By Tim Binnall
While Bigfoot may have managed to evade discovery over the course of yet another year, the legendary cryptid once again had an appropriately oversized place in the paranormal headlines of 2021. The veritable mascot for the world of high strangeness, Sasquatch was possibly spotted on several occasions over the last twelve months leading to a variety of videos and photos of varying quality. Meanwhile, the massive creature also found itself at the center of more than a few very weird stories, including being the target of a bounty in Oklahoma, inadvertently causing some drama on a reality TV show, and allegedly appearing at a Bigfoot conference by way of a truly bizarre phone call.
Per usual, the most tantalizing tales surrounding Sasquatch over the last twelve months were those wherein bewildered witnesses may have managed to capture the creature on film. During the past year, possible videos of the mysterious cryptid emerged out of Florida, Oregon, Michigan, and Georgia. However, if we were to give an award for the best Bigfoot video of 2021 it would have to go to a jaw-dropping and remarkably clear piece of footage from Idaho which showed an enormous bipedal creature lurking in a forest.
In addition to cases in which people were able to film or photograph their sighting, there were numerous eyewitness accounts of Bigfoot encounters, including remarkable reports from northern California, Australia, and two separate incidents over the course of just a few weeks in Ohio's Ashland County. Beyond potential run-ins with the beast, there were also a few instances where massive footprints, seemingly left behind by Sasquatch, were discovered in British Columbia, New York, and on Mount St. Helens.
One location which may see an increase in Sasquatch sightings in the not-too-distant future is Oklahoma. That's because a lawmaker in the state made headlines this past year when he proposed and subsequently set about creating a Bigfoot bounty! Envisioning scads of tourists coming to the Sooner State in search of Sasquatch, Rep. Justin Humphrey's audacious idea suggested a cash prize for the first person to capture the cryptid without, of course, killing it. Incredibly, there was so much interest in the concept that, over the course of the year, the bounty ballooned from an initial $250,000 to a whopping $3 million.
On the pop culture front, an episode of the Real Housewives of Dallas saw the cast embark on a Sasquatch hunt, which, as so often happens on reality TV, led to drama when one of the ladies clashed with a Bigfoot hunter enlisted by the program. Other odd Bigfoot stories from the last year included a researcher in Florida who suspected that he may have unearthed a fossilized Sasquatch thumb and a fake bulletin that made the rounds on social media warning residents of Kentucky that the creature was lurking in the state's forests.
The famed cryptid also found its way into the world of politics when it was 'enlisted' to be the star of campaign signs for a city council candidate in Texas as well as when the mayor of a town in Pennsylvania revealed that he had an encounter with the creature that changed his life. Additionally, a Russian politician revealed that he had actually had a hand in hoaxing a series of Yeti sightings in his state in order to increase tourism to the area.
By far the most bizarre Bigfoot story of 2021 came by way of a conference in Nebraska held this past April in the city of Hastings. It was there that a Russian researcher took the stage and called a colleague back in his home country. This individual then proceeded to allegedly put Sasquatch on the phone and what followed was a curious 'conversation' between the purported cryptid and its human counterpart. The very peculiar moment featured an array of guttural squawks said to have come from the creature on the other end of the phone and an audience of conference attendees wondering what exactly they were watching.
If history is any indication, 2022 will likely be another year in which Bigfoot remains something of a paradox with the creature being incredibly elusive to those who are trying to find it while also randomly appearing to unsuspecting individuals who may or may not wish to encounter the creature. And although the actual existence of Sasquatch will probably continue to be a matter of conjecture and debate, there is little doubt that, as the last year has shown us, the creature's standing as something of a cultural icon will only continue to grow.