I'm going to come off like a wet blanket, probably already have. But I do take this seriously. I've read probably every book written on Sasquatch, at least pre-1990. I am truly fascinated by the myth, and one of the fascinations is with how apparently rational people believe in this stuff.

You're a hunter, posing with a heck of a bull moose in your picture there. This implies you're at least some kind of an outdoorsman. So, how can you take "foot stomps" as a serious sign of Sasquatch? How many critters stamp on the ground in alarm? How much stuff falls out of trees in the woods?

I have heard the tree knocking many times. It has even spooked me a time or two. Then it occurred to me to track one down just to be sure, and yup, it was the breeze knocking two widowmakers together.

It doesn't matter whether you or I have found a dead bear, they shoot hundreds each year and we have skulls, complete skeletons, hides, etc. from bears. We know they exist.

I don't buy the Oh don't say anything you'll sound like a looney. Any one paying even a modicum of attention knows that in this media age, people will do about anything for their fifteen minutes of fame.

The interpretation that "most Indian tribes have legends of big hairy men" is a little doubtful on further examination. Some of the legends speak of something swimming in Puget Sound, yet bigfoot people want us to think that's Bigfoot. (Why not the Loch Ness Monster if its swimming.) Another legend gives him these 3-foot long spurs to poke people with.

ALLOW ME TO RECOMMEND A BOOK. It's written by Kenneth Byrne, an anthropologist (I believe) who took an interest in the bigfoot thing. I can never get the title straight, it's out of print now I imagine, but you could find it through interlibrary loan. I'll find the title, I know some one who has the book. I think it's Bigfoot: Myth or Reality. It's a truly even-handed look at bigfoot, addresses all the issues on Windwalker's post and more. It's probably one of my top-20 books of all-time on any topic.

Again, to Windwalker, I know I'm yanking your chain. Please don't hurt me. I really dig this myth too. Sometimes I lay in my tent out there in the woods and imagine, what if ...