Bigfoot? Surely you jest.

No, I do not jest. Is it really possible that a population of extremely large bipedal primates, not officially recognized by science, exist in the wilderness areas of North America? 'That's absurd', you may be thinking. If all you know about this subject is an old episode of "In Search Of" from the 1970's, an occasional tongue-in-cheek magazine article, or a mocking little story on your TV news, I can see where you might be highly skeptical. After all, if such creatures existed, wouldn't people be seeing them, perhaps quite often? The answer is, people do see them, quite often.

The internet has made it possible to collect such reports, the foremost organization doing such collecting is the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, also known as the BFRO. www.bfro.net
All it takes is a few minutes scanning the large number of reports, and you begin to realize that all is not as you thought it was. The most surprising fact to me when I began looking into this is that reports come from forested/wilderness areas all across the U.S. This is not just a phenomenon of the Pacific Northwest. Most of the reports have that undeniable simple 'ring of truth' that can't be dismissed. Check out the Frequently Asked Question links on the bfro homepage for a quick look at the facts, read some reports, and make up your own mind.

What I find so frustrating about mainstream science is that it dismisses reports of ordinary people, who are observing extraordinary things. Yes, there is always going to be a lunatic fringe of people surrounding any subject, and bigfoot research is no exception. This is no reason to dismiss the entire subject. A little 'official' field research by academia would seem to be in order, in my humble opinion. Because such 'official' research is not likely, it falls to the amateurs to do the dirty work. Eventually, the bfro or somebody else is going to come in with some extraordinary video or photos. I suspect it will take an actual body, however, to really make the skeptical believe. Somebody will accidentally kill a bigfoot during a road crossing encounter (ala "Harry and the Hendersons") or a researcher will purposely shoot one in order to end the debate over their existence once and for all, and mainstream science will take a big 'ol black eye.