BY EMERSON LAYNE

For as long as mythical creatures and the knowledge of early humans have existed, Bigfoot has been in circulation. A tall, hairy, and sometimes smelly humanoid ape creature, Bigfoot has been a popular cryptid in pop culture and media. Along with Bigfoot’s cousins the Skunk Ape and Yeti, the myth of humanoid ape creatures living in dense forests have gained traction over the last few decades. Is there any truth to this? Well, most likely not. 

Bigfoot sightings range from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic Southeast of the US. Mainly the Atlantic Southeast sightings are said to be Skunk Ape, a cousin to Bigfoot but a major difference being that Skunk Ape has a more rancid smell and lives in swamps or marshes. Yeti sightings happen in the arctic regions of the Himalayas, Alaska, or Canada, the Yeti being a white version of the primarily brown Bigfoot.

With so many sightings, people should have captured or killed a Bigfoot at this point right? Well, no true specimen of a Bigfoot has been found. A known hoaxer, Rick Dyer, during 2008 and 2012, made claims that he found and or killed Bigfoot-like creatures. Many critics called into question the validity of his claims, due to Dyer not being very public about testing being done on the specimens. Later in 2014, Dyer made a statement coming clean that he faked his stories during both events, promising to tell the truth in the future. Dyer’s false stories had made headlines on Fox News, CNN, Huffington Post, Time, and Discovery News. 

A body hasn’t been found, fine, but what about other evidence, like hair or footprints? Most if not all of Bigfoot evidence studied by scientists is found either to be a hoax or misidentified. A man named Raymond L. Wallace had alleged and showed “proof” of Bigfoot footprints around a construction site in August 1958. After Wallace’s death, his son, Micheal Wallace, stated that his father faked the footprints with poorly made wooden feet. Any hair alleged to be from a Bigfoot was found to be a mixture of different animal hairs or plain deer hair once the hair samples were studied in a lab. 

Okay, so there hasn’t been any physical evidence of a Bigfoot, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist, right? According to scientists, it is practically impossible for such an apparently large and abundant species to go unnoticed or never found, especially in the modern day. So if a Bigfoot species did exist, humans would have found them by now, so since we haven’t, Bigfoot most likely doesn’t exist. 

With such large evidence that Bigfoot doesn’t exist, why do so many people flock at the idea of it? Two things: merchandise and the distinct wonder of a fictional species. Keeping the myth of Bigfoot alive, allows small towns to have something to be recognized by, feeding off the wonder of a fictional species. It brings in tourists, news coverage, just overall traction to a town. Places like Willow Creek or Whitehall, virtually unknown before, now have a reason to be on the map: Bigfoot.

While Bigfoot is an unlikely but popular hoax, it doesn’t stop small towns and businesses from creating merchandise and tourist attractions surrounding a large and smelly ape.