Frequently Asked Questions
About Sasquatch or Bigfoot
[How many Sasquatch or Bigfoot encounters have been reported in Northeastern America?]
If you are in the process of submitting your report of a Sasquatch or Bigfoot encounter, you are not alone. Apparently, there have been thousands of reported Sasquatch or Bigfoot encounters on the North American continent throughout history (including Northeast America). Over the past decade, hundreds of reported encounters have occurred within Northeast America. Here at Sasquatch Watch of Virginia, our researchers are very reliable and sincere in investigating each one of the numerous Bigfoot or Sasquatch encounters, and will keep your contact information strictly confidential.
[What is a Sasquatch or Bigfoot?]
This is a very tough question and depending on who you ask, you will get many different answers. There are many different theories as to what these creatures may be, but the truth is that nobody knows exactly what they really are. There are heated debates between the believers of what they might be with most believers falling into two separate camps, flesh & blood and paranormal.
Some flesh & blood theorists believe they are living animals no different than other known woodland animals like bears or wolves. A few think they might be the long sought after missing link in our evolutionary chain, while others feel they are a separate but similar species of early man that developed independently of modern man and has somehow been able to stay hidden from us most of the time over all these years. Still others think they could be Gigantopithecus Blacki, or a slightly evolved version of this giant Asian ape that was known to have once roamed the Earth, which may have come to North America by crossing over the land bridge during the last ice age.
The paranormal believers have other less ordinary theories about what they might be and believe they are more than just a living animal or an early type of human. The paranormal believers are just as divided as the flesh & blood theorists as they also have vastly differing opinions as to what these creatures might be. Some of them believe they could be alien visitors sent to observe us. Some think they are visitors from another dimension who are able to jump back and forth between dimensions at will. Others believe they are shape-shifting beings, able to modify their appearance at will. Still others believe them to be some type of ghosts or possibly even demons. The majority of people who believe these creatures do exist tend to believe in one of the flesh and blood theories rather than one of the paranormal theories.
[Wasn’t Sasquatch or Bigfoot proven to have been a hoax?]
There have been many people who have tried to prove that Sasquatch or Bigfoot creatures are nothing more than a popular myth or a series of elaborate hoaxes. There have been a number of people who have come forward, each one claiming to have been “the guy in the fur suit” or claiming to know of someone who helped stage the famous Patterson/Gimlin film “hoax” shot at Bluff Creek, California in 1967. Despite all these claims and despite many years of expert scrutiny of the PG film by scientists and film experts, to this day nobody has been able to conclusively prove this film is a hoax. Some people claim that well-known prankster Ray Wallace was the “creator” of Sasquatch, and that he alone was responsible for all of the tracks found in California in 1958. The problem with this theory is that some of the alleged “fake tracks” he was credited with making didn’t match the set of carved wooden feet he was said to have used to make the tracks. The fact that the wooden feet didn’t match the alleged “fake tracks” should have ended all belief in the theory that Mr. Wallace had “created” Sasquatch, the problem was the media. None of the many reporters that interviewed him about the track casts taken in the area of Bluff Creek and about his carved wooden feet ever directly compared the two side by side, or they would have easily noticed that they didn’t quite match. Another major problem with this theory is that there were plenty of tracks, which were found in other states besides California. It probably would have been very hard for Wallace to find the time to visit all these other states to make all these fake tracks while at the same time trying to run his own business. But perhaps the biggest problem with the belief that Ray Wallace was responsible for the whole Sasquatch phenomenon is the fact that tales of Sasquatch encounters go back as far as 1818 in American history and hundreds of years before that in Native American history. While it’s a fact that some of the evidence presented in the past has been faked such as various tracks, photos, videos, etc. by different pranksters over the years, not all of the possible evidence has been faked.
[What evidence is there to support the existence of Sasquatch or Bigfoot?]
Along with the PG film, there are other pieces of evidence that experts feel would be very unlikely and extremely difficult to fake, and in these cases some believe this evidence to be proof of their existence. One example of this possible proof is the case of the mysterious Bossburg tracks (also known as the “cripple foot” tracks) found near Bossburg, Washington in November and December of 1969. The first series of tracks or trackway was found in the area around a local garbage dump. Unfortunately, almost all of these first tracks were quickly destroyed by a crowd of curious onlookers from the town. News of the amazing discovery had been leaked in town and many people went out to the trackway to see it for themselves before the evidence could be properly protected. The second trackway found around Bossburg is one of the longest ever discovered and features over 1,000 individual tracks allegedly left by a passing Sasquatch with one club foot. All of these tracks were completely anatomically correct for a creature the size and weight of a Sasquatch with the club foot deformity. These tracks probably would have been very difficult to fake without a very good understanding of primate anatomy and related bone structure, and the hoaxer would have had to spend a lot of time and great effort to carefully create so many perfectly formed “deformed” fake tracks. The late Dr. Grover Krantz, a well-respected Washington State University anthropologist and initial Sasquatch skeptic, considered these prints to be the undeniable proof that in the end convinced him that Sasquatch did exist.
Another famous set of alleged Sasquatch tracks involved two separate trackways found at two different very remote locations, hundreds of miles apart from each other in two different states. The first trackway was discovered 20 years before the second one was found, and both trackways were an exact match, which left only two possible explanations for this. They either had to have been made by the same Sasquatch many years later in it’s travels through the wilderness or else the alleged hoaxer had traveled hundreds of miles to place a second exactly matching trackway in a very remote, hard-to-reach location 20 years after he placed the first trackway. There is no way for the alleged hoaxer to know if his fake tracks would have ever been discovered or if they would both eventually have been compared by experts to confirm they were a match. To think that any hoaxer would spend the time and have the skill to create two sets of exactly matching trackways in two different and very remote locations in the hope that someday they might both be discovered and compared is hard enough to believe. But to suggest that the hoaxer would have the patience to wait a full 20 years for his hoax to be completed is just completely unrealistic. The only explanation that makes sense in this case is that they were both made by the same Sasquatch many years apart and in completely different areas.
Of course there are other solid pieces of evidence to support the existence of these creatures besides the trackways. One very important piece of evidence for the existence of Sasquatch are dermal ridges, which are basically fingerprints found in some of the castings made from some well-formed tracks. Officer Jimmy Chilcutt with the Conroe Police Dept in Texas certainly has the most experience of anyone in North America, if not the world, at examining non-human primate dermal ridges or fingerprints. Over the years he has fingerprinted many different ape species and he has amassed a huge collection of about 1,000 of these prints. His studies of the different skin patterns on the feet of the different ape species have made him one of the world’s leading experts on the subject of human and non-human primate dermal ridges. Originally a Sasquatch skeptic, Chilcutt examined the collection of track casts of Dr. Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy at Idaho State University. He eventually found enough evidence to cause him to change his belief on the subject of Sasquatch; he was now a firm believer.
Another important piece of evidence is known as “The Skookum Cast”, a large partial-body imprint discovered in September of 2000 in Washington State of an alleged Sasquatch left in soft soil as it lay on the ground eating Apples from a bait pile of fruit. The imprint seems to clearly show an impression of the buttocks, thigh, ankle, forearm and even a partial heel impression complete with possible dermal ridges of a Sasquatch made in the mud as it sat down and then stretched over to grab the Apple from the pile of fruit. The casting was examined by the late Dr. Grover Krantz, Dr. Jeff Meldum and Dr. John Bindernagel among others. They all agreed that this imprint was authentic, not made by any known animal and not some type of hoax or fabrication.
Dr. Henner Fahrenbach’s studies of the dimensions of the alleged Sasquatch footprints which were measured and compared over the last 40 years is another very solid piece of evidence which seems to support the existence of Sasquatch. Fahrenbach combined all of the data regarding total foot length, heel width and ball width of the foot together on one paper showing it as a graph. When he completed his graph of the combined data the shape on the paper formed a bell curve. This bell curve is exactly what you would find when looking at various shapes and sizes of the feet of a living population, whether they are human beings or Sasquatch, as both of these species grow and age. His studies seem to confirm that these footprints can’t all have been faked because of the wide distribution of different sizes involved.
Other evidence consists of various hair or scat samples and numerous vocal recordings not found to match any known animal in North America. Not to mention the fact that there is a long history of Sasquatch sightings by the Native American tribes for over 400 years, long before any modern day pranksters were ever born! Many of these tribes have carved Totem Poles with images of these creatures. How could they possibly have known what Sasquatch looked like unless they had seen them? Scientists know there have never been any known great apes living in North America so the Native Americans couldn’t possibly have seen one, yet they carved many images of an ape-like Sasquatch face on their Totem Poles. This fact seems to indicate that they were well aware of the presence of Sasquatch.
At this point in time, it would be easier to believe these creatures do in fact exist than to believe that all the collected evidence has been nothing but a series of elaborate hoaxes perfectly performed over the years by many different people all working in concert together for the purposes of perpetuating a long running hoax.
[If they are real, why can’t anyone find the body or bones of a dead Sasquatch?]
There are many reasons why you would not be able to find a dead body or at least the bones of a Sasquatch. There are thousands of Bears and other large animals in this country that are known to exist. Many of these animals die of natural causes each year yet no bodies or bones are ever found. One reason for this is that when they feel very sick animals will seek out a very hard to find, safe place to hide. Animals seem to know that if they become too weak to defend themselves they will become easy prey for another stronger animal that would find them an easy target. They often die in a secluded location and may lie dead and undiscovered for a very long period of time. If a dead animal is found usually it’s found first by scavengers who consume most of the rotting carcass, including some of the bones. Nature reclaims the rest of the remains through the natural process of decay and very little to no evidence may remain to mark their passing. Over time, the remaining bones and teeth eventually completely disintegrate back into the environment. In a very dry, desert-type environment the bones are often very well preserved and can be examined and easily identified many years later. In a very humid, forest type environment however, the bones can decay extremely quickly sometimes leaving no trace of the deceased animal. Another possible reason why you wouldn’t be able to find a body or the bones of a dead Sasquatch is the theory that they may bury their dead just like we do. Some experts feel very strongly that this could be the reason why nothing is ever found, this would certainly explain the lack of physical evidence.
[Why do some tracks show three or four toes? Are there different species of Sasquatch?]
The question about the different number of toes found in many tracks and whether there is more than one species of Sasquatch is a much debated topic. Some experts believe that there may indeed be similar but yet somewhat different species of Sasquatch in North America.
Those who subscribe to this theory point out the fact that there are other differences between what is known as “The Pacific North West Sasquatch” and the Eastern or Southern versions. In the Eastern and Southern areas of the country the creatures seem to be more aggressive in nature and much more prone to acting out territorial displays when compared to the usually less aggressive PNW Sasquatch. In these areas of the country the creatures are often called different names like Momo, Booger, Lizard Man, Old Red Eyes, Skunk Ape, and many others. In these areas the creatures seem to “stalk” people more often, sometimes following them right out to a roadway or parking area. They may even “chase” or “herd” people by running behind them at a distance to force people out of an area very quickly. Many of the tracks found in the Eastern or Southern states show three or four toes instead of the usual five toes of most tracks in the PNW.
In comparison, the PNW Sasquatch seem to be much more shy and elusive, usually just taking a brief look at a person before quickly leaving the area. These Sasquatch are much less prone to acting out territorial displays and almost all of the tracks found show five toes. These are the reasons why many believe there are two different but closely related species of Sasquatch.
However, a very strong argument can also be made for the theory that there is only one species of Sasquatch in North America. Those who believe in the one species theory offer the possibility of inbreeding as the most likely reason for the apparent differences between the creatures. This is a very good possibility and would easily explain the different numbers of toes found in the tracks and also the aggressive nature of some Sasquatch. Inbreeding is known to cause disfigurement in the extremities, including missing fingers and toes, and is also widely blamed for the aggressive nature of the inbred. This also makes perfect sense from a geographical standpoint as well. Even though the Eastern and Southern areas have more overall square miles of forest than the PNW, the tracts of land are in much smaller separate pieces. Because the tracts of forest in the East and South are separated by many more roadways and bigger cities than in the PNW, these creatures are probably forced to stay and mate mostly within their own territories which causes a much less diverse gene pool than that of the Sasquatch in the PNW. Because of this the genetic deformities are handed down from generation to generation thus virtually guaranteeing the continuation of the aggressive three or four toed Sasquatch. If it turns out that there is only one species of these creatures, then the inbreeding theory probably offers the best explanation for the apparent differences between the Eastern/Southern and PNW Sasquatch.
[What is the total estimated Sasquatch or Bigfoot population?]
We will probably never know the answer to this question but most experts agree with an estimate of approximately 1,500 to 4,000 total individuals for all of North America. Even though these numbers are just an educated guess by many researchers probing the Sasquatch mystery, the actual number might not fit inside this range, these numbers are generally accepted as being correct.
[How big is an adult Sasquatch or Bigfoot?]
Nobody really knows the answer to this question, but some eyewitnesses have reportedly seen Sasquatch that were over 10 feet tall, a few possibly even 15 feet tall, but these reports are relatively rare. Most reports indicate that the average height and weight range for an adult Sasquatch is between 7 – 10 feet in height and between 500 – 800 pounds in weight. The height measurement is usually determined by comparing the Sasquatch in question to something in the sighting area with a known fixed height or something that can be measured like a building, street sign, tree branch, tree stump, etc. Once you have a height, the weight is usually just an educated guess based on the estimated height. In some cases it might be possible to determine the approximate weight if any tracks are left by the Sasquatch in the sighting area. Examining the tracks and measuring how deep the impressions are in the ground is another way of estimating the weight of the Sasquatch.
[What do they eat?]
Most people believe that Sasquatch or Bigfoot is omnivorous. Sasquatch apparently eats a wide variety of different food items from fruits, berries, nuts, bark, roots, green vegetation, vegetables, insects, and even some raw meat. This information comes from eye witness accounts and the close examination of various scat samples found in the past, which were believed to have been left by a Sasquatch. The raw meat they are reported to eat includes fish, fowl, small rodents, rabbits, various fowl, and other wild game including deer meat, which appears to be a common meal of Sasquatch. It is reported that they occasionally eat leftover food in garbage such as eggs and bacon. Although it may not be a common occurrence, it has been reported that they eat “domestically raised animals” by raiding a farmers pens for chickens, ducks, or pigs if the opportunity presents itself.
[Are they nocturnal?]
Sasquatch or Bigfoot is believed to be nocturnal. Their night vision is believed to exceed that of man. It is probable that this increase in night vision is a function of a larger eye and pupillary size rather than a reflecting layer. These animals walk with ease in seeming total darkness, but have been seen foraging during the day. An indication of their nighttime activity is the fact that they are seen frequently during the night despite the limited sight distance of observers.
[Are these creatures considered dangerous?]
While any large wild animal, especially one of the alleged size and strength of a Sasquatch has the potential to be dangerous, these creatures are considered by most experts to be generally harmless to humans, unless they are provoked. There have only been a handful of incidents where a Sasquatch was alleged to have become very aggressive towards a human, and these attacks probably happened after the creature was provoked in some way. Most of the time if a Sasquatch feels threatened or uncomfortable because a person is too close by, it will warn that person to leave the area by way of a territorial display. These displays are common among the great apes and they may include a number of different huffs, grunts, snorts or other aggressive sounding vocalizations. They may also include “chest thumping”, where the Sasquatch beats its own chest like a Gorilla does. The display might even involve a “bluff charge”, where the Sasquatch will run directly at you but will suddenly stop and retreat or veer off and run away before making contact with you. The creature may also violently shake nearby trees or throw sticks, rocks or pine cones in your general direction. All of these actions or territorial displays are an effort to intimidate you into leaving the area, most are very successful. Some attacks have happened simply because people have ignored these warning signs and remained in an area too long unknowingly provoking an aggressive reaction by the creature.
Though there have been a few cases where a Sasquatch might have indirectly caused a person to become slightly injured, being hit by a rock or stick thrown by the creature, there have only been two documented incidents of extremely aggressive Sasquatch attacks against humans. There has only been one documented incident where a person was allegedly killed by a Sasquatch, but even this incident is just an assumption as the actual attack was not witnessed by anyone.
The first of these two very rare but extremely aggressive attacks is known as The Ape Canyon incident. It took place in July, 1924 in Washington State near Mount St. Helens and is one extreme exception to the rule about these creatures being considered harmless. In this famous encounter, five gold prospectors were attacked by multiple creatures at the same time during a nightlong attack. The creatures, known as “Mountain Devils” back then, surrounded the log cabin as the prospectors slept and began their nightlong attack. Rocks and other debris rained down on the cabin thrown by the creatures from above. Some of the creatures tried to break down the door while others climbed onto the roof in an effort to find a way to get inside the cabin but were forced back by gunfire from the five men. Eventually at dawn, as it began to get light outside, the creatures broke off their attack and left the area. The men were scared for their lives and the first chance they got they immediately left the area, leaving behind most of their prospecting equipment.
The second of these very rare but extremely aggressive attacks is known as the Bauman Story and comes from a book written by former President and “Rough Rider” Teddy Roosevelt. This is the only known documented case of a fatality directly caused by a Sasquatch attacking a human. In this account a man named Bauman, a “mountain man” or hunter and trapper, was trapping with a partner in an area along the Idaho/Montana border. On the first night the men were camped in the area they were visited by a Sasquatch. A noise woke Bauman during the night, he awoke to find the creature in his campsite just a few feet away. Startled by the sight of the huge creature he fired his rifle at it but missed and it ran away into the forest. The next morning the two men left camp to check their traps and when they came back they found their camp virtually destroyed. The creature had returned, apparently angry at being shot at the night before, and had destroyed their camp. That night the Sasquatch returned again but this time it didn’t come into the camp but stayed close by on the hillside occasionally screaming at them or making other horrible sounding noises. The next day the men decided to pack up and leave the area but first they had to collect all of their traps. Bauman said he would go get the last of the traps while his friend went ahead to the camp and started packing up for them to leave. When Bauman returned to the campsite hours later he found his friend dead, his neck was broken and he had been bitten on the neck. He immediately left the area taking only his rifle with him so he could travel as fast as possible and kept moving all night until he was a long way from the area and felt safe enough to stop.