Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch or the North American Yeti, is a creature from North American folklore.
It is said to be massive in size, covered in long hair, and resembles a super-sized, evolved version of a gorilla. Bigfoot is known for its elusive and mysterious behavior, making it extremely difficult to capture. Many believe that similar creatures have left traces all around the world, always appearing in remote and mysterious areas. For example, the Yeti near the Himalayas in China, and the “wild man” of Shennongjia.
Although humans have yet to obtain any biological evidence related to Bigfoot—or even a clear, high-resolution image of its face—many people still firmly believe in the creature’s existence.
According to a 2023 survey conducted by the Public Policy Polling Foundation in the United States, 14% of Americans believe that Bigfoot is real.
As of 2021, over 10,000 Bigfoot sightings had been reported across the continental U.S. in the past 50 years.
People have vastly different interpretations of what Bigfoot actually is. Some believe it’s a yet-undiscovered species of giant ape native to North America, while others consider it a transitional species—something between apes and humans.
But where did this creature originate, and how did it rise to fame in human culture?
The legend of Bigfoot likely has deep roots in Indigenous folklore. Many Native American tribes have stories of large, hairy forest beings. The modern concept of Bigfoot, however, took off in the late 1950s, when a photo of mysterious large footprints in Bluff Creek, California, ignited public fascination. This was followed by the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film, which appeared to show a bipedal, ape-like creature walking through the forest—fueling decades of debate and media attention.
Over time, Bigfoot evolved from a regional myth into a pop culture phenomenon, featured in countless TV shows, documentaries, and even tourism campaigns. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, its legend endures—perhaps because it taps into a primal curiosity: the possibility that something wild, unknown, and ancient still lurks at the edges of civilization.
The earliest known records of Bigfoot-like creatures date back to the 15th century in the Caucasus region. People believed that a humanoid species, much larger than both humans and apes, lived in the towering mountains between Europe and Asia.
In the United States, the Bigfoot legend has gained particular popularity. Many Americans don’t see Bigfoot as a solitary, accidental creature, but rather as a member of a species that might inhabit forests across the entire continent.
As early as the 19th century, there were stories of lost children in the wilderness telling rescue teams about encounters with tall, hairy giants roaming the woods.
The modern version of Bigfoot was born in 1958, thanks to an article in the Humboldt Times. Journalist Andrew Genzoli reported on a local logging worker who found enormous footprints near a bulldozer. Genzoli jokingly wrote, “Maybe we’ve found a relative of the Himalayan Yeti,” and, on a whim, coined the name “Bigfoot.” The nickname stuck—and from that moment, Bigfoot became a household name across America.
Hearing is one thing, but seeing is believing. At this stage, Bigfoot was still just the stuff of tabloids—a quirky story for idle conversation or something to read while passing the time. Few could have predicted that, as Andrew Genzoli continued to publish more Bigfoot-related stories, the elusive creature would gain rapid popularity. Public curiosity about Bigfoot began to surge.
In 1967, the Bigfoot craze hit its peak—because someone actually presented video evidence. American filmmaker Roger Patterson and his companion Bob Gimlin claimed to have captured real footage of Bigfoot in a valley in California.
In the one-minute clip, the creature is covered in dark hair, stands about two meters tall, and has shoulders nearly one meter wide. It appears large and powerful, with an ape-like appearance, but its posture and gait resemble those of a human.
According to Patterson, the creature was drinking from a stream when they encountered it. He barely had time to record anything before it turned and vanished back into the forest.
The footage was like a bombshell—it instantly ignited nationwide fascination with the mysterious creature. Countless scientists were captivated, flocking to California to conduct field investigations. Some confidently declared that Bigfoot was a descendant of ancient apes.
However, in the 21st century, the legend took a serious hit. Greg Long, a self-described American “professional myth-buster,” conducted a series of interviews and investigations. He uncovered that, back in 1967, someone had sold a gorilla costume to Roger Patterson for $435.
Further digging revealed that Patterson had made a deal with a retired worker named Bob Heironimus, offering him $1,000 to wear the costume and act out the now-famous scene in front of the camera.
In the end, the retired worker never received a single cent—essentially duped into playing the role of Bigfoot for free. He later admitted he deeply regretted his involvement. For the sake of a staged scene, countless hours and resources were wasted in the hunt for a creature that never existed.
In other words, Patterson spent just $400 to gain immeasurable fame and attention. This wasn’t just a business move—it was a performance that paid off beyond imagination.
However, Patterson’s partner, Bob Gimlin, has consistently denied these claims. He maintains that no one was ever hired to wear a costume and that the footage captured a real, unknown creature. As for Patterson himself, he passed away in 1972—taking the truth of that day with him to the grave.
Aside from the famous footage, the closest evidence people have to Bigfoot comes in the form of footprints.
In 2006, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at the University of Idaho published a book on Bigfoot, stating that based on existing footprint evidence, the search for Bigfoot is a worthwhile pursuit. Some of these prints are 35 centimeters long and show signs of movement and even spiral-shaped dermal ridges. According to the professor, such detailed features would be extremely difficult to fake without specialized equipment.
Believe it or not—he certainly does.
In 2008, two young men from Georgia claimed they had discovered the corpse of Bigfoot while hiking. Their announcement attracted massive media attention, and they even presented what appeared to be a frozen specimen of the creature.
However, the truth soon came to light—the so-called Bigfoot body was nothing more than a rubber gorilla costume stuffed into a freezer. The hoax unraveled quickly, and the incident became yet another reminder of how easily myth can be manufactured.
More so-called evidence related to Bigfoot—such as hair, feces, skin scratches, and blood—has been thoroughly analyzed by many researchers, who generally concluded these samples are either fraudulent or lack definitive proof.
In 2014, a team led by Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes analyzed 36 hair samples purportedly from Bigfoot or Yeti. Their results showed that almost all the hair came from known species like bears, deer, or humans. Interestingly, two samples closely matched that of a polar bear species that went extinct in the Stone Age.
So, does this mean that the elusive Bigfoot humans have been chasing all along is actually a “big-footed bear”?
With rapid advances in technology, humans today know that the best way to confirm the existence of a species is through DNA analysis.
In 2012, researchers from an American DNA diagnostics company extracted three complete nuclear genomes from so-called Bigfoot samples. Their analysis indicated that the genetic material came from an unknown hominid species related to Homo sapiens and other primates.
Based on this, researchers hypothesized two possibilities: one, that Bigfoot’s ancestors interbred with modern human females around 15,000 years ago, giving rise to a half-human, half-beast species that still lives in North America; or two, that the Bigfoot evidence was contaminated.
Does Bigfoot truly exist? The question remains unanswered. Some argue there is no indisputable evidence, while others believe humans should not ignore the many biological clues. In a way, whether Bigfoot is real or not is no longer the key point—as long as human curiosity endures, the pursuit of strange and mysterious creatures will continue.
