Sasquatch

The name Sasquatch was used by Canadian journalist J.W. Burns in the 1920s to describe the large, hairy manlike creatures of the remote western Canadian wilderness. The word was derived from native tribal words for this legendary giant. The term “Sasquatch” to describe a big, hairy wildman came before the name “Bigfoot” was given to the phenomena that was discovered in California in 1958. In the United States, “Bigfoot” became the more popular name for the media to describe what essentially sounds like (or has turned into) the same creature. Sasquatch sightings are most commonly reported from British Columbia and Alberta provinces of Canada and the northwestern U.S.

Some investigators and historians of the creature like to call the creature “Sasquatch” because it sounds more exotic and it refers to the creature originally described in native stories.

“Sasquatch” is experiencing a new surge in popularity due to the “Messin’ with Sasquatch” themed commericals for beef jerky. In these ads, Sasquatch is a naive woodland resident that gets pranked by rather cruel folks. Sasquatch gets them back, usually by exerting his superhuman strength. The commercial star, Sasquatch, is shown in the photo above.

REALITY CHECK: With stories that are recorded from Native American tales centuries ago, we still have yet to find any physical being that corresponds to a Sasquatch. This fact strongly suggests that the huge hairy wildman was a myth and not real. Scientific status is “none”. Science doesn’t recognize the Sasquatch. As with Bigfoot, there is essentially no physical evidence that we can attribute to the creature.

MORE INFORMATION:

Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Blu Buhs (book)

Cryptozoology.com: Sasquatch

Sasquatch Information Society

Oregon Bigfoot

Science and Bigfoot, M. Dennett

* See Bigfoot entry for related links *

Messin’ with Sasquatch – (Sasquatch is a really popular advertiser)

YOUR TURN:

• Which name do you prefer to use – Bigfoot or Sasquatch? Why?

• Is there a connection between the wildman legends all over the world and our American Bigfoot legend? Do we have any evidence for that connection? What would good evidence be?