Essay on The Legend Bigfoot

Submitted By Devonne-Waters
Words: 943
Pages: 4

Devonne Waters
Ron Guthrie
EH-101
14 September 2012

The Legend: Bigfoot

Urban legends are stories that are told to people that could be true or untrue. A very famous urban legend is the tale about the beast called “Sasquatch”. The Sasquatch, better known as Bigfoot, is a name that is greatly known in the United States. Bigfoot described by many people is a massive hairy human-like creature that lives in Pacific Northwest America. On the other hand, Bigfoot is described in reports as a large hairy ape-like creature, in a range of 6–10 feet tall, weighing in excess of 500 pounds, and covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair. Witnesses have described large eyes and a large, low-set forehead. The top of the head has been described as rounded and crested, similar to the crest of the male gorilla. Bigfoot is commonly reported to have a strong, unpleasant smell by those who claim to have encountered it. The enormous footprints for which it is named have been as large as 24 inches long and 8 inches wide. While most casts have five toes — like all known apes — some cases of assumed Bigfoot tracks have had numbers ranging from two to six. Some have also contained claw marks, making it likely that a portion came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws. Some supporters have claimed that Bigfoot is an omnivore and mainly nocturnal, which means that the people have not seen the creature before. Many people tell stories of this elusive creature to see the response that they will receive from their family or friends. Some of the stories seem true and others sound just out of the ordinary. Sightings of this creature have been talked about all over the country. The sightings were of the creature pulling on trees and walking around looking for food. People have talked about Bigfoot sightings, but according to Mythbusters some could be true and others false because of the lack of evidence.
Bigfoot fanatics have been looking for this creature for years to prove the doubters wrong and have claimed to have seen the Bigfoot. A man in Montana has a video of the Sasquatch angrily pulling a tree back and forth looking for food. Another man in South Dakota has a video of a shaggy creature walking around deep in the woods. Some would say that this hairy figure was a human until the face of the creature was revealed. The face of the figure looked like a cross between a human and a gorilla. These sightings seem true to scientists and others because the two men that saw the Bigfoot have caught it on camera.
Other sightings are assumed to be untrue because the stories are told without any evidence that comes with the tales of the Sasquatch. Some scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot and consider it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than a living animal, because of the lack of physical evidence and the large numbers of creatures that would be necessary to maintain a breeding population. Various types of creatures have been suggested to explain both the sightings and what type of creature Bigfoot would be if it existed. The scientists normally categorize sightings to either hoaxes or misidentification of known animals and their tracks. While scientists generally explain Bigfoot as an unknown ape, some believers in Bigfoot compare the wonder to UFOs or other paranormal causes. A minority of supporters have mistaken Bigfoot for animals that are not apes such as the giant ground sloth.