By Tim Binnall
2023 was a busy year for Bigfoot as the legendary cryptid wound up making headlines in an array of memorable stories ranging from the wondrous to the weird. Though the creature managed to evade capture or confirmation yet again this past year, there were several occasions wherein Sasquatch may have been spotted, including a few instances in which quick-thinking witnesses caught their sighting on film. Meanwhile, Bigfoot continued to be something of a uniquely American cultural icon, popping up at schools, sporting events, and even a few police reports over the last twelve months.
By far the most discussed potential Sasquatch sighting of the year occurred in Colorado where multiple people riding on a passenger train spotted a large bipedal creature lurking on a mountain. Footage of the fairly clear figure spread like wildfire online and was quickly picked up by media outlets around the world with some suggesting that it was a genuine Bigfoot while others argued that it was merely a clever hoax. Among the other noteworthy possible Sasquatch videos from the past year were a mysterious creature filmed traversing a snowy mountain in Utah, a dark figure walking through a forest in New Hampshire, and drone footage of what appeared to be Bigfoot in the woods of Vermont.
This past year also featured a pair of rather remarkable game camera photos showing unusual creatures that some believed to be Sasquatch. In Washington state, a small hirsute figure was captured dashing past one of the devices and, down in Florida, the legendary skunk ape may have also been inadvertently spotted under similar circumstances. Among 2023's many eyewitness reports, two particularly compelling accounts came by way of hunters in Minnesota and New York. Of course, there were also some instances where a suspected Bigfoot turned out to almost certainly be something else, such as a Sasquatch-like anomaly photographed by Google Earth and a puzzling paw found in Canada.
As they seem to do every year, Bigfoot bandits struck again in 2023 when a sticky-fingered miscreant stole a giant inflatable Sasquatch from a festival in Washington and another ne'er-do-well made off with a sizeable statue that had stood outside a home in Virginia. On a more positive note, one such pilfered piece was returned to its owner after the regretful thief discovered that the hot pink Bigfoot had been designed to help raise money for charity. There was also a mystifying case in Ohio where a troublemaker took a Sasquatch statue from outside a store and left behind a bizarre clue in the form of a blue marble.
Indicative of how Bigfoot has become a beloved figure in American folklore, the legendary creature was celebrated in a number of ways this past year. A fifth-grade class in Washington State managed to successfully lobby local officials to enact protections for the cryptid in their county. A massive statue of Sasquatch (seen above) was unveiled in an Illinois town where a legendary series of sightings occurred fifty years ago. The NBA's Portland Trail Blazers also enlisted 'Bigfoot' to patrol the court at their home games in the form of a new mascot dubbed 'Douglas Fur.' And, finally, suggesting that some may care a little too deeply about the creature, cops in Ohio had to actually break up a fight between two Burger King patrons arguing over Sasquatch.