To read this in French, click here.
In 1958, Jerry Crew was running a bulldozer for a logging company in Humboldt County, California, when he came across a set of 16-inch human-like footprints in the mud. After alerting his co-workers, they too said they found similar tracks on other sites that they worked, as well as experienced strange phenomena like a 450-pound drum being moved without a reason. Crew’s first thought was that someone local was playing a prank. However, a reporter from the Humboldt Times ran a series of articles on the occurrences, eventually nicknaming the culprit “Bigfoot.” Crew’s picture holding a cast of a footprint made national news, creating country-wide fame for this mysterious creature.
In 2002, almost half a century after the arrival of Bigfoot in the North American consciousness, Ray Wallace passed away. Wallace was a former co-worker of Crew's in Humboldt County. Wallace’s family received his possessions – which included a collection of large wood-carved feet. Wallace’s family made what might have been an uncomfortable announcement.
It turns out that Wallace had been in contact with hoaxer Rant Mullens, who used similar wooden feet to scare berry pickers in Washington state in the 1920s and 1930s. Wallace had obtained a pair of large wooden feet from Mullens with the intent of deterring thieves from the 1958 construction site and took his secret with him to the grave.
More than 40 years later, the origins of Bigfoot proved to be a deception. However, in those years the myth of the humanoid creature grew so big that the discovery of the wooden feet did little to dampen his status. Individuals continued to claim sightings and offer proof of his existence, from pictures to hair samples to sound recordings. Perhaps one of the most enduring pieces of footage is the 1967 video recording by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin. The video shows a hairy, ape-like creature walking through the same woods where Wallace left footprints. Still today, TV shows, podcasts and the dubious field of cryptozoology have been dedicated to finding Bigfoot. Last year, a friend told me that he seriously thinks that sasquatches can exist. There is little doubt: America is a nation obsessed with Bigfoot.
Although the name Bigfoot was born in 1958, the idea of a large humanish creature roaming the woods has been around a long time, particularly in Native American and First Nation tribes. In Iroquois legend, there is an aggressive, hair-covered giant with skin as hard as rocks. The Lummi from the Pacific Northwest tell stories of the Ts'emekwes, which share many similar characteristics to Bigfoot. The name "Sasquatch" comes from southern British Columbia, being the Anglicized version of sasq'ets (sas-kets), roughly translating to "hairy man" in the local Halq'emeylem language. Other accounts of aggressive hirsute giants have also been recorded in 19th-century North America, especially the Pacific Northwest.
Although the media continues to sensationalize the mystery of the creature (Animal Planet ran over 100 episodes of Finding Bigfoot), perhaps a bigger question than if Bigfoot exists or not is why we are so in love with the idea of him?
As I told my friend, considering the amount of people traipsing through woods with a phone in their pocket, if Bigfoot existed surely someone would have gotten a picture of him. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if that in some ways might be the point. With the advancement of science and having access to technology undreamed of several generations ago, what is left to be discovered? While human progress has allowed us to be familiar with our world, maybe we’re now feeling a little too familiar. A lack of mystery might be a symptom of modernity, and we’re left craving something still to surprise us, in the form of a large hairy creature or otherwise.
Part of me also wonders, too, if it doesn’t have to do with the U.S. and Canada being relatively new countries. Although I’m sure similar archetypes can be found in various European fairy tales, Bigfoot is a particularly North American idea. North America doesn’t have the long cultural past as many other Western nations. Unlike much of Europe, however, we do have lots of woods. It would make sense to honor the way these forests form our unique identity by keeping alive a myth connected with them. Bigfoot might be big and shaggy, but maybe he’s also a marker of national identity?
Or maybe North Americans are just gullible.
Frankly, I hope we never stop looking for Bigfoot. He’s earned his place in our lore. Even if the likelihood that he is somewhere out there in our woods is fairly small, we’re probably better for believing that it’s possible. After all, the absence of evidence isn’t proof that he doesn’t exist. Ultimately, the idea of Bigfoot causes the world to be a little more inexplicable, which in the end makes it a more exciting place to live in.
