Bigfoot

Quick facts:
• The idea of a “Sasquatch” originated in Indian myths.
• Footprints are usually around 14 inches by 7 inches, with no arch.
• 7 to 9 feet tall, 600 to 900 pounds.
• First sighting by a white man occurred in 1811 by David Thompson.
• Three sightings occurred in 1924. One of these was Albert Ostman claiming to have been captured by Bigfoots.
• While some sightings are likely true or at least not disproved, some are obviously hoaxes.
• A supposedly captured Bigfoot known as Jacko was probably a hoax, a gorilla or chimpanzee perhaps.
• Many hoax movies were made, none of them works of art.

Most people know the story of Bigfoot. Sightings of a hairy, ape-like beast between 7 and 9 feet tall and 600 to 900 pounds, have been reported many times in the last few hundred years. The first sighting of Bigfoot - or as it’s know in Canada, the Sasquatch – by a white man occurred in 1811. A trader named David Thompson spotted some footprints, fourteen inches long, eight inches wide, and with four toes, in the snow.
The first widely known Bigfoot sighting occurred in 1884, but it may not have been real, considering that the supposedly caught Bigfoot looked like a chimpanzee. This caught Sasquatch, known as Jacko, may not even have existed. Newspapers of that time sometimes printed hoax stories to amuse readers.
Perhaps one of the strangest accounts of Bigfoot sightings is from a Canadian lumberjack named Albert Ostman. He had been prospecting near Tobet Inlet, and, according to his claim, he was captured by a family of Bigfoots. He says that they were vegetarians, the mother and son prepared the meals while the father and daughter protected him. After a week, he managed to slip away, but didn’t tell his story until 1957, fearing that people would think him crazy. Actually, the people were probably used to Bigfoot claims, considering that there had been two other ones in 1924 as well.
However, there have been many Bigfoot or Sasquatch sightings that were proved as hoaxes, and some that were never proven false but likely were. In 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin announced that they’d captured a Bigfoot on film. While the creature in the film definitely wasn’t normal, its peculiar stride made some think that it was a clever costume. It has never been proven false.
However, some believe nearly all Bigfoot sightings to be false, and that a Sasquatch is an entirely different thing, some kind of primitive primate, somewhere between a human and a gorilla. The idea of a Sasquatch originally came from Indian myths; in fact the term “Sasquatch” is Indian for “hairy giant.” Sioux Indians, who call the Sasquatch “Taku He,” stop people from hunting it on their grounds.
Many movies and such have been created about Bigfoot, creating a kind of Bigfoot-mania made up almost entirely of hoaxes. Serious Sasquatch researchers were pushed aside during this time, much to their dismay. However, after a few years it ended, and sightings went down to the occasional stories people were used to.

But how to identify the footprint? There is no definite conclusion as to which footprint is real, but the attributes of some of the most common footprints are:
• 16 to 18 inches long
• 7 inches wide
• No foot arch
• Distinct double ball heel, which may be an adaptation to handle great weight.