{"id":21860,"date":"2013-05-23T22:41:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T05:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=21860"},"modified":"2013-05-23T22:41:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T05:41:04","slug":"the-origin-of-the-bigfoot-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/the-origin-of-the-bigfoot-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"The Origin of the Bigfoot Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bigfoot\"<\/a>Today I found out<\/a> the origin of the Bigfoot legend.<\/p>\n

Stories of a giant, hairy creature that appears half man and half ape have existed in various parts of the world for many centuries. In fact, the only continent not to have stories of \u201cwild men\u201d is Antarctica. In the Himalayas, it\u2019s the Yeti. In Canada, it\u2019s the Sasquatch. And in the northwest United States, it\u2019s Bigfoot. Bigfoot is described by believers as being between six and eight feet tall with a large forehead and pronounced brow, like a cave man\u2019s, and a rounded, crested head like a gorilla\u2019s. He is covered in brown or red hair and has enormous feet that are his namesake, with the biggest estimation at a whopping two feet long by eight inches wide. Some \u201cwitnesses\u201d claim that the five-toed Bigfoot prints they saw on the ground were accompanied by claw marks (not unlike a five-toed, clawed paw print of a bear\u2014but rational explanations aren\u2019t as fun).<\/p>\n

Stories of a “wild man” existed among the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest long before white colonists moved in. Versions of Bigfoot ranged from harmless giants who stole fish from fishermen\u2019s nets, to cannibalistic monsters living on mountain peaks. These stories varied from tribe to tribe, and even from family to family, which meant that Bigfoot had a lot of different names. In the 1920s, J.W. Burns compiled the local legends for a series for a Canadian newspaper, coining the term \u201cSasquatch\u201d in the process.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1958 that the Bigfoot legend really started to kick off in the United States. That year, a man named Gerald Crew found a set of large footprints at a construction site where he worked in California. He had his friend make plaster casts of the prints. The story gained a lot of attention after being published in the\u00a0Humboldt Times,<\/i>\u00a0and was picked up by the Associated Press, drawing international attention.<\/p>\n

Turns out, the footprints were a hoax (surprise, surprise). After the death of a man named Ray Wallace\u2014the brother of the man in charge of the construction site where the prints were found\u2014his family stepped forward to say that he was responsible for faking the prints. Scoop Beal, the editor of the\u00a0Humboldt Times,<\/i>\u00a0is also said to have been involved. Nevertheless, the 1958 prints find brought the first \u201cBigfoot Hunters\u201d to the area.<\/p>\n

In 1967, the \u201cPatterson-Gimlin film\u201d was captured. The film shows a tall, hairy \u201cBigfoot\u201d walking through the forest. Believers in Big Foot note the creature\u2019s inhuman way of walking is a major point toward the film being real. Patterson also claimed to have taken the film to a group of people working in the special effects department at Universal Studios who supposedly<\/em> said,<\/p>\n

We could try (faking it), but we would have to create a completely new system of artificial muscles and find an actor who could be trained to walk like that. It might be done, but we would have to say that it would be almost impossible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, a number of factors lead to skeptics believing it\u2019s a hoax: people who knew Patterson have described him, frankly, as a liar; Patterson\u2019s version of events\u2014including an estimate of how tall \u201cBigfoot\u201d was\u2014 also changed and escalated over time.\u00a0 More to the point, a man named Bob Heironimus claimed to have worn the Bigfoot costume for the making of the film. Most likely, and not too surprisingly, the film was a hoax.<\/p>\n

The most common explanation for Bigfoot sightings is that people are playing pranks. There was even once a thriving market for \u201cBigfoot feet\u201d to create your own prints to trick your family and friends. People still even dress up in ape costumes and ghillie suits<\/a> in order to perpetuate the legend.<\/p>\n

Some sightings are also simply misidentified animals. In 2007, a photo was snapped in Pennsylvania using an automatically triggered camera hanging from a tree. While believers claimed the blurry photo\u2014showing a large, hairy creature standing on all-fours\u2014was that of a \u201cjuvenile sasquatch,\u201d the Pennsylvania Game Commission said the creature was most likely \u201ca bear with an extreme case of mange.\u201d\u00a0 Looking at the picture<\/a>, it could also just as easily been a human in a suit.<\/p>\n

One of the big questions posed to believers in Bigfoot is if there are enough of the creatures to maintain a stable breeding population, and over a reasonably large area given all the supposed sightings\u2014which there must be, unless they have extraordinarily lengthy lives\u2014then why has a body of Bigfoot never been found? In 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton claimed to have solved this problem after they supposedly found a Bigfoot body, posting a video of it on YouTube. The body was nearly eight feet tall and weighed over 500 pounds. Despite even some Bigfoot experts doubting the young men’s story, the discovery was covered by CNN, ABC, Fox, and BBC News, and the pair received $50,000 from Searching for Bigfoot<\/em>, Inc<\/em>. as \u201ca measure of good faith.\u201d However, when the body arrived in a block of ice and was thawed and examined, researchers found that the \u201cbody\u201d was made up of rubber feet, fake hair, and a hollow head. Not exactly convincing. Dyer and Whitton later admitted that it was a hoax. (shocker)<\/p>\n

While the idea of a real Bigfoot is pretty unconvincing, the stories have caught on and are so prevalent in pop culture that it\u2019s unlikely the idea of Bigfoot will fade away any time soon. As with everything, treat the stories and information you hear or read with a healthy dash of skepticism. Someday real, solid proof of Bigfoot might emerge, but I’m not holding my breath.<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Google Play Music<\/a>, Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n