Why hasn’t anyone seen bigfoot?
February 5, 2008
There are a hell of a lot of primaries today. So I am going to talk about Bigfoot.
As a sort of diversion from political issues I’ve taken to reading weblogs of paranormal researchers and enthusiasts. I’ve also got an entertaining book called Darklore edited by the proprietor of The Daily Grail. One of the essays in this book is about Bigfoot research, and it makes a point that I’ve read some UFOligists make recently as well. Both of these fields suffer from an apparent lack of evidence — that is, there are no credible witnesses.
Not that there aren’t any witnesses. It’s just none of them are credible. In his Darklore essay, Loren Coleman makes the point that part of the reason these witnesses aren’t credible is they claim to have seen Bigfoot. That’s what you would call something of a Catch-22.
Now, if I were to see something like the creature featured in the Patterson-Gimlin film, my second thought would be that I’d seen a very large ape. (My first thought would be to get the hell out.) It might cross my mind that I’d seen Bigfoot, but then I’d play the “what’s more likely” game and decide I’d seen a large ape. In that (hypothetical) instance, I’m technically a Bigfoot witness. But I don’t even believe myself, so I’m not going to do anyone any good. My skepticism prevents me from reporting a sighting.
“But Thud,” you say. “You are not a skeptic. You believe many irrational, unsupportable things, such as the power of tarot cards and the ability of the Federal Government to improve people’s lives.” You’re right. So maybe I’m not a skeptic and I believe myself that I’ve seen Bigfoot. What am I going to do? Go on TV? Post the pictures on Flickr? People are ready to scream “Photoshopped!” at the slightest provocation. People will say I was tricked if I’m lucky or a charlatan if I’m not. James Randi will probably offer me a million-dollar-sized stack of bonds if I can get Bigfoot to fly out of my ass on command. I’d better keep my trap shut. Especially if I’m a biologist.
Unless I’m a biologist with a Bigfoot corpse.
Everyone’s laughing, my employer wonders what kind of crackpot they hired, my friends hold an intervention to make sure I haven’t started eating the wrong mushrooms — and all the while, there’s Bigfoot. Out there somewhere, really actually real, but no one can hold their laughter inside long enough to go take a freaking look for themselves.
Okay. I’m not saying that Bigfoot exists. I’m not even saying that there’s necessarily an undiscovered great ape out there somewhere staying hidden, although there could be. What I am saying is that Skepticism Unchained causes us to discard evidence out of hand that might actually deserve a cursory look. It can even be discarded by the witness him or herself.
If Bigfoot exists, there have probably been thousands of sightings. But did those people know enough to know what they were looking for? And if they did, did they just get ridiculed by people who’s idea of fieldwork is raking the lawn?
Posted in Deep Weirdness
content rss
February 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am
It isn’t accurate to say that none of the witnesses are credible, because there are many who are credible, doctors, lawyers, officers of the law, etc., all of whom are taken at their word in matters of life and liberty on a daily basis. But your post emphasizes the important point — the issue here is that most people have a willing disbelief in such matters. I suppose it’s only human nature: deny what you fear. Who really wants to know the woods might harbor a huge man-like creature?
February 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Well, see, they’re doctors, lawyers, and policemen who have seen bigfoot and that’s apparently enough evidence that they’re nuts to make them not credible.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
[...] [Source: Thudfactor] [...]
February 5th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Seeing these creatures is not a problem. The folks who are fortunate to see one provide consistent description details in a habitat location with terrain, food sources and water which both hides and sustains them. These are real physical creatures gifted with amazing survival traits that have aided them in eluding detection and extinction.
As you so eloquently articulate, the greatest issue is the credibility factor. According to what we’ve been taught, these creatures should not exist. So when somebody does see one, the primary obstacle is self-doubt as he or she struggles with naming, explaining or accepting the observation. Can it be someone wearing a complete and form-fitting costume? What are they doing at such a time and place wearing such an outfit? Is somebody filming this for “candid camera” as a prank just to see how I react? And why would anyone even make a costume in the first place that doesn’t necessarily look like one of the known great apes (that is, a gorilla, chimpanzee or orangutan)?
I’m speaking from personal experience. It took me 20 years before I accepted as fact that the standing dark brown to black figure I saw in an isolated river valley at dusk in Iowa one late spring day was in the right place and the right time to have been a real animal. If it wasn’t in motion, I’m sure my eyes would not have picked it out against the background. Getting a good photograph or video of these creatures would be pretty much impossible.
Now that I’ve accepted the presence and proximity of these creatures, I’m learning as much as I can about them. Perhaps some day I will find better physical evidence– maybe tracks or hair or scat– but I’m not in a hurry to see one again face-to-face any more than I’d want to encounter a black bear or moose or mountain lion out in the woods.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
If I recall, no one believed that the Mountain Gorilla was a real animal until its official “discovery” in 1902. We humans are happy in the comfortable little worlds we create.
I tend towards nontraditional beliefs myself, but understand that most people resist change or any challenge to the “truths” of the world. Sun goes around the earth, anyone? Much of what we “know” is simply our best current theory–until the next bit of overwhelming evidence changes everything. Again.
Discrediting witnesses because they witnessed something “unbelievable” works in the pseudo-skeptics’ favor. They just scoff at witnesses and don’t have to examine any evidence. I’d probably keep my mouth shut, too, to avoid the inevitable ridicule.
So, Thud, I agree. People may not understand what they are seeing, nor do they want to understand. They just pull their “reality” blankets over their heads and snuggle into their comfy beliefs.
P.S.–There were primaries?
February 5th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
escAPE, thanks for sharing that story.
Auntie, since we’re still finding large mammals I really don’t think it’s as ludicrous an idea as people think.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Thud–EXACTLY! You’re so smart!
February 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
If you pull big foot out of your … I don’t think I can work next to you anymore. But I wonder if the boss would believe me when the reason for moving my desk was because you pulled big foot out of your … Tricky situation you put me in.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
[...] on Thudfactor, Thud posted recently about Bigfoot. Specifically, he posted an examination of what it says about [...]
February 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
However, other types of smaller gorillas and monkeys and other primates were known before 1902. So, the fact that there was a bigger type of gorilla now known as a ‘Mountain Gorilla’ really isn’t as big of a deal as a Bigfoot might be.
The other thing is that they DID find and show a “Mountain Gorilla” to the world, they HAVE NOT done that with a Bigfoot yet.
I would just say don’t use the word “belief”. Just detail what you can or can not say about the evidence you have. You can postulate on what the evidence may be, but state that those postulations are only hypothesis.
We definitely WILL find more animals that we’ve never seen before. It happens with scientists in the deep dark ocean all the time. We find new insects and small animals all the time. However, I seriously doubt (with the way the human population has taken over the Earth) that we will find large animals like the supposed Bigfoot… especially in well-scoped areas like North America.