunted Bigfoot for years. He even bought a thermal imaging unit for $10K out of his own pocket to hunt the elusive beast. He was looked at askance by his colleagues, but he was still Chair of the Department; and he had the technical chops to make the determination that Bigfoot was possible.

 

[TClaeys]

Yep, Grover Krantz.

Anyway, I'm really surprised that 25 out 27 said they think bigfoot exists. That is astounding considering what little evidence there is apart from witnesses. Most people here seem to have a bit of skepticism in them and that is why this is so surprising. I don't know what to make of it.

I've been in pretty remote areas at times and understand the cloak of trees, brush, rocks, caves, etc. Still I wonder, where is the evidence for this creature?? It must take a monsterous dump. It must leave prints (like more than one). It must leave hair. It must sleep somewhere. It must die. Or maybe it is that I have too many preconceptions. If it does exist, it must be somehow outside of our current understanding of the way animals behave and the way we catalogue them. I don't think it exists considering the lack of evidence, but I'd love to be wrong.

 

[skunkape]

The idea that there is not enough wild land for Bigfoot to exist undiscovered assumes that this creature is as dumb as a raccoon.
Humans can be such vain animals.

 

[Schuyler]

Yep, Grover Krantz.

I've been in pretty remote areas at times and understand the cloak of trees, brush, rocks, caves, etc. Still I wonder, where is the evidence for this creature?? It must take a monsterous dump. It must leave prints (like more than one). It must leave hair. It must sleep somewhere. It must die. Or maybe it is that I have too many preconceptions.

Wow, my mind is only 3/4 gone! I'm not voting for the creature here and I understand what you are saying, but

1) The dump: Gone in a day or two, melted in the rain.
2) Prints: In a forest wouldn't last long either. The forest floor is littered with hundreds of years of debris.
3) I agree, especially with so many sticker bushes around to snag it
4) It must die; Yup, and the coyotes would get to it very quickly and scatter everything.

The rain forest is brutal in terms of 'recycling' animals. It is so very damp with fungus and moss everywhere. It's very rare to find bear, deer, or cougar carcasses in this environment either. Other than a few hikers there is very little human activity in many of these areas. Most of it is impenetrable to any but the most determined. If there were a creature 20 feet away, you'd likely never even know it.

Once again, not disagreeing with you at all. All we've got is a few stories and some hoaxes. You would think that the breadth of sightings (not just here in the forest) would have turned up something by now. I suspect the supernatural explanation is highly unlikely. I know there have been UFO/Sasquatch sightings, but this seems to me to be merging of folklore. I'd just as soon we left them alone of they do exist. It would be such a circus.

 

[thetruthisoutthere]

I think that big foot does exist and that he/she is just a really rare and unknown animal. I have seen and experienced a lot of weird stuff in my life so believing in something like this creature is not all that hard for me.

 

[spacebrother]

I was just in Northern New Mexico (7000 feet elevation, pine forest) and went out to a ranch to help film a segment for a DVD presentation. We talked to a guy who's had multiple Bigfoot sightings on his ranch. He told us:

He does find droppings that are not from any known animal in the area.
He has found footprints and even handprints in soft ground.
He and others have heard howls and screams.
He and others have found large "nests" or sleeping areas that are not like other animals' in the area.
He's seen it personally on two occasions.
People have had rocks thrown at them from areas of thickets and dense brush.

To me, it seems that Bigfoot-type creatures are seen regularly and have been in certain areas for centuries, but seem to come and go in some UFO flap areas. A carcass has never been found (although another man I talked with in NM says he's got info on one--we'll see.)

As far as I know, the only reports of a Bigfoot-type in a desert were from the Anza Borrego (CA) area in 1939 and again in 1969. Why do they stick to the greener areas? Food? Better cover? So that they're harder to find and track? The Yeti doesn't have a lot of options for hiding in the snowfields, but they seem to do OK keeping out of sight.

Ghosts sometimes look like living people and occasionally affect the physical environment (footsteps, moving objects.) That may be a clue. It seems that SOMEONE would have found a body by now, unless the creatures bury their dead, so I lean towards the paranormal explanation, i.e. I believe (at present) that the creatures are flesh-and blood only occasionally.

 

[paraschtick]

I believe (at present) that the creatures are flesh-and blood only occasionally.

And the strange but still truly scary thought before bedtime award goes to ... spacebrother!!!

And talking about creepy things. I remember seeing a film in the 70s called "Sasquatch" (I think ... its been a long time since I saw it, and it seems to me to still be a rather obscure film).

The plot surrounded the escapades of a big city family that move out into the wilderness (the Rockies or somewhere fairly GrizzyAdamsy) ... and after many adventures their wee hut gets attacked by a bunch of "Sasquatch"!

Anyhow, the cry of the Sasquatch was the creepiest sound I had heard in all my 10 years or so and it still brings the odd goosebump up on the back of any part of my anatomy you may care to mention.

It was a haunted sort of "aaawoooo" sort of sound ... difficult to render in text but believe me it was very very creepy.

In the same cinema probably around the same time, I also saw a film called "The Bermuda Triangle" ... which I have just discovered on IMDB was based on the Berlitz book of the same name. Well I never .

[just also read on IMDB that there was a film in the mid 70s called "Sasquatch" but with a totally different plot. So maybe I'm crossthreading two different films together ]

And now, as always, back to your featured presentation ...

 

[Stillborn]

If bigfoot is a bleed through from another dimension, or ghost, it sure is lucky to always happen upon the woods of another dimension. And not NY city and the Ocean. How does it occur? Bigfoots have technology? They drop it when they come here? I wonder why I don't read reports of more rabbit ghosts if Bigfoot is a spirit. Why all these bigfoot spirits and less of most the other animals? And why most human ghosts don't leave footprints? In my pondering and research, Bigfoot is more consistent with folklore and hoaxing, or a rare elusive animal. Like many animals once were to us. My questions above may seemed rhetorical, but trust me, if you can address them, I will indeed be thankful. This is stuff I've pondered for years and I'm not being an asshole toward your views necessarily. I say the above to either teach or learn. Either is fine with me.

 

[jkoci]

You left out the unsure/I don't know option.

Agreed. How about this option?

Bigfoot? Nope, just a big hoax in Conn. - Weird news- msnbc.com

 

[Simandl]

I fall into the category of "don't know." However, I do think that the possibility exists. If one looks at the area in which Bigfoot is said to exist, from CA to BC and from the Cascade to the Rocky Mountains, there is huge tract of land, much of it covered by dense forest and having never seen a human footprint. Can't say for sure without a live or dead one, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Simandl

 

[rowdy27]

"Sasquatch" is a big, hairy, stinky, fish-stealing, no-account, dimension-hopping, fur-bearing critter that makes for great "Beef-jerky" commercials! :

 

[skunkape]

And the strange but still truly scary thought before bedtime award goes to ... spacebrother!!!

And talking about creepy things. I remember seeing a film in the 70s called "Sasquatch" (I think ... its been a long time since I saw it, and it seems to me to still be a rather obscure film).

The plot surrounded the escapades of a big city family that move out into the wilderness (the Rockies or somewhere fairly GrizzyAdamsy) ... and after many adventures their wee hut gets attacked by a bunch of "Sasquatch"!

Anyhow, the cry of the Sasquatch was the creepiest sound I had heard in all my 10 years or so and it still brings the odd goosebump up on the back of any part of my anatomy you may care to mention.

It was a haunted sort of "aaawoooo" sort of sound ... difficult to render in text but believe me it was very very creepy.

You gotta dig up one called 'Night Of The Demon."
Night of the Demon (1980)

Here's a brief review by so<object width="425" height="344"></object>me kid with a funny accent.


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[Darkly Brooding]

I remember when I was very young, I actually wanted to be a bigfoot hunter when I grew up.
Nothing sounded better than living in the wild outback of BC and discovering an unknown species,...but then reality set in & I realized there was no college for bigfoot hunting, and you couldn't feed the wife & kids traipsing around the woods all day.

While I can't say there is an unknown giant hominid species definitively, I think the prospect is very real.

I look at the primate fossil records and realize there's more than enough gaps in the plethora of genome trees for bigfoot to fit into. Particularly in the Neanderthal line. A species that was more successful(although ultimately doomed) than us by at least 200,000 years. From our limited understanding of them, they were clan based, lived in isolated areas, preferred cave dwelling, and were better adapted to harsher climes than us.

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for a proto-Neanderthal to be in a giant form, solitary or monogamous(leading to instinctual burial practices), hibernating, vegetarian, xenophobic(who wouldn't be if you knew humans existed & weren't one), and crossed some form of Alaskan land-bridge tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago to settle in the Rockies.

I've also traveled British Columbia quite extensively, being an avid camper & hiker, and as Schuyler suggests, there's vast stretches of impassable, dense, temperate rain forest here that I'm sure have never been touched by human foot or eye. Ideal conditions for such a species to persist and flourish away from all human contact if ever there was.

Who knows, but the recent Georgia bigfoot body hoax really left a bad taste in my mouth for the subject, and made me realize how much I/we really wanted it to believe it to be true, despite the remote chances, in hindsight, that it wasn't a hoax.