I'm curious- what is it that keeps you believing in BF? Was it a personal experience? A "not sure" encounter? A story told to you by someone? Or is it just that you feel (as I do) that with all the claimed sightings over the years, even with the countless doubters, you truly feel that many people have seen SOMETHING out there, and SOMEDAY we will hopefully have undisputable proof (see Coelecanth sp?).
I'm also curious to see what you feel we should do if it is ever genuinely proved existent- if we had a body, possible DNA samples, what to do with it, what if we captured one, etc.

I've seen some very cool ideas and thoughts on this site, and I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts...

I'm not quite sure i can say "believe" more than "hope" that saquatch exist. The thought of man knowing everything to be real, what you see is what you get type of thinking is really depressing. It is the mere possiblity that there might something in this world that man hasn't tainted or destroyed that keeps me going. The fact that there are countless numbers of eyewitness only increases the hope.

For me I think it's more that I see Bigfoot as an underdog and I always root for the underdog. It's a personal thing for me because I only want to know for myself. If I ever found out they are out there I don't want anything else from it...just so long as I know. I don't care what anyone else thinks or thinks they know.

Surprisingly, the audio clip on the BFRO website of the scream from Snohomish county is what really gets me. http://bfro.net/AVEVID/MJM/ss-snobf.wav It sends a chill down my spine and really gives that mysterious and almost mystical feeling.

Same applies to me..

Yeah, that 'scream' is good, it briefly starts deeply low and gets insanely loud. I think it should be termed 'roar'.

I've got to admit- every time I see the Patterson footage, I get goosebumps. For whatever reason, I feel that footage is NOT just a guy in a monkey suit.
Hey; tons of people have tried to fake us out since then, but there is no footage of anything I've seen that even comes close to it. (With a few exceptions)
Thanks for your replies!

First I don't 'believe' and I'm not anywhere near fully convinced...but aside from the underdog idea mentioned above, for me it's at least 50% about the PGF and the rest simply on an objective look at the "proponderance of the evidence."

That said the whole subject has taken a huge hit for me personally in the past year as I've moved what I previously thought were four of the major and compelling pieces of the evidence to the misidentification/hoax column and some of the related pillars of the BF community have resultantly been fully knocked off their pedestals.

I'm almost back to where I was 5-10 years ago wondering if 'Patty' may have been virtually the last one her species.

Apeman

The reason I keep beleiving is that I have had 4 sightings of these animals and the evidence I have collected.

Nope, saw one in 1994, and it seemed healthy.

Regardless of what you think you saw or whether or not I put any credence in it, there is a reason I tend to use words like "almost" and "virtually."

Apeman

What keeps me believing? It's more like "hoping", but it's all the above aformentioned evidence, PGF, recordings (esp the Sierra Sounds), and having seen the Minn Iceman with my own young eyes many moons ago.

Oh, and the tonnes and tonnes of eyewitness accounts.

I'm not sure exactly. I think (for me) it's the multitude of reports of which I don't believe all are hoaxes/misidentifications. Also, the PGF, which is pretty convincing to me. Some of the audio clips I have heard are compelling, although as others have said, unless you see the animal that makes them, who can say for sure?

One of mention for me a little while ago was recorded by a guy camping in the Uintas (sp?). It was extremely loud and I (for one) could not figure out what could make it. If anyone knows the audio clip I'm talking about, maybe they can shed some light on it. Was it identified as a know animal? I never followed up on it. (And sorry, not trying to take the thread off course.)

Thanks!

I believe without believing. But one of the things that keeps Sasquatach alive for me is the knowledge that there is no such thing as a 100% complete conversion in any chemical reaction or evoloution. There is/are always un reacted chemical/genetic artifacts left behind. Sasquatach is the left over artifact from the Ape to Human evoloution journey. I don't think of them as a missing link I think of them as another link.

Seeing them with your own two eyes and knowing that they are for real that is what keeps me believing.
Mark A

1) After 40 years, the P/G film has never been conclusively debunked.
2) Anonymous reports by people with nothing to gain & alot to lose if their identities are ever revealed.
3) Statements made by skeptical members of the mainstream scientific community that are simply inaccurate. Like "The Pacific Northwest is a dietary wasteland" & " There is no physical evidence of Bigfoot" They seem to keep confusing evidence with proof.
4) Some members of the mainstream scientific community, like Meldrum, Bendernagel, Fahrenbach, & Goodall do believe Bigfoot exists.

Well, as the saying goes: "Seeing is believing."

I saw one in broad daylight from a little over 50 meters. So regardless off MM or Biscardi or anyone screwing the field up, there are those of us who know what we saw and know it is real.

I still get the heebies when I walk through the place I saw it, even though I know, through common sense, that there is nothing there anymore since the area around it has been built up so it is an isolated patch of woodland.

All the reports from Oregon since 1966 and three eye witnesses.

Well, not sure I "believe" so much as find BF to be a plausible creature with some compelling evidence behind it.

• PG film, never debunked, plus that moment when Patty looks at the camera just seems genuine to me, obviously that is very subjective.
• Folk accounts and sightings often describe BF's hair as being similar to a ghillie. These accounts predate a popular understanding of the functions of a ghillie.
• BF recordings and various other recordings that seem more than human and hard to fabricate. Again, highly subjective although with some scientific support.
• BF's original pleistocene ecological context, including a lot of outlandish megafauna living right here in North Ameirca.
• Legend Meets Science
• The sightings, many of which are from credible and disinterested people.
• Oh, and the "******* footprints".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghillie

As my quote says below, "Without hope, we become warped and crippled creatures."

For me, it is the sightings by four of my friends. (1) a then 9 year old boy out with his uncle and cousin near Holbert in King County, Washington State about 30 years ago. Where they flushed out a juvenile from very heavy brush. which then circled them. (2) two of my high school friends about 35 years ago when they were out hunting above Rimrock Lake Yakima County, Washington. Range of 40 feet, dark brown, stood then walked away from them. The first time I heard the comment "we needed bigger guns" (3) A woman about 5 years ago in East Texas who saw a mocha-colored 7 foot tall one at 140 feet for 2-3 minutes from inside a cabin. "It was as ugly as hell. I thought I was going to be sick".

None of these people had a previous interest in bigfoot. The first three had experience in the forests and the animals in the woods. The woman was from a big city and had no knowledge before her sighting. And until I got talking to her had not talked to anyone else other than the guy she was with. But they are people who I would trust with my life. Very trustworthy. And had close enough and/or long enough sighting to where they would have been very unlikely to make a mistake.

For me I think it is a carry over from childhood and watching Boggy Creek, I just knew it was real. Now as an adult my rational side tells me it just is not possible but all the sightings, bits of video, and footprints keep me hopeing. I am one of those guys who if BF is proven real will say "I told you so" and if somehow it was proven fake I will be the one saying "I told you so."

The field work.

I understand your skeptisim. I am under the impression your an achedemic, for you to even consider our stories are true is a good thing.

But consider this, I was selected for Recon/Force Recon because I was good at observation estimation memory under duress and such, I was screened for it, and trained in it, I was given FIVE psycological exams to insure that Iwas neither prone to lie or to hallucinate or imagine.

It was in Virginia, i was within thirty feet of it, It was welll over eight feet tall, It was four feet thick or thicker and had a pointy head, It did knock down a small pine tree 6 to eight inches thick, What did i see, what else could it be.

I have not seen one before or since, have never seen UFOs spooks or specteres, no Lake monsters no Chubacabras nor Jersy Devils. People that imagine tend to imagine more than once in life.

Also I tend to be skeptical, was of Sas before I saw one. When I first heard its strange growl I thought it a black bear until it stood up.

You have three choices with the senerio in my sighting, I saw a Sasquatch, I am lying, I am crazy


Marine Corps at over 200 000 personel has less than 400 0r 500 Recon Marines, A unit this selective selects the best, if a liars or crazy peaople makes it into this unit then we are in trouble as a military and country.

Also othe reputable people are seeing this thing, Teachers, Policemen, Psychiatrists other reputable people are giving the almost same description. That gives a lot of weight to testomony

SC makes a good point. A lot of very reputable people, not the types who are attention seekers or overly imaginative, have seen these things.

Jimmy Carter swears he saw a UFO and everyone believes him.

Maybe GW Bush needs to see a sasquatch out there on his Texas ranch.

I believe that there have been many people who really have seen sasquatch, many of them having no previous interest in the animal beforehand, yet giving details that match many others' witness accounts.
and I also believe in the possibility of a type(s) of animal who lives deep in the woods and has a great instinct to not be around humans.

To clarify I was referring to Ghillie Suit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghillie_suit

Fair enough but not really comparable. Jimmy Carter, or Mother Teresa, seeing a unknown light in the sky (that could have hundreds of logical explanations) is a bit different than either of them claiming a close encounter with an uncatalogued, giant, hairy hominid that has been the center of controversy and scruntiny for 50 years, no?


...or you are simply mistaken, or you were fooled by someone else, or maybe had a couple too many beers, or...

Listen, I'm not accusing you or anyone else of any of those things but as an objective outsider your experience is meaningless and valueless to me- because I have almost no means of evaluating the legitimacy of your experience without some other form of evidence. That's not to say that I discount your story or anyone else's. But for the same reason that I cannot put any faith in people's stories of seeing ghosts, being abducted by aliens, or needing to wire my money to Nigeria, I have to remain logical and skeptical. It's not personal and it's not to say that I don't believe you. It's just not objectively meaningful to me in terms evidence, which is how I chose to answer the question asked in this thread.

Hope that makes sense.


Really? The book or the movie? Care to elaborate?

Apeman

Apeman, if you haven't read the book, I think Meldrum makes a pretty good case that the BF phenomenon is physical (i.e., not psychic or imagined) and that the possibility of a hoax accounting for all of the evidence is very remote.

Thanks, have read it.

It's encouraging that there is legitimate research into sasquatch's existence. One thing about the smell that some observers have reported, (rotten eggs or worse) I was wondering if sasquatch climbs down the trees just to let a nice long fart near people. The tree knocking could be the corresponding reaction of hilarity amongst his clan.

That's the best explanation of tree knocking I have ever seen.

Don't dispare. Some of her relatives are alive and fine, and living in the great lakes region. It's why I don't believe they exist: I know they do.

For me, it was the two sightings my father (and other people) had on our farm in the 70's. My father was absolutely humbled by what he saw, twice. Being a farmer, he was outside his entire life and saw some amazing things (like ball lightning floating over the river on our farm and a panther-like big cat skulking along a fence row). The way he relayed the BF sightings convinced me he saw something special and I believe because he believed.

What he said

Some sightings it can be assumed that the observer could have been duped or mistaken. But in many cases the sighting was more obvious such as from 12 feet away, or the guy who was literally chased down half a mountain for a great amount of time. He would run until he was physically exhausted and the animal would stop, when he would start running again it would start chasing him again. Sure, that leaves you with the fact that the person could be crazy or lying. But then we are saying that hundreds or thousands of people are telling the same crazy lies with the same exact details. Sightings will obviously never prove anything, but I don't think its logical to outright dismiss them all.

Also, you cannot put Ghosts in with Bigfoot and Aliens. Our present knowledge of Science tells us that it is physically possible for Bigfoot and Aliens to exist, but nothing has been learned to say that a Ghost can possibly exist.

I was skeptical of this thing, took seeing it to beleive it. so i respect your right to wait to see it to beleive it, and no I don't take your view personal, just giving you things to think about as you do for me.


I had no beers I don't drink except wine on rare accasions, was nnot a guy fooling me no 8.5 footers in Virginia in 1994.

I think you wrote my response there. And despite SquatchCommando and others' sightings, or more precisely, their conviction that whatever it was was 'real', if the PGF is somehow proven to be inauthentic, I'll pretty much be over Bigfoot. That is, unless a body turns up or something.

For me its my first hand sighting in broad daylight. As well as all the other reports from areas close to me. When you see one of these things or several as I did, for several minutes... you never forget it.
Also, its great to see people like Squatch Commando in this field, who are members of the armed forces using their training and background to put toward Bigfoot research ...Hope to see more of you in this field to help out!
When I finally had my sighting... I finally got the answer that I had questioned for so many years. Its a hard thing to keep to yourself sometimes when the subject comes up.

People believe George W. Bush?

Why not?

Apparently people are still "believing" UFO Jimmy, as he continues to speak out.

I can understand your view here since I felt the same way once upon a time. However, now that I've seen tracks and BF I can only shrug off the doubts others have. I understand that saying "yep, saw one once" don't mean much to folks but I say it anyway. Because that's all I can offer unfortunately.

I can't explain the lack of solid proof after all these years. It's just as frustrating no matter which side of the fence you're on.

On topic, Having seen tracks and Sas I have no choice but to believe. There's simply no other option. I've tried to rationalize away what I saw but after 20+ years I haven't managed that yet.

Pappy, do you mind if I ask you why, both times you mentioned it you listed what you've seen in this order? I think in your position I'd be saying, "I've seen BF! Oh and I've also seen tracks."

I'm not casting doubt on your experience[s], I'm simply interested in the way you stated them.

And, as far as the thread goes, I started to believe because of the sheer number of experiences reported, the similarity in appearance/behaviour etc. of what's being reported and the range of people who've reported it, many who are sure they're not mistaken and who just would not lie or fake.

That's who I started and I believe now, chiefly because of what I read on this forum. I don't know any of you personally but what comes out of many of the posts here (and not just about sightings, either) is an intelligence, a truthfulness, an attention to detail, a desire to know and a sheer 'believability' which rings true to me.

Here is why I believe…

1) P/G film has never been debunked and no one to my knowledge has even come close to replicating the suite if it was a suite. With all the special effects technology, and forensics science we have today I think it would be a lot easier to debunk or duplicate the P/G film if it was a hoax.
2) Too many people claim to have seen this animal.
3) I just like believing, and have a gut feeling these animals are real.
4) I honestly believe Jeff Muldrum and in his work.

What apeman said, only difference is that I think the PGF is total bunk...or at least so wrapped in controversy it's completely useless. What keeps me interested? Footprints in the middle of nowhere...honest everyday people who are brave enough to say they seen something that looks like a Bigfoot...people like my brother in law.

Never actually gave it much thought.. I guess it's because that's the order in which I saw them. One winter we saw tracks then a couple years later we saw BF.

The tracks were my introduction to BF. With tracks I could and did take people back and point at them as evidence. You can't quite do that with a sighting. Though luckily on both occasions when I did see BF there were others with me who saw it as well.

Something about that track set always fascinated me with the mix of 3 toed and 5 toed animals. I've always wanted to know what really went on out there.

But when it comes right down to it I don't place a higher value on either event (tracks -vs- sightings) as it played out for me personally. Both were convincing enough for me.

For me, it's the consistency of the eyewitness reports and the tracks. There have just been too many people who have no reason or motive to come forward, who report a consistent description, for this to all be hoaxing and misidentification.

I'm gonna keep believing there might be bigfoot out there until that day that some of those scofftics offer proof positive of their claims and bring in ALL the bodies.

PGF is helpful, so are the footprints, sounds and reports, but for me it's the stories from natives that date back long before white guys were tramping around the forests. Some might be myth, or spiritual allegories, but they are there, they are numerous, they persist, and they are backed up by evidence in our time. I doubt most native tongues have a word for hoax. Hoaxing seems to be reserved for those that don't have to spend 24hrs a day trying to feed, clothe and shelter themselves.