The towering creature of legend, Bigfoot, is near impossible to spot. That hasn’t hurt its popularity, though. While early exposure included plaster foot-casts and grainy film footage, Bigfoot today is on TV, countless books and websites, and even has an action figure.
KLCC’sBrian Bull measures the creature’s cultural footprint.
BULL: “So I’m pretty high up here, in the Mt. Hood wilderness area, navigating some pretty crude roads. Yougottawatch out for big rocks, and potholes, and logs. But I’m getting close to the site of a group of people with theBFRO…BigfootField Researchers Organization…where roughly two dozen people are assembled to try to find signs of the elusive Sasquatch.”
“It’s a glorified camping trip, or camping with a purpose you could say,” says Cindy Rose Caddell.
The BFRO was founded in 1995. Caddell organized its latest Oregonexpedition. With some heaving and shoving…she shows off one of their high-tech tools for tracking Bigfoot.
“They call it Thermal-Eye, it picks up all the heat signatures in the woods," says Caddell.
"So if you see nothing else, its’kindafun to see elk and deer, and even mice…we have a monitor in the truck, and we view it from the back seat. It’s actually used from the army, and they used to put them on the bottom of planes.”
Such hardware sells for about $10,000. Hardcore Bigfoothunter Joe Beelartsays he’s made major investments in his quest.
“Certainly over $20,000, probably in the neighborhood of $30,000, when you include some specialized camera equipment. If you get good photographs of Bigfoot and control them, you will easily make a million dollars.”
Beelartsstill working on that. But Bigfoot's already a moneymaker through movies, including 1987’s “Harry and theHendersons".
HarryHendersonsClip: (Growl) “Sit!” (Growls, CRASH) “That’s great! You taught him how to sit!?” (Growl)
And the creature just appeared in an original play, “TheBigfootLetters”, which opened inClevelandlast month…
BigFootLettersClip01:“….ROOARRRAARRAArraarr! (Hot damn, that’s impressive! What does that mean?) (It’s a distress call, particularly between a mated couple.” )
And it’s the elusivereality-TV star of Animal Planet’s “FindingBigfoot."
FindBigfootClip: “And that’s when I hear big footsteps coming just inside thetreelineto my right…”
“What the title of that show really ought to be, is “NOT Finding Bigfoot,” says RobertThompson, a pop culture professor atSyracuse University.
Bigfoot’s following intrigues him, given the lack of definitive proof every show.
“This would’ve been the equivalent of back in the early1980s, they would have never told us who shot JR. They would have put us through that incredible cliffhanger, went on season after season, and they would never find out the answer.”
This hasn’t hurt “Finding Bigfoot”. It’s been renewed for a ninthseason…surely something to howl about.
“OOooooOOoooooo…” howls an audio file from Cliff Barackman's website.
Barackmanof Portlandis a self-describedBigfootnerd and co-star of “FindingBigfoot". He gathers odd forest sounds from across the continent, which he says could be the creature.
“The most compelling evidence for Sasquatch is, in my opinion, the congruency of all the available evidence," says Barackman. "The whistling, the howling, that sort of thing. When I look at historical newspaper accounts dating back to the1800sor even earlier, they’re reporting the same behaviors. They’re reporting the same physical descriptions and locations, as we find today.”
ButJoe Nickell of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry says existing evidence is shoddy, fraudulent, or just not there.
“All of the paranormal…flying saucers, ghosts, psychics, all of it…is based on a logical fallacy called an argument for ignorance," explains Nickell. " ‘We don’t know, therefore we do know’. We don’t what left these tracks, we don’t know what that bright light in the sky was, we don’t know what made the noise in the old house, therefore we have Bigfoot, an extraterrestrial craft, and a ghost.”
Nickell says the majority of supposedBigfootsightings are actually….
“The 'Bigfoot Bear'. And by that, I mean anybear.”
The debate will go on, as willBigfoot'scultural status...one pitch at a time, if you’re a baseball fan inOregon'ssecond largest city…
“We are at the Eugene Emeralds’ Sasquatch Awareness night!” proclaims Gunnar Monson. He's a“Bigfootologist”who owns the Sasquatch Coffee company inGaribaldi. He mans a table covered with plasterfootcasts, Bigfoottoys, and coffee pouches.
It complements the Emeralds’ Bigfootstatue near the restrooms, and the creature’s likeness on jerseys, pennants, and baseball diamond.
Monsonsays believers and skeptics alike should keep an open mind, and make the most of any expedition.
“More often than not, when you go out looking, something doesn't happen," he says. "So you goBigfootingwith friends, and enjoy their company.”
Meanwhile, Bigfoot nerd CliffBarackmansays shows like “Finding Bigfoot" -as well as the internet and social media -- have finally given believers a supportive community. He thinks this is essential, for when the fateful day comes when a Bigfoot is either hunted down or accidentally killed.
“And when that day happens, that'sthe first day they need protection," says Barackman. "They need protection from us.
"So I want people to loveBigfootsfor whatever they think they are right now. I want an army of Bigfoot lovers, ready to mobilize to protect them and their habitat.”
So Bigfoot, if you’re listening…there are legions of fans who’ve got your elusive, hairy back.
[music tail: “Living In A Bigfoot World” by Jim Kocher]
Copyright 2016 KLCC