Bigfoot facts for kids
| Sasquatch | |
|---|---|
Quick facts for kids  |
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| An artist's depiction of Bigfoot. | |
| Creature | |
| Name: | Sasquatch |
| AKA: | Bigfoot |
| Classification | |
| Grouping: | Cryptid |
| Data | |
| First reported: | In folklore |
| Country: | United States, Canada |
| Region: | California |
| Habitat: | Forests, Swamps, Mountains |
Bigfoot, also called Sasquatch, is a rarely-seen primate that some people say lives in remote areas of Canada and the United States. Even though many people claim to have seen a Bigfoot, or seen their tracks, no one has ever captured one, or found a dead body. For this reason, some people do not believe in Bigfoot. Some also believe Bigfoot is a dangerous monster, because of some scary stories told about them. Most people who study Bigfoot, however, agree that the species is probably gentle and intelligent, just like humans.
Bigfoot is said to be very tall, from 7 to 9 feet (about 2 to 2.75 meters) and covered in brown, black, red, or sometimes even white fur or hair. They are said to have very big feet, about 13 inches long (0.3 meters), which is why they are named Bigfoot.
Bigfoots are mostly seen in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, but sometimes people see them in the Great Lakes area, the Midwest, or even in swamps in the Southern United States.
It is thought that Bigfoot may be related to the Yeti of the Himalayas.
The name Sasquatch comes from the Halkomelem language, a Central Salish language in the Salish language family. Stories of this type of creature are known among a number of First Nations groups in south-western British Columbia.
Contents
Description
Bigfoot is described as a large, muscular ape or human-like creature covered in black, dark brown, or dark reddish hair. According to some descriptions, the creature might stand as tall as 10–15 feet (3.0–4.6 m).
Other common descriptions include broad shoulders, no visible neck, and long arms. The enormous footprints for which the creature is named are claimed to be as large as 24 inches (610 mm) long and 8 inches (200 mm) wide.
History
Indigenous and early records
Many of the indigenous cultures across the North American continent include tales of mysterious hair-covered creatures living in forests. These legends existed long before contemporary reports of the creature described as Bigfoot. These stories differed in their details regionally and between families in the same community, and are particularly prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.
On the Tule River Indian Reservation, petroglyphs created by a tribe of Yokuts at a site called Painted Rock are alleged by some to depict a group of Bigfoot called "the Family". The local tribespeople call the largest of the glyphs "Hairy Man", and they are estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old. 16th century Spanish explorers and Mexican settlers told tales of the los Vigilantes Oscuros, or "Dark Watchers", large creatures alleged to stalk their camps at night. In the region that is now Mississippi, a Jesuit priest was living with the Natchez in 1721 and reported stories of hairy creatures in the forest known to scream loudly and steal livestock.
The Sts'ailes people tell stories about sasq'ets, a shapeshifting creature that protects the forest. The name "Sasquatch" is the anglicized version of sasq'ets (sas-kets), roughly translating to "hairy man" in the Halq'emeylem language.
Members of the Lummi tell tales about creatures known as Ts'emekwes. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creature's diet and activities. Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures: the stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race and children were warned against saying the names so that the "monsters" would not come and carry them away. The Iroquois tell of an aggressive, hair covered giant with rock-hard skin known as the Ot ne yar heh or "Stone Giant", more commonly referred to as the Genoskwa. In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the natives about skoocooms, a race of wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, in his 1893 book, The Wilderness Hunter, writes of a story he was told by an elderly mountain man named Bauman in which a foul-smelling, bipedal creature ransacked his beaver trapping camp. Roosevelt notes that Bauman appeared fearful while telling the story, but attributed the trapper's German ancestry to have potentially influenced him.
A version by Reverend Elkanah Walker mentions stories of giants among the natives living near Spokane, Washington. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fishermen's nets.
Origin of the "Bigfoot" name
In 1958, Jerry Crew, bulldozer operator for a logging company in Humboldt County, California, discovered a set of large, 16 inches (410 mm) human-like footprints sunk deep within the mud in the Six Rivers National Forest. Upon informing his coworkers, many claimed to have seen similar tracks on previous job sites as well as telling of odd incidents such as an oil drum weighing 450 pounds (200 kg) having been moved without explanation. The logging company men soon began utilizing "Bigfoot" to describe the apparent culprit. Crew initially believed someone was playing a prank on them. After observing more of these massive footprints, he contacted reporter Andrew Genzoli of the Humboldt Times newspaper. Genzoli interviewed lumber workers and wrote articles about the mysterious footprints, introducing the name "Bigfoot" in relation to the tracks and the local tales of large, hairy wild men. A plaster cast was made of the footprints and Crew appeared, holding one of the casts, on the front page of the newspaper on October 6, 1958. The story spread rapidly as Genzoli began to receive correspondence from major media outlets including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. As a result, the term Bigfoot became widespread as a reference to an apparently large, unknown creature leaving massive footprints in Northern California. As a result, Willow Creek and Humboldt County are considered by some to be the "Bigfoot Capital of the World".
Regional and other names
Many regions have differentiating names for the creatures. In Canada, the name Sasquatch is widely used although often interchangeably with the name Bigfoot. The United States uses both of these names but also has numerous names and descriptions of the creatures depending on the region and area in which they are allegedly sighted. These include the Skunk ape in Florida and other southern states, Grassman in Ohio, Fouke Monster in Arkansas, Wood Booger in Virginia, the Monster of Whitehall in Whitehall, New York, Momo in Missouri, Honey Island Swamp Monster in Louisiana, Dewey Lake Monster in Michigan, Mogollon Monster in Arizona, the Big Muddy Monster in southern Illinois, and The Old Men of the Mountain in West Virginia. The term Wood Ape is also used by some as a means to deviate from the perceived mythical connotation surrounding the name "Bigfoot". Other names include Bushman, Treeman, and Wildman.
Pictures and movies of Bigfoot
Sometimes, people who see a Bigfoot are able to take a picture or a movie of it. The most famous of these is the "Patterson-Gimlin movie." It was named this because the last names of the men who took the movie were Patterson and Gimlin. In the movie, a large, ape-like creature can be seen walking from a lake to a forest. Because this is the best movie so far of a creature that may be a Bigfoot, scientists argue about it a lot.
Some think that the creature is a real Bigfoot, while others think that it is just a person in a gorilla costume. Because of this, people have done experiments with men in gorilla costumes who try to move like the creature in the movie. So far, none has been able to move just like it. This is why there are many Bigfoot hoaxes. He can also be mistaken for a grizzly bear.The evidence obtained from the movie is startling though many have questioned it. Some experts believe if the movie is played slightly faster it could have been a man wearing a rubber costume. However aspects of the footage are amazing. For example, biotechnology scientists have said that for Bigfoot to walk upright it would need an extended heel. The creature in the movie too has an extended heel.
Images for kids
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1895 article describing a giant grizzly bear named "Bigfoot".
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A black bear showcasing its ability to sit in a human-like fashion.
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The 2007 photo of an unidentified creature captured on a trail camera attributed by at least one self-styled cryptid investigator to be a juvenile black bear with long legs.
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Fossil jaw of the extinct primate Gigantopithecus blacki
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2007 photograph of the Bigfoot trap within the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.
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An artist's impression of the creature
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A tongue-in-cheek sign warning of Bigfoot crossings on Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado
See also
In Spanish: Pie Grande para niños
