More on Bigfoot is not Paranormal

Posted by: Craig Woolheater on July 17th, 2015

Cryptomundian springheeledjack adds to the discussion of this Cryptomundo post: Bigfoot is not Paranormal

oh man, here we go…

I’ve been following this movement for some time–following as in: keeping track of it, not as in following along in belief (just to make sure everyone’s clear :)). I remember a discussion here started by Nick Redfern on this exact topic and in that thread I was pretty staunch on the BF as a flesh n blood critter of our world as opposed to the dimension walking critter camp.

I’ve read the few reports where people saw UFO’s or intense lights followed by Bigfoots appearing. I am always willing to keep an open mind on a subject, not dismissing a theory out of hand, no matter how off the wall it is.

However, as a skeptic, you have to weigh the evidence (just sit back down scoftics) based on what you’ve got in front of you, and the tools at your disposal. For me, a few reports of dimension hopping creatures resembling the big guy doesn’t pull me over into the sway of the paranormal camp. The witnesses may be credible, and have just as much “weight” with their accounts as other Bigfoot witnesses, but I make my best judgment on the body of evidence we have at our disposal.

That includes eye witness accounts, limited video footage (there’s a few legitimate examples, but mostly crap), foot castings, hair samples (though this is a messy subject too), and other incidentals. I also take into account environment and habitat.

I just got back from a trip to St. Louis and driving home, I was struck by all of the vast forest ground and tree cover available. Driving endless highway, to me, it’s very possible there could be Bigfoots standing right at the edge of a tree line, and countless motorists racing along couldn’t see one unless it chose to step out into plain sight. Even given that, how many motorists pay enough attention to the landscape around them to pick something like that out against the background shooting by at seventy miles an hour? And Missouri aside, take into account all of the thousands of acres of forest land across the U.S. and what you find is that there is plenty of habitat for a large bipedal, and very intelligent creature to live and keep itself hidden.

To me, that’s the always been the crux of this argument: we’re not just dealing with an average animal like a fox or a coyote or even a bear that has limited intelligence comparatively. People always throw out the age-old argument of, “yeah, but we would have found one by now.” And that would be true if it were a fox or a coyote or bear. There are coyotes around where I live. I’ve heard them, heard other people say they’ve heard and seen them, but in my 48 years of existence, I’ve only actually seen one twice. Does that mean they’re paranormal too?

Nope. It means they don’t want to come out into the open to protect themselves. There’s little difference with Bigfoot, other than I believe that the intelligence of a BF is similar to ours and that they are much better at avoiding us than regular animals.

The other argument I hear often is that “if they’re so smart why do they allow themselves to be seen at all?” One, I think they get caught unaware too from time to time, especially at long distance–which a lot of sightings come in from. Two, I think they are curious about us, and often times venture into our world to see what we’re up to. Third, I think there are enough people roaming that they can’t always avoid being seen.

And I still don’t believe humankind is so superior that it can’t be bamboozled by other critters on the planet. And whenever we can’t figure something out, the paranormal always gets dragged into the equation. Paranormal is the go-to “magic” explanation of earlier centuries. And before you start dog-piling me, I’m not turning up my nose at the paranormal–I’ve seen and been party to enough weirdness that I give the paranormal it’s due.

Just not in the case of Bigfoot. As I said, I’m willing to keep an open mind, but for me, you’re going to have to come up with more “evidence” for the paranormal before I buy in. To me, what is out there is not enough. Not nearly enough.

Finally, I wish and would like for people to quit wasting so much time on arguing about what the big guy may or may not be and everyone just team up and go solve the issue. There’s a common goal, let’s get to it. Find Bigfoot and then we can decide what it is or isn’t.

About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005. I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films: OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.


3 Responses to “More on Bigfoot is not Paranormal”

  1. Raiderpithicusblaci responds:

    @springheeledjack: Great stuff. You are the eloquent wordsmith I could only hope to be; ‘love watcha do. Just do more of it! Go Raiders!!!!

  2. Doug responds:

    Like you I agree it is not “paranormal” in the context it the word usually stands for. I think if it exists and can be proven so, it is a flesh and blood creature that eats, poops, hunts for food and does its best to remain hidden. It is paranormal in the sense that it is different from other animals that occupy it’s habitat. I doubt it is a shape-shifting alien from another dimension that can disappear on demand and is impervious to gunfire. No giant magic elf here.

  3. springheeledjack responds:

    Raiderpithicusblaci…just calls em as I sees em. Thanks for the support–the point of cryptozoology is to look for answers, and discover unknown critters. It is interesting to me that many times cryptozoology ends up lumped with the paranormal or vice versa. I suppose they’re both “fringe” sciences, meaning that neither has a real mainstream acceptance, and certainly not in recognized scientific fields.

    Though I think that is beginning to shift at least with Bigfoot. With people like Meldrum stepping up and forward, and even with goofy shows like Finding Bigfoot and a slew of others, the idea that Bigfoot is actually real is becoming more a physical reality 🙂 And there are cryptids coming to light (I keep going back to the ten foot ray that no one but locals knew existed until 2010) that give me fortitude for other large cryptids like Bigfoot and my favorite USO’s.

    Thanks to Craig for posting this–I appreciate it.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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