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Bigfoot, as imagined by a Canadian artist.

Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, an alleged ape-like creature purportedly inhabiting forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, has had a demonstrable impact as a popular culture phenomenon.

Law

Skamania County, Washington passed a law regarding Bigfoot in 1969 declaring that "any willful, wanton slaying of such creatures shall be deemed a felony" subject to substantial fine and/or imprisonment. The fact that this legislation was passed on April 1 did not escape notice, but County Commissioner Conrad Lundy said that "this is not an April Fool's Day joke ... there is reason to believe such an animal exists."^[1] Hunter and Dahinden mention their own "speculation that Skamania County authorities had their ears tuned much more to the music of a publicity bandwagon than to any song of distress" for Bigfoot.^[2] Notwithstanding, the ordinance was amended in 1984 to preclude an insanity defense and to consider such a killing homicide if the creature was proven by the coroner to be humanoid.^[3]

A local environmental ordinance in King County, Washington, the Sensitive Areas Ordinance, lists "Bipedus giganticus (Sasquatch)" as an "observed mammal species" of concern for the protection of habitat.^[4]

In response to Al Magnussen from the Mt. Baker Chamber of Commerce, Whatcom County, Washington, an Agenda Bill was drafted (92-247) on 6/9/91, which unanimously passed a resolution declaring Whatcom County a Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area. ^[5]

Tourism

There are annual Bigfoot-related conventions, and the creature plays a role in Pacific Northwest tourism, such as the annual "Sasquatch Daze" held for several years in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. Primatologist and Bigfoot researcher John Napier commented on this, stating that "Bigfoot in some quarters of North America has become big business. ... It can no longer be considered simply as a natural phenomenon that can be studied with the techniques of a naturalist; the entrepreneurs have moved in and folklore has become fakelore."^[6]

Advertising

The words "Bigfoot" and "Sasquatch" are widely understood and as such have been used in advertising, being applied to many products and services, such as pizzas, beef jerky, skateboards, skis, an Internet search engine, a computer hard drive series, gas stations, Kokanee beer, and a monster truck.

Jack Link's brand of beef jerky has produced a series of commercials entitled "Messin' with Sasquatch". In the commercials, men appearing to be hikers play tricks on Sasquatch (such as unscrewing the top of a salt shaker, causing salt to spill all over when Bigfoot goes to pour some on the food he is cooking). The end of the commercials usually show Sasquatch reacting angrily to the pranks, chasing and sometimes picking up the hikers and throwing them into the air, nearly killing them or injuring them.^[7]

Although they weren’t necessarily Sasquatch believers game camera manufacturer the Bushnell Corporation along with Field & Stream believed if anyone is going to catch a Sasquatch on film hunters using trail cameras is the best possibility. So they launched a promotional contest over a photo taken in September 2007, by deer hunter Rick Jacobs of Pennsylvania^[8] on his Bushnell game camera of what some believe could be a young Sasquatch.^[9] More skeptical viewers deemed it a bear.^[10] Either way it created much controversy across the Internet so because of all the interest surrounding Rick Jacobs's photo they offered a one million dollar reward for a verifiable photo of Bigfoot taken on a game camera.^[11]

Literature

Many have written on the subject, demonstrating a broad spectrum of approaches from a small body of serious scholarly work to lurid tabloids, such as the Weekly World News.

• The Gwaii, published by Arcana Studio, is an award winning^[12] children's graphic novel that features a sasquatch named Tanu searching for his mother and tribe in the Canadian wilderness.
• The novel Monster by Christian author Frank E. Peretti describes the capture of a woman by a group of Bigfoot, who are being chased by a similar animal later revealed to be the product of a science experiment.
• The short story "Dissertation" by Chuck Palahniuk, found in his book Haunted, is about a tribe of people who carry a genetic trait that transforms them into Sasquatches.
• A Bigfoot was depicted as a relentless and brutal killer in the graphic novel Bigfoot by Steve Niles and Rob Zombie.
• John Prufrock, the hero of the comic book Proof, is a Bigfoot who works for a secret agency that hunts and captures other cryptids. The comic, an ongoing series, is written by Alex Grecian and illustrated by Riley Rossmo. The first issue was published by Image Comics in October 2007.^[13]
• A "race" of Bigfoots appears in Jack the Bodiless, the second book of Julian May's Galactic Milieu series.
• Savage - a Comic book by Jeff Frank, who told the story of sasquatch.^[14]

Music

• "The Bigfoot Song",^[15] also known as "I Still Believe in Bigfoot" written and recorded by Bigfoot proponent and satirist Danny Freyer, is somewhat of an underground anthem of Bigfoot supporters, and has been used to introduce Bigfoot-related talk and pop culture shows and news segments on CNN, late night talk radio, and even in on BBC Radio in London.
• "Sasquatch" by Tenacious D describes Sasquatch, who in their video series is discovered in a cave playing a set of drums.
• "Bigfoot!" by The Weakerthans, on their latest album Reunion Tour tells the story of a ferry operator in northern Manitoba who sees the legendary creature and is then taken advantage of and mocked.
• Charlotte Diamond wrote and sang a song called "Sasquatch" (which appears on: 10 Carrot Diamond.)
• "Papagenu" by Tenacious D describes a sasquatch who can fly and has to protect his diamonds and his son, Jack Black.

Films

• The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
• Sasqua(1975, D:Channon Scott)
• The Mysterious Monsters (1975)
• Snowbeast (1977)^[16]
• Sasquatch: The Legend Of Bigfoot (1977)
• Manbeast, Myth Or Monster? (1978)
• The Capture of Bigfoot (1979)^[17]
• Revenge of Bigfoot (1979)^[18]
• Night of the Demon (1980)
• Bigfoot (1987)^[19]
• Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
• Drawing Flies (1996), A movie produced by Kevin Smith. Starring Jason Lee as the character Donner who wants to find Sasquatch.^[20]
• A Goofy Movie (1995)
• Little Bigfoot (1997)^[21]
• Little Bigfoot 2: The Journey Home (1997)^[22]
• Sasquatch Hunters (1997),^[23]
• Monsters, Inc. (2001),^[24]
• Ape Canyon (2002)^[25]
• The Untold (2002)^[26]
• They Call Him Sasquatch (2003)^[27]
• Sasquatch Hunters (2005)^[28]
• The Unknown (2005)^[29]
• Stomp! Shout! Scream! (2005)^[30]
• Bigfoot (2006)^[31]
• Abominable (2006)
• Bigfoot (2006)^[32]
• Sasquatch Mountain (2006), a made-for-TV movie from the Sci-Fi Channel.
• Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
• The Sasquatch Gang (2007)
• Strange Wilderness (2008)
• The Wild Man of the Navidad (2009), released by IFC Films
• Boggy Creek (2009)^[33]
• Momo (2009)^[34]

Television

• Bigfoot appears in the Futurama episode "Spanish Fry", where Lrrr and NdNd call his large feet "adorable". Previously in the episode, Fry is ridiculed for believing in Bigfoot, as is the Park Ranger (Ranger Park).
• Harry and the Hendersons was a television series based on the film of the same title.
• Bigfoot and Wildboy was a recurring segment in the 1970s children's program The Krofft Supershow produced by Sid and Marty Krofft.
• Bigfoot appears in several episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man — "The Secret of Bigfoot" Parts 1 and 2, "The Return of Bigfoot" Part 1, and "Bigfoot V", plus one episode of The Bionic Woman — "The Return of Bigfoot" Part 2 (a crossover from the show's parent program). In the two series, Bigfoot is depicted as an intelligent android created by a group of extra terrestrials living on Earth. The creature was portrayed initially by professional wrestler André the Giant, with character actor Ted Cassidy taking over the role in subsequent appearances. The 2004 telefilm Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels includes a scene that recreates the fight sequence between Steve Austin and Bigfoot, with Ben Browder filling the shoes of actor Lee Majors as Austin, and Canadian actor John DeSantis portraying Andre the Giant, as Bigfoot.
• Bigfoot played a prominent role in the second season premiere of the TV series The Invisible Man, when the title character of Darien Fawkes (who turns invisible via a gland in his brain that secretes a chemical called quicksilver through his body, allowing it to bend light around him), along with his fellow agents Bobby Hobbes and Claire, not only discover that Bigfoot exists, but that it is the source of the quicksilver; the reason nobody has ever discovered Bigfoot is that he can turn invisible. This briefly results in a rather awkward moment for Darien when the Bigfoot they are tracking mistakes the scent emitted by the gland as that of another Bigfoot, attempting to mate with Darien before he escapes, a situation made even more awkward by the fact that the gland is technically female.
• Bigfoot was portrayed as a bear and renamed "Bigpaw" in episodes of The Berenstain Bears and originally in an animated special, The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw.
• In "Sassy Come Home"/"Photo Finish", the Season 2 episode of the Cartoon Network series Dexter's Laboratory, Dexter searches for Sasquatch, who befriends Dee Dee because of her similarly huge feet.
• In the Canadian TV show Sanctuary, a Bigfoot (played by Christopher Heyerdahl) lives in the Sanctuary (a place where abnormal creatures are protected and studied). They mention a Bigfoot population that refuses to contact humans.

Sports

• Quatchi, one of three mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, is portrayed as a "young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada".^[35]
• Squatch was the mascot of the basketball team the Seattle SuperSonics.^[36]
• Bigfoot is the name of the first series of monster trucks. In 1975, Bob Chandler created the original truck, which he named after his driving style rather than its characteristically large tires.

Games

• The adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road involves a search for a Sasquatch that had escaped from a traveling freak show.
• In Tony Hawk's Underground 2, when unlocked, Bigfoot is a playable character.
• In the Darkstalkers series, Sasquatch is a playable character who lives in a village of other Sasquatches deep in the Canadian Rockies.
• In Zoo Tycoon players can unlock Bigfoot which costs $10,000.
• In Ski Resort Tycoon you can create an exhibition in which you may display a captured Sasquatch.
• In SkiFree players get eaten by an abominable snow monster if they cross the boundaries of play.
• In The Simpsons arcade game, Bigfoot is an opponent which players encounter during the 3.5 Springfield Butte level.

See also

• Evidence regarding Bigfoot
• Formal studies of Bigfoot
• Loch Ness Monster in popular culture
• Patterson-Gimlin film

References