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The Conversation
The Conversation
Jamie Lewis, Lecturer in sociology, Cardiff University

‘It ain’t no unicorn’: meet the researchers who’ve interviewed 130 Bigfoot hunters

Frame 352 from the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film in 1962. wikipedia

It was the image that launched a cultural icon. In 1967, in the northern Californian woods, a seven foot tall, ape-like creature covered in black fur and walking upright was captured on camera, at one point turning around to look straight down the lens. The image is endlessly copied in popular culture – it’s even become an emoji. But what was it? A hoax? A bear? Or a real-life example of a mysterious species called the Bigfoot?

The film has been analysed and re-ananlysed countless times. Although most people believe it was some sort of hoax, there are some who argue that it’s never been definitively debunked. One group of people, dubbed Bigfooters, are so intrigued that they have taken to the forests of Washington, California, Oregon, Ohio, Florida and beyond to look for evidence of the mythical creature.

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