The never-ending quest for Bigfoot

MANILA, Philippines―The thin line that apparently tries to connect the ape family to humans has been debated for hundreds of years. As it remains a mystery, the existence of Bigfoot, a cryptic creature belonging to this family, is another face of the debate. But as the myth continues to grow through time, so has the passion for validating its existence.

To help unlock this mystery, Animal Planet joins the quest with “Finding Bigfoot,” premiering every Monday at 9 a.m. and replaying every Wednesday at 6 p.m., Thursday at midnight, and Saturday at 10 p.m.

In a recent phone interview, Matt Moneymaker, president and founder of the four-man team Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO)—the leading scientific research group that investigates Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) sightings—said they go about their study by interviewing locals, examining evidence and infiltrating the woodlands and forests in places where Bigfoot has been reportedly sighted, including in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

However, while many people in different parts of America have claimed they’ve spotted a Sasquatch, many appear to be unconvinced because of the fact that nobody has really presented the creature in the open.

Moneymaker said there had been a confusion with the name itself, Bigfoot, which some people think that it is a single creature that is being talked about here.

“It’s not just one animal,” he said.

Moneymaker said that it’s like when people see a bear, they think that they were looking at the same bear they saw in the past.

“So, we don’t say “Bigfoot.” We say ‘Bigfoots” with an ‘s.’ It sounds a bit awkward, but it tends to prevent that confusion about what we’re talking about. We’re not talking about a single mythical thing, monster figure. We’re talking about a species that people do spot in different places around the world,” he said.

On another pointy, he said that since capturing them in cameras has been a hard thing to do, “that means you can’t get close to them because it’s really hard to predict what they’re going to do.”

He said that Bigfoots tend to just run away when they see people. They can, however, “pick up things and throw them to you when you really get aggressive with them, and hurt you that way.”

“But that’s what they’ll do as a matter of last resort . . . big cats are far more dangerous than Bigfoots” he added.

He said that their biggest concern in all of their expeditions is the injuries they can get in the “dangerous” places they have to go to just to get near Bigfoots.

“Since we do a lot of moving through the woods in the dark of night, we worry about getting a stick in the eye, which can happen very easily when you’re sneaking around in the woods and chasing things in the dark in a forest,” Moneymaker said.

Moneymaker said that in all of his almost 100 expeditions, his closest encounter with a Bigfoot was about five meters away.

“There was enough moonlight for me to see it as it stood there growling at me,” he said.

The BFRO leader said, however, that for most of the years that his team has been doing expeditions, they weren’t able to vividly film a Bigfoot because they were seeing and having encounters with them in the dark. “If they see any light at all, they jam. They run,” he said.

They are intimidating, but gentle creatures, he said. “I’m sure they are gentle creatures. They must be gentle creatures with their own kind.”

He said that in an interview with a woman from Ohio who claimed to have had an encounter with a Bigfoot, the woman, who was carrying a baby that time, said that a Bigfoot was standing 20 feet away from them in broad daylight, looking “as if delighted to see a female with a baby.”

“That would be the equivalent of like somebody walking up to you and shaking your hand,” he said.

Moneymaker said that they probably judge humans separately.

No giving up

Moneymaker said that while they may give up on a particular place, they will not give up in their search for a Bigfoot.

“It’s not like we’re waiting for an experience that will convince us. We’ve had our own run-ins with them … if we want to give up, it’s that we want to give up on a particular location where we think they’re not around. But giving up in general, no,” he said.

He said that if they fail to spot a Bigfoot in a particular place, they’ll go somewhere else where they’ll get a better action.

“And when I say ‘action’ I mean the ultimate is to have one (Bigfoot) chase you out of the woods, which is an experience you will never forget,” Moneymaker added.