Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is an ape-like creature said to inhabit the forests of North America, however, tales of wild, hairy humanoids exist throughout the world. These creatures appear in the folklore of North America, including legends of indigenous people.

The majority of the mainstream scientific community have discounted the existence of bigfoots considering it to be the result of folklore, misidentification and hoax.

Bigfoot is almost always described as a large, muscular, ape-like creature covered in black, brown or dark-reddish hair or fur. Height estimates are anywhere between 6-9 ft tall, although some descriptions have bigfoot standing as tall as 10-15ft. The enormous footprints for which the creature is named for claimed to be as long as 24 inches and as wide as 8 inches.

Sightings primarily occur in the Northwestern region of Washington, Oregon, Northern California and British Columbia. However, the Bigfoot Sightings Database managed by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has sightings from all over the United States and Canada.

Many indigenous cultures across North America include tales of a mysterious hair-covered creature living in the forest. These accounts existed long before the contemporary reports of "Bigfoot". On the Tule River Indian Reservation in Central California, petroglyphs created by a tribe of Yokuts at a site called Painted Rock are alleged by some to depict a group of Bigfoot called "the Family". The local tribespeople call the largest of the glyphs "Hairy Man" and they are estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old.

In the 16th Century, Spanish explorers and Mexican settlers in California told tales of the "los Vigilantes Oscuros" or "Dark Watchers", large creatures that stalked their camps at night.

A Protestant missionary, Reverend Elkanah Walker, recorded stories of giants among the natives living near Spokane, Washington in 1840. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fisherman's nets.