There is so much controversy as to whether or not bigfoot is real. I am neutral right now, because there are facts to support either side. Can anyone give me some definite proof to prove it either way?
Define “real,” “bigfoot” and “proof.”
Please elaborate on the facts that support the existence of Bigfoot.
Well, my dad wears a size 13W, and he likes to go hiking barefoot. Does that count?
Well, there are those eyewitness accounts of…oh, wait a minute, those guys admitted it was a hoax. Never mind :rolleyes:
The reason I find it unlikely is that people find old bones of things all the time. We find fossils and bones things millions of years old. If these Bigfoots (or is it Bigfeet - LOL) exist they have to die eventually, shouldn’t you be able to find evidence then.
A bigfoot would be large so it’s not like it’s bones would be fragile and quickly break and turn to dust.
From the perspective of my field (folklore), a lot of evidence that can explain bigfoot stories doesn’t require actual physical bigfoots (bigfeet?) to exist. For instance, the Nepalese Yeti and Burmese Migoi are part of the same continuum that gives us Chinese Sun Wu Kong and Indian Hanuman, more-or-less anthropomorphic monkeys or apes that have supernatural powers. In other words, supernatural non-human large primates running the gamut from rare wild creature to powerful god exist in many cultures in Asia.
I know less about the North American version(s), but it’s worth asking a lot of questions about the cultural context of the beliefs and legends before you hire the cryptozoologists to go seeking physical evidence. At a guess, I’d say it’s connected to the woodwose or wild man figure in medieval European tradition, springing from Christian ideas about the nature of man, but it could just as easily have roots in other traditions instead or as well.
The rationalists will bring up gigantopithecus here… eh, maybe.
Ah, but we have found fossil evidence of an enormously large primate. It’s known as Gigantopithecus, and went extinct a few hundred thousand years ago. And now, you might ask yourself, if we can find evidence of a bigfoot-like critter that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, why can’t we find any evidence of a bigfoot-like critter living today? And the answer, of course, is that there isn’t one living today.
ETA: Just to clarify, since Dr. Drake’s post wasn’t here when I previewed, I’m not bringing up gigantopithecus as a possible dimly remembered source of yeti legends, just as an actual large primate which would pretty much fit the bigfoot description. Aside from being extinct for pretty much all of human history.
For cryptology nobody ever seams to connect freaks to being just that mutant freaks. It always has to be a hidden breeding colony. Sometimes a misshapen mutant does survive to be seen as an adult. As for Bigfoot, I haven’t seen proof. Last year a number of new anthropoids were identified, but not in the USA. They might find some thing more manlike than they have in South America.
The yeti is one of the least likely to occur. The wild man in Vietnam were more likely to have existed. If they did, the area they were likely to be in was fire bombed to hell during the war in the end.
It’s very highly doubtful. There’s little Native American folklore, if any. The other evidence is either doubtful or bogus. Also, as has been said- we’d very likely have found a body (living or dead) by now.
Most unknown crypto animals are also very highly unlikely. The onely one I hold any real hope for is the Tasmanian wolf, which is classed as extinct but may not be.
Well, there’s Homo Floresiensis which survived until 12 000 years ago and possibly into modern times (given that the locals seem to have folklore descriptive of them).
Small rather than big, I know, but still…
Is he covered in matted hair?
Forget bones. Where are the hair, the teethmarks on food, and the droppings?
The last house I lived in was in a deer rich area. We only saw deer about twice a year. However, we saw deer droppings almost every day and often found deer teeth marks on the crab apples.
Where is any of that evidence for Bigfoot?
Simple answer: no.
I think they were, but they have all been recalled to the mother ship.
There are Native American tales from the Pacific Northwest that mention a being that some have linked to Bigfoot, but my understanding is that they are pretty rare in local mythology. You would think that an enormous manlike creature would be more significant if it existed.
I think the fact that Native American cultures have preserved NO artifacts from remains of this magical creature is probably the strongest evidence that it does not exist. I’m sure that the medicine kits of shamans or other culturally significant items must have contained teeth, bones, hair, feathers, or skin of essentially all the larger mammals and birds found in the region. It’s impossible to imagine that Native Americans could have lived in the region for thousands of years without ever coming across a bone or pelt and preserving it.
It is sometimes claimed that because a few large mammals new to science have been discovered in recent decades that something like the bigfoot could remain hidden as well. However, local indigenous people have always been quite familiar with these animals and knew where to find them. They became known to scientists when local people showed them skins or bones that they had in their possession. If bigfoot existed, Native Americans would unquestionably possess some identifiable remains that could be tested and verified. They don’t.
The fact that we haven’t found a dead one- or the bones of any primate larger than a human in North America- is as close as you’ll find to proof that they don’t exist.
You can’t prove a negative, Kacha94- we can’t prove that Bigfoot doesn’t exist for the same reason we can’t prove that a 40-ton cupcake with legs doesn’t exist.
Singularity “education”
inflicts a dog brain upon
Students - ability to be
taught servitude - but
an inability to ever think
opposite of brainwashing
and indoctrination - very
unlikely to ever recover
to acknowledge Nature’s
Harmonic Simultaneous
Rotating 4 Corner 24 Hr.
Days in 1 Earth Rotation.
Dr. Gene Ray, Cubic and Wise Above God.
Oh, and the o.p.'s specific question has been addressed adequately in [thread=395683]this prior thread[/thread].
Stranger
Well, if you asking in the context of this short story, yes, Bigfoot is real.
But if your question is taken at face value, you will be disappointed. Folklore plays a huge part here, and it’s since turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. You want to believe in its existence so every dark movement in the woods is now Bigfoot.** This is perfectly naturally, especially in those areas where the Bigfoot stories have such a strong attraction. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the attraction is very strong.
From a purely scientific perspective it makes sense. Lots of really big trees up here (height and diameter), heavy undergrowth, difficult terrain. Many areas of the PNW are temperate rain forests. Yup, with three-four-five foot ferns and sub story vegetation on par with Jurassic Park. Hell, even the banana slugs around here are big enough to carry off small children and give the Aussie Dingos a run for their money. (OK, so that last part was a wee bit much.) Other than no sight of Sam Neil or a Barbasol can in the creek bed, and you really could think you were on the movie set, or a few million years back in time. But I digress.
The actual wildlife 'round these parts are also big, dark and hairy. Black bear, grizzlies, mountain lions, bobcats, wolves, all come to mind right away, just to name a few. Even some of the coyotes are big. I once came around the bend in late autumn and couldn’t believe my eyes. Not 100 feet in front of me slowing crossing the road was what I thought was a wolf. Size, fur, body shape, it had all the prerequisites. I figured it was my lucky day since we have a standing request to record any wolf sightings. (Yes, I had my camera with me, but it was still in the pack. No time to get it out, step out of the vehicle and fire away.) It just looked at me a sec, turned away and ambled off of the road into the woods. When I got where I was going that morning I was prepared to file a report. However, they all knew about this guy. Sorry, just a very large, well-fed and full winter-coated coyote. Nope, I wasn’t incorrect about his size; he really was that f***ing big, on par with some of the wolves known to exist here.
The point is, I knew I was in wolf country. They are rare to see in the wild. Still, my first glimpse was clouded by an incorrect first impression. Coyotes are around here, too, but this size? Extrapolate that and a simple known big animal is magically transformed into Bigfoot, more so if you are caught up in the stories.
Just this week I received an unconfirmed sighting of a wolverine. Now we’re talking really rare. I’ve passed it along to the experts to add it into the log. They probably cannot confirm it as 100 percent genuine, because the source is a one-off sighting with an unknown reputation. Still, the written description is spot on, and its description is huge (and very plausible based on confirmed sighting at other times). Had it stood up on its hind legs and leaned against a tree, it could have easily been imagined as a really hairy human around six feet tall. It doesn’t take much more to think Bigfoot.
** On the other hand, the [illegal] market gardeners don’t shave or bathe that often and could be mistaken for Bigfoot (that is, if the Big Guy spoke Spanish). But you really don’t want to meet up with these guys. The crops they are tending and protecting have a large cash value and strangers are not welcome.
I saw a show delving into this mystery a couple of years ago. They interviewed a guy who had been a park ranger in the PNW for 20 or whatever years. They asked him if he had ever seen a Sasquatch corpse. His answer was that he hadn’t, but he also had never seen a bear corpse. There can’t be much doubt that bears are up there, so the absence of a Sasquatch corpse can’t count for too much.
But, as far as I know, no one has produced irrefutable proof of its existence.