Without the benefit of handlers, publicists or even a stylist, Bigfoot once again wandered into the spotlight. Even though the half-man, half-ape’s latest comeback in Georgia ended badly, don’t assume we’ve seen the last of him. The creature, or at least the myth, endures, in spite of all the wannabe P.T. Barnums who have tried to cash in on his fame. “It’s amazing to me that people made such a big of deal out of it as they did,” said Bradd Shore, director of the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life. “But our myths and stories are so populated by the part-man, part-animal, and Bigfoot represents that. It attracts and repels at the same time.” For lay people, the mystery of Sasquatch" as he was known among the Indian tribes of southwest British Columbia " is too compelling to ignore, said Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “In this MapQuested, GPS nation of ours, that there could be something like this out there in the woods is fascinating,” Thompson said. But in this case the thing out in the woods is also a celebrity, particularly for the children of baby boomers who grew up fearing Bigfoot, the go-to bogeyman of the 1970s. While he never quite reached the A-List, Bigfoot was ubiquitous through much of the decade, appearing in several movies and television shows. He famously battled the “Six-Million Dollar Man” and even starred in a short-lived Saturday morning series (alongside D-lister Wildboy, who has yet to resurface). “There is a nostalgic quality to it,” Thompson said. “The idea of Bigfoot as something that scares us is kind of quaint in this time when there are such real fears out there.

We would be so lucky if Bigfoot was our biggest fear.” To a growing number of enthusiasts, Sasquatch is no myth. The scientific community is generally dismissive of Bigfoot and his believers, though some prominent names have spoken out in his defense, including famed primatologist Jane Goodall. “Well now, you’ll be amazed when I tell you that I’m sure that they exist,” Goodall told National Public Radio in a 2002 interview. “I’ve talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them.”

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Categories: Something Interesting. Author: SacHu