Poll: How Has Your Time On The Bff Influenced Your Level Of Belief In Bf

[1980squatch]

Many of us have spent a good deal of time here, and most members are not convinced 100% of existence or non-existence.  So, all that reading and posting here, how has that moved your BF belief needle? 

[Rockape]

I neither believe nor dis-believe and my time here has not changed that one bit.

[cattown]

Not knowing what to expect, I am encouraged by the broad range of common sense, thoughtful debate, given from all sides.

[JDL]

I don't believe in bigfoot.  Being confronted by one kind of puts you past that stage.

[1980squatch]

JDL, I'm not crazy about the term either but I decided in the polling questions to use common language.  I'm primarily interested in how the middle three categories fall out...

[BigTreeWalker]

1980squatch,

Don't like the term either, smacks to much of a religious experience. Either it exists or it doesn't. But I know this is a poll for information. So I guess I'll play along.

[Guest DWA]

I think that "believer" is a major impediment to progress on this topic.  I don't believe in anything.  Evidence is all I go by, and all anyone should.

[norseman]

I really do not get the convincing part based on a website discussion.

I would not expect a person lacking any strange encounter experiences to just come onto this website and do some reading and become utterly convinced the creature exists. Or the same person to come to this website utterly convinced in the creatures existence, do some reading and begin not to believe.

But by the same token Ive encountered hard skeptics that claimed that if they had an encounter they would not trust their own minds in believing they had an encounter.

I find both mind sets equally perplexing. One relies on other peoples experiences and percieved sincerity, and the other completely suspends ones own ability to percieve reality based on their own senses. And instead again relies on others to tell them WHAT to believe.

You have to base your own beliefs on your own experiences or the lack thereof. JDL is a knower....I am not. But I have witnessed compelling evidence myself that what he says is true, something large and bipedal is out there. And I openly acknowledge that proof is needed for others without experiences to acknowledge the creatures existence.

I think the key issue here is that anyone that comes to this site takes an interest in this subject for whatever the reason. Acknowledge that fact and then concentrate on doing something constructive with it. You dont have to believe or disbelieve to to make valuable suggestions or help out with finding the truth.

[dmaker]

One sides truth, is the other sides denial.

 

For example, I am convinced there is no such thing as a bigfoot and that the "truth" of bigfoot is clearly that it is nothing more than a social construct. Still fascinating and worthy of study and observation and participation, but there is no "truth" to be discovered for me other than to figure out why bigfoot believers act they way they do. Nothing short of an interesting DNA result or a body would change my mind about this topic. No more stories, tracks, etc are going to do it. 

 

For a "knower", their "truth" is, also, already found and equally immutable. The Patty suit could be found and all living parties video recorded while admitting and explaining the hoax. Every alleged bigfoot sample could continue to come back from the lab as known animal. It does not and will not matter. Bigfoot believers are a stubborn bunch. 

 

In my mind, they deny reality. In their mind, I deny bigfoot "evidence".   Neither side seeks "truth". Each side feels they already have the truth, but it is only being denied. 

[SWWASAS]

As Molder said "The truth is out there".      While this forum is probably of interest to knowers, believers, and disbelievers,  I don't think most can really be convinced of existence unless they get out there and have their own experience.    Up until that point I was very skeptical myself because there are too many fabricating experiences.    Youtube seems to be a haven for people who see BF behind every bush.  

[JDL]

Mulder is coming back.  And he's even Muldier.

But by the same token Ive encountered hard skeptics that claimed that if they had an encounter they would not trust their own minds in believing they had an encounter.
 

 

Actually, I don't think this is that uncommon.  In every encounter I've had, my first reaction was to think it had to be something other than a bigfoot.  Each time I went through the "It can't be." "It's got to be something else" exercise.  It wasn't until my third encounter that I conceded to myself that they had to be something other than human.  Even in later encounters, I first assumed they were something other than bigfoot until it became obvious that they were.  Read any of my reports and I go through my thought process at the time of the encounter.

Everyone has to reach their own tipping point where they can't further deny the facts confronting them.

[spacemonkeymafia]

In the early 2000's my wife and I were lucky enough to be in the woods 2 to 4 nights a week.

Bigfoot was always of intrest to me but I was thinking they were in the Pacific Northwest and Florida.

We had some scary things happen out there that defiantly not any known animal or human.

We started researching, bought equipment, and continued to investigate that area.

We weren't out to prove anything to anyone except ourselves.

We had so many experiences over the span of 10 years and learned alot.

This thing is real. It never hinted at anyone hoaxing us or having any paranormal attributes.

Im a knower and I'm content with that and skeptics don't bother me. Invisability, esp, and portals and alien agents do though.

Live and let live. I'll stay on the sidelines munching my popcorn.

[Twist]

I originally came to the forum as a believer in Bigfoot stemming from a class B encounter I had as a kid. Since being here my belief in Bigfoot has diminished some to the point of being 50/50. I'm more open to an alternative explanation of my encounter, most likely a more mundane explanation.

My time on the BFF coincides with my time spent researching BF online so it's safe to say the change in my opinion is not based solely on the information I've taken From forum but the totality of what I've learned.

[dmaker]

"My time on the BFF coincides with my time spent researching BF online ..."

 

Same with me. I had no real interest in bigfoot for most of my life. I had seen the spooky things like "In Search of..." with Leonard Nimoy when I was really young as well as The Legend of Boggy Creek (scared the beejubus out of me at the age of 9), but other than that, I would watch the occasional documentary if I happened across it while channel surfing. Then I tuned in to Finding Bigfoot one day, and it all changed. I was shocked at how MM was rattling off his "bigfoot facts" as if bigfoot was a known animal. I was honestly shocked. I thought how could this be true, how could bigfoot have been found and there be no fanfare at all? So, like you, I imagine, I started researching online. I bought a few bigfoot books ( Legend Meets Science, The Discovery of the Sasquatch, Bigfoot The True Story of Apes in North America to name a few) but always felt quite unsatisfied. All the books talk, but don't show. There are no pictures of bigfoot, no bigfoot DNA, nothing that could not be explained by something else. This emerged as a very common theme. Bigfoot always seemed to be alluded to but never revealed. I eventually ended up here, at the BFF. And it was really here that my skepticism was confirmed.

 

There was a time when some skeptical members, more learned than I, used to post. People like Saskeptic who really did a great job of participating and demonstrating the true side of bigfoot vis a vis science. Not what you get in hokey documentaries or from self styled scientists here, but a true bona fide phd who was open to the idea, but honest about the evidence. Add that to the mental gymnastics I see here every day while people try to shoehorn bigfoot into reality, and well I was done. Also add to that the long, long list of failed endeavors such as Ketchum, Sykes, Hershom, Daisy in a Box, Falcon Project, etc, and it now just boggles my mind how any one can maintain a belief in bigfoot. 

 

That is pretty much how I came to where I am at now. I am now more curious about the culture of bigfoot belief. About why it seem so important to some people that a belief in this creature persist. Especially in those that have never laid claim to even seeing one. What is it about this particular myth that makes people cling so strongly? That is where most of my interest lies. And that is probably why I persist here presenting the skeptical opinion whenever I can. 

 

If I was still a student, and majoring in psych, this topic would make a hell of an awesome thesis. Who knows, maybe when I retire, and if I am still interested in this phenomenon, I might just go back to grad school just for this reason.  Until such time, I will continue to participate and observe and engage. Maybe someday, if I have enough time and inclination, a book might come out of it.  

Edited November 7, 2015 by dmaker

[Rockape]

Dmaker. The denialist monster the BFF created.