Is Bigfoot Real?

Robert Hatfield heard howling. He was at his sister’s home in Fort Bragg, California. It was the middle of the night, in February 1962, and something had spooked his sister’s dogs. He went outside to check on them. That’s when he saw it: a giant figure more than 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall and covered in hair.

Hatfield thought it was a bear and ran to wake his brother-in-law, Bud Jenkins. Hatfield then raced back to the yard—and ran smack into the beast. He realized this was no bear and bolted back to the house with the creature close behind. Jenkins rushed from the house to help. He and Hatfield struggled briefly with the creature before it stalked off into the dark. Afterward, the two men were convinced they’d encountered the infamous Bigfoot.

The legend of Bigfoot began spreading across the U.S. in the late 1950s. Loggers had found several massive footprints in the woods near Bluff Creek, California. They believed the prints belonged to something—not quite human, not quite animal. They dubbed it Bigfoot. Newspapers began publishing articles about the monster.

By the 1960s, the number of sightings in California had skyrocketed. Some, like Hatfield, claimed to have actually seen the creature. Others said they’d found its droppings or hair. Then in 1967, someone released footage of what they claimed was Bigfoot strolling through a forest.

Most Bigfoot stories were easy to explain away. The footprints in Bluff Creek, for example, turned out to be a hoax. The scat and fur came from known animals, like bears and raccoons. Most people now believe the 1967 film shows nothing more than a person in costume.

To this day, there’s no scientific evidence Bigfoot exists. Despite that, 20 percent of Americans believe the monster is real, according to a survey by Chapman University in California. And sightings have been reported in every state. But if Bigfoot were real, scientists say, it’s unlikely such a massive creature could have eluded us for so long.

So why do people continue to believe Bigfoot exists? Partly because the idea of spying an unknown creature right in our own backyards, like Hatfield did, captures our imagination. Plus, some fantastical creatures have turned out to be real—sort of (see Truth Behind the Myths). Maybe Bigfoot will too.