Why is it so hard to find Bigfoot? We could say, “Because there’s no such thing as Bigfoot!” and call it a day but that’s not fair to Bigfoot. Give Bigfoot some credit. He’s lasted centuries without getting caught, killed, or filmed with a high definition camera on a tripod. So without getting into the real/not real debate, let’s assume Bigfoot exists and move on (either to the next post or the rest of this post, depending upon your personal disposition).
Maybe You’re In The Wrong Place
Looking purely at reported sightings, we’ll notice that most take place in states containing vast amounts of wilderness or otherwise unpopulated areas. States with over 100 “credible sightings and related reports,” according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, include California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. Washington and California each have over 400, with Oregon coming in a distant third place with 223. Zero sightings in Hawaii, by the way.
I live in Massachusetts, a state with 15 sightings. Odds of me seeing Bigfoot here are not good. Not good at all. I grew up in Minnesota, which has 45 sightings. Again, not good. I went to college in Washington and, for the purposes of this article, probably should have stayed out there since it’s statistically the state with the best chance of seeing Bigfoot.
But those are just numbers. Who knows how many sightings go unreported each year? So while you may be in the wrong place, let’s not put too much emphasis on reported sightings.
Consider The Possibility That Humans Are Scary
Why in the world would Bigfoot want anything to do with us? What’s so great about humans from an animal’s perspective? When humans and animals intersect in heavily wooded areas, it almost invariably ends up with some sort of projectile being launched toward the animal–usually a bullet or an arrow.
We’ll discuss the relative intelligence of Bigfoot in the next section, but assuming that Bigfoot is at least as intelligent as some sort of primate, it stands to reason that if a primate’s basic understanding of humans is that they make animals stop living, the primate will stay away from humans.
And even without a basic understanding of humans or what humans represent, most animals probably understand humans aren’t a part of normal, everyday animal life. So when an animal senses a human (which most animals can do from pretty far away), it generally goes in the other direction. There’s a reason even the best deer hunters sometimes come back from a day of hunting without shooting a single deer.
Is Bigfoot Really Just A Big, Dumb Animal?
Man beats animal, animal beats insect, insect beats smaller insect, and so goes the circle of life. Something like that. Part of the problem with the search for Bigfoot is that some people tend to think of Bigfoot purely as an animal without enough intelligence to evade humans so well that humans don’t consider Bigfoot to be an actual, real, scientifically identifiable creature.
According to The Convoluted Universe, Volume 1 by Dolores Cannon, Bigfoot may be much more than a primitive animal.
“Any mountainous area where there are snow-capped ranges has this creature. And this creature is extremely shy and afraid of men. It’s psychic in the way that it can sense other creatures from a great distance. Usually they hide whenever they sense other creatures. These are related to man in a way. They’re kind of like man’s little brothers. They are developing intelligence and this planet is capable of supporting more than one intelligent species, if the currently dominant intelligent species will allow it…
…When this species reaches its full potential, it will be equally intelligent as man, but in different ways. And both species will have to do a great deal of adjustment to deal with each other. Because this species is lacking the violent streak that is in man, they are extremely sensitive and shy…
…But they do a good job of hiding. They live all over the planet. They are in the very high remote mountains, as well as the deep rain forests of the tropical areas of the planet. They have adapted to differing climates and altitudes, but they prefer the isolated areas.”
Now, all that may be fact or fiction (or a little of both) but if you consider the possibility that it’s got some basis in truth, it makes it easier to see why these big dumb animals aren’t actually as dumb or animalistic as people assume. It also helps explain why few humans ever see Bigfoot.
Bigfoot may be more similar to Chewbacca than anything else. If Chewie (“The Chewb” as my wife calls him) wanted to disappear into the middle of nowhere and cut off all contact with Han, he’s probably smart enough to do it. But can Bigfoot pilot the Millennium Falcon? We’ll probably never know.
Why Are There Any Sightings At All?
The mystery surrounding Bigfoot that nags at me the most isn’t whether or not Bigfoot exists, but why certain sightings occur at all. Clearly the creature wants to stay away from humans, yet there are countless sightings of Bigfoot crossing roadways in front of cars, for instance. Some of those sightings may merely be cases of misidentification but assuming some of them are actual sightings, it begs the question of why Bigfoot would ever get close enough to humans in the first place. Let alone cars! Cars! Loud, dangerous cars!
More potential answers from The Convoluted Universe, Volume 1:
“They don’t actively seek out man because they’re afraid of him… So they shy away from man. But they like the food that man has…
…They make clicking sounds and noises like animals do. But they have telepathic capacity that is much stronger than man has presently developed. Quite frankly, speech is a most limiting thing. Each individual word that we say to another being is understood only by that being’s frame of reference of what that word means… When you have telepathic communication, then you are communicating what you’re thinking. It is much, much broader than verbal speech…
…They pick up on the emotional environment. They can read intuitively or telepathically people’s auras, or people’s surroundings. If they felt they were to be abused, this would cause negative reactions. Also, if they were being cornered. And most, whether it be man or beast, do not like to be cornered.”
So using that logic, if Bigfoot can sense people’s intentions it might actually explain why certain sightings occur and, furthermore, why nobody’s ever shot or captured Bigfoot. It may be that Bigfoot can sense that a particular human doesn’t pose a threat, which leads to sporadic sightings here and there since Bigfoot’s perhaps not as apprehensive around non-threatening humans.
That, and the food. We do have excellent food.