What are your thoughts on the Yeti and Bigfoot? The Yeti and Bigfoot are two of the biggest conspiracy theories today. So far, these creatures are a myth because there has been no proof of their existence.
Bigfoot, sometimes known as the Sasquatch, is suspected to be a big 10-foot human or ape-like muscular creature that roams the forests of North America. Bigfoot is said to be covered in layers of thick black, brown, and dark red fur. The Yeti, known as the Abominable Snowman, looks like a larger ape-like creature. The Yeti legend says that it lives in the Himalayan Mountains in Asia. The Yeti and Bigfoot are similar and are often compared to each other due to their looks and presence in myths.
The legends of the Bigfoot go back to indigenous cultures across North America. Numerous cultures have reports of a hairy human-like creature roaming their forests. The folktales go back long before the reports of the descriptions we now associate with Bigfoot. One example is the Sts’ailes people and how they used to tell stories about Sasq’ets. They believed the Sasq’ets was a shape-shifting creature that protected the forests.The Yeti legend goes back to folklore told by the ancestors that lived in the Himalayan Mountains.
We hypothesize that most students would say “No” because there is no credible proof of their existence. Often, people post pictures of potential sightings, but the photos are not clear enough or with enough evidence to prove their existence. Those posts are often misunderstandings, and the creature in the picture could be anything, like a staged or photoshopped picture.
One example is known as the Provo Canyon Bigfoot sighting. In this short 48-second video, a group of people are recording what they think is a bear somewhere in Provo Canyon. Next thing they know, the creature they are looking at stands up on its hind legs. This could be an edited video or a bear sighting. No one knows if it was a real sighting or a fake sighting to get views on YouTube back in 2012.
We asked 100 students and teachers, “Do you think Bigfoot and the Yeti are real? Out of 100 students, only 39 say it is real, and 61 say it is not. This means 39% of 100 Lafayette students and teachers think Bigfoot is real.
We asked Henry Dick, a freshman at Lafayette if he thinks the Yeti and Bigfoot are real, and he responded with, “I think at one point it was real, and over time it became extinct.” Savannah Hoover, a freshman at Lafayette, said, “Sure, I think it’s just a silly thing to believe in, and it’s funny.” They both say that the Yeti and Bigfoot could be or could have been confirmed.
We also asked Ms. Walker, a social studies teacher here at Lafayette, if she believed in the Yeti and Bigfoot. She said she did not believe in them because there was no proof that they were real. “No, [there’s] no valid proof of its existence, it’s all hearsay.” She did give their existence some belief. “If you will show me proof of one’s existence, then I will believe it.” She believes the same thing for both of these creatures.
The overall consensus from students is that Bigfoot and the Yeti aren’t real. Over the years evidence and reports have been collected by explorers trying to prove their existence but DNA reports come back as either domestic or wild animals or even human remains. Since there has not been any accurate proof of their existence they are considered to be a myth.
