Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also known as the Sasquatch or Homo sapiens cognatus, is a cryptid and creature of North-American folklore.

Description:
Bigfoot is often describes as a large, muscular ape-like creature, typically 6-9 feet tall and covered in thick fur of black, dark brown, or dark red color. The creature receives its name from large footprints thought to be its, up to 24 inches long and 8 inches wide.

Similar Folklore:
Legends of Bigfoot-like creatures are stated to largely predate its popular name and modern sightings, as many ancient cultures believed in the presence of equivalent creatures and have preserved these beliefs to the present day. These accounts tend to vary greatly, but all keep many primary features of Bigfoot in common. Many similar creatures to Bigfoot such as the stiyaha and kwi-kwiyai are also mentioned by these groups.

Sightings:
Early on, most recorded sightings of Bigfoot occurred in the Pacific Northwest. From the 1800's onward, popularization of the myth of Bigfoot led to many sightings in the Great Lakes region and Southeastern United States as well. Debate of Bigfoot's legitimacy peaked in 1970, and it is regarded as the first widely popularized example of pseudoscience. In 2007, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization put forward photos which they claimed to be of a juvenile Bigfoot. The Pennsylvania Game Commission claimed the photo was of a bear with mange, but anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum and scientist Jason Jarvis claimed the creature captured in the photo had proportions that were "more like a chimpanzee."

Hoaxes:
Due to Bigfoot's popularity, a number of people attempted to use Bigfoot's existence as money-making schemes.

One famous example of this was CEO of Searching for Bigfoot Inc Tom Biscardi's alleged capture of a Bigfoot in the Happy Camp, California area. He arranged a pay-per-view event where people could view the captured Bigfoot, but later retracted his claim, stating that the captured animal was not Bigfoot and that he had been mislead by a local woman.

The most famous perpetrator of Bigfoot hoaxes was Rick Dyer, who proposed not one but two famous Bigfoot related hoaxes. In the first case, on July 9, 2008, he and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube claiming they had found the body of a dead Bigfoot in a forest of northern Georgia. They contacted Tom Biscardi to investigate, and received $50,000 from Searching for Bigfoot Inc as a good faith gesture. The investigation was covered on many major news networks. The body of the Bigfoot was delivered in a block of ice with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When thawed, it was discovered that the alleged Bigfoot was simply a prop. In January 2014, Dyer attempted another hoax, this time claiming he had killed and privately DNA tested a Bigfoot corpse and found it did not match any known creature. He refused to ever release the alleged scans, and after a paid tour where he showed off the Bigfoot body, he admitted that the corpse was yet another prop. He earned a total of $60,000 from the second scheme.

Scientific Research:
There are several legitimate explanations for Bigfoot's possible existence. Bigfoot proponents Grover Krants and Geoffry H. Bourne believed that Bigfoot could be a relictual population of Gigantopithecus. Gigantopithecus fossils are found predominantly in Asia and none have been identified in North America, however Grover and Geoffry claim it is possible a small population crossed the Bering land bridge. While a plausible theory, there is little evidence to back up this claim.

Other researchers including Primatologist John R. Napier claim Bigfoot may be a species of extinct hominine, such as Paranthropus, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, or Neanderthal, but no remains of any of those species have been found in the Americas.

Bigfoot's existence has been pondered by many formal studies, most of which ended with the conclusion that while technically possible, Bigfoot's existence is highly unlikely.

In Popular Culture:
Bigfoot is one of the most popular examples of folklore in all of history, and has an undeniably massive presence in modern popular culture. Its popularity can also be attributed to a rise of interest in cryptids and folklore in general.