Bigfoot
My afternoon commute on a great day is 45 minutes, but most days it runs closer to an hour — an hour and fifteen at the most. To survive it, I have a routine: something to drink, a snack, and a rotation between audiobooks, recordings of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Moth storytelling hour, and some days just regular NPR.
Today was a long one. I listened to the first hour of The Herd, then switched over to NPR for the rest of the ride.
The story was about Bigfoot — specifically, why so many people believe this creature is real. And apparently, a great deal of people do.
My first thought was: if Bigfoot is real, how come we have never found a carcass or any remains? We have evidence of Woolly Mammoths, Saber-Toothed Tigers, Brontosauruses, and T-Rexes — but no dead Bigfoot.
So I did some research, and these are the top five arguments believers use to explain the absence of Bigfoot remains:
1. They bury their dead. Believers claim Sasquatch are intelligent enough to hide or bury their deceased, much like elephants and certain primates do.
2. The forest recycles fast. In dense, remote wilderness, a large carcass can be completely consumed by scavengers and decomposition within just a few weeks.
3. They’re extremely rare. With an estimated population of only a few hundred across North America, the odds of a body turning up near a human or trail are astronomically low.
4. They’re nomadic and deeply reclusive. Sasquatch are said to inhabit roadless, rugged terrain that humans almost never access, making a natural discovery nearly impossible.
5. They deliberately conceal themselves. The more paranormal wing of the Bigfoot community believes these creatures possess near-supernatural awareness and actively avoid leaving any trace of their existence.
In the end, I think that even in the face of overwhelming evidence, people will find a way to justify their beliefs — and if you tell a story long enough, some will eventually accept it as truth.
So here’s my question for you: Is Bigfoot belief harmless folklore, or does it reveal something deeper about our human need to believe in the unknown?