What Evidence Exists for Proving Their Existence?
I believe that there is more empirical evidence which proves the existence of Bigfoot than there is evidence to prove the existence of: God, ghosts, or aliens.
My own experiences:
The single, clear footprint we found at 8,100 foot elevation on West Mountain in coarse decomposed granite soil, approximately 1 mile from the nearest road or trail at the time.
Conclusion: I have 90% confidence that the track I saw was a Bigfoot track
A possible daytime sighting just north of Hilltop Café, Idaho of a completely black, bipedal creature climbing arm-over-arm up a road cut. The object was a uniform dark black head to foot. However, it was at a location with people in the area and the creature's size was within human range.
Conclusion: I have 30% confidence that the figure I saw was a Bigfoot
Conclusion: I have 75% confidence that what I heard was a Bigfoot call
Conclusion: I have 25% confidence that the trackway was a Bigfoot
Conclusion: I have 25% confidence that what I experienced was due to Bigfoot
Conclusion: Uncertain.
A clutch of about a dozen broken eggshells in a pile, and partially stacked on one another, near Discovery Park, Boise
Conclusion: Uncertain, but a very strange find.
A circle of rocks with a square of sticks inside it, with a triangle of sticks inside that, with a cross of sticks inside that. Found at 9,100 foot elevation above Goat Lake, Idaho. There were almost identical structures documented by Joan Ocean. This "shrine" was found at an extremely remote location. To get there, you drive 100 miles NE from Boise on pavement. Then you drive 50 miles north on a good gravel road. Then you drive 6 miles up a fairly good jeep trail. Then you drive vertically up 2 miles up a very bad jeep trail. Then you hike or motorcycle 1 mile up a bad motorcycle trail to reach Goat Lake. From there, we climbed cross-country to a point about 1/4 mile directly above the lake and found the ledge that the circle of rocks was built on. These photos show where the rock structure was found.
Conclusion: I have 75% confidence that this structure was built by a Bigfoot.
Replies to Craigslist ads that I ran all over the Pacific Northwest:
I have run ads in Craigslist inquiring if anyone had experienced something that they felt might have been a Bigfoot. I placed these ads in: Spokane, Portland, Walla Walla, Bend, Salt Lake City, Missoula, and Boise. I received hundreds of replies to these ads. A few of the replies were people taunting me for asking what they considered to be a silly question, but most of the replies seemed like legitimate encounters.
One report was from a man who had a face-to-face sighting in the mountains when he was a youth. He told me that he had shared this experience with no-one except his fiance' and me. I cannot believe he made up the story.
Another report simply said: "I am 62 x cop. they are real and yes I am sure . I grew up in Ponderay County I have seen two of them"
Conclusion: I have 100% confidence that most of these stories were not simply made-up for my benefit.
Experiences of Close Friends:
"Driving along southern Oregon coast the 2 of us stopped to take a break and wake up. It was a pitch dark night, we were standing quietly against the car on the shoulder of the road, and could hear a truck with trailer coming in our direction. We were noting it was extremely quiet and suddenly out of the clear blue we heard a very loud, shrill, unearthly cry from something seemingly large. It was powerful but short, just once, nothing like either of us had ever heard before.
Both of us have been in wild many times and never experienced the overwhelming feeling that followed; there was a sense of not necessarily being watched but that we needed to leave –now – it felt very uncomfortable. No sense of alarm there was an just overwhelming sense we were supposed to leave. No impending danger – we just didn’t belong there.
At the same time we ask and agreed that we needed to leave. Upon shutting my door, there was no overhead light, but in my mind’s eye I saw a bigfoot face in my window and recoiled. We left the area."
Conclusion: I have 100% confidence that this happened.
A friend was on a dual-sport motorcycle ride in northern California, just south of the border with Oregon. The riders took a break at a snowmobile parking lot. While there, my friend heard what sounded like rocks clacking together. He and I returned there over Labor Day 2015 and found some of the broken trees shown in the photographs.
Conclusion: I have 100% confidence that this happened.
An employee I worked with in the past told me of an incident with a friend of his. His friend would go to the top of the ridge on West Mountain, Idaho above Blue Lake, and snowboard down it in the spring. He was up there alone and claims to have seen a Bigfoot cross the main road and walk up the side of the mountain. My friend drove there and picked him up since the man who had the sighting would not leave his hiding place to walk back up to his truck. My friend had to drive 100 miles each way to retrieve the man who had the sighting.
Conclusion: I have 75% confidence that this happened.
The Classic Encounters:
The Bossburg Print: Joe Rhodes found a series of large tracks near the community garbage dump just outside of Bossburg, WA on November 24, 1969. Rene' Dahinden and others investigated the location and a total of 1,089 prints were discovered. One of the feet had a major deformation and this find became known as the "Cripple Print". The late Dr. Grove Krantz, a physical anthropologist at Washington State University, recreated what he believed to be the bone structure in the foot. He discovered that the ankle was located further forward on the footprint cast than where it would be positioned on a human foot. This repositioning of the ankle would be required to provide adequate muscle leverage to allow such a large creature to be able to walk. Due to this detail, he believed that the prints were genuine and this evidence convinced him of the existence of Bigfoot. There was much speculation regarding the prints' authenticity after Ivan Marx hoaxed filming a Bigfoot that he claimed was the cripple print creator.
Conclusion: I have 50% confidence that these prints are authentic.
Albert Otsman: Albert Ostman was a Canadian prospector who reported that he was abducted by a Sasquatch family of 4 and held captive for six days. He stated that the event took place near Toba Inlet, British Columbia in 1924. Note that he did not make the event public until 1957, thirty-three years after he said it took place. There were no witnesses with the possible exception of a First Nations individual who took him to the Toba Inlet by boat.
Conclusion: I have 0% confidence that this happened.
William Roe: William Roe had a close, extended viewing of a female Bigfoot near Tete Jaune Cache, northern Alberta in 1955. He was within 20 feet of the creature and could see much detail including: breasts, how it stripped leaves from branches with its mouth, how it placed its feet when it walked, and the calls that it made. Once the creature left, he tracked it and found the feces that it left and where it had slept. Roe was an experienced hunter having taken a grizzly bear at this same location the year previous. This was not a case of mistaken identity. However, there were no other witnesses, and he waited two years to report it. He did sign an affidavit.
Conclusion: I have 75% confidence that this happened.
Ape Canyon Attack: “I Fought the Apemen of Mount St. Helens, WA" is a short story told by Fred Beck, and written by Ronald Beck. It recounts an encounter in 1924, where Beck and four other miners were attacked by mysterious, ape-like creatures, often referred to as "Abominable Snowmen" or Bigfoot, near Mount St. Helens in Washington. The book, published in 1967, offers a rare and intriguing glimpse into early folklore and cryptozoology, detailing the miners' harrowing experience and the mysterious creatures they claimed to have encountered. The story caused a local sensation, prompting U.S. Forest Service rangers J.H. Huffman and William Welch to investigate. Huffman and Welch descended into the supposedly "inaccessible canyon" but found no animals, but they did find the cabin. They demonstrated how the 14 inches (36 cm) long footprints found near the cabin could easily be faked, and concluded the miners probably placed large stones near the cabin themselves to bolster their tale. Despite the story being debunked by the rangers, "people still wanted to believe", and the prospectors' story was repeated and continued to spread in later years, inspiring new theories and claims of new sightings.
Following the Mount St. Helens eruption, the remains of the cabin and the mine have been found, adding credibility to the story. All of this ties together with the stories of injured or dead Bigfeet being flown out of the area suspended under military helicopters right after the eruption.
I read about this incident and learned about the potential existence of Bigfoot in the 1969 Reader's Digest article titled: "Fantasy or Fraud, legend or evolutionary link, the Sasquatch is one of the world's most intriguing mysteries. Does an "Abominable Snowman" Lurk in the Rockies?" I read this article in my 8th grade English class. This story is what first ignited my interest in Bigfoot. Note that I have been to the trailhead to Ape Canyon on the flanks of Mount St. Helens; see photo here showing the Muddy River Debris Flow.
Conclusion: I have 85% confidence that this happened.
Port Chathman - Portlock, Alaska: "Port Chatham is an abandoned fishing village on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, once a vibrant Russian-Alutiiq community that was left deserted by 1950 due to residents fleeing from a mythical creature called the Nantiinaq. The village was founded around a cannery but eventually emptied as fear of the Nantiinaq, also known as the "Hairy Man," led inhabitants to relocate up the coast. The area has since been the subject of numerous investigations and media coverage concerning the legend of this Bigfoot-like creature." "Stories of mutilated bodies, missing hunters and strange, otherworldly creatures have long been associated with Port Chatham."
The above explanation is accepted by many Bigfoot enthusiasts. Once investigated, it appears that the town was slowly abandoned due to financial conditions. Eventually, the cannery shut down and residents simply could not make a living there and left.
Conclusion: I have 20% confidence that the abandonment of Port Chathman was due to Bigfoot attacks.
Ruby Creek Incident: In September 1941 a creature was seen in broad daylight by the Chapman family near Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. Mrs. Chapman's eldest son saw what he thought was a cow, but it turned out to be a gigantic, hairy, man-like creature walking upright. The creature was described as human-shaped with a thick chest and long arms, covered in pale yellow-brown hair, and estimated to be 7.5 to 8 feet tall. After the creature appeared, the family fled to a nearby village. When they returned, Mr. Chapman found the woodshed door battered, enormous humanoid handprints, and a 55-gallon drum of salted salmon broken apart and partially eaten. Giant footprints, which were cast by a sheriff's deputy and measured approximately 16 inches, were found in the area nightly. Hairs were found in the doorway confirming the creature's large size. The family experienced strange noises and barking dogs for several nights, eventually moving out of their home and never returning.
This family would have lived daily with both black bears and grizzly bears and moose, so this is very unlikely to be a case of misidentification.
Conclusion: I have 90% confidence that this happened.
Teddy Roosevelt Attack Story: Teddy Roosevelt began writing his soon to be published book in 1890. Titled "The Wilderness Hunter", the author writes of a grizzled, weather beaten trapper by the name of Bauman. One of Idaho's best known horror stories, it tells the story of two trappers who set out on a beaver hunt in the still remote alpine terrain of the beautiful Salmon River countryside. To this day, stories of the Sasquatch come out of this part of this virgin wilderness. "The trappers' camp was destroyed several times. The footprints there were as plain as if on snow, and, after a careful scrutiny of the trail, it certainly did seem as if, whatever the thing was, it had walked off on but two legs. The next day, Bauman left to collect their traps. When he started homewards he marked, with some uneasiness, how low the sun was getting. As he hurried toward camp, under the tall trees, the silence and desolation of the forest weighted on him. He came to the edge of the little glade where the camp lay and shouted as he approached it, but got no answer. The campfire had gone out, though the thin blue smoke was still curling upwards. Near it lay the packs wrapped and arranged. At first Bauman could see nobody; nor did he receive an answer to his call. Stepping forward he again shouted, and as he did so his eye fell on the body of his friend, stretched beside the trunk of a great fallen spruce.Rushing towards it the horrified trapper found that the body was still warm, but that the neck was broken, while there were four great fang marks in the throat. Bauman, utterly unnerved and believing that the creature with which he had to deal was something either half human or half devil, some great goblin-beast, abandoned everything but his rifle and struck off at speed down the pass, not halting until he reached the beaver meadows where the hobbled ponies were still grazing. Mounting, he rode onwards through the night, until beyond reach of pursuit."
Conclusion: I have 100% confidence that this story-telling happened, however, I feel with 50% confidence that it was a bear that killed the trapper.
The Alaskan Triangle: "Alaska has an exceptionally high rate of missing persons, with some estimates citing an average of approximately 2,250 people go missing annually, which is twice the national average per capita. With a state population of 743,000, this is 0.3% of the population that goes missing annually.
"The total number of missing people in Alaska has been in the thousands annually, with over 20,000 people vanishing in the region known as the Alaska Triangle since the 1970s." "Alaska leads the nation in missing persons cases per capita. This is attributed to its vast, rugged wilderness, extreme weather conditions, and a significant Native American population. Alaska has TWICE the national average of missing persons"
Bigfoot Researchers tend to try and explain these disappearances and abductions to agressive Bigfoot. 'In reality, for anyone who has not travelled there, Alaska is huge beyond belief. The vast majority of the state is completely roadless and unexplored.
In addition to the vast wilderness and extreme weather, there are many known animals which can instantly kill (and often eat) humans: black bears, grizzly bears, polar bears, wolves, and moose.
Conclusion: I have 50% confidence that SOME of the missing people may have succumb to Bigfoot.
Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) Data Base of Sightings: There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of reports which have been submitted to this data base.
Conclusion: I have 50% confidence in the reports. Some of the reports could be real, some of the reports are most likely not.
Expedition Bigfoot" findings: I have met Russell Accord, and I feel that he is a passionate and honest man. Dr. Mireya Mayor has impressive professional credentials. She is an American anthropologist, primatologist, and wildlife correspondent for National Geographic, part of a research expedition that discovered a new species of lemur, considered the world's smallest primate. She earned her PhD in anthropology from Stony Brook University. During Seasons 5 and 6, it seems like the team collected much good data from the field. However, I cannot find any analysis of what this data represents or conclusions that the team has drawn beyond what has been shown on the TV show.
Conclusion: Uncertain. My biggest concern is that I have not been able to find any scientific papers which have been published for peer review which cover the results of their expedtions.
Finding Bigfoot" findings: For having many resources available to the team, and so much time in the field over multiple seasons, they found almost no hard evidence. The show's alternative title was: "Not Finding Bigfoot"! Matthew Moneymaker and Bobo Fay are sensationalists and every odd sound in the woods is a Bigfoot. Their research claims should be considered with much skepticism. Ranae Holland was the skeptic of the show and the voice of reason. I do not believe that she ever saw any evidence which convinced her that Bigfoot was real. I have met Cliff Barackman and spoken with him several times. His background has been in teaching and he has a level-headed approach to his research. He says that he 100% knows that they are real base upon personal sightings of a Bigfoot. I do not believe that the show discovered any unique evidence which was credible. Nothing has been published for scientific peer review (that I am aware of).
Conclusion: I have 80% confidence that everything experienced during the making of the show was nothing but their active imaginations, I am not sure about the other 20%.
Mountain Monsters" show: The show simply portrayed a bunch of armed hillbillies running around in the hills chasing all kinds of odd cryptids that I have never heard of previously. Somehow, ever time the team went out in the field, they encountered the cryptid they were hunting for; but never collected any tangible evidence! Fortunately, I do not think anyone got shot either.
Conclusion: I have 100% confidence that everything related to this show was a hoax.
There is a large variety of YouTube videos and streaming movies on the Bigfoot subject: I believe that most of these videos are obviously simply fully fabricated content. Most of the videos consist of a blogger "searching for Bigfoot" and being 100% unprepared for any real research, jumping at every sound in the woods. The common phrase throughout is "And I Almost Died!". The majority of the bloggers producing these videos have NO credentials in the Bigfoot field. The few that may be actual experiences with a Bigfoot, have never presented any evidence other than a few photos of broken sticks, impressions in the dirt that are called tracks, or sounds in the dark. These films present nothing scientifically credible.
Conclusion: I am confident that that 90+% of these videos are complete fabrications.
