Sunday, January 22, 2017
Top 5 Bigfoot Theories
Is Bigfoot Real?
Does Bigfoot really exist? It seems a lot of people think so, and many have their own theories on what he is and where he comes from. Hard-working Bigfoot research organizations are trekking through the woods of North America and the rest of the world as you read this, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. As of yet the big guy hasn’t given up his secrets.
Since no Bigfoot has been willing to come forward, and nobody has ever captured one, how do we really know anything at all about this monstrous man-ape? Sure there’s evidence: photographs and videos, plaster footprint casts, and a few hair samples, but nothing definitive. Most of our knowledge comes from first-hand reports.
Fortunately, people run into Bigfoot all the time, though it seems people without cameras, and those with cameras that can’t focus very well, are more likely to encounter the beast. From these accounts and legends we’ve pieced together the picture of a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid we call Bigfoot.
But shouldn’t an 8-foot monster supposedly lurking in every corner of the continent be easier to track down? Even though sightings allegedly occur all the time, we have no way to prove the creature really exists. Eventually we have to ask ourselves if we’re missing something here. Could there be more to this mythical creature than we realize?
This article examines several Bigfoot theories, and attempts to answer the question: What is Bigfoot?
Theory #1: Bigfoot is a Rare North-American Primate
Many experts believe Sasquatch is a species of undocumented ape.
North American Ape Theory
The most prevalent theory is that Bigfoot is a highly-evolved great ape of some sort, a species some researchers have referred to theoretically as the North American Ape. This certainly fits with the description of Sasquatch through the years. But where would such an ape have come from?
Bigfoot-Giganto Theory is an interesting concept that says Bigfoot may trace his family tree back to a giant, 10-foot-tall ape species known as Gigantopithecus Blacki. This massive creature went extinct around 100,000 years ago, but some researchers speculate that Giganto may have evolved into what we call the Yeti in Asia.
Yeti ancestors may have then followed ancient humans across the Bering Land Bridge to North America during the time of the last ice age. This accounts for two similar creatures—Sasquatch and the Yeti—existing so far apart. And, it gives us an explanation for our Bigfoot.
As nice and neat as this theory seems, there are many problems with it from a paleontology perspective. But even if Bigfoot didn’t evolve as a result of the Giganto connection, by most modern accounts he does seem to be some kind of ape.
There’s no fossil record of apes in North America, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Fossils don’t preserve well in forests, and there are many scavengers to clean up any carcasses.
However, it is hard to explain how such a large creature could leave so few clues that it even exists. In the end, this theory still presents us with a flesh-and-blood creature that biologists ought to be able to track down.Theory #2: Bigfoot is Closely Related to Humans
Is the Sasquatch just another species of human that has chosen to avoid us?
Is Bigfoot Human?
What if Bigfoot isn’t an ape at all? What if he’s more like us? Many Bigfoot witnesses say the creature is very human-like, and in some Native and even early European-American cultures Sasquatch is referred to as a man, not an animal. This does make some sense on a few different levels.
Many people don’t realize that there have been several species of human on this planet, not just we Homo sapiens. Like any other animal, our family tree has twists and turns and dead ends. Some human species merged and evolved into what we are today, and some died off. Do any of them fit the description of Bigfoot? Well, sort of.
Could a remnant species of primitive human such as H. Heidelbergensis explain the origin of Bigfoot?
Could a remnant species of primitive human such as H. Heidelbergensis explain the origin of Bigfoot? | Source
Homo Heidelbergensis is an extinct human ancestor that lived half a million years ago. Researchers originally believed they were a very robust species, standing seven feet tall with very heavy musculature.
We now know that most of them weren’t much different in average height than modern humans, but some specific populations may indeed have been giants. What are the odds that a remote population of very large H. Heidelbergensis survived and migrated to North America?
This would explain a few things, such the extremely high level of intelligence Bigfoot is said to possess for one. It would also explain how Sasquatch could survive in harsh climates by hunting. If H. Heidelbergensis learned to fear H. Sapiens it would make sense that it would try to hide from us at all costs. H. Heidelbergensis is also believed to have buried their dead, which may account for the lack of physical evidence.
But like a few of the most popular Bigfoot theories, this one still leaves us with problems. Even H. Heidelbergensis used stone tools, and a social human species living in groups would almost certainly leave other evidence behind.
This early human was likely far more advanced than Bigfoot appears to be, and the chance that it would have culturally “forgotten” its ways is illogical and unlikely. In the end, if Bigfoot is a type of human, we should still find more evidence than we do. Theory #3: Sasquatch is an Ancient Earth Spirit
Does the spiritual realm explain Bigfoot better than the physical world?
Is Sasquatch a Forest Spirit?
What if this creature doesn’t exist in the natural world at all?
Is it just luck and happenstance that the only people who ever see Bigfoot are totally unprepared to document the encounter? It’s an odd paradox that a creature so secretive that it has not even been properly documented by science seems to readily reveal itself to moving cars, hunters wearing orange camouflage and teenagers wandering along dirt roads. Of course, even in this age where everyone is carrying a smart phone with a camera attached nobody who claims to spot Bigfoot ever snaps a picture.
Sure they’re startled and shaken up by the encounter, but during tsunamis, earthquakes, street riots and every other terrifying event people will record video and take pictures. However, some witnesses will claim to observe a Sasquatch for thirty seconds and it never occurs to them to take a photo. Why?
Is it possible that Bigfoot is a forest spirit, a supernatural guardian of the Earth and the woodlands? Might this be why witnesses report being mesmerized by encounters, and might this be why so few have the wherewithal to go for their cell-phone camera?
Indeed, in some parts of North America, Native Americans regard Bigfoot as a supernatural being, and often a messenger of the natural world. This is similar to the way the indigenous peoples of Nepal and Tibet view the Yeti: as a spiritual entity.
Perhaps Europeans, and modern researchers, have missed the mark, so to speak, when it comes to understanding the true nature of Sasquatch. Maybe there is so little evidence because there is simply none to find.Theory #4: Bigfoot is Not From this World
Some believe alien visitors have deposited Sasquatch on our planet for reasons known only to them.
Bigfoot Alien Theory
Some people believe Bigfoot may be an alien species, dropped off here by visitors from another world for reasons known only to them. As odd as this sounds, there does seem to be a correlation between increases in Bigfoot sighting and increases in UFO activity. But what point could there be to this strange relationship between aliens and Bigfoot?
Maybe these Sasquatch creatures are a type of experiment. Aliens would leave them on our planet for a while, and then collect them again after a period of time. Since they are apparently so similar to us, the alien visitors may be able to see all kinds of results that exposure to our Earthly environment has had on them. Maybe this is a kinder, gentler way for aliens to get information about the human race, rather than all that inconvenient abducting and probing.
Perhaps Bigfoot is a hybrid of some sort, a cross between humans and some kind of creature that exists on the alien home world. Or, maybe an alien race is somehow attempting to reverse engineer human DNA, and this Bigfoot creature is closest thing they’ve come up with so far.
The Bigfoot alien theory is certainly is among the most bizarre of the Bigfoot theories. We could speculate forever, but alien involvement definitely could explain why no specimen has ever been captured, why no carcasses have been found, and why Bigfoot seems to be here one instant and gone the next.Theory #5: Bigfoot is a Myth
Skeptics say the Bigfoot Myth is an important part of Native American religion that has carried on into the mainstream world.
Is Bigfoot a Myth?
So far each of these Bigfoot theories is more bizarre than the one that came before, but here’s one even the most devout skeptic can get their brain around. What if Bigfoot only exists in our minds, as a sort of ancestral memory passed down over thousands and thousands of years? Of course this explains why nobody has found any evidence, but it does not account for why the legend is so ingrained in the cultures of North American, both ancient and present day.
One way to explain this is by looking at ancient people’s way of remembering history through storytelling. Many Native American tribes, and we presume the primitive tribes who crossed the Bering Strait, kept history based on oral tradition. They had no written language, only the stories passed on from generation to generation. If early human ancestors shared the forests of Asia with a creature such as the aforementioned Gigantopithecus, these stories and accounts may have survived to recent times, passed on by the indigenous tribes of the Americas.
These Native American Bigfoot legends would have been passed down to early European explorers, who no doubt were mystified by the prospect of such a fantastic creature living in the New World. Naturally, Europeans would have built upon the myth themselves, and perpetuated it to present day.
This satisfies skeptics and explains why there is little physical evidence, but it does not account for all the reported sightings. If Bigfoot isn’t real, why are so many people spotting him?
The Sasquatch Legend Lives On
Wherever you stand with the Bigfoot mystery, you have to admit it’s an interesting puzzle. There must be something to the Sasquatch phenomenon, but getting all the pieces to fit together seems impossible at this time.
Is Bigfoot some sort of undiscovered ape, possibly a relative of the Yeti descended from an ancient species called Gigantopithecus? It makes a lot of sense, even though there is no way to prove it in the fossil record, at least at this time.
Could Sasquatch be a species of primitive human, perhaps a remnant population of Homo Heidelbergensis that migrated to North America during the last ice age? If not H. Heidelbergensis, then perhaps some other species of human, far more like us than we’d like to think.
Might Bigfoot be an alien, or a spirit, or maybe just a figment of our collective imagination? As wild as these theories sound, they do account for the missing evidence, and the elusive nature of the beast.
Nobody knows, but until there is more definitive physical evidence anything is possible. But rest assured that tireless Bigfoot researchers are out there looking for the truth, and getting to the bottom of these Bigfoot theories.our Opinion
What is Bigfoot Really?
37% Some kind of North American great ape.
28% A species of primitive human.
8% A forest spirit.
10% An alien.
18% Only a myth.
1204 people have voted in this poll.
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