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Paranormal Ponderings: FTN looks at the legend of the Bigfoot

January 18th, 2013 by Marc Comments

As far as cryptozoological creatures go, Bigfoot is the main man after perhaps Nessie. But is there any truth to the myth? Owen looks closer…

I love Finding Bigfoot even when they don’t get as much as a wood knock or distant howl. But when catching up on it recently something struck me about the Bigfoot phenomenon. Say to someone ‘Bigfoot’ and you immediately have the image of someone walking in the woods and encountering one of the hairy giants. Alone, out there in the wilderness with everywhere to run to and nowhere to go. But what we never realize is the many towns and homes bordering the Oregon forestlands and other Bigfoot areas see these things on a regular basis because Bigfoot has a habit of coming right up to their door.

Bigfoot is a normal occurrence for these people, albeit a frightening one, and at times, just as we don’t give a second thought to seeing dogs or cows where we live, these people see them as an everyday part of their lives. The Native American tribes lived side by side with the Guardians of the Mountains, giving them their distance and respecting their territory. The residents of certain towns in Australia have a relationship with the Yowie. A case in point is Nick frost who had a Yowie, the Aussie version of Bigfoot, regularly come to his house at a certain time of night where he would have to basically entertain it by switching the kitchen lights on and off and playing a clapping game where it would copy him.

But in recent years there has been a housing boom, especially in Florida, the home of Mickey Mouse and in particular the swamplands of the Everglades. Entire sections have been covered in new builds and for years this has been the home of the Skunk Ape, the Florida version of Bigfoot. The Skunk Ape has been the centre of much photographic evidence and one in particular where it looks just like an orangutan. Now this may soon ludicrous but a recent expedition deep into the Everglades proved with video evidence that there is in fact three species of apes living there. Now most likely they are escapees from zoos and private collections but they are there nonetheless.

But when you think about it, there are people that are living there whose homes have been built on previous Skunk Ape territory and are now been visited mostly at night by the creatures. While we sit watching EastEnders with our cup of tea and chocolate Hob Nobs with Fido the dog at our feet, little do we realize others have one cocked in case something large and hairy comes to close to their castle. Which brings me back to Finding Bigfoot’s Skunk Ape episode. In this they visit a family that have built their home right in the middle of Skunk Ape, or Skookum as they are sometimes called, territory. Now the Skookum smells really bad and if any of you have ever been to the Everglades or Florida, the swamp goes on for miles and in parts is completely inaccessible for humans.

Enter Bill and Carolyn Bridges who contacted the BFRO to tell them they had Bigfoot activity intermittently and to come investigate. They cast 17 inch tracks, showed evidence of a crushed fence post that looked to have been done by something big and heavy using the post to leap over with one hand. A bird feeder was taken and another smashed. the pole it was attached to was bent over near to the ground. Bobo, James fay from Finding Bigfoot, could only do it by bracing his feet to the ground which tells us it was not a bear. It was something with opposable thumbs. The feeder was smashed and the wire wrapped round a log not once but twice, which again could only be done by something with four fingers and a thumb. But the most terrifying evidence was a hand print on her porch door. Now in america some people have a front door and a clear perspex or glass partition. One nigh Carolyn heard a monstrous growl from her porch. The next day she found a hand print which she measured and photographed as well as videoed and despite all efforts by Ranae to replicate it they could not. The hand was 11 inches and had a greasy residue with hair included. Now the fact that this thing came to her door has frightened Carolyn ever since and there is no doubt that this was the Skunk Ape.

In the episode Bobo does some Squatch calls and attracts the attention of something upright that walks in his direction. It is clear from the thermal images that it is a humanoid and there is no one else there. They hear a growl and it is picked up on audio. However, Bobo falls off the porch, losing the figure. There is no explanation for this other than a skunk ape to the point where even Ranae, the team’s resident skeptic, says there is something in the woods with them. Being able to pause the thermal image there is no doubt what I am seeing.

As we have seen in other countries, man’s expansion with cities around the world is encroaching into animal territory previously untouched. Tigers and wolves are attacking villagers in India, foes are common place in urban cities so why not Bigfoot? Why would you make something like this up when it could be so easily disproved by experts? And as you watch he entire series there are numerous stories of people witnessing these creatures from their back gardens and looking in bedroom windows. This has caused many people to move house out of fear. If this was a hoax, why bother moving? It costs money to do that and in this day and age no one can really afford to do that. Again it is so easy for us to forget that there are people living in these areas that go through this on as a regular occurrence.

It’s an aspect of the whole Bigfoot phenomena that is never really thought about. How many times in history has a new species been discovered and the locals say they were used to seeing things like the panda and silver backed gorilla that it never occurred to them that the rest of the world never knew about them?

Maybe that’s how we will finally get Bigfoot one day. With the world still expanding and land fills reclaiming previously uninhabitable areas, then we are bound to step on the toes of something where there will be indisputable evidence. I just hope it won’t be my house.

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….