Just as we have folklore about Bigfoot or Sasquatch here in the United States, so do many other countries around the globe.
Although they may be referred to by other names, such as in South Asia they are called “Yeti or “The Abominable Snowman “, all eye witness accounts describes them as very large, smelly, hairy humanoids. An apelike creature between 7 and 10 feet tall, covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair with a pronounced brow and large eyes.In Canada they are called Sasquatch and the first known reported sighting was in 1811 by an explorer and trader in Canada named David Thompson who found footprints fourteen inches long, eight inches wide with four toes, in the snow. Another strange account from Canada was about a lumberjack named Albert Ostman who claims in 1924 he was captured by a family of Sasquatch and held captive for a week, and during his captivity the mother and son Sasquatch prepared vegetarian meals while the father and daughter Sasquatch protected him.
Fearing that people would think he was crazy he didn’t tell his story until 1957. The idea of a Sasquatch came from Native American legends. In fact “Sasquatch” in their language means “hairy giant” and the Lakota Indians who call it “Chiye-tanka”,a Lakota name for “Big Elder Brother”. In Indian culture the Bigfoot is highly respected and seen as a supernatural being that not only has the natural knowledge of animals but also intelligence like humans.
According to Ralph Gray Wolf an Athapaskan Indian from Alaska told a reporter ”In our way of beliefs, they make appearances at troubled times, to help troubled Indian communities get more in tune with Mother Earth and that Bigfoot brings “signs or messages that there is a need to change, a need to cleanse. ” The Hopi elders say that the increased “big hairy man” sightings are a warning to humankind from the Creator that man’s disrespect for the Earth has upset the harmony and balance of existence, and if man doesn’t change his way the world will face disaster.There are thousands of stories from all the Native American tribes that are great fun to read but now let’s check out some from outside the U. S. Australia’s Bigfoot is known as the “Yowie” and according to naturalist Rex Gilroy, the Blue Mountain area west of Sydney is home to more than 3,200 historical sightings of the creature.
A couple going for a quiet picnic in 1979 came across a mutilated kangaroo and the apparent perpetrator was only forty feet away. They described the creature as at least ten feet tall, covered in hair that stopped to stare back at them before disappearing into the brush.
