general
Roaming through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, this large shaggy biped has been sighted by hundreds upon hundreds of shocked observers. From its humble news article beginnings in 1920 British Columbia to today’s widespread YouTube news, this cryptid has benefitted from a long-lasting love affair with the media.

Long before newspaper articles and televised exposes, Bigfoot knew a long oral history belonging to the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest. Many tribes of this area had regional names for Bigfoot, most loosely translating to “wild man”.
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description/appearance
The term Bigfoot conjures images of a tall, hairy ape-like creature dashing through the evergreen tranquility, occasionally pausing to have a blurry photo taken. To date, this is an accurate image. Though many photos exist of this cryptid, none have been accepted as absolute proof of the existence of Bigfoot.

Bigfoot stands an impressive 6-12 feet (1.8-3.7m) tall with its weight guessed at 500-1000 pounds (230-460kg). Though standing erect on two legs, the creature is often seen with a stooping posture.

Witnesses have reported that Bigfoot is covered with a long, shaggy reddish brown, dark brown, grey, or black hair or fur. Close encounter reports mention that Bigfoot lacks hair around its face, its breasts, and the palms of its hands.

As one might assume from its moniker, Bigfoot has large feet, often recorded at over 24 inches (61cm) long and 10 inches (25cm) wide. Many plaster casts of Bigfoot tracks have been collected and some show interesting anomalies such as twisted or stunted toes, or lacerations in the pads of the foot. Some early plaster casts show no signs of actual movement by the foot that created them, obvious signs of pranksters.

Witnesses stumbling upon a face-to-face encounter with Bigfoot are most disturbed by its expressive eyes set in a nearly-human visage. This similarity to the human face has been compared to that of the gorilla with its strikingly emotive countenance.

One does not necessarily need to see Bigfoot in order to experience it; Bigfoot is also very audible and pungent. High-pitched hooting and whooping as well as stump-thumping, which have defied explanation by experts, are thought to be Bigfoot individuals communicating across distances. A powerful musk is also associated with this creature. This musk has been likened to dung, death, wet dog, and rot. Many witnesses report being beset with nausea when confronted with this odor.

Prominent cryptozoologists and Bigfoot experts believe that Bigfoot is nocturnal and may have eyes more adept at seeing in the dark. Bigfoot may also be an omnivore, existing mostly off vegetable matter, but consuming meat when the opportunity presents itself. A suggested secondary stomach used for breaking down less digestible vegetable matter may explain the odiferous encounters with Bigfoot.

Anyone wishing to track down a Bigfoot should be aware that a small percentage of Bigfoot reports do include aggressive behavior from the cryptid. While no one has ever been seriously injured, there have been reports of stone and log throwing and behavior associated with territoriality; however, most Bigfoot encounters do not include aggressive behavior.
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range/habitat
The Bigfoot phenomenon began in North America’s Pacific Northwest. This area includes British Columbia, Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, northwestern California, and parts of Montana, Alaska, and the Yukon.

Reports of Bigfoot or creatures very similar to Bigfoot have been received from all across the United States as well as throughout Canada. Reports originating from outside the Pacific Northwest of Bigfoot like creatures are occasionally given local names, like the Skunk Ape of Florida which is described as shorter, darker, and stockier than Bigfoot of the Pacific Northwest.

Though the area ascribed to Bigfoot seems tremendously vast with unpopulated woodland areas abounding, doubt still remains as to whether a large hominid or family of hominids of could exist without verifiable discovery.
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history/origin
To the general public, the Bigfoot craze began in northwestern California’s Humboldt County in 1958 when 16 inch (41cm) footprints were found around a road-construction site. Andrew Genzoli, reporter for the Humboldt County Times, used the term “Bigfoot” as the title for an article about the prints. The term stuck, resulting in Bigfoot as a sensation. Since that time, Bigfoot sightings have occurred all across North America and even into Central and South America.
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timeline/major sightings
Due to the staggering number of Bigfoot sightings on record, the listings below comprise only a very small sample of the myriad reports available. The Bigfoot Field Research Organization’s sighting database is an excellent source of documented sightings, though even it does not house all the sightings that have been recorded.

July, 1924: Five miners staying in a log cabin near Mount Saint Helens, Washington, heard strange thumping and whistling sounds while out prospecting. Shortly after, they spotted a creature matching the description of a Bigfoot. The men, all armed with rifles, opened fire on the creature. More creatures appeared and the miners retreated to the log cabin. The creatures launched an assault on the cabin, throwing rocks and pounding on the building throughout the night. The miners shot at the creatures through chinks in the cabin’s log work. One miner insisted that he hit one of the creatures at point blank range. By morning, the creatures had given up their attack, but no wounded or dead were found. The miners quickly left the cabin.

1924: Albert Ostman claimed to have been abducted by a Bigfoot and forced to live with its family for six days until he was able to escape. In his telling of the story, Ostman insinuated that he had been abducted for the purposes of mating.

August, 1967: Robert J. Emery and a Private Mickles, both part of a military training exercise at Fort Lewis, Washington, mistook three shadowy creatures for other soldiers until the creatures began moving swiftly and silently towards them. The two soldiers ran from the creatures and took cover under the boughs of a low-hanging tree. Emery reported a very strong weird odor as the creatures milled about out of view.

October 20, 1967: Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, both from Yakima, Washington, were riding horseback in the Bluff Creek area of northern California when they came upon what is thought to be a female Bigfoot. Patterson’s horse startled and fell on top of him before he could begin filming what would become the most famous and debated piece of motion picture of any cryptid before or since. The stabilized film may be viewed here:
Patterson/Gimlin Film Stabilized
Many many thanks to M. K. Davis for this much-needed stabilized version of this famous film (© M.K. Davis, December 2005)
This film also represents a case of finding what is being sought as the two men were specifically looking for photographic evidence of the Bigfoot phenomenon.

May 27, 1981: The Oregonian reported the discovery of 12in (30cm) long footprints by Weyerhaueser heavy-equipment operator Melvin Frost in a remote and restricted piece of land approximately 30 miles (48km) south of Olympia, Washington. An anonymous anthropologist was called in to investigate the prints by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office and reported that if the prints were not part of a hoax, they would indicate a creature with a stride much longer than a human.

October 22, 1984: A bicycle enthusiast on a long trek stopped to camp on route M-28 south of Big Bay, Michigan, when he heard a loud screech from the surrounding woods.

June 18, 1990: A solitary camper on Grass Mountain near Enumclaw, Washington, first noted an odor described as a “dead animal smell” while hiking, then encountered a tall muscular creature with reddish hair, massive shoulders, and no visible neck. The camper hastily returned to his campsite some thirty minutes away with the odor following him the entire way. He did not see the creature again, but felt it has followed him down the mountain.

June 10, 1995: Two campers camping at Corral Pass Campgrounds near the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort in Washington witnessed a large hairy creature walking up a ravine directly across from their campsite. The creature was largely obscured by brush and trees, but was visible enough to encourage the campers to move their campsite closer to other campground occupants. Later that night, the campers were awoken by rhythmic pounding on the ground followed by three shrill screams.

April 14, 1996: Out enjoying a river-side hike, J. R. Morris of Mason County, Washington, photographed a footprint of approximately 18in (45cm) in length near the north fork of the Skokomish River.

September 22, 2000: The Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO), one of the biggest and most well-organized organizations dedicated to resolving the mystery of the Bigfoot, obtained what many believe to be a full-body cast of a prone Bigfoot. Others, including the co-founder of BFRO, recognize imprints in the cast to be made by a kneeling elk. The approximately 400 lb (181.44 kg) plaster cast, known as the Skookum Cast, was taken from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State.

August 2004: As 32 year-old Jennifer Ward was driving on Moore Road in Lakeland, Florida, with her two sleeping daughters in the backseat, she spotted something hunched over in a ditch. Slowing her vehicle, Ward saw a creature she described as being between 6 - 8 feet (1.8-2.5m) tall and covered in 2 inch (5cm) long hair.

September 22, 2007: A motorist traveling on Rose City Road in Lupton, Michigan, witnessed a tall creature move quickly from the middle of the road to the woods. The creature was described as having thick dark hair with a silvery top coat and a large chest.

March 17, 2008: A young camper in Fresno County, California, reported seeing a hairy bipedal creature approximately 6.5 feet (2m) tall while collecting firewood.

February 14, 2008: A young couple walking along Valley View Drive in Butte County, California, smelled a putrid odor and had the sensation of being watched. After arriving home, they sat on the young man’s porch and noted the neighbor’s dog acting timidly. Several loud grunts and growls were heard from a tree line before the two witnessed a 10 foot (3m) tall hair-covered creature run across the neighbor’s lawn in a stooped manner.
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suspected hoaxes
Perhaps no other cryptid, with the exception of the Loch Ness Monster, has been the subject of hoax and hi-jinx like Bigfoot. Any prankster with a piece of plywood and a jigsaw can become the next trail of Bigfoot footprints. While these pranksters are now easy to spot and ignore, the new millennium brings craftier and much more devious flimflam artists like notorious charlatan Tom Biscardi (see below). Sadly, these hoaxes obscure any real truths to be found and endanger a branch of science already facing several challenges.

1967: The famous Patterson/Gimlin film (see above) has been the object of scrutiny and speculation since its public appearance. Some claim that Patterson and Gimlin may have been the subjects of a hoax, while others maintain that they knowingly perpetrated one. Thirty-six years later, a man named Bob Heironimus came forward to admit that he wore an ape suit in the famous film. Heironimus passed a polygraph test confirming this in 2005, but Gimlin, the only survivor of the duo, claims that a real Bigfoot, not Bob Heironimus in an ape costume, was the subject of the film.

May, 1976: Cherie Darvell was allegedly abducted from the woods near Eureka, California, by a Bigfoot while she was part of a film crew filming a piece about Bigfoot. Despite the efforts of Humboldt County search and rescue teams, Darvell remained missing for several days, only to walk unharmed and unharried into a local resort. It was speculated that the alleged abduction was merely a publicity stunt for the film.

May 26, 1996: A prominent Bigfoot investigator, the late Fred Bradshaw, was present for a highly suspect videotaping of what is purported to be a running Bigfoot. Known as the Memorial Day Footage and shot by Lori and Owen Pate, the film has been edited to remove casual and juxtaposed audio comments by the inebriated people behind the camera. The quality of the video tape is very poor, the locomotion of the subject is very much like that of a human, and many cryptozoologists immediately discredited the footage. The Memorial Day Footage may be viewed here: Memorial Day Footage

September 2, 2001: Simon Garth, a resident of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, claimed to have shot a Bigfoot and stored it in his freezer. A reporter for Wireless Flash picked up the story and distributed it online. The next day, Garth admitted to not having any such thing in his freezer, but simply wishing for a spot on the Howard Stern show. The reporter immediately issued a rectification to his story.

August 19, 2005: Thomas Biscardi, self-proclaimed “real” Bigfoot hunter and CEO of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., made claims on Coast to Coast AM that he knew the location of a captured Bigfoot specimen near Happy Camp, California. For the fee of $14, online viewers could watch the creature through a webcam service. When the piece was scheduled to air, however, Biscardi came forward to say that he had been deceived and there was no Bigfoot. Coast to Coast AM host George Noory publically insisted that Biscardi refund money to all those who had pre-paid to view the Bigfoot webcast. Biscardi offered refunds to anyone purchasing the webcam service after August 19th.

October, 2006: A Bigfoot sighting by a boatful of haunted house-goers was later revealed to be a youngster in a Bigfoot suit. The prankster appeared on the riverbank of the Dewdney River in British Columbia, hurling rocks at the passing boat. Most on board found it amusing.

2008: Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed to have found a Bigfoot body while hunting in Georgia. They claimed to have seen several live creatures as well during the same hunting trip. The two men, each with a background in law enforcement, put the alleged corpse on ice, unceremoniously dropping it into a picnic cooler, filling it with water, and freezing it. The two hunters were legitimized early in this scandal by dubious backer Thomas Biscardi. During this ordeal, Biscardi was advertising seats on a Bigfoot safari on which he and his searching for Bigfoot team would bag a live specimen. The story of Whitton and Dyer began to unravel when it was discovered that their claim that a scientist had flown to Georgia to inspect the corpse was not true. Meanwhile, Biscardi claimed to have inspected the corpse before being frozen, touched some organs, and verified its legitimacy. His credibility went from shaky to nonexistent though when the ice melted and the Bigfoot turned out to be an ape suit and animal entrails. Biscardi, now somehow a victim, wishes to sue Whitton and Dyer, alleging that he was duped and lost in excess of $50k. Whitton and Dyer claim that they were simply having fun with the American public to take everyone’s minds off the war.
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