A research report written for school, enjoy!
The Loch Ness
Monster, The Jersey Devil, and Aliens, they're all things considered
to be myth, legend, and superstition, but none are as famous or known
of as The Sasquatch. Over the years, research, sightings, and legends
of this creature have spread across the United States, from the years
of the earliest settlers and the Native Americans, to modern day
America. Over the years, the legends have changed, the myths have
grown, and hoaxes have spread.
As far as Sasquatch
goes, most sighting descriptions are the same, reddish brown hair,
long swaying arms, large slopped foreheads, and long shaggy hair.
That may be, but many different descriptions come along, such as
black, white, gray, and even silver tipped hair (Wood Ape
Description), sometimes even bear like qualities in the face (Wood
Ape Description). And as far their faces go, they are said to be like
a mix between a neanderthal and a gorilla, including chimp like lips
and eyes. Their arms are said to go far past their knees, with chimp
or gorilla like hands. When walking, their arms sway back back and
forth, and they take long strides. Sasquatch eyes are said to glow or
be reflective in the dark, going along with the fact that they are
often reported to be nocturnal.
Early legends of
hairy beast men have come from Canada, Alaska, and The United States.
The Skoocooms, are said to live at Mt. Saint Helen's, they are more
supernatural and ghostly, even when saying this, they share a lot of
similarities, such as large fangs and/or canine teeth, are violent
(like many Native American Sasquatch legends), and live in the
woods. The Native Americans that live around the area where very
afraid of the mountain, and would never venture there.
As for more resent
report, the Jacko Hoax was a newspaper report from 1884, which talked
about a four foot tall, hairy, Sasquatch like boy captured in British
Columbia, and the story has been used by Sasquatch believers as
evidence of the Sasquatch (“Jacko Hoax”). The Jacko Hoax is one
of many early Sasquatch reports in America, such as the Fred Beck
encounter, the Albert Ostman Report, and many more, which we will get
to in time.
As mentioned above,
the Fred Beck encounter happened 1924. Him and four other miners were
attacked by a pack hairy ape men. Beck himself said that the Ape Men
were other dimensional and mystical creatures. This is a stranger and
more obscure report, which like many from this time, is less
believable. Even when saying this, it is a very large mile stone in
Sasquatch history (“Bigfoot”). Albert Ostman's report is also
very strange and a very early one. Ostman said that he was captured
by multiple
Sasquatch that him
held captive for a matter of days ( “Bigfoot”). Not a lot of
information was found on this said report, but it is still a very an
interesting one.
In 1967, one of the
biggest milestones was set in Sasquatch history, The
Patterson-Gilmore Film was recorded. Many people believe the
Patterson film Film to be a real Sasquatch encounter, but according
to Patterson and Gilmore themselves, the film reel is a special
effects test. The film is maybe the most iconic piece in Sasquatch
culture, and the film does look pretty believable. Paterson and
Gilmore were probably pretty satisfied with results.
After the
Patterson-Gilmore Film, many, many, more Sasquatch reports flooded
the United States, some believable, some laughable. To many sightings
were reported to talk about all of them, but we have at least one
more to talk about.
We will fast
forward to 2007, when a man named Rick Jacobs set up motion capture
cameras in the woods. One night the cameras took a picture of what is
believed to be a juvenile Sasquatch smelling the ground. The photo
was given a large amount of controversy, many Sasquatch believers
said that it was Sasquatch, while others said it was a bear with a
severe case of mange (“Bigfoot”). The mange theory is discarded
by most Sasquatch believers, because they say the legs and arms are
to long and not as round as a bear's.
Sasquatch reports
continue to spread across The United States, most more laughable then
believable, which is a shame. Whether you choose to believe or not
is your own choice, the sightings could be regarded as fact or
fiction, myth or science. You choose to believe, or to reject the
legend.
