WHY I BELIEVE IN BIGFOOT'S EXISTENCE...

All my life I've been interested in bigfoot. Since I was 5 I've been fascinated by the idea that a wild giant humanoid ape lives in the mountains and forests of North America. I remember what started it: In Search Of... and soon after, in grade 1, I had to choose a topic to research and of course I chose bigfoot. This project is sitting within arm's reach of me as I write.

click the project's book cover for the entire project!!!

Sometime around this time my family took a trip back to Vancouver, British Columbia to visit relatives and I was thrilled to know that I would be heading towards a bigfoot hotspot, the Pacific Northwest! I remember on the flight a stewardess (that's what they were called back then) asked if I would like to come up and visit the captain in the cockpit as we flew over the Rockies. I couldn't believe the view and I can vividly recall hoping that I might catch a glimps of a sasquatch mucking about on the side of the mountain. I was 5ish okay!!?

Last year, my friend Brett Carslon, gave me a book; The Bigfoot Casebook by Janet & Colin Bord (1982).
Inside this book is a chronological list of over 1000 recorded sightings of the creature starting from 1818 to 1980. I read each of these accounts and found myself bored out of my tree! THAT'S RIGHT! BORED! 75% of the accounts were extremely uneventful and that's when it dawned on me; Bigfoot does exist because of these completely non-fascinating events! Here's an excerpt:

6 Sept. 1818 / Ellisburgh, NY / "Gentleman" / Saw hairy "animal" which ran away. / Exeter Watchman 22 Sept. 1818, located by Howard Koval, NJ.

Others include:

1914 / Churchville, MD / Boy (8) / Saw Bigfoot sitting on log behind his home / ...

1924 / Nr Flagstaff, AZ / Woman & her mother / Watched Bigfoot in garden take corn and turnips / ...

1930s / Nr Alert Bay, BC / Ellen Neal / Saw Bigfoot walk along beach and into trees / ...

Early 1940s / Nr Coombes, Vancouver Is., BC / Alex Oakes / Bigfoot ran across road in front of witness's car / ...

Sept. 1953 / Nr Courtenay, Vancouver Is., BC / Jack Twist / At dusk saw 8-ft Bigfoot on road ahead; it moved into forest / ...

1959 / Wind River, WA / Deputy Sheriff of the Dalles Sheriff's Dept / Saw Bigfoot coming through the trees as he was fishing; it saw him and turned away / ...

And it goes on! Sure there's some accounts where the witness fired his rifle at the creature but most of these accounts are as such:

c.1951 / Nr Boston, GA / Woman & husband / Dogs cornered hairy giant on house porch; husband shot at it but it ran away / ...

Again, nothing really crazy! I mean come on! Your reputation's on the line here people! You're going to get laughed at! If you're going to make something up, make it exciting! Make it FANTASTIC! Make it blogworthy for christ-almighty-in-a-chicken-basket's sake! Here's my sighting:

1990 / Harrison, BC / Johnny Darrell / Tent hauled off into woods by Bigfoot; witness climbed out of tent and maced the fucker with pepperspray but was unsuccessful. Bigfoot and witness wrestled for an hour on the side of a cliff until he was able to kick the creature off where it fell to its death; its head exploding like a pumpkin. 4 smaller-sized Bigfoot creatures seen dragging the lifeless body into the woods. / ...

See!? Isn't that more awesome?! WWAAAAY more exciting than that Sheriff deputy or woman and husband's story. So that's my point.

I've met and interviewed quite a few people who claim to have seen bigfoot. There's a grandmother and her grandson. A trucker. A hunter. Many of them were just ordinary people who had seen something that isn't in the zoology books. They saw something that scientists and most people say doesn't exist. "It was a large ape-like hairy man. It wasn't a bear." "It was walking on the side of the road." "It was eating berries from my garden for about 10 minutes and then it walked away." "I saw 2 of them sitting on the edge of a pond eating leaves." Boooooring.