Author of the New Book ‘The Abominable Snowman of California' Dustin Severs on Modern Bigfoot Myth vs Historical Sasquatch Legend

 

I always thought it was weird that the words “Bigfoot” and “Sasquatch” are never mentioned once in the Hammer Horror film The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. It was realised in 1957. Of course, after I read Dustin Savers excellent narrative history book about the early years of Bigfoot research The Abominable Snowman of California, it made perfect sense. Not only the term “Bigfoot” but its possible connection to the Himalayan Yeti weren’t really made until 1958. I know there are accounts dating to before 1958,  particularly in Native American folklore, but it made me wonder how much of what we think of as being part of Bigfoot lore today, do we owe to the Yeti myth? 

Would our concept of what Bigfoot is be different if there were not stories in the 1950s media about the Yeti?

Would the modern idea of Bigfoot be closer to the Native American mythology? If there is a real Bigfoot could it be very different to the one of popular culture that emerged after 1958?

I liaised with Dustin Severs with these questions and below is his thoughtful reply…

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Dustin Severs: My take on the connection between Bigfoot and the Yeti are summed up in the title of the book: TheAbominable Snowman of California. My thesis is basically that Bigfoot was an appropriation or rip off of the Yeti, and that’s the argument I present in the introduction. Given the popularity of the Yeti in the 1950s, I think that an American version of the Yeti was inevitable, and so we got Bigfoot. The Sasquatch legend is independent from both the Yeti and Bigfoot, and also had a significant impact on Bigfoot’s arrival. I think you can draw a straight line between René Dahinden’s arrival in British Columbia and the Centennial Sasquatch hunt of 1957 and Bigfoot’s arrival in Northern California the next year. As I write in the book, the Sasquatch were always considered Wildmen, a tribe of giant Indians. So, Bigfoot was thought to be a Wildman too throughout what I call the classic period. It was the Patterson-Gimlin Film that changed the perception of Bigfoot to a giant ape rather than a Wildman, which is what John Green had long argued.

The Seventies was THE decade for Bigfoot. The Legend of Boggy Creek from 1972 had a big impact. But the real watershed moment was the CBS documentary Monsters! Mysteries or Myth? which aired Thanksgiving weekend 1974 and was watched by about 60 million people. Yep, TV drew those kind of numbers before cable and the internet.