Psychological Impact of a BF Sighting

[JDL]

Any first sighting is going to be life-changing in some way.  Either it will affirm one's belief, confirm existence for the open-minded, or fundamentally contradict with a skeptic's world view (or at least cause a skeptic to question himself - I, myself, refused to accept that the individual I had encountered was not a man until my second encounter). 

 

After that (the "OMG there one is" moment), there is the intensity level of the encounter.  Was it a sighting at a distance?  Was the sighting close enough to allow interaction?  did the bigfoot behave in a evasive, passive, benign, defensive, intimidating, threatening, or aggressive manner?  Did the witness feel that they or someone with them was in jeopardy?  Did the witness, for example, feel the need to protect a family member if the bigfoot made a move, possibly with the realization that it might be at the cost of their own life?  Or worse, did the witness feel helpless to protect a child or spouse?

 

Given the long history of legends and lore regarding bigfoot-like creatures around the world, one must also consider that over the millennia the competition between us and that class of hominids may be ingrained in us at the visceral level as well, as it is with most categories of animals that have preyed on or threatened our species throughout time.  We may be hard-wired to respond at the gut instinct level to an encounter with them.  I even think that this manifests as the motivation behind the behavior of the most adamant of skeptics.

 

All of these things are potential factors influencing the psychological impact of a sighting or an encounter.

 

One thing is for sure, a sighting or encounter is not likely to be a "so what" moment.

[Twist]

For myself, at the time of the event we booked it out of the area as it scared the heck out of us.  Just after the situation, say the next day I was still in awe of what I believe I experienced, but being only a kid I think that is expected.  It never changed my day to day life however, the event happened not far from my house and probably the next day I was back out there exploring and playing as I was the day before.  

 

Since that day I have always been curious about BF and looking for the next encounter.  

[wiiawiwb]

Most of the areas I go to are done so by backpacking in and I mostly do so solo. Those areas are usually a fair number of miles from where I left your car.  I've always wondered what it would be like to that miracle sighting. I think about what those brief seconds might be like.  Life changing for sure.

 

You hear of some people, such as hunters, who have been in the woods all their lives, then refuse to go back after having a sighting. Many say they were scared to death and want no part of the woods again. For me, if that intense fear factor kicked as others have said, it would be a long hike back to the car alone constantly looking over my shoulder confident I heard something in the woods to my left or right.

 

I'm ready for it and the feeling of being more alive than I ever have in my life.

[norseman]

I think that is normal for some people. They evidently didn't realize they were in the food chain the minute they parked the car. And it just takes one scary encounter to end it all for them, even Bears, Cougars, forest fire or a Mule wreck.

 

I try to live by the mantra that it's ok to be afraid. It's not ok to let it run your life. 

[MIB]

So far the anticipation has been worse than the actual event.    Build-up, concern, etc ahead of time have all been way out of proportion.    In the moment, surprise, wonder, and curiosity ... and humor ... have proven to be the real substance when I've seen one.   That's true most of the time when there were pretty strong indications they were around though not seen as well, however,  a couple of those times have also been pretty terrifying.  

 

We bring a lot to the table with us, state of mind at the moment, basic comfort in whatever the environment is, awareness / knowledge of their existence, and if we think about them at all, what we believe.   Those all predispose us to one sort of emotional response or another.    Sometimes we tell ourselves stories about how we'll react that prove untrue and sometimes being confronted with that untruth is more disturbing than the event itself.  

 

MIB

[FarArcher]

MIB, there's more truth in what you say than most would realize.

 

I've lived a few decades and some of that time was in some high risk scenarios.  I'd hear some say they were "ready," or even looking forward to an engagement, and go so far as to elaborate on what they'd do.

 

Then when face to face with a shocking realization, you couldn't find hide nor hair of them.  

 

The truth is, no one knows how they'll react in a high stress moment - until such a moment occurs. 

 

A few.  A very few are suddenly busy working the problem.  Most others are stopped up.  Just human nature.

 

A kid falls onto a track, right in front of a train, or steps in the road and a car is almost on him.  Maybe one in a hundred will have the presence of mind to act without hesitation - and make perfect decisions, and manage to save the kid.

 

Just the way it is.

[Guest giantman]

Hello overyone.  I am pretty new to the forum but wanted to put on my two cents worth.

 

I have not had a direct sighting but THINK I may have had two experiences.  I really cannot know for sure though.  I am very open to the existence of them, in fact, I think they do exist.  I know two people who have seen them both of whom I trust-- one is a close friend.  I have had other types of experiences that fit outside of what is accepted as reality though and they have changed me pretty deeply.  I am much more open to the "possible" rather than the "probable" than many people.  My experiences have allowed me to think outside the box in many areas of life because when you know something is real and there are lots of compelling personal accounts about that subject and yet a large segment of the population cannot or will not see it, then you start to realize that they are all missing something big about life.  After a while you start to realize that we all are probably missing a lot about reality and I think that opens the door to a sense of wonder about life. 

 

I saw a UFO once and I told my cousins about it at a family reunion and one of them made fun of me for a whole day about it.  Later that night she said she had once seen a flying man at early dawn.....   

[salubrious]

During my encounter I realized that there are probably other things that are out there that we are told don't exist. So I guess I started to question things.

 

Even though they were enormous (the larger of the two being at least 10 feet tall; it was 6 feet tall while seated on its rear) the knowledge that they really do exist and are probably out in the woods somewhere has never influenced my desire to go into the woods.

 

I suspect I have had several class B encounters since that time. The latest was when I was riding my mountain bike over the Elkford Pass in Alberta (which is right on the border with British Columbia). The pass is rather lengthy, stretching several miles, a number of which required that I hike my bike. During that time I noticed that there was a rock clacking going on in the woods to my left. Since there was a power line right of way, the woods were a little ways off (about 100 feet) and the rock clacking was very distinct. I noticed that as I proceeded south, a couple of miles later the rock clacking was still with me and had been going on for the last 15 minutes as it paralleled my course. So I picked up a couple of rocks and clacked them together- after that I didn't hear from them again.

[Guest WesT]

I've never had a sighting but I did get to investigate something out of the ordinary. The "you've gotta be kiddin me" moment was at dusk. When the lights came down the area lit up with all the environmental manipulation it had gone through. It was incredible and it's still hard to describe.

 

There's the time before, and the time after. A defining moment in one's life.

Edited September 22, 2016 by WesT

[Guest giantman]

On 9/22/2016 at 0:35 PM, salubrious said:

During my encounter I realized that there are probably other things that are out there that we are told don't exist. So I guess I started to question things.

 

Even though they were enormous (the larger of the two being at least 10 feet tall; it was 6 feet tall while seated on its rear) the knowledge that they really do exist and are probably out in the woods somewhere has never influenced my desire to go into the woods.

 

I suspect I have had several class B encounters since that time. The latest was when I was riding my mountain bike over the Elkford Pass in Alberta (which is right on the border with British Columbia). The pass is rather lengthy, stretching several miles, a number of which required that I hike my bike. During that time I noticed that there was a rock clacking going on in the woods to my left. Since there was a power line right of way, the woods were a little ways off (about 100 feet) and the rock clacking was very distinct. I noticed that as I proceeded south, a couple of miles later the rock clacking was still with me and had been going on for the last 15 minutes as it paralleled my course. So I picked up a couple of rocks and clacked them together- after that I didn't hear from them again.

 

That is a pretty compelling story you have there.  It reminds me of Les Stroud (and others) saying that he had had this type of thing going on for years but it just never clicked as out of the ordinary.  It is amazing to me how something new, or different, or outside of the collective body of knowledge of humanity can be happening all around us and we can not notice it.

[Guest Busker]

I haven't had a BF sighting and likely it'll never happen here. 

 

However, I have spotted a big cat, Puma sized creature. We're not supposed to have them in the wild here in the UK. There have been several sightings across the region over the years and the newspapers all like to write their column inches proclaiming something is out there.

 

When I saw it I was on my own and there were no other witnesses, so I didn't tell anyone or discuss it really.

 

I just felt incredibly lucky at what I had seen and now know big cats are where they shouldn't be. 

 

Psychologically I have no need to convince anyone of what I saw. In fact the biggest problem it caused me was being so annoyed at myself for not being able to take a picture of it. (I always have a camera with me these days.)

[BobbyO]

Where did you see it Busker ?

 

I'm of the impression that some were released down in Devon/Cornwall from private collections.

[Incorrigible1]

Welcome to BFF, Busker, from a Husker!

[Guest Busker]

23 hours ago, BobbyO said:

Where did you see it Busker ?

 

I'm of the impression that some were released down in Devon/Cornwall from private collections.

 

Up in the Northeast so it definitely wasn't the Beast of Bodmin Moor. 

 

We've had Puma-like reports for years on and off.

( i can only make one post a day at the moment, think it's because I'm new, so apologies for the delay in responding.)

[BobbyO]

No probs.

 

Whereabouts then ? Northumberland somewhere ?

 

What do you reckon it was ? A Puma as in black ? Or a cougar type thing ?

 

Got to be circus release or private collection surely.