Is Bigfoot Real?

The creature is said to be 8-10 feet tall, no neck, eyes that glow red in the beam of a flashlight, hair covering its entire body, a rancid smell to make your eyes water and a scream that will make your blood run cold.

Over the centuries there has been debate over the possibility of a Bigfoot living in the mountains that only comes down to scare people and steal supplies. Hundred of sightings are reported each year, but how many of them are true and how many are hoaxes?

Without proving one way or another that the creature is fact or fiction it's impossible to say if the sightings are real or not. Thanks to the likes of people like Rick Dyer and Tom Biscardi we known for sure there are certain people out there who hoax everyone to make a quick buck.

But before we write off everyone that ever sees or claims to see a Bigfoot lets consider a few things.

First, there are Bigfoot sightings going back to early medieval times, In Medieval Europe, according to Myra Shackley, “Medieval wildmen were seen generally as hairy, with both human and animal traits. Often they were covered with hair except for the face, feet and hands." The obvious question here, why would people from Medieval times lie about seeing hairy beings? What was there to gain from them reporting these encounters?

Secondly, again before cameras and hoaxes for money, Native Americans accepted and lived with Bigfoot stories as part of their every day life. Native American Bigfoot legends usually describe the creatures as being around 6-9 feet tall, very strong, hairy, uncivilized, and often foul-smelling, living in the woods and often foraging at night close to their camps.

Native American Bigfoot creatures are said to be unable to speak human languages, using whistles, grunts, banging on trees, and gestures to communicate with each other. In some stories, male Bigfeet are said to be able to mate with human women. In some Native stories, Bigfoot may have minor supernatural powers-- the ability to turn invisible, for example, but they are always considered physical creatures of the forest, not spirits or ghosts.

Why would our ancestors make these up? They certainly weren't making this up for money, a lot of these tales from our ancestors tell us how scared they were by these giant hairy beings. If these tales scared them so bad why would they continue to tell them until "modern man" began settling America? Doesn't it make more sense that these tales have a ringing of truth? A lot of the things that Native American's saw and told us about have been proven to be true, why not this one? Consider the great Apex that was reported but the tribes in Africa as fact and proven to be true later.

Something to always keep in the back of your mind when you are looking into the phenomenon of Bigfoot: always use your common sense to figure out if someone is trying to pull your leg or make a buck off of you. Unfortunately there are a lot of shady people out there.

For a good, and more recent example, consider the case of Rick Dyer. For those of you who remember back in 2008 he was one of the guys who said that he shot a Bigfoot then tried to sell it to make a buck. Sadly that wasn't the last the "Bigfoot community" heard from Rick Dyer.

1. In 2008 he said that he had a body
2. In 2009 he said again that he had a body for sale
3. In 2010 he said that the Men in Black took the Bigfoot body he had
4. In 2012 he said that he had a "tent video" of a Bigfoot he caught while camping
5. In 2013 he claimed that he had a third body of Bigfoot for sale

The point to be made here is to always use your best judgment when someone tries to "sell you" a Bigfoot body or Bigfoot story. Do your research on the person that is trying to tell you they have proof Bigfoot is real or they have evidence, if someone has a shady past more than likely their present isn't much different.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who are willing to stoop very low by scamming others into buying into their fantasy. Another way they do this, is to charge any amount to take you into a public park while you search for Bigfoot; why pay for something you can do for free with a friend?. Always remain alert but open minded.

I would hope going forward that people were able to keep an open mind if someone comes forward saying they have credible evidence. Even if we are sure it's a hoax we should make sure that it's a proven hoax before passing judgment on the person or their evidence.

Giving someone, unless they are a proven hoaxer, the benefit of the doubt could mean that we make one of the most exciting discoveries of the century. I encourage everyone to always keep and open mind to anything that comes up in the future.