Bigfoot - truth or myth?

    Bigfoot or Sasquatch is a ape like mysterious creature reportedly sighted by a large number of people, chiefly in the Pacific Northwestern region of North America. Though usually described as a large bipedal humanoid, most scientists consider it just as a part of folklore or mostly a hoax rather than a legitimate megafaunal animal, in part because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population, and because climate and food supply issues would make such purported creatures' survival in reported habitats unlikely. Cryptozoologists, a group of scientists who finds interest in these apparently unscientific creatures, do not consider it light and advocate further evaluation and testing. Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey Bourne believe that Bigfoot could be a relict population of Gigantopithecus.

  Among the huge number of reported encouters, the most popular one is the short motion picture (click HERE for the video) taken by Patterson and Gimlin on October 20,1967.The encounter allegedly took place at Bluff Creek, California, where the above two men were having a ride on their horses at around 1.30 PM. They noticed the cyptid when they went to investigate a large  overturned tree root, that they incidentally came across. Patterson reported that his horses reared upon probably the sight or smell of the sasquach. Recovering from a state of shock at the sight, Patterson snatched his camera and started chasing the beast, asking Gimlin to cover him. The film, lasting 53s, is shaky till Patterson recovered to about 80 foot. At that point, the figure glanced over its right shoulder at the men and Patterson fell to his knees. Patterson would later characterize the creature's expression as one of "contempt and disgust...you know how it is when the umpire tells you 'one more word and you're out of the game.' That's the way it felt." Patterson initially estimated its height at six and one-half to seven feet, and later raised his estimate to about seven and one-half feet.  Shortly after glancing over its shoulder, the creature walked behind a grove of trees, then reappeared for a while after Patterson moved ten feet to a better vantage point, faded into the trees again and is lost to view as the reel of film ran out. Gimlin remounted and followed it on horseback, keeping his distance, until it disappeared around a bend in the road three hundred yards away. Patterson called him back at that point, feeling vulnerable on foot without a rifle, because he feared the creature's mate might approach.

   A few hours after the encounter, Patterson telephoned Donald Abbott, whom Krantz described as "the only scientist of any stature to have demonstrated any serious interest in the (Bigfoot) subject," hoping he would help them search for the creature. Abbott declined, and Krantz argued this call to authorities the same day of the encounter is evidence against a hoax, at least on Patterson's part.Krantz writes that "Patterson had the film developed as soon as possible. At first he thought he had brought in proof of Bigfoot's existence and really expected the scientists to accept it. But only a few scientists were willing to even look at the film, and most of them promptly declared it a fake. It was then incorporated as the centerpiece of the documentary film that Patterson had set out to make in the first place." This film was a modest financial success after it was shown in local movie houses around the Pacific Northwest. Patterson sold overlapping distribution rights for the film to several parties, which resulted in costly legal entanglements.Both men have always dismissed allegations that they had hoaxed the footage by filming a man wearing an ape suit. Patterson, who died of cancer in 1972, swore on his death bed that the footage was authentic and he had encountered and filmed a large bipedal animal unknown to science.

References & more reading

1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/bluff_creek_bigfoot.html