Bigfoot In Native American Culture

825 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Bigfoot origin story

This provides powerful insight into the role Bigfoot like creatures played in Native American cultures. Some tribes were not afraid of the creatures, considering them kind and helpful, while peacefully coexisting with them. Other tribes found them to be more violent and dangerous creatures. The fact that these tribes called the animals Stick Indians or Brush Indians seems to suggest that the creatures were simply other tribes they did not get along with opposed to a village of mythical creatures. Some examples of Bigfoot like creatures in Native American tribes include the Chiye – Tanka, the Lofa, the Maxemista, and the popular Sasquatch. The Chiye – Tanka was the Bigfoot like creature of the Sioux Indians (“Native American,” n.d.). This animal …show more content…

This suggests that the tribe had a kind relationship with the creature. Interestingly, Sasquatch is pronounced “sess – k – uts”, opposed to how we say it today, more similar to how it is spelled (“Native American,” n.d.). While many of the Native American names for Bigfoot like creatures are no longer as common, the legend remains in more modern culture.
Today, there are some commonly known traits that are associated with Bigfoot and others that only Bigfoot enthusiasts or alleged witnesses would know. As mentioned previously, some Native American tribes came across gentle Bigfoots while others ran into more mean ones. It is still thought today that there are kind Bigfoots and unkind ones, these traits now paired with geographic locations. It is said that the less dangerous Bigfoots live in the Northwest while those that are more dangerous live in the south (Petterson, 2014). The most common characteristics of Bigfoots are that they walk on two legs, standing between six and eight feet tall and weighing between six hundred and eight hundred pounds (“Bigfoot Profile,” 2011). Another source gives the height as being between seven and ten feet and having a weight of five hundred or more pounds (“Bigfoot.,"2016). Yet another source states that

Show More
Related

  • Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump History

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    The site played a significant role for the study of the strategic hunting method practiced by Native American. The native people hunted herds of bison by stampeding them over a 10- 18 metre high cliff. This hunting method required a superior knowledge of regional topography and bison behaviour. The carcasses of the bison killed were carved up by the native people and butchered in the butchering camp set up on the flats.

    Read More

  • Bigfoot Incident In The Night In Orick, California

    284 Words  | 1 Pages

    The experience happens in the middle of the night in Orick, California when the encounter of Bigfoot took place, in the house of two men and their children. The house was surrounded by the forest, woods, and there were not many people around.

    Read More

  • Contested Plains by Elliot West

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are three parts in West’s book; the first part focuses on the sociological, ecological and economic relationships of the plains Indians, starting with the first establish culture of North America, the Clovis peoples. Going into extensive detail pertaining to early geology and ecology, West gives us a glimpse into what life on the early plains must have looked to early peoples. With vastly differing flora and fauna to what we know today, the early plains at the end of the first ice age, were a different place and lent itself to a diverse way of life. The Clovis peoples were accomplished hunters, focusing on the abundance of Pleistocene megafauna such as earlier, larger forms of bison. Though, little human remains were found, evidence of their s...

    Read More

  • Bigfoot Tribe Essay

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the urbanization of America, the Bigfoot was known as a “wild man.” People would occasionally capture a glimpse of one or have a brief interaction with them. They were known to exist and the newspapers from the 1700’s through to the late 1940’s have hundreds of accounts of “wild men” being spotted, captured, or misbehaving. Only after the majority of the North Americans moved into communities and left the rural farms did the national consciousness forget about the wild man.

    Read More

  • Bigfoot is not a Myth

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bigfoot also known popularly as the Sasquatch, Momo, Skunk Ape, the list goes on and on, is without a doubt, the most famous of all hairy man-like creatures. The following will make you a believer in this overseen creature, it made me one. Bigfoot is seen in every possible location throughout the North American Continent, mountains, swamps, forests, crossing desolate and some not so desolate roadways and on open farmland. While its demeanor varies from docile to curios to almost threatening, its general appearance varies. Bigfoot is a massive animal, its average height is seven and a half feet tall, its weight is said be between 400-500 pounds. It is covered almost completely in fur, and its fur ranges in color from the moist widespread dark red-brown to brown, black, red, gray and even white. It leaves its footprints behind as a calling card, almost taunting the researchers that reverently research this undiscovered animal. While its prints resemble mans, they are characteristically large in comparison, and instead of the weight distribution being concentrated under the heel and ball as in the arched human foot, the weight distribution is more evenly distributed over the flat, yielding Bigfoot foot. Most often the prints have five toes, occasionally however the tracks are apparently three toed. The three toed tracks can be theorized several ways; that there is a unique variety of Bigfoot in existence, while resembling the five toed Bigfoot closely, it retains a few distinguishing characteristics; another theory is that some soil conditions can cause the toes of Bigfoot to 'clump' together. The proportion of three toed tracks in comparison to the five toed tracks seems to indicate that three toes is the exception to the norm, and that it is the result of some environmental peculiarity. The main physical characteristics attributed to Bigfoot, other than size and foot shape, are that it is bipedal and upright, has wide shoulders and a heavy brow ridge. Its eyes are sometimes said to appear to be red in color, but are mainly reported as yellow. Although no discernible language has ever been placed with Bigfoot creatures, they are very vocal. Witnesses have reported high pitched wails and low, growling roars, either before and/or after visually spotting a Sasquatch. On some occasions the sounds have been heard from two or more locations at the same time, apparently in communication with one another.

    Read More

  • Dennis Banks

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corbett, B. (1999). Last call in Pine Ridge For the Lakota’s in White Clay, Nebraska, death is on the house. Retrieved February 6, 2005, from http://ishgooda.org/oglala/whitcla1.htm

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay About Bigfoot

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is Bigfoot really a mythical creature roaming the world? Nobody can answer that question, not if our scientist today. Bigfoot is a large, hairy, apelike creature resembling a yeti, there are found in Northwestern America. There is another name that Bigfoot is called and it’s Sasquatch. Some people believe in Bigfoot and try to find it. Others who think it’s a ridiculous idea to be searching for something that no one can find. There are others who are in the middle and others who just don’t care. There are evidence from films, eyewitnesses, photographs, hair sample, and footprints.

    Read More

  • The Blackfoot Nation

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bastien, B. (2011). Blackfoot ways of knowing: The worldview of the siksikaitsitapi. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press.

    Read More

  • Bigfoot Existence

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the past century and a half, the spur of Bigfoots existence has questioned many researchers and non-believers alike. Extensive research and findings have sparked many to seek out if there is another creature amongst our woods. Bigfoots existence is limited to substantial evidence such as sightings, footprints, and somatogenic traces. Ben Radford the author of “Bigfoot at 50 Evaluating a Half-Century of Bigfoot Evidence” explains effectively of the possible existence through extensive evidence and theories whether the beast actually resides among us.

    Read More

  • Representations of Native Americans in Dances with Wolves and The Searchers

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Film is more than the instrument of a representation; it is also the object of representation. It is not a reflection or a refraction of the ‘real’; instead, it is like a photograph of the mirrored reflection of a painted image.” (Kilpatrick) Although films have found a place in society for about a century, the labels they possess, such as stereotypes which Natives American are recognized for, have their roots from many centuries ago (Kilpatrick). The Searchers, a movie directed by John Ford and starred by John Wayne, tells the story of a veteran of the American Civil War and how after his return home he would go after the maligned Indians who killed his family and kidnapped his younger niece. After struggling for five years to recover his niece back, who is now a young woman, she is rescued by his own hands. Likewise, Dances with Wolves is a Western film directed and starred by Kevin Costner. It is also situated during the American Civil War and tells the story of a soldier named John Dunbar that after a suicide attempt; he involuntarily leads Union troops to a triumph. Then, by his request he is sent to a remote outpost in the Indian frontier “before it’s gone”. There, the contact with the natives is eminent and thus it shows how through those contacts this soldier is transformed into another Indian that belongs with the Sioux to tribe and who is now called Dances With Wolves. While both John Ford and Kevin Costner emphasize a desire to apologize to the indigenous people, they use similar themes such as stereotypes, miscegenation, and the way characters are depicted; conversely, these two movies are different by the way the themes are developed within each film.

    Read More

  • Bigfoot Is Real

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bigfoot and its related primates have existed in cultures around the world. In North America, the legend of Bigfoot is believed to have been part of Native American belief for hundreds of years. There are different names for this ape-like creature like Bigfoot, Sasquatch – the term Sasquatch comes from the meaning “hairy giant.”. Also, Bigfoot can be called Swamp Ape, and the list goes on. This questioned animal has appeared mysteriously in nature from time to time.

    Read More

  • Bigfoot

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thomas, Roger F. “The Patterson – Gimlin Film.” BIGFOOT: Fact or fantasy? 25 June, 2008.

    Read More

  • Improving Bigfoot And Moneymaker Summary

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero in Abominable Science etc , “It is inappropriate to link all Native tales of ogres or wild men to Bigfoot, but it is true that Bigfoot mythology has its roots in specific Native stories” (33). Moneymaker includes Native American tales of bigfoot-like creatures, however, there are many variations of tellings based on tribe. Moneymaker fails to mention the contrast of native tellings based on tribe. Aa well as ignores that Native American Tales aren’t accepted as fact due to the variations of tellings and lack of physical proof. Moneymaker cherry picks what information he is willing to share with the public and only includes things that will support his claims-, a clear example of confirmation bias in research ,as well as as takes unaccepted information and portrays it as

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Bigfoot

    449 Words  | 1 Pages

    Imagine you are walking through the woods and you come across a tall and hairy silhouette. You can’t get close enough to see what it is. You hope that you’ve just sighted Bigfoot. Bigfoot is a tall and hairy, ape-like creature. It can be from 6-10 feet tall and weigh from 600-800 pounds. It is also know as Sasquatch. Sasquatch comes from the word Sésquac which means wild man in Greek. Bigfoot does not exist because of lack of scientific and physical evidence.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Bigfoot

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, recently scientists have taken a more active approach in these astonishing human-like beasts to discover if this great species is, in fact, more than mere legend, but a remarkably elusive reality. Though the idea is still very controversial, many groups and organizations worldwide have dedicated their efforts to discover the truth. Over the past twenty-two years, the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, or the BFRO, has worked diligently on helping to prove Bigfoot’s existence. Through field research, interviewing witnesses, and genetically testing evidence, the BFRO has helped to shed some light on the existence of Bigfoot and to prove skeptics wrong. Bigfoot has often been joked as a “myth” or “a large bear on two legs,” far too long. Bigfoot is, in fact, a real living creature who has captivated the beliefs and minds of millions of human beings

    Read More

More about Bigfoot In Native American Culture

Open Document