A while back, I blogged about Bigfoot. I wrote of my lifelong fascination with the supposed sightings of the creature and my ups and downs in terms of belief in it. I said that I've never seen a phenomena with such convincing evidence on one hand while yet having really a void of it on the other. I stand by that.
It has only dawned on me now, however, that I have a still valid (I suppose) bet going with my brother on the subject.
Back in the day, when Spike was but an elementary schooler and I was a teen in my "I'm too cool for this" phase, we traveled often. Our father would drag us on forced marches through Colorado and Wyoming, all because he enjoyed hiking and nature. Even today, whenever I smell pine trees or see a sign for the National Park Service, I get skittish. Anyhow, Spike had absorbed all of the Bigfoot books I'd bring home from the library or specials I'd watch on TV. Whenever we would be hiking the National Park trails or playing in the woods behind our grandparents' farm in rural Ohio (a region that had many Bigfoot sightings as I mentioned in the post), Spike would get a bit apprehensive that we might run into Bigfoot...or "Manbeasts" as he called them, taken from a documentary of the same name narrated by the late Peter Graves. In a tired and teenage voice, I assured him there was no such thing as Bigfoot and if it was ever proven real, I'd buy him a steak dinner.
That dinner has yet to take place. Not for his lack of trying. Every time a new photograph would surface or a claim of physical evidence such as hair or footprints would be announced, Spike would come up to me demanding, "Steak dinner! Steak dinner!" It became a sort of code for us.
I am much more open to the idea of buying him that dinner these days. Sightings keep piling up, as do photos and footprint casts. Texas appears to be a new hot bed for sightings and many an investigator down there are giving there all in serious efforts to find the creature. Loren Coleman's Cryptomundo just had a piece about a man asked to leave a nature preserve 75 miles east of Dallas. He was trying to lure Bigfoot to his Toyota sedan by attaching orange slices and steak to the automobile. Here we are back to steak again, so that must factor in to the Bigfoot mythos in some larger context.
Sightings do keep happening. More evidence gets collected all the time and I do remain hopeful that the notion of large, upright walking primates in North America becomes a fact and not a myth one day. But a physical specimen remains elusive and ultimately that's what it's going to take to close the case...and get Spike his steak dinner.
Of course we're both struggling vegetarians these days. Maybe we'll do pasta with vegetables or moussaka followed by baklava and a nice cup of Greek coffee. Then, after turning the cup upside down to read the grounds for our "future" (Greek tradition), it would only be fitting if the shape of an enormous foot would appear.
"I see a sasquatch in your future..."Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets
On Facebook, Ginselle asked: "Do you think Sasquatch is mostly white meat or dark meat? Either way, it's gotta be gamey as hell! I'm a believer, and one of the strongest pieces of evidence for me is the fact that some people are too arrogant to believe that there's a critter smart enough to avoid us ad thrive."
ReplyDeleteHmmm, being most likely a primate, I guess it would probably be close to the meat of a gorilla or dare I say...a human.
And great point on why Bigfoot could exist.
On Facebook, Spike said: "Or we could go to Arby's."
ReplyDeleteDixie said: "What is your take on the Loch Ness Monster?"
@Spike Ummm...maybe.
@Dixie Hmmm murky at best. If there is (or perhaps was) such a creature, it probably wasn't a dinosaur or "sea monster," but rather an undiscovered form of marine life that is similar to a manatee or some such. That's just a guess.