Is Bigfoot a Kaiju of Sorts?
Posted by: Kirk Sigurdson on May 15th, 2014
With the new release of the film, Godzilla, coming out this week, I thought I would entertain the question of whether or not bigfoot is a type of “kaiju.”
Most people think kaiju must of necessity be huge in size. Not so. Daikaiju fit into this category, but the word kaiju simply means “strange creature” in Japanese. The more popular translation of kaiju in the English language is “monster.”
Of course, this opens up the whole aper/paranormalist debate in bigfooter circles. I happen to be of the belief that sasquatches are most likely capable of paranormal capabilities that exceed those of mere “apes,” including humans.
Yes, I’m talking about intra and inter-dimensional travel, invisibility, feats of incredible strength (that exceed even that of a huge primate), telepathy, and remote viewing. In fact, some reports of sasquatches over the past century detail a creature well over twelve feet tall!
Based upon my person experiences sasquatching over the course of 25 years (about 50% of the time with other witnesses), I can say with some measure of confidence that invisibility is certainly likely when it comes to the special “kaiju-like” powers of sasquatches. Telepathy is also high on the list of possibilities.
Not only was the famous Six Million Dollar man “Bigfoot” huge and immensely powerful, he was also an android. Take that, Mechagodzilla!
Due to the appearance, behavior, and possibly supernatural capabilities of sasquatches, I’m going to cast my vote for sasquatches belonging to the illustrious category of kaiju. Most kaiju fans agree that zombies, werewolves, vampires, mummies, men in black, faeries, ghosts, and djinn also might properly fit under this heading.
And thus we come to a final philosophical crux that is worth pondering: “Must kaiju, of necessity, be fictional, or can they actually be real life creatures?”
Very few websites dare to broach this possibility. As usual, Kultusbook.com has dared to “go there.” In the above list, I think it’s possible that real-life forms of werewolves, zombies, vampires, faeries, ghosts, and djinn could be real, although not in the clichéd way that these monsters are portrayed in most films and fictional literature. There are also some possible cross-overs between a few of these categories, such as between reports of vampires, men in black (MIB), ghosts, and djinn.
Thom Powell’s book, The Locals, narrates a few sasquatch encounters that include werewolf characteristics. I’ve always been fascinated by the infamous Gable Film, which allegedly depicts a “dog man” or werewolf.
For those of you interested in all sorts of fun facts and details about kaiju, I recommend a tour of Guy Edward’s website, Everything Kaiju.
Read the rest of the article on my website here.
Kultus is now available at Amazon.com.
About Kirk Sigurdson
Kirk Edward Sigurdson attended New York University, where he earned a Master's degree in English literature. His master's thesis entitled "A Gothic Approach to HP Lovecraft's Sense of Outsideness" was published in Lovecraft Studies Journal.
After writing three novels while living in Manhattan's East Village, Sigurdson returned to his native state of Oregon. It wasn’t long before he began work on a fresh new novel that drew upon his knowledge of the sasquatch phenomenon.
As research, he ventured dozens of times into sasquatch "hot spots" for overnighters, often with friends who shared some very unique experiences. He also drew upon childhood exposure to sasquatch calls and knocking that occurred during family camping trips to Horseshoe Lake in the Cascades mountains.
Kirk Sigurdson is currently a Professor of Writing and English literature at Portland Community College.
I saw a black bear. I’m pretty sure.
Monster Quest had an episode that covered the Gable film. An excerpt from the wiki article.
“… on the History Channel program, Monster Quest, Steve Cook confirmed that both films were fake, made in 2002 by Mike Agrusa, who had been a longtime fan of Cook’s “The Legend,” a song about the dogman. The “creature” in the first film was actually a man in a Ghillie suit. The body in the second film was made of painted styrofoam.”