# Any believers here in Bigfoot/Sasquatch/the Florida Skunk Ape? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067 "2011-01-26T17:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/61 "2011-01-31T00:49:48Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I saw a black bear once, on Rock Island, one of the wilder places near me. > > A bear wouldn’t be impossible, but not likely these days. But three of us on the hike saw it clearly, leaning over in the path in front of us a few hundred feet. Instantly, we stopped and watched, then approached it carefully. > > It was a big tree stump. Laughs with you 😃 My tree stump moved with all the grace and power that a big cat shows. I’m now firmly convinced that I saw a space alien with a bad disguise. Who’s to say that space aliens arent plants? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/62 "2011-01-31T02:05:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If so, how do you account for the lack of sasquatch bones in the La Brea Tar Pits, or anywhere else? > [@SeldomSeen](#): > > The La Brea tar pits angle doesn’t really mean anything. That region may never have been their habitat, or maybe they were just smart enough to avoid getting trapped. A lot of existing animal types have _not_ been found in the tar pits, or in fossilized form. As to the lack of carcasses or bones, well, tens of thousands of animals die in the field every year, but one rarely finds carcasses lying about. Nature has a pretty efficient disposal system. There are almost\* no human remains in the La Brea tar pits, either; presumably humans are smart enough to avoid them despite however many millenia this continent has been inhabited. But it’s a silly test; the hot, dry deserts of SoCal are a far cry from the cool, wet forests of the Pacific Northwest. There’s a Bigfoot trap not far from my parents’ house. The people who run it have never caught anything except hobos, who were promptly released, no matter how badly they needed a shave. My mother takes her third grade class there on field trips. \*Only one human has ever been recovered, and she had a badly crushed skull. Scientists have speculated that she’s a murder victim. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/63 "2011-01-31T03:19:30Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > The La Brea tar pits angle doesn’t really mean anything. That region may never have been their habitat, or maybe they were just smart enough to avoid getting trapped. A lot of existing animal types have _not_ been found in the tar pits, or in fossilized form. As to the lack of carcasses or bones, well, tens of thousands of animals die in the field every year, but one rarely finds carcasses lying about. Nature has a pretty efficient disposal system. Tell that to my neighborhood naturalist, who regularly writes about such things as animal carcasses found in the woods. Myself, I’ve seen dead animals of just about every species that inhabits the forest I live in. Most are roadkill, but none are bigfoots. Want a fox skeleton? Just go to the nearby museum. Wolf? There’s a stuffed one in the ranger’s station at the nearest park entrance. Deer? All over the place. Skunk, possum, squirrel, porcupine, rabbit, mouse, you name it. Carcasses are everywhere. Let’s go for a walk in the woods and I’ll find you some before lunch, or before you lose your lunch, since some piles are not all that attractive. Only a city boy would make a claim that there are none. Country people will just laugh at you. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/64 "2011-01-31T04:23:57Z")
**Musicat** said: > [@](#): > > Only a city boy would make a claim that there are none. Who made that claim? **Musicat** said: > [@](#): > > Tell that to my neighborhood naturalist, who regularly writes about such things as animal carcasses found in the woods Ask him how old they are, and how long they remain identifiable **Musicat** said: > [@](#): > > Want a fox skeleton? Just go to the nearby museum. Wolf? There’s a stuffed one in the ranger’s station at the nearest park entrance…Skunk, possum, squirrel, porcupine, rabbit, mouse, you name it… 'spose they just found those lying around in the woods and drug 'em in? **Musicat** said: > [@](#): > > Carcasses are everywhere. Sorry amigo, I’m calling BS on this one. I’m not sure what it was that set off this stream of vitriol from you, but it’s getting kind of old. SS ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/65 "2011-01-31T04:57:58Z")
These days almost everyone carries a video- or digital stills camera with them, and more people than ever are hiking through forests and up mountains, and yet sightings are not increasing, physical evidence is not being found, photographic evidence is no clearer than previously. I would’ve hoped that something more interesting would start to rear their head these days. Nothing yet. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/66 "2011-01-31T05:26:09Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Tell that to my neighborhood naturalist, who regularly writes about such things as animal carcasses found in the woods. … Country people will just laugh at you. I’m not what i’d consider to be country, I live in the middle of the desert. I hike and 4-wheel in places that have no roads, no cell phone towers. I’ve found a spring where there wasn’t supposed to be water. I’ve found lots of trash in unexpected places. I’ve put out fires that were started by broken bottles. I’ve seen one body. It was a bloated up cow. The stink made me run back to my jeep. I went back a couple of days later, just to look. The only thing I saw that might have been evidence was bits of hide and a lot of hairy poop. The scavangers don’t leave much. GuanoLad, I saw a jaguar. I didn’t move because I didn’t want to scare it off. I was so awe struck that I didn’t think to pull my phone out of my pocket and take pics to post online. I don’t really believe that there is a large humanoid lurking in the Seattle woods. I also don’t think that everyone who claims to see odd things are lieing. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/67 "2011-01-31T14:17:40Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I don’t really believe that there is a large humanoid lurking in the Seattle woods. I also don’t think that everyone who claims to see odd things are lieing. Nobody lies? Tall tales don’t exist? Your two sentences are contradictory. If they are not lying, then bigfoot exists. How can you reconcile that? Some may not be lying, but mistaken, as we all can be on occasion. Is that a possibility or are you dismissing that explanation? > [@SeldomSeen](#): > > 'spose they just found those [carcasses] lying around in the woods and drug 'em in? According to the park ranger, yes. They were good enough to send to the taxidermist. Haven’t seen a stuffed bigfoot yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/68 "2011-01-31T15:09:40Z")
**Musicat** , tone it down, please. This is IMHO, where people are allowed to voice their opinions. You are free to disagree, but the combative tone you’ve adopted is unacceptable for this forum. **Ellen Cherry IMHO Moderator** ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/69 "2011-01-31T15:32:21Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > [This is what convinced me.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NNb1pgQlQo) Okay, I was ten years old in 1977. How come I have no recollection of that? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/70 "2011-01-31T15:52:16Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > **Musicat** , tone it down, please. This is IMHO, where people are allowed to voice their opinions. You are free to disagree, but the combative tone you’ve adopted is unacceptable for this forum. > > **Ellen Cherry > IMHO Moderator** There’s nothing unacceptable about post #67 for this or any other forum. Please read it carefully. I am answering questions and suggesting reasons to explain the phenomenon claimed. If that isn’t fighting ignorance, I don’t know what is. And nowhere did I say that people couldn’t voice their opinions and they don’t seem to be holding back any. I’m the only one who has to? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/71 "2011-01-31T15:57:50Z")
Musicat’s posts on this subject are on the money, despite the ranty tone (which comes across as quite entertaining, if you aren’t the target…). It really isn’t worth putting any credence into these anecdotal reports, given the total lack of physical evidence over the entire history of the US. Americans have been shooting up the wildlife for centuries. There is a strong cultural element to sightings of phenomena. If you examine the reports uncritically, over the years witch and succubus numbers have declined, while Bigfoot and Aliens are thriving. I blame global warming. My crappy sighting anecdote, walking near my parent’s place at Christmas I thought I got a fleeting glimpse of a deer. When I looked again, it was no longer there, and no-one else saw it. I have no idea if it was really there or it was just my brain filling in some details around a shape. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/72 "2011-01-31T18:45:17Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Okay, I was ten years old in 1977. How come I have no recollection of that? Maybe the Men in Black used the flashy-thing on you? 😉 [Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot_and_wildboy). It was a Sid and Marty Kroft show that ran on Saturday mornings, though most people don’t seem to remember it as well as some of the other Kroft shows. I always wanted a big styrofoam boulder to throw like Bigfoot does in the opening. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/73 "2011-01-31T21:23:33Z")
Never bothered to visit the Tar Pits…it matts down our hair. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/74 "2011-02-01T04:02:43Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Nobody lies? Tall tales don’t exist? Your two sentences are contradictory. If they are not lying, then bigfoot exists. How can you reconcile that? > > Some may not be lying, but mistaken, as we all can be on occasion. Is that a possibility or are you dismissing that explanation? I didn’t say that nobody lies and I’m always up for a tall tale. Mistakes also happen, just like the one you told about the bear. Many years ago, I had Fish and Game come to my house because someone had reported that I had a mountain lion in a cage. I had put up a room sized cage next to a window so that my cats could go “outside”, and someone had seen my 22 lb Maine Coon shortly after he got his summer crewcut. I’ve seen stuffed jackalopes. I’d guess that there are a few tourists who go back to Japan or wherever thinking that jackalopes are real because they saw a stuffed one in a store. Personally, I think that most people who think they’ve seen Bigfoot are mistaken or chemically enhanced. I feel the same about people who have seen UFO’s. I am NOT going to just automatically assume that people are lieing when they tell these stories. IMHO, most people are good and honest. They honestly believe what they are saying. That’s really what the quoted statement meant. I don’t automatically assume that people are lieing. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/75 "2011-02-01T10:34:39Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I am NOT going to just automatically assume that people are lieing when they tell these stories. IMHO, most people are good and honest. They honestly believe what they are saying. Thing is, many people would see lieing about a Bigfoot encounter as a harmless bit of fun. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/76 "2011-02-01T14:39:33Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I’m reminded of a dinner party I had a few months ago in which a friend’s wife mentioned an urban legend that has long been thoroughly debunked on the internet, and stated it as fact. If I had responded then as you have responded now, the equivalent act would have been for me to have broken my glass over her head, kicked her repeatedly after she crumpled to the ground, and then spit on her unconscious body while telling her how wrong she was. 😕 That’s what you **do,** right? I remember a Miss Manners column about it. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/77 "2011-02-01T16:36:59Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Take the Cougar, _Puma concolor_, for example. The wildlife folks say populations are expanding, they’re everywhere here in the western states. I’ve spent a great deal of time in prime cougar habitat, have no doubt they’ve watched me, but I have never, ever seen one of the bloody things (always wanted to). But a shy, intelligent animal that wishes to avoid human contact can easily do so. That’s a rather lame analogy. As you yourself pointed out, there are people out there who have documented the cougar’s existence, and who are actively tracking its population. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/78 "2011-02-01T16:48:40Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > \*Only one human has ever been recovered, and she had a badly crushed skull. Scientists have speculated that she’s a murder victim. L&O: PLEISTOCENE LOS ANGELES. [_doink_doink\*] “There are no defensive wounds, Detective. Tentative cause of death is blunt-force trauma with a flint-headed axe. I’ll have more for you after I gobble some of these mushrooms and do my dance. And wash off this fucking tar.” ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/79 "2011-02-01T19:22:35Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > What is your problem? That is a super aggressive response to a guy who was just saying “I’m not ruling it out.” You know science is on his side, right? We may not waste a ton of research money and time trying to prove the existence of bigfoot, but neither is a good scientist going to say “it does NOT exist.” > Starting with a supposition like this shows about as much scientific and philosophical integrity as a slice of swiss cheese. A good scientist does indeed say “It does NOT exist” when it comes to cryptids in which there has been NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER of that creature. Blurry pictures and sketchy reports of seeing vague shapes in the dark is not considered evidence. A dead bigfoot is evidence. In science, the burden of proof is on the person making the claim that a cryptid exists, not for a scientist to disprove that something that has never been proven to exist is real. A good scientist doesn’t say “Well, there’s a possibility that bigfoot exists, we can’t rule it out…” A good scientist says “There is no evidence that Bigfoot exists. If indisputable evidence is ever found that bigfoot exists [eg, a team of scientists performs a necropsy on a dead bigfoot], we can accept that bigfoot exists.” ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067/80 "2011-02-01T19:58:27Z")
“There is no evidence” =/= “it does NOT exist.” And yes, blurry pictures and sketchy reports actually are evidence. Shoddy, yes, fabricated, possibly. But still evidence. “Evidence” =/= “concrete evidence.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-believers-here-in-bigfoot-sasquatch-the-florida-skunk-ape/569067.md?page=5)