Editing Bigfoot (section)

===Folklore and early records ===
Ecologist [[Robert Michael Pyle|Robert Pyle]] argues that most cultures have accounts of human-like giants in their folk history, expressing a need for "some larger-than-life creature".<ref name="Goodavage">{{cite web |last=Goodavage |first=Maria |title=Hunt for Bigfoot Attracts True Believers |newspaper=USA Today |date=May 24, 1996 |url=http://web.ncf.ca/bz050/HomePage.usatbf.html |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-date=March 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314183111/http://web.ncf.ca/bz050/HomePage.usatbf.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Each language had its name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names mean something like "wild man" or "hairy man", although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees.<ref name="Mil07">{{cite book |last=Meldrum |first=Jeff |title=Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science |publisher=Macmillan |year=2007 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggeQHFa5E7AC&q=salish+sasquatch&pg=PA50 |access-date=February 19, 2010 |isbn=978-0-7653-1217-4 |archive-date=February 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216154000/https://books.google.com/books?id=ggeQHFa5E7AC&q=salish+sasquatch&pg=PA50#v=snippet&q=salish%20sasquatch&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> European folklore traditionally had many instances of the "wild man of the woods," or "wild people," often described as "a naked creature covered in hair, with only the face, feet and hands (and in some cases the knees, elbows, or breasts) remaining bare"<ref name="Bartholomew2009" /><ref name="Forth2007">{{cite journal |last1=Forth |first1=Gregory |title=Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe |journal=Folklore |date=2007 |volume=118 |issue=3 |pages=261–281 |doi=10.1080/00155870701621772|s2cid=161789895 }}</ref> These European wild people ranged from human hermits, to human-like monsters.<ref name="Bartholomew2009" /> Upon migrating to North America, myths of the "wild people" persisted, with documented sightings of "wild people" reported in what is now New York state and Pennsylvania.<ref name="Bartholomew2009" /> In a 2007 paper titled "Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe" it stated: {{Cquote|quote= "To be sure, the modern sasquatch is largely the product of a European-derived culture, as possibly to an even greater extent is the Australian yahoo; accordingly, traces of the European wildman are discernible in both figures. Yet the sasquatch is partly rooted in Amerindian representations of hairy hominoids, even though the relationship between these, which are often described as small, and the giant sasquatch of the popular Canadian and American imagination is hardly straightforward"|author=[[Gregory Forth]]|source=<ref name="Forth2007"/>}}

Many of the indigenous cultures across the North American continent include tales of mysterious hair-covered creatures living in forests,<ref>{{cite web |title=Sasquatch |url=https://oregonwild.org/wildlife/sasquatch |website=oregonwild.org |access-date=November 26, 2021 |archive-date=November 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126200327/https://oregonwild.org/wildlife/sasquatch |url-status=live }}</ref> and according to anthropologist David Daegling, these legends existed long before contemporary reports of the creature described as Bigfoot. These stories differed in their details regionally and between families in the same community and are particularly prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.<ref name="Dae04_p28">[[#Dae04|Daegling 2004]], p. 28</ref> Chief Mischelle of the [[Nlaka'pamux]] at [[Lytton, British Columbia]], told such a story to [[Charles Hill-Tout]] in 1898.<ref name="Hill-Tout1978">{{cite book |last1=Hill-Tout |first1=Charles |editor1-last=Maud |editor1-first=Ralph |title=The Salish People: The Local Contribution of Charles Hill-Tout Volume I: The Thompson and the Okanagan |year=1978 |publisher=Vancouver : Talonbooks |isbn=978-0-88922-148-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/salishpeopleloca0001hill/page/20/mode/2up}}</ref>

[[File:Painted_Rock_Tulare_County.jpg|thumb|left|A reproduction of the petroglyphs at [[Painted Rock (Tulare County, California)|Painted Rock]].]]
On the [[Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation|Tule River Indian Reservation]], [[petroglyph]]s created by a tribe of [[Yokuts]] at a site called [[Painted Rock (Tulare County, California)|Painted Rock]] are alleged by Kathy Moskowitz Strain, author of the 2008 book ''Giants, Cannibals, Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture'', to depict a group of Bigfoots called "the Family".<ref>{{cite web |title=Was Big Foot at the Reservation? |url=https://www.recorderonline.com/was-big-foot-at-the-reservation/article_92f4cf6c-e5eb-51c7-a558-d5529203c665.html |website=recorderonline.com |publisher=[[Porterville Recorder]] |access-date=May 10, 2021 |date=November 14, 2013 |archive-date=May 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510205236/https://www.recorderonline.com/was-big-foot-at-the-reservation/article_92f4cf6c-e5eb-51c7-a558-d5529203c665.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The largest glyph is called "Hairy Man", and they are estimated to be 1,000 years old.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moskowitz Strain |first1=Kathy |title=MAYAK DATAT: THE HAIRY MAN PICTOGRAPHS |url=https://www.isu.edu/media/libraries/rhi/research-papers/Mayak-Datat-Hairy-Man-Pictographs-1.pdf |website=isu.edu |publisher=THE RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY |access-date=11 March 2024 |date=2012}}</ref> According to the Tulare County Board of Education in 1975, "Big Foot, the Hairy Man, was a creature that was like a great big giant with long, shaggy hair. His long shaggy hair made him look like a big animal. He was good in a way, because he ate the animals that might harm people", and Yokuts parents warned their children not to venture near the river at night or they may encounter the creature.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bays |first1=Ruby |title=Big Foot, The Hairy Man |url=https://tulerivertribe-nsn.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/big-foot.pdf |website=tulerivertribe-nsn.gov |publisher=Tulare County Board of Education |access-date=11 March 2024 |date=1975}}</ref>

16th-century [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish explorers]] and [[Mexican Cession|Mexican settlers]] told tales of the ''los Vigilantes Oscuros'', or "Dark Watchers", large creatures alleged to stalk their camps at night.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Almond |first1=Elliott |title=Trekking California's mysterious Bigfoot trail |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/01/31/trekking-californias-mysterious-bigfoot-trail/ |access-date=February 3, 2022 |agency=[[The Mercury News]] |date=January 31, 2022 |archive-date=February 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202203836/https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/01/31/trekking-californias-mysterious-bigfoot-trail/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the region that is now Mississippi, a [[Jesuit]] priest was living with the [[Natchez people|Natchez]] in 1721 and reported stories of hairy creatures in the forest known to scream loudly and steal livestock.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grayson |first1=Walt |title=Focused on Mississippi: "Bigfoot Bash" to be held in Natchez on November 4th |url=https://www.wjtv.com/living-local/focused-on-mississippi/focused-on-mississippi-bigfoot-bash-to-be-held-in-natchez-on-november-4th/ |website=wjtv.com |publisher=[[WJTV]] |access-date=November 26, 2021 |date=November 1, 2021 |archive-date=November 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126200318/https://www.wjtv.com/living-local/focused-on-mississippi/focused-on-mississippi-bigfoot-bash-to-be-held-in-natchez-on-november-4th/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1929, [[Indian agent]] and teacher J.W. Burns, who lived and worked with the [[Sts'ailes Nation]] (then called the Chehalis First Nation), published a collection of stories titled, ''Introducing B.C.'s Hairy Giants: A collection of strange tales about British Columbia's wild men as told by those who say they have seen them'', in [[Maclean's]] magazine.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Peters |first1=Hammerson |title=How the Sasquatch Got Its Name |url=https://mysteriesofcanada.com/bc/how-the-sasquatch-got-its-name/ |website=mysteriesofcanada.com |access-date=11 March 2024 |date=12 July 2018}}</ref> The stories offered various anecdotal reports of wild people; including an encounter a tribal member had with a hairy wild woman who could speak the language of the [[Douglas First Nation]]. Burns coined the term "Sasquatch", believed to be the [[anglicized]] version of ''sasq'ets'' (sas-kets), roughly translating to "hairy man" in the [[Halq'emeylem]] language.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kadane |first1=Lisa |title=The true origin of Sasquatch |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220720-the-true-origin-of-sasquatch |website=bbc.com |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=August 10, 2022 |date=July 21, 2022 |archive-date=August 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811052029/https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220720-the-true-origin-of-sasquatch |url-status=live }}</ref> Burns describes the Sasquatch as, "a tribe of hairy people whom they claim have always lived in the mountains – in tunnels and caves".

The folklore of the [[Cherokee]] includes tales of the ''[[Tsul 'Kalu]]'', who were described as "slant-eyed giants" that resided in the [[Appalachian Mountains]], and is sometimes associated with Bigfoot.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=D.W. |title=IN THE SHADOWS: The legend of Judaculla, the Cherokee Devil |url=https://www.stilwelldemocrat.com/community/in-the-shadows-the-legend-of-judaculla-the-cherokee-devil/article_12f4001a-a3ff-11ee-bf18-1fbdd84df632.html |website=stilwelldemocrat.com |publisher=The Stilwell Democrat Journal |access-date=31 January 2024 |date=29 December 2023 |archive-date=January 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131172842/https://www.stilwelldemocrat.com/community/in-the-shadows-the-legend-of-judaculla-the-cherokee-devil/article_12f4001a-a3ff-11ee-bf18-1fbdd84df632.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Members of the [[Lummi Nation|Lummi]] tell tales about creatures known as ''Ts'emekwes''. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of ''Ts'emekwes'', but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creature's diet and activities.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rasmus|first1=Stacy M.|title=Repatriating Words: Local Knowledge in a Global Context|journal=[[American Indian Quarterly]]|date=2002|volume=26|issue=2|pages=286–307|doi=10.1353/aiq.2003.0018|jstor=4128463|s2cid=163062209}}</ref> Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures: the ''stiyaha'' or ''kwi-kwiyai'' were a nocturnal race, and children were warned against saying the names so that the "monsters" would not come and carry them off to be killed.<ref name="Rigsby">{{cite web |last=Rigsby |first=Bruce |title=Some Pacific Northwest Native Language Names for the Sasquatch Phenomenon |publisher=Bigfoot: Fact or Fantasy? |url=http://home.clara.net/rfthomas/papers/rigsby.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205183546/http://home.clara.net/rfthomas/papers/rigsby.html |archive-date=December 5, 2008 |access-date=August 18, 2008 }}</ref> The [[Iroquois]] tell of an aggressive, hair covered giant with rock-hard skin known as the ''Ot ne yar heh'' or "Stone Giant", more commonly referred to as the ''Genoskwa''.<ref name="MartAyers2020">{{cite book |last1=Mart |first1=T.S. |last2=Ayers |first2=Mel |title=The Legend of Bigfoot: Leaving His Mark on the World |year=2020 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-1-68435-140-4 |pages=24–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2r-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |access-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212002435/https://books.google.com/books?id=b2r-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1847, [[Paul Kane]] reported stories by the natives about ''[[Skookum|skoocooms]]'', a race of [[Human cannibalism|cannibalistic]] wild men living on the peak of [[Mount St. Helens]]. U.S. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], in his 1893 book, ''The Wilderness Hunter'', writes of a story he was told by an elderly [[mountain man]] named Bauman in which a foul-smelling, bipedal creature ransacked his beaver [[fur trapping|trapping]] camp, stalked him, and later became hostile when it fatally broke his companion's neck.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roosevelt Relates 'Bigfoot Story' |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2010/07/27/roosevelt-relates-bigfoot-story/ |website=tampabay.com |access-date=March 18, 2021 |date=July 27, 2010 |archive-date=May 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519062842/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2010/07/27/roosevelt-relates-bigfoot-story/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Roosevelt notes that Bauman appeared fearful while telling the story but attributed the trapper's [[German folklore|German ancestry]] to have potentially influenced him.<ref>{{cite web |title=Teddy Roosevelt Wrote About A Fatal Bigfoot Encounter |url=https://bearstatebooks.com/blog/2021/01/04/teddy-roosevelt-wrote-about-a-fatal-bigfoot-encounter/ |website=bearstatebooks.com |date=January 4, 2021 |publisher=Bear State Books |access-date=March 18, 2021 |archive-date=May 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509073042/https://bearstatebooks.com/blog/2021/01/04/teddy-roosevelt-wrote-about-a-fatal-bigfoot-encounter/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Alutiiq]] of the [[Kenai Peninsula]] in Alaska tell of the ''Nantinaq'', a Bigfoot-like creature.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Armstrong |first1=Michael |title=New reality-TV show explores Nantinaq stories |url=https://www.peninsulaclarion.com/life/new-reality-tv-show-explores-nantinaq-stories/ |website=peninsulaclarion.com |publisher=[[Peninsula Clarion]] |access-date=6 December 2023 |date=15 December 2021 |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180709/https://www.peninsulaclarion.com/life/new-reality-tv-show-explores-nantinaq-stories/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This folklore was featured in the [[Discovery+]] television series, ''[[Alaskan Killer Bigfoot]]'', which claims the ''Nantinaq'' was responsible for the population decrease of [[Portlock, Alaska|Portlock]] in the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-30|title=New Show Set in Portlock Explores Legend of Bigfoot|url=https://www.kbbi.org/local-news/2021-11-30/new-show-set-in-portlock-explores-legend-of-bigfoot|access-date=2023-12-06|website=KBBI AM 890|language=en|archive-date=February 12, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240212085035/https://www.kbbi.org/local-news/2021-11-30/new-show-set-in-portlock-explores-legend-of-bigfoot|url-status=live}}</ref>

Less menacing versions have been recorded, such as one by Reverend [[Elkanah Walker]] in 1840. Walker was a [[Protestant]] missionary who recorded stories of giants among the natives living near [[Spokane, Washington]]. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fishermen's nets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bigfootencounters.com/classics/walker.htm |title=The Diary of Elkanah Walker |publisher=Bigfoot Encounters |access-date=August 1, 2007 |archive-date=October 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007085252/http://www.bigfootencounters.com/classics/walker.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Ape Canyon incident ====
On July 16, 1924, an article in ''[[The Oregonian]]'' made national news when a story was published describing a conflict between a group of [[Gold prospecting|gold prospectors]] and a group of "ape-men" in a [[gorge]] near Mount St. Helens.<ref>{{Citation|last = Pyle|first = Robert Michael|title = Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books, 1995| page = 131| isbn = 0-395-85701-5| year = 1995}}</ref> The prospectors reported encountering "gorilla men" near their remote cabin. One of the men, Fred Beck, indicated that he shot one of the creatures with a rifle. That night, they reported coming under attack by the creatures, who were said to have thrown large rocks at the cabin, damaging the roof and knocking Beck unconscious. The men fled the area the following morning. The [[U.S. Forest Service]] investigated the site of the alleged incident. The investigators found no compelling evidence of the event and concluded it was likely a fabrication. Stories of large, hair covered bipedal ape-men or "mountain devils" had been a persistent piece of folklore in the area for centuries prior to the alleged incident. Today, the area is known as [[Ape Canyon]] and is cemented within Bigfoot-related folklore.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Perry |first1=Douglas |title=How a 1924 Bigfoot battle on Mt. St. Helens helped launch a legend: Throwback Thursday |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2018/01/1924_bigfoot_battle_on_mt_st_h.html |website=oregonlive.com |publisher=[[The Oregonian]] |access-date=31 May 2023 |date=25 January 2018 |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414232954/https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2018/01/1924_bigfoot_battle_on_mt_st_h.html |url-status=live }}</ref>