Theories about bigfoot existence

Various types of creatures have been suggested to explain both the sightings and what type of creature Bigfoot would be if it existed. The scientific community typically attributes sightings to either hoaxes or misidentification of known animals and their tracks.

A minority of proponents of a natural explanation have attributed Bigfoot to animals that are not apes such as the giant ground sloth. While cryptozoologists generally explain Bigfoot as an unknown ape, some believers in Bigfoot attribute the phenomenon to UFOs or other paranormal causes.

The late populations of the evolved Homo neanderthal (i.e. H. erectus) lived in Western Europe at least until 30 000 BC. (St. Césaire in France, Zafaraya in Spain) as well as in Central Asia (Techik Tach, Uzbekistan).

At the same period lived a similar humanoid having Cro-Magnoids temporal bone in association with an occidental Mousterian culture (Darrai Kurr, Hindu Kush, Afghanistan). After the late Homo neanderthalensis hybridized in Europe with modern Homo sapiens, he quickly became the dominant specie (and our ancestor) whereas the other disappeared.

Necessarily the extinction of the ancient European populations is more recent than 30 000 years BC and occurred with different timings, from Western to Eastern Europe.

Probably the evolution of Cro-Magnoids, allochthonous or autochthonous, deviated from the older and archaic populations which became relic. But we do not know when the last groups of the relic populations disappeared and what occurred in Central Asia. In this view the wild men can be the descent of the soanian-mousterian civilization of Markansou.

A species of Paranthropus, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its crested skull and bipedal gait, was suggested by primatologist John Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg as a possible candidate for Bigfoot’s identity,  despite the fact that fossils of Paranthropus are only found in Africa.

Some Bigfoot proponents suggest Neanderthal or Homo erectus to be the creature, but remains of either species are also not found in the New World.

Another theory is that the Yetis are descendant of the A-o-re, an ancient people that fled into the mountains to escape their enemies. In the following millennia, they degraded to a race of monstrous creatures. Victims of genetical decay, only a few remains hidden in the nature sanctuaries.

According to such theories, the creatures are merely illusions : geological holographs, optical illusions comparable to the famous Brocken spectre, visitor-induced energy trace image, electromagnetic phantom, or hallucination engendered by oxygen deficiency.
But Bigfoot has been seen in such a diversity of countries, climates and situations by so many witnesses, sometimes collectively that such a theory is almost invalid.

Other theorists associate sightings of these creatures with the activity of extraterrestrial beings. They notice that the presence of Bigfoot is often followed or preceded by paranormal phenomenon. The mountains where the beast appear could possibly be gates to other dimensions and alternate worlds and the yetis, guardians who deter would-be intruders or trespassers.

According to this theory mostly found in Tibet but also in the indian tribes of America, Bigfoot is a demon (not necessarily evil) that comes down on Earth. He has the same abilities as those sometimes mentionned as belonging to the great adepts of the Tantric way : resistance to cold temperatures, ability to move at high speed on large distances, levitation, telepathy and mind control . This theory goes with the one that pretends that Yetis are Shamen that shapeshifts into monstrous creatures.

 The “wild man of the woods” is a familiar figure in mythology and religion. References to such a figure include the Russian Leshiy, Enkidu of the Gilgamesh Epic, the satyrs in Greek mythology, and Grendel in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.

Contemporary reports of the Abominable Snowman, therefore, are disregarded by some as little more than modern variations on old mythological themes, and some sightings have indeed proved to be hoaxes.

Anthropologists believe that like earlier civilizations, the creation of Bigfoot was used to warn members of the dangers of violating taboos, which serve other, more complex functions within society.

Other interpret the Abominable Snowman sightings as a reflection of the modern fascination with the wild and the popular sense that a few pockets of wilderness remain in a world dominated by civilization

Some cryptofans argue that the widespread presence of these creatures in folklore indicates that they have actually existed since ancient times and may still inhabit remote regions of the earth.

 There are many other animals that exist today that were once thought to be mythological monsters. The mountain Gorilla, for example had long been known to the inhabitants of Rwanda as a huge dark man like beast that swung through the tree tops emitting a fearful cry; scientist tagged him for the first time in 1901.

Other examples that were once dismissed as mere folklore include the Pigmy Hippo, the Snow Leopard and the Giant Panda (China in 1936). All these animals from the far corners of the world existed only as a myth until they were discovered by explorers.

The ornithorinx, a strange mix of duck and beever found in Tasmania, the Saola, a mix of goat and antilop found in the remote forests of North Vietnam, shows Mother  Nature has more imagination than we would have imagined ourselves.

The areas where Bigfoot is supposed to live are mostly highly inaccessible or covered with a dense vegetation that prevents any spotting from the sky.
The Pacific Northwest where Bigfoot is supposed to live, hides 73 aircraft lost from Northern California to Alaska since World War 2  (FAA figure).

The other areas: the Himalayas mountains, the Borneo jungle, the Pamir-Altaï, the Amazon Forest are equally inaccessible to modern means of investigations and hostile to man.

Small groups of very cautious animals could easily remain hidden, even close to humans dwellings. All the once hidden or lost species are primitive animals whereas Bigfoot is a more evolved creature that can hide much easier from man. 

 Many scientists believe that the Yetis observed across the world are giant apes as the Orang-Utans or Gorillas. The relationship between the Yeti and Homo sapiens has not been proven to be any closer than that between our species and the other great apes, except in shared posture and means of locomotion.

With the exception of his upright posture and loss of hair, man’s differences from other primates are mainly in his brain, and those differences obviously result from a radical departure, a very long time ago, from the normal primate lifestyles. While all other species have relied on physical abilities and on instincts to hold a place in a competitive world, man has shifted his reliance to his brain.

In the case of ape-man (Yeti, Bigfoot, …) vs. ape, we appear to be dealing with a locomotor contrast like that which separated the first australopithecine from the ancestral African ape.

Disregarding whatever future evolution might occur, this initial “step” need not be ranked as anything more than a species worth of distinction at that time.

In short, if upright posture is what makes an animal a human, then the reports describe a human, but if it is his brain that distinguishes Home sapiens from his animal relatives, then the Sasquatch is an animal, an upright ape and nothing more.

 Some say that the Yeti is a descendant of a race of giant apes, the Gigantopithecus Blacki, an extinct primate that lived in Asia and retreated into the Himalayas some 500 000 years ago.

There have only been a handful or teeth and jawbones of Gigantopithecus found throughout the world. The first tooth was found by in 1932 by a Dutch paleoanthropologist, G.H.R. Von Koeingswa in a Hong Kong apothecary shop. Since that time only a few jawbones and thousands of teeth have been found in China and India.

Paleontologists have described him as  a large, ground-feeding, ape-like genus about the size of a modern gorilla, with molar teeth well adapted to crushing tough material and flattened canines. It seems more plausible that the Yeti is a descendant rather than actually a living representative of Gigantopithecus.

Gigantopithecus is supposed to have died out hall a million years ago, but he or his descendants could possibly still survive.

However, there is no significant piece of evidence to support the theory that Gigantopithecus walked upright despite pronouncements that it did or may have. By its own size, it most likely did not. Moreover, none of its descendants evolved to walk upright and we know that no ape has ever evolved to walk upright naturally.

Stripped of its hair, the bipedal North American Sasquatch expresses many more human features than ape traits. A debatable statement since humans also have many ape-like qualities that they display without resorting  to walking on all fours.

 Even proponents of Bigfoot admit that many of the sightings are hoaxes or misidentified animals. Cryptozoologists Loren Coleman and Diane Stocking have estimated that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sightings are not real.

Bigfoot sightings or footprints are often demonstrably hoaxes. Author Jerome Clark argues that the “Jacko affair”, involving an 1884 newspaper report of an apelike creature captured in British Columbia, was a hoax. Citing research by John Green, who found that several contemporary British Columbia newspapers regarded the alleged capture as very dubious, Clark notes that the New Westminster, British Columbia Mainland Guardian wrote, “Absurdity is written on the face of it.”

On July 14, 2005, Tom Biscardi, a long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of Searching for Bigfoot Inc.:, appeared on the Coast to Coast AM paranormal radio show and announced that he was “98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they have been tracking in the Happy Camp, California area.” A month later, Biscardi announced on the same radio show that he had access to a captured Bigfoot and was arranging a pay-per-view event for people to see it. Biscardi appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. Biscardi blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and the show’s audience for being gullible.

On July 9, 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube claiming that they had discovered the body of a deceased Sasquatch in a forest in northern Georgia. Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., as a good faith gesture. The story of the men’s claims was covered by many major news networks, including BBC, CNN, ABC News, and Fox News. Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body arrived in a block of ice in a freezer with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, it was discovered that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber. Dyer and Whitton subsequently admitted it was a hoax after being confronted by Steve Kulls, executive director of Squatchdetective.com