May 13, 2006

Everything’s Bigger in Texas Including Bigfoot

At least that’s what National Geographic News would have you believe… 

Posted Friday, on National Geographic News, is an interview I did with them regarding our research here in Texas, as well as the Bigfoot in Texas? exhibit and lecture series.

How about this great cartoon that was included with the article?

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including some of the footprints, according to Bigfoot believers in the Lone Star State.
Illustration by Oddtoe

I guess their cartoonist didn’t read the part of the article where I stated:

"Here in Texas," he added, "We have 22 million acres (9 million hectares) of forestland. In the four-state region [Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana] there are 65 million acres [26,000,000 hectares]. That’s equivalent to the entire state of Oregon—not just the forest, but the entire state [much of Oregon is desert]."

I don’t know where the part about much of Oregon is desert came from. Maybe it is, but I don’t know, nor did I claim it. I guess it is more entertaining to play up the stereotype of Texas as a series of vast, empty plains?

And then one of the resident Bigfoot skeptics, Joe Nickell, weighs in.

There is no credible evidence for the existence of Bigfoot, says Joe Nickell, senior research fellow for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, an Amherst, New York-based debunking organization that publishes a bimonthly magazine called Skeptical Inquirer.

"Or to put it another way," he said, "there’s really quite a lot of evidence, but unfortunately it’s very poor quality."

That’s a problem for Bigfoot-believers, Nickell says, because if the creature really does exist, then it must exist in fairly substantial numbers. Otherwise, it would long ago have gone extinct.

"Not a single carcass has been found," he said.

I’m looking forward to Benjamin Radford’s presentation in San Antonio in 3 weeks. I wonder if this is an example of the logic that will be presented? I wish that Rick Noll and Jeff Meldrum were going to be on hand to discuss the Skookum Cast replicas with Radford.

"While we can’t prove Bigfoot doesn’t exist," he added, "it’s fair to point out that we can’t prove that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist. We can’t prove that there are no leprechauns."

The Bigfoot myth, Nickell suggests, is fueled by human hopes and fears. In that manner, he continues, it is similar to other myths.

"We are hopeful that we are not alone in the universe, so we believe in extraterrestrials," he said. "We are fearful of the unknown, so we imagine monsters and sinister aliens.

"I think Bigfoot represents an artifact from a vanishing world. It’s tempting to think that some early cousin of ours is still around. Extraterrestrials are futuristic versions of us. Bigfoot is our beastly cousin from the past."

I don’t know about you, but my cousins are still around, and beastly they are not…Let’s see, we want to believe that our prehistoric ancestors are still around, so eyewitnesses are imagining seeing Bigfoot? Or is it that we are afraid of the dark, "fearful of the unknown, so we imagine monsters?"

I tell you what. It is far bigger of a stretch to think that every piece of evidence, every track that has been found, photographed or cast, every eyewitness account is a lie, a hoax or a case of mistaken identity, than to accept that there is credible evidence that this creature exists.

Filed under Artifacts, Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Breaking News, Conferences, Cryptotourism, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Expedition Reports, Eyewitness Accounts, Folklore, Forensic Science, Media Appearances, Museums, Sasquatch