Omni Daily Crush: "Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend"
If I had to choose between the existence of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, I'd take Bigfoot. The obvious choice, hands down. For every reason that Bigfoot is awesome:
- An air of mystery and danger
- A worldwide family, such as the Himalayan Yeti
- Silent sentinel of the forest
there's one why the Loch Ness Monster is not:
- Not scary
- There is only one, and we're apparently to believe it lives forever
- Clearly a duck
Now signs indicate there's the largest resurgence of interest in the hirsute hominid since the Six Million Dollar Man made him an international sensation. (Note: this will happen after the werewolf craze that sweeps the nation, once this vampire thing has run its course. I have a sense for these things.)
The first flare was last year's fantastic corpse hoax, and now comes Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Blu Buhs (The University of Chicago Press). Buhs isn't on the cryptozoologist's quest; there's no squatting and hooting in the woods, nor gripping of infrared cameras and parabolic mics. He takes the cultural fork, respectfully--though skeptically--examining the origins of Sasquatch folklore, the obsessives who chase him, the fakers who fake him, and what the fuss says about our society and shifting attitudes toward everything from the environment to the economy. Meticulously researched, Bigfoot features plenty of photographs (though not so many of the monster), and comes bound in cool, woodsy end-papers.
Recommended for fans of The Legend of Boggy Creek and David Skal's The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror, as well as all the '70s kids who searched for Sasquatch tracks in the woods behind their houses.
--Jon
battery charger on September 11, 2009 at 09:24 PM
Bradfield seems to be carrying water for the religious who can not tolerate the idea of a Bigfoot resembling mankind and either an ancester or postcester created by mutation and evolution.
Bradfield does not consider the possibility that Bigfoot is real. Many doctoral level people have seen the creature at close quarters. Personally I think an uneducated person familiar with a locale is equally capable of identifying Bigfoot versus a black bear. Eyewitness testimony always trumps armchair speculation such as Bradfield. There is also plenty of physical evidence in the form of footprints, recorded howls, photographs, deer carcasses slain in a consistent manner, etc.
Carroll on September 12, 2009 at 05:46 AM
A duck! I will have you know that it is definately NOT a duck. It has a much longer neck. Possibly a swan.
Shannon Love on September 12, 2009 at 04:16 PM
battery charger said: There is also plenty of physical evidence in the form of footprints, recorded howls, photographs, deer carcasses slain in a consistent manner, etc.
And a complete lack of evidence such scat, bodies, bones, fossils or trace DNA evidence. By utter coincidence I'm sure, the "evidence" for the existence of Bigfoot is precisely that can be faked by clever rednecks trying to fool city slickers. Bigfoot, alone of the human sized animals manages to move through its environment while leaving no unambiguous trace.
OMG, Bigfoot must be a ninja!
JFinger on September 12, 2009 at 05:25 PM
I prefer the regional 'Boogie Man' down here in the Carolinas. I speak, of course, of the Lee County Lizard Man. Being fairly local he would be the easiest and cheapest (think six pack with some nacho chips & sit in the car out in the swamp) of the three for me to 'not find' when I go looking for them.
davidt on September 12, 2009 at 06:44 PM
Was Michelle Obama interviewed for the book?
GaryC on September 12, 2009 at 07:01 PM
davidt,
If you can't tell the difference between a Bigfoot and a Klingon, then you need remedial nerd training.
DanN on September 12, 2009 at 07:53 PM
The bigfoot living in the swamp behind my house is gonna be pissed at your snarky attitude.
davidt on September 12, 2009 at 09:04 PM
GaryC, I know the difference between a Bigfoot and a Klingon, but I could mistake a Wookie for a Bigfoot if the Wookie wasn't wearing the fashionable over-the-shoulder belt thingy.
PurpleSlog on September 12, 2009 at 11:52 PM
AH....Big Foot and Steve Austin vs the Fembots...good times from my childhood!
University of Chicago Press on September 14, 2009 at 08:52 AM
Thanks for the mention! If you are interested in wildmen across cultures, check out this conversation about what Bigfoot and the yeren of China have in common http://pressblog.uchicago.edu/2009/07/07/bigfoot_and_the_yeren_a_conver.html
Jon Foro on September 14, 2009 at 05:21 PM
@DanN: unfortunately, it will not be the first time.
Another blogger (Kevin C, "I Was a Boy Cryptozoologist": http://tinyurl.com/q89732) reminded me of another Sasquatch touchstone from the '70s: the "In Search Of" Bigfoot episode narrated by Mr. Leonard Spock himself. And it's so great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z0S2zPNP6s
The re-enactments look as though a young Sam Raimi might have directed them.
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