there be a place deep in our psyche that fears such monsters and, as a result, manipulates signals as they travel from our optic nerves to the brain’s visual cortex, causing shadows to twist into fearful beings who lurk behind trees and rocks? Could he be the monster under our bed, a subliminal function of our psyche that represents deep-seated fears?
The emotional response to fear is highly personalized. Because fear involves some of the same chemical responses in our brains as positive emotions such as happiness and excitement, feeling fear under certain circumstances can have lasting effects unless addressed.
Could this be why there are so many Bigfoot horror films that paint Bigfoot as a bloodthirsty monster? When Bigfoot is categorized in this way, it affords viewers a sense of control and makes the possibility of the creature’s existence seem less real. Or could it be the opposite? Movies about Bigfoot are the resources we use to learn about him, and what we feed our mind becomes our reality.
Typhon, the father of all monsters.
The Soul—Spiritual and Intellectual Reactions to Fear
Why are monster origins found in literature? Why did people write about these figures? We’ll go into more depth on the origin of monsters in the “History and Legends” chapter of this book, but for now, let’s dwell on the notion that people often teach and learn better when thoughts and ideas use parables or story form. Creative people best express themselves through their art. For storytellers, the written word anchors a story in time. Thus, many monsters found their way to the page when early school ars wanted to teach, share a message, or entertain a thought. Monsters were the perfect representation of evil.
Our nature is to live our lives with an element of monster lurking about. Around the time Homer and Hesiod were recording gruesome stories about Cyclops, the Chimera, and Typhon, the Prophet Isaiah was writing about what many believe to be a real monster who’d been roaming the earth since the beginning of time. The Bible and Torah tell the story of Satan as a serpent tempting Adam and Eve. In the Koran, Iblis is a jinn or genie but acts as the same evil predator. In each case, an angel fell from God’s grace and took the form of a monster to deceive humankind. His intent—to kill and destroy. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1, KJV). This devilish monster influenced the early writings of Dante’s Inferno (AD 1320) and John Milton’s Paradise Lost (AD 1667).
Over time, imaginations broadened, and the monster world grew. What better way to express these beliefs than through figments of our imagination? Every culture has its own monster that stands out to represent societal fears and unfulfilled desires. Does Bigfoot represent that for America?
OTHER
Other interpretations of Bigfoot suggest a humanoid ape, a missing link, or a wild man. While any of these could fall into the previous categories, let’s imagine them as their own entities.
Humanoids have human characteristics. A few eyewitnesses report a traditionally large, hairy figure with a humanlike face, bipedalism, and opposable thumbs. He can think, act, and reason like a human. Possibly smarter than humankind, he keeps himself hidden from society so he can live away from the chaos.
The missing link alludes to the theory of evolution, suggesting apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor over time and that Bigfoot fits somewhere between primates and modern man. Or at some point an apelike creature with compatible DNA once reproduced with a human to create a hominid that may account for one Bigfoot-type reported across the country.
A wild man could live in the woods or mountains undetected, and big feet are not unheard of. Jeison Orlando Rodriguez Hernandez of Venezue la is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the largest human foot of anyone presently living. At sixteen inches, he wears a size 26 shoe. This is about the average size of a Bigfoot. Considering the thousands of footprints found throughout North America, the wild men would consistently need to have exceptionally large feet if they were the Bigfoot.
Based on the categories above, do you think Bigfoot is an animal, supernatural or paranormal being, or a man-made monstrous figure? Can any person answer this? Not yet, but we can speculate, draw conclusions, and have fun keeping in mind that, for now, Bigfoot still belongs to the kingdom of cryptids.
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WHO’S WHO AMONG BIGFOOT
In his book Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman lists the twenty most likely places to glimpse the hairy bipedal. Of the twenty locations, eight are in the Pacific Northwest, four are in the Deep South, four are in the Midwest, two are in the Northeast, and two are elsewhere. While none of the locations are in the Appalachian South, we chose it as one of our focal areas because reports of encounters and a history rich in Bigfoot legend abound in the southern Appalachian states.
As we profile the various Bigfoot found in different regions, we’ll list the names that appear most often. But since there are so many Bigfoot and names, we left out a few. Also, please keep in mind that eyewitness accounts and evidence found are not always consistent within the same region. We accessed available reports and attempted to profile various Bigfoot with as much accurate and unique detail as possible.
BIGFOOT IN THE NORTHEAST
Similar to the classic Bigfoot in appearance, this type is said to have a more humanlike face. They have less facial hair but more hair over the body. Bigfoot of the Northeast have a history of being aggressive and violent and of eating humans. Daylight sightings are a common occurrence.
THE AGROPELTER
Hair/Fur: short black hair
Height: 3 feet
Body Appearance: slender, wiry body; arms like muscular whips
Facial Features: villainous ash-gray face of an ape
Demeanor: mischievous, evil; hurls branches and pieces of bark at loggers with a perfect and powerful aim
Diet: woodpeckers, hoot owls, and doty wood
Location: lives in hollow conifer trees from Maine to Oregon
Tidbit: A creature of logger history, he was the subject of many prankster stories the loggers would tell to haze the new guys. Babies are said to be born on February 29 and arrive in odd numbers.
BOSTON BAHUMAGOSH
Hair/Fur: light-gray to dark-brown matted fur
Height: up to 10 feet
Weight: 400 pounds
Characteristics: dirty smell
Demeanor: shy
Diet: small wildlife, tubers, and berries
Foot Size: large feet
Location:
