Losing Bigfoot: Is the discovery of Sasquatch a Pandora's box?

 The Bigfoot  phenomenon is all the rage right now and is the subject of numerous websites, documentaries and even a reality TV series  called Finding Bigfoot featured on the Animal Planet.

I may not have my own investigative reality TV series but what I do have is a wild curiosity for the unknown and a camera. In September of 2012  I traveled to Newton County, Arkansas, after learning my relatives own property in a mountainous area bordering a national park that is known to be a hotspot for Bigfoot. What I found on my solo camping adventure was eye-opening.

Wishing at first to avoid contact with locals I made camp in an isolated hollow with no cell phone service and 10 miles from any paved roads. It was prime squatching territory with a myriad of indicators that nightfall would be interesting. However, after a day of exploring, a storm forced me to move my camp early. My vehicle barely made it up the rocky hill. The rain was making the trail muddy and almost left me stranded. So I continued my search elsewhere for signs of Sasquatch.

Between hikes through the dense forest I explored the nearby community asking questions at opportune moments. Having a connection to the area helped open conversations and I was able to get a handful of witnesses to speak to me about their experiences with Bigfoot. What I uncovered was a surprise. One couple I spoke with has owned real estate in the area for 30 years. They said that on several occasions they saw a 9-foot “person” covered in hair but didn't report it. Several of their guests had also seen the creature. Two gentlemen I met at a local café said they had seen it cross the river last winter. Whenever I asked about reporting these incidents a fascinating theme emerged. They didn’t fail to report out of fear of being ridiculed. Instead they believed that if the authorities were to find out, life would change.

Would recognition by mainstream science of a large primate in North America force unwanted changes on Americans? Once Bigfoot is found, we cannot lose him.  In order to manage and protect Bigfoot’s natural habitat land in many regions where Sasquatch lives could be taken using the Endangered Species Act through eminent domain as has been the case for thousands of Americans in the past. Furthermore, a beast having characteristics so similar to that of humans you might even have some trying to put it on food stamps and section 8 housing.

To make matters more interesting, it was suggested by one witness that spoke with me that enough photo evidence has been suppressed that if revealed it would “make a believer out of anyone.” I have no reason to doubt what I was being told and the attitude of this particular witness seemed pretty indifferent to whether or not I believed the tale or not.

Thus it seems the tendency on the part of some locals to avoid the topic, suppress information or simply not report sightings serves as a bulwark to change. Add to this the commercial interests like the logging industry which might be impacted. The result is a coalition of silence working against official discovery.

On the hunt...

What I have uncovered here isn't news to the Bigfoot research community. But the public needs to know that there are many credible eyewitnesses who don’t come forward because the discovery of a new species where they live isn't a good thing for them. Since I have family who could also be affected by this discovery I understand the complexity somewhat better than some who are unconnected. It may just be a horrible Pandora's box that society can never shut. The fact of the matter is that once we find Bigfoot, we won't lose him again. We will be forced to reckon with a host of implications which will be both costly and controversial. What will it cost the taxpayer? What will be the laws that govern human-Bigfoot interaction?

 The price of finally acknowledging Bigfoot as a species will be high in many regards. That being said  the recognition of Bigfoot is inevitable and some say overdue. In any case it must coincide with protection for the little guys. By little guys of course I mean homo sapiens . The 9-foot super-primate with night vision has the proven ability to protect themselves without government help or food stamps.

Links to other Bigfoot articles:

Size Matters: Why Sasquatches might have made good lovers 15,000 years ago

http://exploretheunexplained.blogspot.com/2012/12/size-matters-why-sasquatches-might-have.html



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