Bigfoot: The Real Historical Record, From 1840 to Today

Long before anyone said "Bigfoot," people in the Pacific Northwest told stories of giant, hairy people of the forest. This is the real history behind the legend, from what is actually on record: an 1840 missionary's letter, an 1884 newspaper hoax, Theodore Roosevelt's strangest hunting tale, a millionaire's expedition, a county law, and the famous cases, from Ape Canyon and Bluff Creek to the Patterson–Gimlin film, the lab reports and the hoaxes. An honest note: this video doesn't try to prove Bigfoot exists, and it doesn't try to prove it doesn't. Every sighting is treated as a claim, not proof, and where the record is uncertain or disputed, we say so. Indigenous traditions such as Dzunukwa and sasq'ets are living culture, not monster stories. The forest scenes with a walking figure are our own illustrations and are labeled on screen; they aren't real sightings. The Patterson–Gimlin film is under copyright, so we don't show it. Quoted letters, newspapers and the 1969 ordinance are our transcriptions of published texts. The thumbnail photo is a viral image of unknown origin; it is unverified and is not presented as evidence. If you're enjoying this, a like and a subscribe to The Day It Changed really helps. Tell us in the comments: what do you think explains the sightings? CHAPTERS 0:00 The footprints 0:52 The real history, 1840 to the 1990s 3:00 Older than the name 3:52 Ape Canyon, 1924 4:44 Bluff Creek, 1958 5:32 The Patterson–Gimlin film 6:28 The film on trial 7:44 Photos, videos & casts 8:50 The lab reports 10:00 The hoaxes 10:51 The sightings 11:36 The verdict 12:17 Your verdict SOURCES • Elkanah Walker to Rev. David Greene, April 1840 (Holland Library, Washington State Univ.); C. M. Drury (1976) • Daily British Colonist, 4 Jul 1884 ("What Is It?"); Mainland Guardian, 9 Jul 1884; J. Green & S. Sanderson, "Alas, Poor Jacko," Pursuit 8:1 (1975) • Theodore Roosevelt, The Wilderness Hunter (1893), the Bauman story • J. W. Burns, "Introducing B.C.'s Hairy Giants," Maclean's, 1 Apr 1929 · BBC Travel (2022) on Sts'ailes sasq'ets • The Morning Oregonian, 13 Jul 1924 (Ape Canyon) · Fred Beck, I Fought the Apemen of Mt. St. Helens (1967) • Humboldt Times, Oct 1958 · Joshua Blu Buhs, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend (Univ. of Chicago Press) • Tom Slick's Pacific Northwest Expedition, Bluff Creek, 1959–60 (Peter Byrne's accounts) • Skamania County Ordinance 69-01 (1 Apr 1969) and Ordinance 1984-2 • FBI Records: The Vault, "Bigfoot" file (1976–77, released 2019) • Sykes et al., Proc. R. Soc. B 281: 20140161 (2014) • Greg Long, The Making of Bigfoot (2004) · reporting on Ray Wallace (2002) and the Georgia hoax (2008) • "Capturing Bigfoot" (dir. Marq Evans, 2026) and press coverage • BFRO public sightings database, bfro.net (checked Oct 2026; counts change) IMAGE CREDITS (Wikimedia Commons; licenses checked) • Public domain: U.S. Forest Service (Olympic, Gifford Pinchot, Six Rivers NFs); NPS (Olympic NP fog, P. Zaidel; foggy path; fog trunks; black bear, Neal Herbert; Redwood NP); Daderot (Dzunukwa feast dishes, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Portland Art Museum); Elkanah Walker portrait (1909); HABS/LOC (Tshimakain Mission); Frank La Roche (Hell's Gate, c. 1887); Bain Collection/LOC (Roosevelt, 1885); Asahel Curtis (Mt. St. Helens, 1923); USGS (1964); Dcoetzee (Skamania courthouse); NARA (Spirit Lake); Alan King, David Ledford (Krantz photos); FBI Vault • CC0: Kissmykumbaya (Harrison River); jhvanwa / Jeff Hollett (Ape Canyon, 3 photos) • CC BY 4.0: Kissmykumbaya (Chehalis Flats) · CC BY 3.0: Simon Fast (Harrison Lake) • CC BY 2.0: Roller Coaster Philosophy (Hoh Rain Forest); Tony Webster (Persido Bar, Six Rivers NF) Map relief: NOAA ETOPO1 (PD). Maps, charts, cards, transcriptions, silhouettes, narration voice and music are original. No AI imagery appears in the video. #Bigfoot #Sasquatch #History