1.0 Preamble
This webpage is about that cryptozoological creature (or cryptid) known as
Bigfoot ...
To the mainstream biologist and zoologist, cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, so
as far as they are concerned, it has not been proven that there are such things
as 'cryptids' — or Bigfoot, for that matter!
2.0 Notes
Here is what the very useful, user-editable and free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has to say about Bigfoot in its 'Bigfoot' entry:
Bigfoot or
Sasquatch is alleged to be an ape-like creature inhabiting remote forests, mainly in the
Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. Bigfoot is usually
described as a large, hairy, bipedal ape. Believers in its existence contend
that such an animal, or close relatives of it, may be found around the world
under different regional names, such as the Yeti of Tibet and Nepal, the Yeren
of mainland China, the Orang Pendek of Indonesia, and the Yowie of Australia.
Bigfoot is one of the more famous examples of cryptozoology. The scientific
community considers the Bigfoot legend to be a combination of folklore,
misidentified animals, and hoaxes. Despite its dubious status, Bigfoot has
become a popular symbol (see Bigfoot in popular culture).
In its entry on 'Bigfoot in popular culture', Wikipedia says that:
Bigfoot, or
Sasquatch, has had a demonstrable impact as a cultural phenomenon. Closely related
genres such as yeti fiction have also appeared.
Advertising
The meanings of the words, "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch", are quickly understood by
most people (at least in North America) and have been used in advertising and
applied to many products or services, such as pizzas, beef jerky, skateboards,
skis, an Internet search engine, computer hard drive series, gas stations,
Kokanee beer, a monster truck, and the mascot of the basketball team, the
Seattle SuperSonics.
Jack Link's brand beef jerky has produced a series of commercials entitled,
"Messin With Sasquatch." In the commercials, men appearing to be hikers play
tricks on Sasquatch (such as unscrewing the top of a salt shaker, causing salt
to spill all over when bigfoot goes to pour some on the food he is cooking).
The end of the commercials usually show Sasquatch reacting angrily to the
pranks, chasing and sometimes picking up the hikers and throwing them into the
air, nearly killing them or injuring them.
Conventions
There are annual Bigfoot-related conventions, and the creature plays a role in
Pacific Northwest tourism, such as the annual "Sasquatch Daze" held for several
years in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. Napier writes, "Bigfoot in
some quarters of North America has become big business ... It can no longer be
considered simply as a natural phenomenon that can be studied with the
techniques of a naturalist; the entrepreneurs have moved in and folklore has
become fakelore".
Wikipedia also listed numerous films, TV shows, games, books and even music
that are based on or have been influenced by the idea of Bigfoot.
As far as the Internet and the law are concerned, Wikipedia says that:
Internet
Several Internet cartoons created by Adam Phillips contain a Bigfoot, and its
child who features in its own episode:
Littlefoot. The Littlefoot is an inquisitive creature and the parent is a protective
caring animal who comes to its child's rescue when threatened. Both live in the
fictional forest of Brackenwood.
Bigfoot is a character on the web-series Sanctuary For All, aka Sanctuary (Webseries). Played by Bigfoot himself, he is a "Manservant"
to Dr. Helen Magnus played by Amanda Tapping. He is roughly 7-8 feet tall and
has lots of hair and one deformed foot. Before meeting Dr. Magnus he was
"mad ... [and] ... enjoyed scaring kids" [Webisode 4]. He scared Will Zimmerman
as a child (played by Darien Provost) and later apologizes to the adult Will
Zimmerman (played by Robin Dunne) saying "I know it's a long time coming but, no
hard feelings? ["Will and Bigfoot shake hands", Webisode 4]
Bigfoot, or sasquatch, is also the first episode in the We Are DocumentaryGoogle Video documentary series, along with many other cryptids.
Law
Regarding Sasquatch, Skamania County, Washington passed a law in 1969 that "any
willful, wanton slaying of such creatures shall be deemed a felony", subject to
substantial fine and/or imprisonment. The fact that this legislation was passed
on April 1 did not escape notice, but County Commissioner Conrad Lundy said
that "this is not an April Fool's Day joke ... there is reason to believe such
an animal exists" (Pyle, 278). Hunter and Dahinden record their own
"speculation that Skamania County authorities had their ears tuned much more to
the music of a publicity bandwagon than to any song of distress" for Bigfoot
(Hunter and Dahinden, 135-136). Notwithstanding, the ordinance was amended in
1984 to preclude an insanity defense and to consider such a killing homicide if
the creature was proven by the coroner to be humanoid (Pyle, 279).
3.0 Video Clips
Here are some video clips about Bigfoot or Sasquatch, YETI aka 'Abominable
Snowman', Skunk Ape or "Skunky", and even the (apparently or maybe alien)
Chupacabra ...
Bigfoot Sightings! -- More Videos!
To play the video clip, click on any of the titles:
 Javascript must be enabled!
Required at least Flash 8 ... |
There are also 'more serious documentary' series on Bigfoot, including the
'In Search Of' TV series, hosted by Leonard Nimoy of
Star Trek fame and the
A&E ("Arts & Entertainment") TV documentary series called
'Ancient Mysteries', also hosted by Nimoy. (Click on the
'Articles' button on the left NavBar to find the relevant web articles featuring these
videos.)
4.0 Postscript
We hope you have enjoyed yourselves watching the video clips about Bigfoot aka
Sasquatch, YETI or 'Abominable Snowman', Skunky, Chupacabra, and so forth.
But remember this ... none of these creatures has been categorically proven to
exist. In fact, many of the videos that are available on the Net, look like fakes or cases of
mistaken identification! (We have tried to illustrate this from the above videos!) Fuzzy and shaky
videos, or vague and indistinguishable photos, can't, don't, and wouldn't prove
anything — or they can be used to 'prove' whatever it is you
want to prove!
This is why the whole matter of video or photographic evidence should be
handled or approached with caution and clear-headedness. And if you don't think
videos and photos can be faked (even without any computer graphics software on
a simple PC or Mac), hey! which planet have you been living on?
As stated in our homepage and elsewhere in our other web pages and web articles
(see 'Articles' section; left NavBar), any extraordinary claim must be backed up with
extraordinary proof ... it is really very easy to fool ourselves (so don't
be swell-headed!) ... people tend to see what they want to see, or to believe
what they want to believe ... most of us suffer from cognitive biasness
(especially, perceptual errors, including a tendency to see 'patterns' such as
faces and animal shapes) as well as affective biasness (being emotionally
affected by their belief systems) ... most of us are untrained observers (many
trainers have proven this to their newbies at the start of the
training-in-observation classes) ... if it's in the area of Science,
sorry! — 'faith' and non-duplicable, anecdotal
evidence are no damn good ... just because someone doesn't have a profit,
political or other motive, doesn't mean what they say or testify is true,
because they
could be mistaken observers, untrained observers, drunk observers, observers
under the influence of drugs or suffering from mental problems (including
depression) or from insomnia, etc., etc., etc.
As a general rule, as any police officer, defence attorney or an officer of the
courts will tell you, eye-witness accounts tend to be unreliable (and
unfortunately, many have been convicted — and even
executed! — based on such
eye-witness testimonies).
So be aware ... and beware ... don't fall into the trap that I refer to as
'The Fringe'.
'Nuff said!
