Sasquatch is a legendary and elusive ape-like creature said to inhabit forests. Bigfoot particularly likes the Pacific Northwest regions of North America. Descriptions of Sasquatch vary, but common features include a large, hairy, and humanoid appearance, standing at a considerable height, often reported to be around 7 to 10 feet tall. It is typically characterized by its massive footprints, which gave rise to the name “Bigfoot.”
Does Sasquatch exist? Is there credible evidence for such a creature? Let’s find out.
The Sasquatch craze began in 1967 with the release of the Patterson–Gimlin film. The footage was shot in 1967 in Northern California alongside Bluff Creek, about 25 miles northwest of Orleans, California in the Six Rivers National Forest.
The filmmakers were Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin. Patterson died of cancer in 1972. Gimlin still attends Bigfoot conferences throughout the country.
It seems a rather large coincidence that after years of trying to get a Sasquatch on film, Patterson was finally able to do so after starting to film a docudrama about the creature. Since his docudrama was a fictionalized account of a search for the creature, it stands to reason that he would have had to figure out some way of filming a Sasquatch for the project. It’s already a documented fact that he went to at least one prop house in Los Angeles prior to starting work on the project.
Academy Award-winning film special effects supervisor and makeup artist Stan Winston, whose special effects credits include Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and Galaxy Quest, also viewed the Patterson footage. He concluded that “it’s a guy in a bad hair suit, sorry!” He also stated that “if one of my colleagues created this for a movie, he would be out of business.” Winston speculated that the suit in the film could have been made for “a couple hundred dollars” in today’s currency.
Anthropologist David Daegling said that he sees Patterson’s luck as “more than a little suspicious: He sets out to make a Bigfoot documentary, then almost literally stumbles across a Bigfoot.”
Sasquatch: Gigantopithecus?
Over the years scientists have sometimes discovered creatures long thought to be extinct. The classic example of this is the coelacanth, thought to have died out over 60 million years ago until they were found to be living off the coast of South Africa in 1938.
Could Sasquatch be such a creature?
There was a species of great ape called Gigantopithecus. Related to the contemporary Orangutan, Gigantopithecus means “giant ape,” and is believed to have gone extinct only around 300,000 years ago. Could some of these creatures have survived? Could they have evolved into what we now consider to be Sasquatch?
Did Gigantopithecus survive and migrate to North America? As theories go, it’s not the most preposterous. So why isn’t there more scientific evidence to support this theory?
For that matter, why is there no hard physical evidence of Sasquatch? Why haven’t we found any bodies, or skeletal remains, or DNA?
Sasquatch and Science
Despite the enduring popularity of the Bigfoot legend, skepticism remains high within the scientific community due to the lack of credible evidence. Many reported sightings and photographs have been debunked or explained as hoaxes, misidentifications of known animals, or other natural phenomena.
Overall, belief in Sasquatch is a complex phenomenon influenced by a combination of psychological, cultural, and social factors, as well as personal experiences and perceptions. Whether or not Sasquatch really exists it pays to keep an open mind and to be willing to change our opinions based on the evidence, wherever the evidence may lead.
Does Sasquatch (or Bigfoot) really exist? Join us on this episode of Conspiracy Chronicles as we look for an answer.