Blobsquatch Babel

This is a classic Blobsquatch image, one captured from the Bobby Clarke video taken in Manitoba.

A reader, Sharon Hill, reminds me that this word used by so many so casually today, “Blobsquatch,” happens to be “one of those great descriptive words made popular via the Internet.”

But what is the exact meaning, if there is such a thing, for “Blobsquatch”? And when did the word first appear? Are some photographs that some people are calling Blobsquatch images really not?

The Lake Worth Monster’s 1969 photograph may actually be one of the clearer Blobsquatch photographs out there. Or is it even a Blobsquatch?

“Blobsquatch” is specifically the object in a photograph of a supposed Bigfoot or Sasquatch that has a lack of definition and detail, an illusion created by a play of light within an often unfamiliar natural environment. It is literally a “blob” (an indistinct shapeless form) that may or may not, but probably is not, a Sasquatch. The Blobsquatch seem to be shadows in the trees, dark spots in the tall grass, light-colored objects on trails, or crossing branches in the forest that assist people’s imaginations in “seeing” a Bigfoot (when one might not be there). Or could they be real pictures of ill-defined Bigfoot in the woods?

As you click this image for a full-size version, ask yourself, is this a Blobsquatch or not?

The North East Sasquatch Researchers Association (NESRA) defines a “Blobsquatch” as “anything in a picture or film which might be possibly mistaken for a Sasquatch such as a tree stump, a large rock, [and/or] a shadow.”

The NESRA has even dedicated a page entirely to Blobsquatch pictures (taken from around the Internet) to show “how easy it is to claim that one has captured an elusive Sasquatch on film.”

Part of my and the NESRA’s meanings can be viewed as working and developing definitions for “Blobsquatch,” until someone tells me there is already an extremely formal one online.

In the meantime, let’s do a little more detective work about the who and the when of the word. Who first created and used the word “Blobsquatch”? Any readers have any hints? How long ago was the word coined? How long has the word been in use on the Internet or in print? How old is the term “Blobsquatch”?

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Email • Facebook • Twitter •