“Year of the Sasquatch”

So in the last couple of days, there have been two bigfoot stories that have gained national attention. I love these stories. Not because they’re all so believable, but because they are a fun way to bring attention to these wonderful creatures. I know plenty of people hate the hoaxes because they aren’t taking a serious subject seriously at all, but let’s face it, most people don’t believe bigfoot are real. What these stories do is get people talking, get people thinking about it. We need people to open their minds, because one day they’re all going to be faced with the reality of living bigfoot.

The first was a rather lame attempt at photoshopping a bigfoot in the swamp. A 66-year-old fisherman supposedly captured the image of the elusive beast “bathing” in Tampa’s Hillsborough River. A close-up of the mysterious being shows a very gorilla-like face pasted on what looks like some sort of suit. The funny part of this attempt is that in Florida, there is said to be a bigfoot-like creature that lives in the swampy areas, and it’s often referred to as a Skunk Ape (due to their smell). Now, whoever made this picture obviously heard this name and actually drew what looks like a white skunk stripe down the middle of this thing’s face! Funny stuff. Here’s an article about the picture and story.

Bathing Bigfoot
Courtesy Patch, My Fox Tampa.

 

The second story comes from Arizona, where the Arizona Department of Transportation posted a picture from one of its traffic feeds to its Facebook page—a picture of a supposed bigfoot family crossing the road! I can personally relate to this one. Right? Right? I mean, I’ve seen a bigfoot family with my own eyes (read The Secret of Hoke Farm for a more-or-less accurate account of my experience), and that is quite a sight to behold. Turns out, the ADT seems to like to have fun with its viewers, so this can be chalked up to yet another fun hoax.

Check out the video and article here.

Another article out of Florida asks if this is the year of the bigfoot. Only six days into the new year, we’ve already had two bigfoot stories go viral. Yes, they were hoaxes, but the fact that they did go viral shows that people are craving these stories. People are interested. People want to believe. It’s catching the eye of people of all types and word is spreading.

What I like about these stories is that they bring bigfoot into the spotlight. While some are people trying to get their 15 minutes of fame, others put stories out there for fun, making it clear that they’re just winking to the belief of something so amazing. As someone who knows these beings exist, I like the idea of more and more people thinking about these creatures, questioning their existence, and becoming open to the idea of them.