So Called "myth"

[Guest]

^Don't be a pedant, Sas...you know what he meant.

I haven't the slightest idea what Alex meant in that post.

[Guest]

^I spelled it out for you just in case...

[Guest alex]

I haven't the slightest idea what Alex meant in that post.

Natives viewed Orca's as having powers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#Indigenous_cultures

"In Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth mythology, killer whales may embody the souls of deceased chiefs"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#cite_note-francis115-117

In the tales and beliefs of the Siberian Yupik people, killer whales are said to appear as wolves in winter, and wolves as killer whales in summer

[Guest]

So were you suggesting that because known animals are also thought by some people to have supernatural abilities that bigfoot must also be a "known" animal because supernatural abilities are attributed to it?

[Drew]

So were you suggesting that because known animals are also thought by some people to have supernatural abilities that bigfoot must also be a "known" animal because supernatural abilities are attributed to it?

This is what he is suggesting.

[Guest]

This is what he is suggesting.

No it isn't. The point to be made is that ascribing supernatural powers to an animal in no way invaldiates that there is a flesh and blood animal that is the BASIS of the myth.

[Guest alex]

This is what he is suggesting.

No, i am just saying that skeptics tend to say that natives regarded sasquatch as a spirit, not an animal, I provided a link that shows Orca's were thought to be shapeshifters and had supernatural powers too

[Guest missipman]

I think a lot more are simply made up than folks here would like to acknowledge. This is another way a myth persists - out of politeness we tend not to question the veracity of alleged eyewitnesses.

Other people think they've seen something, but they haven't. This class of sighting can be attributed to various forms of illusion and hallucination, which are by no means limited to people who suffer from mental illness or intoxication. Perfectly healthy, coherent, and sober people can experience a hallucination; although we probably have many accounts in the BFRO database from people who were none of those things at the time of their encounter.

Some people do see, smell, or hear something that their brains interpret as bigfoot, even though it's not. Yes, a bear looks little like a bigfoot. But what if you see part of a bear (or a moose or a cow or a horse or an elk or a bison) from a funny angle under shadowy conditions or something? Suddenly that "obvious" bear becomes a lot less obvious. Imagine being in a dense forest, feeling something "eerie," smelling some roadkill on the breeze, and then getting startled by the sight of a massive, hairy shoulder that's at least as high as the top of your head. It doesn't matter that the "shoulder" was the hindquarter of a moose; your brain tells you that you just saw bigfoot. Other animals that contribute to alleged bigfoot sightings: owls (red eyeshine 10' off the ground), coyotes (howls), grouse (hoots), etc.

Some people see something that looks a lot like a bigfoot because it really does: People walking around in unexpected places in the woods (e.g., hunters, moonshiners, marijuana growers, morel collectors), people in ghillie suits, people in bigfoot suits. We've seen photos of this sort of thing here, so it must be relatively common.

So way down on the list of potential explanations for an anecdotal account would be the possibility that the person actually witnessed a real bigfoot. Other explanations are simply far more likely and need to be carefully considered and eliminated before ascribing a bigfoot cause to some unusual event.

What I saw was no bear,it was way before ghilly suits were common knowledge,and it stunk like garbage from 30 yds away,and made noises that still make hairs stand up when I close my eyes and think back to that night,take my word for it,its like nothing in the woods,but the patterson film is correct as to what we saw that night,only this was a male,much bigger than that female that they filmed.

[Guest Kronprinz Adam]

I have always wondered: If Sasquatch is just a myth, then why has it been reported into modern day? You do not see many reports of Goblins or Dragon's as much as you do with Sasquatch. As far as I am concerned, Goblins do not leave track's behind, nor do they have this much controversy surrounding them, do they?

If Sasquatch is just a myth, then it is a pretty lame one. Hoaxer's could have reported so many more cooler attributes to Bigfoot ( Shoot beams out of its eyes, lift a giant boulder and throw it 100 yards, etc), But what you tend to get is reports of an Evolutionary exception to the laws of nature.

Members of the forum, what are your opinions on the modern day persistence of this creature, real or imagined, we have all come to love?

'

Do myths leave footprints?

I think there is a consistent myth in several parts of the world about the "wild man of the woods". I think people from the past encountered some kind of relict hominoids in the wilderness and simply incorporate them into their myths. Modern anthropology collected later these myths, legends and fairytales, but made no connection to real creatures.

It wasn't until the publication of Darwin's theories that the public opinion started to think about a "missing link" and some fossils were also found (Neanderthal, Java man, Peking's man). But the idea of a "wild (snow)man" just surfaced again in the Western civilization until the british explorers in the Himalayas collected the first stories about Yetis...

Greetings.

K. Adam.

[Guest Kronprinz Adam]

No, i am just saying that skeptics tend to say that natives regarded sasquatch as a spirit, not an animal, I provided a link that shows Orca's were thought to be shapeshifters and had supernatural powers too

We think owls are "wise" and elephants have "great memory" and we decorate our Christmas trees with supernatural flying reindeer!!

There are diverse native legends (from several tribes), in some Sasquatch has to be avoided, in others it is a lost tribe of early, hairy humanoids, in others Sasquatch is able to speak and it is possible to exchange items with him....so there is some diversity on these myths.

[Guest parnassus]

I think a lot more are simply made up than folks here would like to acknowledge. This is another way a myth persists - out of politeness we tend not to question the veracity of alleged eyewitnesses.

Other people think they've seen something, but they haven't. This class of sighting can be attributed to various forms of illusion and hallucination, which are by no means limited to people who suffer from mental illness or intoxication. Perfectly healthy, coherent, and sober people can experience a hallucination; although we probably have many accounts in the BFRO database from people who were none of those things at the time of their encounter.

Some people do see, smell, or hear something that their brains interpret as bigfoot, even though it's not. Yes, a bear looks little like a bigfoot. But what if you see part of a bear (or a moose or a cow or a horse or an elk or a bison) from a funny angle under shadowy conditions or something? Suddenly that "obvious" bear becomes a lot less obvious. Imagine being in a dense forest, feeling something "eerie," smelling some roadkill on the breeze, and then getting startled by the sight of a massive, hairy shoulder that's at least as high as the top of your head. It doesn't matter that the "shoulder" was the hindquarter of a moose; your brain tells you that you just saw bigfoot. Other animals that contribute to alleged bigfoot sightings: owls (red eyeshine 10' off the ground), coyotes (howls), grouse (hoots), etc.

Some people see something that looks a lot like a bigfoot because it really does: People walking around in unexpected places in the woods (e.g., hunters, moonshiners, marijuana growers, morel collectors), people in ghillie suits, people in bigfoot suits. We've seen photos of this sort of thing here, so it must be relatively common.

So way down on the list of potential explanations for an anecdotal account would be the possibility that the person actually witnessed a real bigfoot. Other explanations are simply far more likely and need to be carefully considered and eliminated before ascribing a bigfoot cause to some unusual event.

Prediction: this rational post will attract two types of responses:

yeah, those OTHER people could be mistaken. But not me.

Or

Are you calling me a liar?

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

I think most witnesses are content that they have seen something outside everyone else's experience. Just because they've seen something the skeptic has not does not make all the witnesses mistaken or mentally ill.

Maybe if the skeptic tried to describe and explain what a platypus is to the people of Papua New Guinea, tribesmen with no experience of the platypus, maybe then the skeptic could understand what the Bigfoot witness experiences. Of course the platypus exists, but the people of the Mek tribe likely aren't going to believe you.

As a Bigfoot witness myself I would love to have been able to share those experiences with the World but unfortunately I can't. Am I offended if someone doesn't think I saw what I did? I was at first, but not anymore. How can I expect someone else to believe these creatures exist without seeing them first hand? I didn't believe they existed until I saw one. Chris B.

[JDL]

I expect the Mek would be more open-minded by comparison.

[Guest]

I think most witnesses are content that they have seen something outside everyone else's experience. Just because they've seen something the skeptic has not does not make all the witnesses mistaken or mentally ill.

Maybe if the skeptic tried to describe and explain what a platypus is to the people of Papua New Guinea, tribesmen with no experience of the platypus, maybe then the skeptic could understand what the Bigfoot witness experiences. Of course the platypus exists, but the people of the Mek tribe likely aren't going to believe you.

As a Bigfoot witness myself I would love to have been able to share those experiences with the World but unfortunately I can't. Am I offended if someone doesn't think I saw what I did? I was at first, but not anymore. How can I expect someone else to believe these creatures exist without seeing them first hand? I didn't believe they existed until I saw one. Chris B.

Early reports and even the first specimen of platypus were thought to be hoaxes.

[Guest]

Early reports and even the first specimen of platypus were thought to be hoaxes.

... care to finish that sentence?

"and shortly thereafter the animal was confirmed and accepted"

= No comparison to bigfoot