Logic and Reason Behind The Legend of Bigfoot

The year is 1958, and massive footprints have stomped the soil near a local construction site with seemingly no trace, but many people believe the prints mean something more. The legend of Bigfoot originates in Native-American oral tradition from a large hairy creature referred to as Sasquatch. The legend first stomped in United States dirt in 1958 when large footprints were found by Ray Wallace near a construction site creating a massive uproaring. Bigfoot was depicted to be eight feet and four hundred pounds (Radford). Over the years, a large following surrounded Bigfoot with those claiming that Bigfoot exsists while another group formed, disproving the existence of Bigfoot. It can be deemed through reason and logical evidence that the latter group is correct. Specifically, a mythical legend explains Bigfoot which is proven through negative results in genetic analysis, lack of physical evidence, falsified prints, and the counterfeitness of the famous Patterson-Gimlin tape.

Negative results in genetic analysis of supposed Bigfoot evidence prove that Bigfoot is a mythical legend. Shortly after the Bigfoot legend was born in the 1950s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was sent approximately fifteen specimens of reported Bigfoot hairs by Peter Byrne with the Bigfoot Information Center and Exhibition. Assistant director of scientific and technical services Jay Cochran Jr. examined these hairs with the final verdict being that the hairs were a part of the deer family (Little). Before this study, people in the Bigfoot believer community referred to these samples as proof for the existence of Bigfoot, but after the examination by Jay Cochran Jr. proving these samples were fake, the idea that Bigfoot exists became an unreasonable idea further proving the explanation of Bigfoot is a myth. Consistent with the examination by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a 2014 study by Bryan Sykes at the University of Oxford England where thirty alleged Bigfoot hair samples resulted with the data showing the samples orgins from local animals such as bears and cows through an analysis of the RNA molecules. This further proves that Bigfoot not existing is the only explanation of the legend because of the falsification of highly regarded pieces of evidence. Assistant Director Jay Cochran Jr.’s study on presented Bigfoot samples alongside the verdict of the 2014 study by Bryan Sykes are strong pieces of evidence that Bigfoot is a mythical legend due to highly regarded pieces of evidence being disproved.

Along with negative results in genetic analysis that show highly regarded evidence of Bigfoot being counterfeit, a lack of physical evidence of Bigfoot proves that Bigfoot is not real and can only be deemed as a mythical legend. One of the most widely accepted examples of lack of physical evidence is the lack of Bigfoot remains such as no fossil record or dead remains (Radford). Radford says 'There's no hard evidence in the form of bones. There are no hair samples, there are no live or dead specimens,' meaning that in over fifty years since Bigfoot was popularised in American culture there has been no discovery of any Bigfoot remains such as a dead body or a bone to provide adequate evidence to support the claim that Bigfoot is real. The lack of Bigfoot remains shows that it is unreasonable to agree with the idea of the existence of Bigfoot. In addition to no physical remains, there has been no documented evidence of Bigfoot; specifically, there has been no clear image of Bigfoot (Radford). Over the year’s camera technology has improved so much with nearly every person in America having a high-resolution camera in their pocket. Regardless of the innovation in camera technology, there has yet to be any documented clear photographs of Bigfoot that provide valid evidence for the existence of Bigfoot. The lack of clear photographs of Bigfoot along with the lack of Bigfoot remains support the theory that a lack of physical evidence is a key factor of Bigfoot being explained as a mythical legend.

Similar to lack of physical evidence disproving Bigfoot, falsified prints further prove that Bigfoot can not exist thus meaning that Bigfoot is a mythical legend. The ease of faking prints is easier than ever “anyone in the world can buy a cast of an alleged Bigfoot on eBay and use it to make tracks that resemble those accepted by some ‘experts’ as authentic.” One of the most used samples of evidence for Bigfoot's existence is found prints. Prints can not be a legitimate piece of evidence due to the ease of faking being as easy as ordering something off the internet. The pure ease of faking prints that are deemed by experts as authentic nullifies the argument that Bigfoot prints are adequate pieces of evidence. To illustrate this example, the piece of evidence that popularized the existence of Bigfoot, the discovery of Bigfoot prints near a construction site in 1958 by Ray Wallace, was found to be fake in 2002 when the family of the founder of the prints disclosed that he faked the prints (Urswick). The prints from 1958 essentially birthed the creature into America, and if the original evidence for Bigfoot is fake, what is to say that everything that spread from the one main piece of phony evidence is not fake? The ease of faking prints and the matter of the original piece of evidence for Bigfoot being fake prints shows how using prints as a backable argument for Bigfoot’s existence is not possible.

Along the same lines of falsifying prints, the piece of evidence of Bigfoot that is revered as the most convincing piece of evidence the Patterson-Gimlin tape, a recording of an alleged Bigfoot walking past the camera, looking at the camera, and then proceeding to walk into the woods, can be broken down into a hoax through analysis disproving one of the most looked at pieces of evidence for the existence of Bigfoot. One of the strongest pieces of evidence against the legitness of the footage is the factor that the men were con men (Brinks). Patterson was a known liar, owed tons of people money, and was constantly being sued, and Gimlin was also a shady guy, for example, suing Patterson’s widow after Patterson’s death to claim more money. The men were known con men meaning that they were always doing things for attention or an easy way out, and this evidence shows that it is likely that the men did this stunt for a quick money grab by claiming to have found and filmed Bigfoot. Along different lines of the men's moral character, nearly thirty years after the event, a friend of the men’s, Bob Hermious, claimed to have been the man in the suit. He also passed a lie detector with these claims, and several of the people around him agreed saying that Bob showed them the suit. A friend of Patterson and Gimlin came out saying that he was the man in the suit and passed a lie detector test, therefore, nullifying the most appraised pieces of evidence that Bigfoot believers live by. The nullification of the Patterson-Gimlin tape by Bob Hermious’ claim and the men's history with lying and looking for the easy way out shows how the most famous piece of evidence for Bigfoot can not be legitimate thus proving Bigfoot is a mythical legend.

Bigfoot can be explained as a mythical legend through logic and reason; specifically through analysis of genetic data, a lack of physical evidence, the falsification of prints, and the disproven nature of the Patterson-Gimlin tape, the most looked at piece of evidence for Bigfoot. Genetic analysis disproves the existence of Bigfoot by analyzing highly regarded evidence of alleged Bigfoot hairs and looking at the DNA that shows how the hairs are from common animals in our wildlife. A lack of physical evidence shows that through the years the idea that there has been no remains or fossils found, proves that it is illogical to think that Bigfoot exists. Falsified prints show that one of the biggest categories of Bigfoot evidence can be nullified through the fact of how easy it is to fake the prints which is exemplified in the example of Ray Wallace. The invalidation of the highly looked at Patterson-Gimlin tape disproves one of the biggest pieces of evidence for Bigfoot. Genetic analysis, lack of physical evidence, falsified prints, and the invalidation of the Patterson-Gimlin prove that the existence of Bigfoot cannot be true and can only be explained as a mythical legend. The belief of Bigfoot traces back to people being fascinated by it because they wish for the world to be surprising and full of things that other people do not believe in anymore (Naish), so regardless if Bigfoot is not real, he is real in the sense of the wonder he brings to kids and adults around the world wishing for something magical.