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British Bigfoot?

I think this represents a paradox which is very common across the whole spectrum of interest in things we choose to call Fortean. To paraphrase something I've written elsewhere: It seems to me to be the case that people who promote themselves as the opposite of the close minded sceptic are very often simply replacing one orthodoxy with another - domesticating the inherent strangeness of an event by applying it to a simplistic framework which they can more easily understand and believe in; in this way they're really just as sceptical as anyone else, and much more so than some. They also entirely miss the point that some of the explanations offered are no less worthy of inspiring awe at the workings of nature, science or the human consciousness than the one they adhere to with religious ferocity.

I think the Douglas Adams quote is apposite here...'Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?'
 
I’m familiar with the British Bigfoot sightings here in South West England (Somerset, Dartmoor) and to me they sound more like the ghosts/spirits of our prehistoric ancestors than anything else, especially as they are often seen in the area of burial mounds and standing stones that have survived millenni.

when people report fleeting images of Roman soldiers (some really good cases) we don”t conclude there are undiscovered family groups of Roman soldiers living in the wild, we see them as ghosts/ time slips. Ditto wild men in my opinion
 
I’m familiar with the British Bigfoot sightings here in South West England (Somerset, Dartmoor) and to me they sound more like the ghosts/spirits of our prehistoric ancestors than anything else, especially as they are often seen in the area of burial mounds and standing stones that have survived millenni.

when people report fleeting images of Roman soldiers (some really good cases) we don”t conclude there are undiscovered family groups of Roman soldiers living in the wild, we see them as ghosts/ time slips. Ditto wild men in my opinion

So we’re back into the territory of ghosts of monsters?
 
I hate to be a pessimist but I worked with a guy called Henry years ago, he was one of the tallest and biggest men I have ever met. He had the most ridiculous sized feet, 16 or 18 and had his site boots made to measure.
Henry is the biggest thing you will get to a UK British Bigfoot.
 
Midlands Safari park in the 80’s - a bunch of the residents of Monkey World took cars to bits piece by piece as they passed through the enclosure.
Eventually, the had all the necessary bits to build their own car and drove it out to freedom, passing themselves as a family from Tipton. Of course they’ve moved up in the world since then.

That’s how likely British Bigfoot is.
 
The thing is, as a physical being, I agree that it would be impossible for such a creature to live in the UK, and I also think the same about alien big cats, however I don't believe any of the them (bigfoot and ABCs) are physical manifestations I believe it's a lot stranger than that, it does make me laugh when they deploy teams of sharp shooters and trackers, and whatever it is sends them on a wild goose chase
 
I think that part of the problem is that anyone seeing anything anomalous is very sure of what they've seen. So anyone coming in to say 'had you thought it might have been....' well, anything, from a misperception to a shadow, is basically reading it as them being called a liar. This is usually far from the case, and, on fora like this, where people are used to taking everything into consideration, then it's met with reasoned debate. In other circumstances though, such as groups where everyone is uncritical, any kind of rationality is akin to calling the entire group liars and self-deceivers, as far as they are concerned.

See also UFO groups, ghost hunters, telepathy, empaths, practically anything where some groups get very...single minded, shall we say?
I dont think they are. Quite the opposite. Many of the phone in podcasts have callers who just describe what they are seeing. Height, color, facial details, tail or lack of. Then they talk about activity. The thing that is often lacking is the sighting rarely makes a sound or it's not part of the picture of the observer. Not many of the callers say "I've seen bigfoot". The vast majority dont label their sighting at all.

I listen to a lot of these podcasts.
 
Yes. It's deeply annoying. As a kid in the early 80s I recall the day that the Early Warning Siren in Coventry went off by mistake. I can remember my parents, and all the neighbours, poking their heads out into the street to question what the hell was going on.

My parents do not remember this ever happening. For years I would bring this up and they wouldn't believe it ever happened. Then last year I actually proved it happened via a few online local news articles referencing the event.

Then of course they were all like 'Oh! Oh, you know I do vaguely remember *something* like that...'.
I also remember false 'Early Warning' incident took place over whole area -I was living in Nuneaton at time!
 
A note of caution: the British Bigfoot groups - often as not entirely sincere - do share the same enthusiasm as many other paranormal groups, and tend to lean seriously towards the pure uncritical belief. Now, I'll restate what I said above: whatever its nature, people - smart, experienced, sober people - are seeing something. Whatever it is, or whether its a dozen different things that all manifest similarly it's happening often and consistently enough to warrant proper investigation. I make this point as I've engaged with a number of such groups, and sadly anyone who questions is often as not banished. Facebook is a particularly polarised battleground, and just recently there was someone asking all the right questions (respectfully, and much in the manner we would here) who was almost immediately dive-bombed from several directions for daring to doubt the accounts: point is, he wasn't. He was trying to establish context and eliminate alternatives, and on speaking to him separately he spends most of his time in remote areas and teaches outdoor pursuits. He made one or two eminently sensible observations on thread, and then was suddenly accused of being from the security services (yes, really) and promptly banned. This thing's taken on a UFO-like fervency among its proponents, and they will only accept the one explanation. Many are not only not interested in alternatives, they're actively hostile towards them.

I was thrown out of a British bigfoot FB group for suggesting that the sightings may have a number of explanations, I favour a psycho-social hypothesis, but as you say, the other members of the group are wedded to it being a real flesh, blood and bones hominid
 
I was thrown out of a British bigfoot FB group for suggesting that the sightings may have a number of explanations, I favour a psycho-social hypothesis, but as you say, the other members of the group are wedded to it being a real flesh, blood and bones hominid
The flesh blood and bones explanation normally sends believers around the bend, as the phenomena will quite often sprinkle bits of evidence about the place, in each of it's guises be if UFO's, Fairies, ABCs and bigfoot, but the evidence will just fall short of providing an answer, the blurry photo, the footprint that could have a number of different explanations.

It wants people to find the evidence, it wants the wild goose chases, but what is really needed is to accept it for what it is, a force we don't understand which seems to have a sense of humour and far to often we get taken in by it
 
It wants people to find the evidence, it wants the wild goose chases, but what is really needed is to accept it for what it is, a force we don't understand which seems to have a sense of humour and far to often we get taken in by it
I prefer to see it as people having schizophrenic episodes in the woods. This is not the same as "having schizophrenia" but basically involves humans entering a dreaming state while conscious due to a chemical imbalance in the brain that causes them to have hallucinations. It could easily be brought on by some sort of environmental poisoning. I fully believe that the people making testimonies about such sightings are mainly being honest, but are subject to interrupted mental function for the most part. The deep woods have a lot of primeval and suggestive power, and can act to psychologically prime the witness.
 
I prefer to see it as people having schizophrenic episodes in the woods. This is not the same as "having schizophrenia" but basically involves humans entering a dreaming state while conscious due to a chemical imbalance in the brain that causes them to have hallucinations. It could easily be brought on by some sort of environmental poisoning. I fully believe that the people making testimonies about such sightings are mainly being honest, but are subject to interrupted mental function for the most part. The deep woods have a lot of primeval and suggestive power, and can act to psychologically prime the witness.

What sort of poisoning are you thinking of?
 
What sort of poisoning are you thinking of?
I suspect it may be a mushroom with poisonous spores. Something someone can breathe in without really noticing, and unexpectedly produce a hallucinogenic dose. If not a mushroom then something like a datura variant. Scopolamine, for example comes from a Datura family plant, and it makes people highly suggestible. So far I haven't narrowed the suspects down enough, but it isn't beyond all credibility that many cryptid sightings may in fact be linked to hallucinogens, a bit like DMT's reliably appearing "machine elves". I haven't reached any firm conclusions yet however, and if anyone reading this wants to suggest possible culprit plants and develop the idea, I would be grateful for any assistance, as while I have some linguistics and psychology background, ethnobotany is more of a hobby for me at best.
 
I don’t see all monsters as ghosts, I think when you look at how vast the Pacific North West wilderness is then there is a real possibility that some kind of undiscovered, nocturnal wood ape exists. But not in the UK, there is nowhere remote enough to support a hidden breeding population of such creatures. Small creatures thought to be extinct in areas of the UK have been rediscovered eg pine martens in Devon, but nothing larger with the exception of alien black cats for which the jury is out (I personally know two witnesses who have seen a black puma-type large cat in nDevon and I believe them).
 
I don’t see all monsters as ghosts, I think when you look at how vast the Pacific North West wilderness is then there is a real possibility that some kind of undiscovered, nocturnal wood ape exists. But not in the UK, there is nowhere remote enough to support a hidden breeding population of such creatures. Small creatures thought to be extinct in areas of the UK have been rediscovered eg pine martens in Devon, but nothing larger with the exception of alien black cats for which the jury is out (I personally know two witnesses who have seen a black puma-type large cat in nDevon and I believe them).
I know how vast North America is, and I am not saying they are ghosts in the classic sense of the word but they have all the hallmarks of the trickster, the ambivalent evidence, the wild goose chases it's all there

The reality is people do see such thinks as Black Panthers in Devon I have absolutely no doubt, but they are not real in the earthly sense
 
I know how vast North America is, and I am not saying they are ghosts in the classic sense of the word but they have all the hallmarks of the trickster, the ambivalent evidence, the wild goose chases it's all there

The reality is people do see such thinks as Black Panthers in Devon I have absolutely no doubt, but they are not real in the earthly sense
Nothing is ever real... until you happen to come across one for yourself!
 
Nothing is ever real... until you happen to come across one for yourself
Yeah? I came across a faerie out in the woods once, and I'm still not sure I wasn't hallucinating. It's the only cryptid I have ever seen.
 
Yes come on, don't just leave us hanging. :popc:
Yes... well said 'Min n Myth,' "Indeed, just what version of 'faerie' (fairy)?

Apparently... it's any one of these;
a sprite ~ a pixie ~ an elf ~ an imp ~ a brownie "I thought you're supposed to eat them?" ~ a puck "I thought you're meant to hit them with a hockey stick!" ~ a dwarf ~ a gnome ~ a goblin ~ a hobgoblin ~ a troll ~ a kelpie (shape-shifting water spirit apparently) ~ a leprechaun ~ a pishogue (sorcery/witchcraft - a curing spell) ~ a Sidhe ("nothing to do with me!") ~ a tokoloshe (a mischievous evil spirit) ~ a peri (a mythical superhuman being) ~ a fay (fairy) ~ a nix ('Nyx,' goddess of the night ?) ~ a nixie (German myth - a female water sprite) ~ a hob (hobgoblin, sprite, or elf with an mischievous behaviour) ~ and an elfin (the behaviour of an elf).
 
I know how vast North America is, and I am not saying they are ghosts in the classic sense of the word but they have all the hallmarks of the trickster, the ambivalent evidence, the wild goose chases it's all there

The reality is people do see such thinks as Black Panthers in Devon I have absolutely no doubt, but they are not real in the earthly sense

I actually think they are real and are flesh and blood.
 
I actually think they are real and are flesh and blood.

I agree. Daughter 2 saw one and she, as I've previously stated, is the least imaginative person on this planet. Castle Howard Estate, North Yorkshire, before anyone asks.

I mean that's where she saw it, not that's who she is.
 
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