Sasquatch

     I live in the Pacific Northwest, I have my entire life, and I still don't understand how people can't believe that there is something out there that we don't understand. I'm watching whatever this is on the History channel about Bigfoot. They keep talking about skunk apes and mutant gorillas, or even the missing link between humans and the apes. They've gotten a group of "experts" together to look into whatever the sightings might really be.
     They wonder what Bigfoot eats, where he lives, why he is secretive or hides, where did he come from, and what is he doing? They look at what Bigfoot had to evolve toward in order to survive. They mapped out where sightings have been reported, they're focused along the western coast in North America, and the experts compared that to what they believe to be the best climate for a large omnivorous ape. Supposedly they match almost perfectly. The sightings describe a tall, broad, hairy-looking man that walks on two legs, can run like a man or an ape, makes calls into the night and hunts in the forest.
     The scientists compare the Bigfoot sightings they're researching to the Loch Ness monster and to the Yeti as mythic creatures. When they compare the Bigfoot to creatures we know to exist they usually compare them to humans or to chimpanzees or gorillas. They talk about the Yeti living in the snow fields and being compared to the Mande Burung and the Yeren in Asia, and to the Oreng Pendek in Indonesia. These are creatures that have been seen for thousands of years and match a human ancestor called Heidelbergensis.
     The name Sasquatch is a native american term and the tales match up with each of these different ancient human examples. There is another theory that the Bigfoot creature is a modern human that has become the "Wild Man" and evolved to live in the wild. It wouldn't necessarily be a future example of humans, but a parallel species. They cite the similarity to humans in diet, shape, possible rituals, and purported sexual desire (apparently Sasquatch has an attraction to human women and the tribes of the Pacific Northwest take care to protect their female guests) to draw lines between human ancestors, giant apes, modern human cousins, or even modern homo sapiens.
     I'm just interested in what's out there. Is it a spiritual location for the native tribes where the shamans become wild people and transform into a completely different kind of person? Is there a cousin or ancestor to modern humans wandering the forests? Or is it just a trick of the eye? I think there is something out there; I know of at least one person who has seen something like the typical image of Sasquatch, and I'm sure there are more.
     There is some magic in the mystery of Sasquatch and the other Bigfoot, as well as in the Loch Ness creature. I don't understand why we, as a human collective, insist that there isn't something in the forests and waters of the world. One day we might know what's out there, but I hope that we still have some of the mystery that pervades our planet when we do discover what it is.



Just a thought...
Stephie