Sasquatch: Man-Ape or Myth
by Barbara Haskell
On March 17 (St. Paddy’s Day), 2018, a friend and I attended a presentation across the border in Washington State, the state known for its Sasquatch sightings. At the public library in Oroville, WA, author David George Gordon, who has written a book on Slugs and Snails, The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, The Sasquatch Seeker’s Field Manual: Using Citizen Science to Uncover North America’s Most Elusive Creature, and other titles, described how he is “sitting on the fence” when it comes to believing in Sasquatch because scientific evidence is not enough to convince him that it exists, but that that does not preclude him from believing in the absence of evidence. There have been far too many people who he has talked to about Sasquatch sightings, and he believes the sightings actually happened.
In the past, other cryptids have not been believed in, when in fact they have been found to exist – like the gorilla that took a long time to be identified by the scientific community. Mr. Gordon showed a picture of a subspecies of a zebra as large as a horse that was believed by locals to exist but was not found and identified in the past. However, scientists found that it does exist.
Mr. Gordon explained how the Sasquatch is a hominid, or human like, and that it had specific characteristics that were commonly identified amongst people who had sightings of them. Some of those were that the creature was hairy, from 7 to 10′ tall, had big feet, and was illusive and shy about being seen. Most of the evidence found of Sasquatch is in the footprint it leaves.
Actual sightings of Sasquatch can be found on the Big Foot Research Organization website – a google search of which shows you can belong to the organization and can submit your evidence of any sightings with them. In Mr. Gordon’s recent book you can learn about using Citizen Science to work together with others in finding out more about Sasquatch and whether he, in fact, does exist.
At the end of the presentation, Mr. Gordon invited people to make comments or observations about any sightings they had. It is important to identify as many things as you can before, during and after the sighting because the proof is in the details. You can even take pictures and make a 3-D composite of any identifying details you see.
One person described how she heard silence before her observations and that she heard screaming during the encounter. Another person said he saw scat that looked like it may be Sasquatch scat; it was 3 feet square. Yet another stated how concerned she was that a Sasquatch would be shot to provide proof that it exists.
Mr. Gordon invited people to purchase his book for $15, but stated that he only had two signed copies left.