Tons of Bigfoot fun facts for kids and parents to learn together about the mythical creature no one ever seems to capture on film. (What's up with all those blurry BigFoot videos and pictures?!)
Grab your free Buster Deduction sheet for kids!
Check out how your can support our LISTEN FOR CAUSE to help us give back to others!
*All resources and references used in researching this podcast episode are found on the corresponding episode post on ParentBusters.com.
Tons of Bigfoot fun facts for kids and parents to learn together about the mythical creature no one ever seems to capture on film. (What's up with all those blurry BigFoot videos and pictures?!)
Grab your free Buster Deduction sheet for kids!
Check out how your can support our LISTEN FOR CAUSE to help us give back to others!
*All resources and references used in researching this podcast episode are found on the corresponding episode post on ParentBusters.com.
Hey everyone welcome to Parent Busters, a fun podcast where parents and kids can learn together. I'm Jackie and I'm here with my very surprised daughter, ella, because I just I like jumping into the podcast sometimes when Ella's not ready. I know I'm not emotionally ready. I was like what happened? And then I just say, here we go and I press play really fast and I'm like wait, we're recording yeah. And it brings me joy sometimes. I know it does.
Speaker 2:So today, hi, if you couldn't understand that we're Parent Busters. I'm Ella. This is my mom, jackie. Hey, we're talking about weird things. Ella, are you ready to do the?
Speaker 1:podcast today. Yeah, let's do. Let's go ahead and record. You want to? Yeah, that sounds good. Okay, hey, guess what we're talking about today. What Some things afoot with Bigfoot. That's a good title. That's great. Use it. Thank you, I worked on that one. I'm so curious we're going to. I don't know. It's weird to say we're busting some myths about Bigfoot. Because, I don't know. Are we busting myths about Bigfoot?
Speaker 2:Who knows? Let's get into it after our two truths and a lie.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, you want to do our two truths and a lie. Yeah, you want me to do the two truths and a lie.
Speaker 2:Yes, because you have the list, true, okay.
Speaker 1:Here we go. Okay, two truths and a lie, here we go. Please hold for a very important message. Number one there is a science subculture called Sasquatchology. I hope I'm saying that right, sasquatchology, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a mouthful, by the way. Yeah, number two Woodbooger is another name for Bigfoot. No, you're going to find out throughout the episode. Okay, if the you have to figure out which two are true and which one is a lie, okay, number three the kangaroo was considered a cryptid. What, what's a cryptid? Well, we're going to talk about that, like right now.
Speaker 2:Like right now yeah. So what are cryptids? So you may have heard this phrase when you're talking about things like Bigfoot. Well, cryptids are animals or monsters that people say exist, but they actually haven't been scientifically proven. Do?
Speaker 1:you exist. So they're like creatures that you hear talked about in like folklore and legends.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they're said through supposed eyewitness accounts Right.
Speaker 1:And even, yeah, like modern day stories, yeah, eyewitness accounts. You've probably heard of them because, aside from Bigfoot.
Speaker 2:We have Loch Ness Monster aka Nessie Chuka, chuka, chupacabra yeah, easy for you to say Chupacabra Mothman, and just a bomenal snowman, yes. Or the Yeti, yes, which we might talk about in a little bit Cool. But it's so many different and it ties deeply into folklore from around the world. Right, and sometimes cryptid stories don't just start from folklore. They start with sometimes actual events and items. So if someone finds like a mysteriously large bone on their farm, Right, or a big footprint.
Speaker 1:So Bigfoot, if you don't know, is supposedly this large, hairy, like ape-like creature.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. He's like a humanoid creature, sometimes known as Sasquatch, and is most popular in the northwest of North America.
Speaker 1:Yes, and people usually eyewitness accounts say that they see Bigfoot in like forest or wooded areas and they people have described this creature as being stinky, Stinky.
Speaker 2:Which is one I find very funny, which is weird. How, how do you get close enough?
Speaker 1:Well, supposedly you can the stench isn't. You don't have to be close to him, it's whatever to smell the stench.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, isn't it a skunk like I think I've heard? Yeah.
Speaker 1:And kind of like a sweaty. I don't know. I've never smelled a Bigfoot, but he's fortunate. It has been said to be over like eight feet tall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's honestly been described being between six feet about two meters and 15 feet about 4.5 meters tall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, depending on who you've talked to. Yeah, and the reason that Bigfoot gets his name is is pretty big feet.
Speaker 2:Big feet which I mean kind of rude, just targeting like when do you think he's a little self-conscious about that?
Speaker 1:What if he was called like big nose, big thumb, big thumb, thumb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just thumb, and in comparison to the hand I want to know how big the thumb is.
Speaker 1:Big. Some. Some have said that they've found big foot footprints that have measured up to 24 inches in lengths, which is 60 centimeters, and eight inches wide, which is 24 meters. So if you think of a 12 inch ruler, that's two rulers stacked on top of each other in length.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And almost one full ruler measuring across, so that is a pretty big foot. Yeah, the weird thing is that he's supposed the Bigfoot is supposedly not aggressive with other animals. Yes, and the Bigfoot creature is said to be shy and he's extremely elusive, clearly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Yeah, let's reel it back in. Let's talk about just the general concept of cryptids. Okay, for a second. Sure, so Bigfoot's a cryptid. How do we know all of this information about something that supposedly does not exist? Well, cryptozoology Cryptozoology that's pseudoscience is basically the science of cryptids. The people who study cryptids are called cryptozoologists and they take and search for scientific and factual evidence that these cryptids can exist. But why not just Bigfoot? Not just Bigfoot Like any cryptid, like the monster?
Speaker 2:Here's my question why would you search for something that has such a low chance of existing? Some people believe that it exists, so there's definitely a big belief that these things exist, but it's also led it's also had a foundation in the past. Cryptozoologists have actually led to discovering what we know as normal real-life animals. Now Come on, like what? Yeah, at one point, the Komodo, dragon, flatpus, gorilla, king Roo and Minion, many more weights, relatively normal species. So we're considered cryptids.
Speaker 1:It's true, the King Roo was thought to be a cryptid. Yes so, but we know that the King Roo exists now.
Speaker 2:And it exists.
Speaker 1:Did you know that we're talking about cryptozoologists? Crypt comes from the Latin crypta, meaning vault. Oh, like the crypt keeper?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know what that's from.
Speaker 1:It's from ancient Greek cryptos or hidden. Wow, oh, you know. I loved a good word breakdown if I could. Yes.
Speaker 2:Uh, something else I want to note that's very interesting. Have you heard of the Kraken? Of course, like the, you know, if you don't know, it's this giant squid that's thought to sink ships, specifically pirate ships in folklore. It's actually technically been proven to be real. Yeah, yeah, um, it was proven to be real in 2004, when the first pictures of the actual species, the giant squid, were taken in Japan. Wow, so there's an actual foundation and possibility for these things to exist.
Speaker 1:How giant was the giant one in Japan? I always ask you these questions, don't I?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I saw this. How big was it? Like a house, big it was. I feel like it was, if I remember.
Speaker 1:Like a matchbox carving.
Speaker 2:I have no idea why did not? It wasn't that big but that small. I don't know why I didn't write this down, so you'll have to check me, but I believe it was around 11 feet. Wow, If I remember correctly.
Speaker 1:It seems like in all of the drawings that you see the Kraken you know he's holding like the in one of his tentacles like a pirate ship yes. They're just huge and like. They're like bigger than the world.
Speaker 2:There's that seems like at least it does, but also it kind of kind of possible. You don't know what's done in the ocean, it's true.
Speaker 1:There are things that we can't. I mean, this is a little sidetracked, but yeah, when is it not Good point this is going to? We're going to rename parent busters to the sidetracked podcast. Yeah, Um, it is true, because they are always discovering things in the depths of the ocean that we can't reach. So yeah who knows what there might be like the big pirate ship.
Speaker 2:I think of anglerfish. Have you seen those things? What Anglerfish? They're terrifying.
Speaker 1:I love them.
Speaker 2:I love them. Hey, let's um move from now that we have basic, the basics of what cryptids are and crypto zoologists.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's go into the history and the legend of Bigfoot.
Speaker 2:Like how did?
Speaker 1:this all start? Yeah, so you might know that there are legends of Bigfoot kind of creatures all over the world.
Speaker 2:Yes, which we will get to in a little bit.
Speaker 1:Right, like you've probably know, scott, we call we in North America, we say Bigfoot, but he Bigfoot is also called other things like Sasquatch, which you've heard. Um, there, like Ella said, there are organizations that are dedicated to studying things like Bigfoot and documenting cases and studying, trying to prove it the existence.
Speaker 2:Which sounds just like a really cool job it does.
Speaker 1:But I'm not sure I don't want to be the one going out into nature at midnight to find the big, smelly, whistling, 15 foot tall hairy creature.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fair, it's the same thing with like ghost hunters. Yes, like nah.
Speaker 1:Um, some people credit the British explorer, david Thompson yes, with the first discovery of Sasquatch footprints in 1811. Which is crazy Weird because also, um, as most things it in North America, it has really strong native culture, roots in native culture. Yes, so the common name Sasquatch actually comes from a native word.
Speaker 2:Wow, you're just taking all my fun facts, aren't you?
Speaker 1:you can go, go for it then let me, let me get out my look. You cannot Say I'm taking your information and then not be prepared to take the handoff.
Speaker 2:Like you said, the word Sasquatch actually comes from a native word, sasquatch, saskets, originating from the Stay hailess. Stahalus, stahalus. I saw a lot of different word variations.
Speaker 1:So we're sorry, origin we're so sorry.
Speaker 2:So I saw Sasquatch, I saw what you just said, stahalus. Yes, I saw so many different Variations, I think from different tribes.
Speaker 1:So these are, no, these are the tribes that are based mainly around like Western, yes, like the first people, first nations people in Southwestern British Columbia and there are also some in, I think, what Washington.
Speaker 2:I know this. Northwestern United States and Western Canada are when this the whole concept of Bigfoot really and all likely is right.
Speaker 1:so the Stahalus tradition holds that the, this Bigfoot creature, yeah, can change From its physical form to that big hairy creature that's rock a tree or even like other animals. Oh, that's terrifying. They consider Sasquatch Sighting to be a sign of good luck and really and I found I'll have to link to it. I'm gonna write a note to myself. The Stahalus community had a had Scott Sasquatch days festivals oh as early, starting as early as the 1930s really there are images of members dressed in Sasquatch costumes.
Speaker 1:No way they're terrifying. Oh my, you know, anytime music costume was from like the early.
Speaker 2:Seeing the old like Disney mascot costume.
Speaker 1:I'll try to find that picture again and link to it over on our website. Parent buster calm. Oh, that is so cool, but it wasn't just this the Stahalus people and again I'm so sorry if I'm butchering here we really do try, we try, um, the Algonquin of the north central region of the continent refer to Bigfoot as the windigo yes, or the with Tico, the abjibway of the northern plains, believed that the ruggeroo appeared in times of danger and and that this hairy apparition, oh, was a messenger of warning and that it was telling People to change man, to change their ways.
Speaker 1:Wow, so if you saw the ruggeroo Run, no oh, the members of the plateau tribes, like those on the warm springs reservations, identify Bigfoot as what they called a stick Indian. Well, that's the translation. Yeah, and it was just a whole diverse category of like these hostile beings. Wow, and they said they Stole salmon. They used whistling to as a means to confuse people, wow, and it caused members to become lost when hearing the whistling, that's so. It's kind of like a siren song. Yeah, I didn't notice that in going through our research. Whistling was kind of a common thing.
Speaker 2:Yes, I did see a lot of whistling, but also so they say Bigfoot whistles. Yes, a very interesting thing I've noticed is the difference in the attitudes of the big feet. The big feet how they act towards other creatures, like what. Like we said, bigfoot has is seen as nonviolent. But, as I'll get in, the Yeti has a very mixed bag and several others that I had seen that I did not include. Some were extremely violent.
Speaker 1:So I think it depends on where the legends coming from. It sounds like so moving forward. So that was the like the early eight, the 1800s into the early 1900s. But North American settlers started reporting sightings during the late 1800s Into the 1900s. They would find Not just they, it was mostly the loggers in the now in the Northwest they would find these Big feet and then they would also have like these encounters while they were cutting down trees yeah, in the forest, wow, and. And then later we'll talk about this. But people would capture these blurry photos and blurry video. We'll talk about those later, but any how. So it kind of went from like the loggers having these Whatever they were seeing encounters, it encounters or seeing foot Animal tracks of some kind in and also at the same time, like the First Nations people and the tribe members seeing different things in different tribes. But then it exploded into the mainstream because if you get a big foot today, big foot is good, that's everywhere and he's kind of like a cultural icon.
Speaker 2:Yes, like I feel like whenever you go In the US, especially in southern States, there's a lot of like big foot merch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I don't even know, just the southern, I think. But like, when we go, our family is from the south, so we Go to our farm there a few times a year we, we are increasingly seeing more and more big foot cutouts. So you'll just like look over into the mountains and there's just a big foot cutout and you're like, ah, oh, which I kind of love to be, I, I want one. So how did it go from being these legends of like First Nations members and loggers to becoming, you know like what?
Speaker 2:are those things you hang out in your beer, those like the fuzzy dice? Yeah, like to becoming the fuzzy dice of pop culture, yes, well how did big foot become the fuzzy dice of pop culture?
Speaker 1:So, before the blurry video, something else happened. Yeah, do you know what it was, do I? Maybe? In 1958, this is how it was believed to have all started like into the mainstream. Oh so, not just legends, not just stories from loggers, but like into the mainstream. There was a journalist named Andrew Gonzoli and this is a 1958. He wrote for something called the Humboldt Times, a newspaper in the north northwest. He Highlighted a letter that they had gotten from a reader who described what these loggers in North Carolina we're seeing, and that they were saying that they had these like mysterious huge footprints really. So the loggers Named the creature who was leaving these tracks bigfoot and the journalist wrote about it and joked maybe we have a relative of the Abominable snowman in the him that comes from the Himalayas like maybe bigfoot is here and it's so.
Speaker 1:this journalist thought oh, I wrote about this, it was funny, it was like well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he took a letter that someone had written the newspaper and wrote about it and it was like, okay, wrote about that, what's on? What's next? Well, little did he know it received such interest from readers, seriously, that the newspaper started doing follow-up stories because there was so much interested in it. And how so the plot, the, the tracks that they saw, I think were near Bluff Creek in northern California, oh yes, and then they found out yes, yes, now I, now I know I did not Realize that was the beginning of the story.
Speaker 2:Yes, um, near Bluff Creek. Yes, they found out that Well, way later, actually In 2002, that those prints were probably what that were caused by a man named Ray Wallace, who had made these fake footprints yes, to mess with people. And that only came out after he passed away.
Speaker 1:and as kids said we have kept this in the family, but my dad, our dad, told us that he did this as a joke.
Speaker 2:Oh, I did not realize that was the first, and so they didn't release it, that's crazy. So it went on for so long. They didn't release until 2002. Let that sink in, yeah.
Speaker 1:Willow Creek in Humboldt County in the Northwest are considered by some to be the Bigfoot capital of the world. So let's talk about is Bigfoot real? Is big foot real? Well, what do you think?
Speaker 2:before we get into scientific evidence, Hmm, my, I think there is a huge possibility, mainly going off of the Like, not even going off the evidence, just my own opinion. There's a lot of things we don't know exist, for example, the kraken that I mentioned earlier.
Speaker 1:So you wouldn't have imagined that existed so you think one day they're just gonna come out, there's gonna be like scientific evidence and there's gonna be a big foot.
Speaker 2:I Don't know exactly if it will be exactly what's described. I think they're one. They're definitely people messing Clearly with people like Ray Wallace, right, and many other people. I Don't know, I don't think it'll be exactly like that, but I feel like I believe, like the legends from around the world almost more, because there's a lot more I'm trying to think of how, like yes, I think it exists, but the Especially now the American version, I'm suspicious of yeah, okay, because you think there are too many people trying to make it a hoax.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, so most scientists Don't recognize the creature's existence, but there have been many people who've tried to make it real and prove that it's real. For example, this is the thing, one of the things that Ella brought up in 1967, roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin which was also this was near Bluff Creek, the same place were very well, I was leaving the footprints they filmed and you've probably seen it throughout history it the it keeps popping up this few seconds of this hairy creature walking on two legs by Bluff Creek, which is the most famous and probably the most contested.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a huge piece of evidence that people have stuck with.
Speaker 1:Yes, but it's also one of the most Contested. Yes, because it was in that same place that Wallace who made the big boom, boom, boom. So why would it's?
Speaker 2:so fit was faked footprints. Why would there be a real thing? Right that's.
Speaker 1:That's a very good point many people say that it was an animal, a man in an animal costume.
Speaker 2:Yes, although some people say testify that the movements were too inhuman. Yeah, to be a person in a costume and that the body proportions are like.
Speaker 1:The arms are a little bit too long, they're right giant. So like okay, so this is the part where I have a problem because I have a science background. Yeah, I'm always the person asking where did that information come from? Yeah, you know this. Show me the study. That's me. Yes, it is annoying. I'm sure I Do not necessarily believe that there is a Bigfoot creature.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:I do believe that there are creatures and things that people see that have adapted to an environment. There are people who live off the land. Yeah, I think that there are animals like wolves in woods that have adapted to their surroundings Almost definitely To be bigger than we would normally know a wolf to be. Yeah, I think you're going to have to show me some DNA evidence, like I need a white paper study or like something from some scientific journal. I don't necessarily think it's like a new creature. No, I think there are things out there that we just don't understand yet. Yeah, they don't see in the in the full way and they've adapted to their environment. That's what I think.
Speaker 2:Well, I have something that's very interesting that we thought was good evidence, okay, going way back 1968. Yes, in fact, I think you know what I'm going to talk about now. An interesting creature was brought to the International Exposition in Chicago. It was a dead, hairy humanoid creature placed in a box of ice, yeah, and they called it the Iceman the Iceman, and this brought up so much like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they showed it like you would at a fair. You know, like a weird thing at a fair, except it was at the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago in 1968.
Speaker 2:And so the word started getting around and this grew into such a thing over a year of like the government was investigating it. But see, the thing is the owner of the body. Frank Hansen didn't let anyone see it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he called it a relic of the Ice Age. He called it a relic of the Ice Age.
Speaker 2:He said it was found in the waters off of Siberia? Yeah, but he didn't let anyone get close to it. He didn't let anyone take the body to investigate, which you know already. Enough, right, pretty shady Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, frank, and as real as, let Josh Gates take that hair to the Josh Gates has an interesting one on the Yeti. On the Yeti, that was a really good one. Yeah, if you like. If you don't, I don't know how you can't know Josh Gates, if you watch things like this.
Speaker 2:But the History Channel, yeah, like the.
Speaker 1:History. Does he do History Channel?
Speaker 2:Or is it it's Discovery?
Speaker 1:Discovery, one of those. Those are the three channels we watched. We like the Nerd Channels, we watch the Nerd Channels, but he has a really interesting one. He might have done two episodes on the Yeti.
Speaker 2:Definitely. I think he's done like a hunting for it, yeah, and a more scientific into asking people about the legends Anyway back to Frank and his inability to let people take in DNA from him. Hey, we need to see this to prove if this is like a human ancestor or something you know whatever valuable to science. But after a year of investigation, something really interesting came to the surface.
Speaker 1:Let me guess it wasn't the Iceman it wasn't the Iceman. Yeah, the director of the Smithsonian got involved. Yes, I mean this. Good, like Ella said, the government got involved. Big educational institutes and museums like the Smithsonian got involved it was huge.
Speaker 2:And what ended up happening was they started, so the Smithsonian started investigating Hollywood prop companies. They were like we can't see this, we're kind of on our last resort, and finally one of them admitted to making the Iceman.
Speaker 1:Annie is really made out of like rubber, silicone, latex rubber and hair. Guess what, though? You can see the Iceman. You can Guess where? Where? Austin's Museum of the Weird in Texas, in the United States.
Speaker 2:We need to go.
Speaker 1:When the next time we're in Texas we're going to make some Austin time. Yes, and we're dead. We are the big ball of yarn people remember.
Speaker 2:We are, we are. We said it many times we are the big ball of yarn people.
Speaker 1:I want to go see the Iceman, the fake Bigfoot. So this is my problem. So you're telling me and this is what I go back to every time we talk about things like this You're telling me, from the late 1800s, which is the first, or maybe early 1800s, which is the first documented quote, unquote big foot. Since the early 1800s to 2023. We have been unable to get any DNA evidence. What about poo? Bigfoot has to poo. People found poo Right.
Speaker 2:That's one of the other evidence points people find. Sometimes people take like broken branches and use those as evidence or quote unquote nests or poop Also not as gas.
Speaker 1:So if they took it and had DNA run on those things, then something would come back as oh, this is something we don't have in our database.
Speaker 1:None of that's happening. No, so if Sasquatch is real or Bigfoot, some people believe that it's an unclassified primate that we just don't have in our system yet, like an extinct ape, like, from example, southern China, and some people say that these apes could have crossed the Beringland Bridge at one point. Yeah, and then it's been. In. North America is like in the Northwest. There are really vast forests in the North America not just the United States but Canada that are dense and unexplored and plus.
Speaker 2:To go back, whenever I'm thinking of unidentified species, I just think of the ocean. Even though we don't have the DNA for this thing, we also don't have the ability and the technology to go to the bottom of certain parts of the ocean yet. Yeah, so like there are things that we do have the technology to go through forests, I know, but there are certain things that somehow we still haven't found.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean more evidence is what I'm saying. Yeah, me too. Bigfoot exists in a metal cutout in the mountains. I'm not saying if you believe in Bigfoot, that's wrong. I'm just saying for me I need to show me the DNA people. Yeah, what's Bigfoot's favorite game? What Hide and seek?
Speaker 2:Failed.
Speaker 1:Not good. No how about this one. What does Bigfoot use to tell time what His sasquatch?
Speaker 2:Okay, I like that. I made up for it. That made up for every single bad joke you've ever told no Inside and out of this podcast, just in life in general. Sasquatch makes up for that Sasquatch, sasquatch. Anyway, okay, it's not funny anymore, never mind Moving on.
Speaker 1:Okay, momay, let's talk about other names for Bigfoot. Yes, because we've touched on some of them. There are shocking, a shocking amount of names.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we were just mentioning the mountains. Let's talk about my personal favorite the Woodbooger there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, there is a name for Bigfoot in Southwestern Virginia specifically, and we know this because Shout out to our family.
Speaker 2:Shout out to our family.
Speaker 1:That's where we come from. Y'all You're welcome. The Woodbooger is in Southwest Virginia's Powell.
Speaker 2:Valley Especially. It's also very prominent in Norton, the city of Norton, and Wires. County Virginia, yes.
Speaker 1:Do you want to know why they call it Woodbooger and why it's in Norton Virginia?
Speaker 2:Yes, I want to know. Do you know? I know why it's called.
Speaker 1:Woodbooger. Okay, so according to Animal Planet, which is a oh Channel, there was a 2009 amateur video that was shot in Gum Hill, which is an area near there, and it brought the show Finding Bigfoot to Norton, virginia. Yes, and the video is called the Beast of Gum Hill. You can see it on YouTube. We haven't watched it yet, but it's on my list, yes, and it shows this large, shadowy figure crossing the path of some dudes riding an ATV out in the woods in the mountains near this rocky stream and there's the shadow of this large figure. So Animal Planet had a show called Finding Bigfoot. They came out and the show was on. Olce Extreme paid a visit to Norton. They spent time in Southwest Virginia filming this episode and then, like some areas around Virginia not just Norton, but some areas around and it became this thing, but the name Woodbooger which I.
Speaker 2:This is the most fascinating part of it to me. The name actually originates from a newspaper article in on November 24th 1892. Right it, it originates from the 1890s. Yes, um, the creature was given the name Woodbooger after after the boogeyman.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, if you don't know, the boogeyman is what people call, like shadowy, scary monsters that we can't pinpoint.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:Like as a kid I just remember and I don't know, maybe this is because my parents are from that area. They would, or the South, they would say um, you know, watch out for the boogeyman.
Speaker 2:I think that's just a universal parent thing. I don't know, I feel like it is so, but Woodbooger because it was in the, the boogeyman of the woods the Woodbooger yeah, which they really didn't think through yeah, but don't you dare, don't, don't you dare make fun of its name, because it's actually rumored to carry off children who wandered into the woods that night.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the, the big foot in our area where my parents are from, is not a nice no, no and. But historians say that the most sightings in the South began after the Civil War. Wow, so they said that. Um, some people think that it's. Uh, there's a rumor or theory or legend or lore that it's soldiers who decided to isolate themselves after the war and kind of hide or like during that, that live off the land and they just became like disheveled looking creatures and lurking in the woods.
Speaker 2:That's really interesting there was.
Speaker 1:I don't. I don't know if there still is. There was a Woodbooger festival every year in Norton, virginia.
Speaker 2:I don't think it exists anymore.
Speaker 1:Which makes me sad. I think it went out during the pandemic, I believe so. And then there was also, which I don't know if they do anymore. There was a geocaching event and it was known as the Woodbooger Geo Trail. Seriously, yeah, and I don't know if they do it still, but it challenges the participants to find different caches, which is what people hide. If you don't, if you're not familiar with geocaching, it's kind of like a mapped people hide things and then they drop a pin on a map and you kind of have to find it, or they give you the coordinates and it's hidden, like near that Norton's Flat Rock recreation area, which is where we went.
Speaker 1:So if you are ever there in Norton, virginia, or you're near there, take a detour, because in the beautiful park there and I can't remember the park name but if you just ask someone in Norton they'll be able to tell you they have a statue of the Woodbooger. Yes, and we found footprints of the Woodbooger, remember, near that statue. Oh, yeah, and you can go out on this Flat Rock which is a really beautiful overlook, but that's where the geocaching event takes place. But I will put, if I remember, I will post some pictures of Ella when she was younger, with the Woodbooger statue.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the footprints around the Woodbooger statue and I also just want to note there is a restaurant called is it called it used to be. Woodbooger Grill.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it exists anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it had really good tater tots.
Speaker 1:They had the best tater tots I've ever had in my life so good and they had like.
Speaker 2:They had a like Woodbooger Sandy that you could take pictures with.
Speaker 1:Anyway, enough about us.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to our travel podcast.
Speaker 1:So if you're ever near Norton, virginia, go to find the Woodbooger statue in the beautiful. We did see something when we were driving around the park that day, hiding in the weeds. This is no lie. We saw something real spooky. It, I think, was a bear.
Speaker 2:It was a baby black bear, but who knows, it was a baby black bear.
Speaker 1:And if we, we all know, if there's a baby black bear hiding, that?
Speaker 2:was the scariest part. There's a big mama bear hiding too, and we were like no, and it was also like on a like ridge that was like 10 feet above our car. So if there was like a mama bear, I could just like suplex our car and I was not feeling that. No.
Speaker 1:Hey, let's say enough about the Woodbooger, let's talk about. But hey, kids, if you have to do a research project or anything, definitely pick the Woodbooger. Yeah, that's a really fun research and so weird yeah.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about other names, other names in the world. Yeah, okay, uh, one of my. This is not technically another name, but it's another very similar creature.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's what most of them are. They're like variants. Yeah, like we have Woodbooger in Virginia, it's Bigfoot in most of the United States and Canada. Slash, that's Quatch, it's Yeti.
Speaker 2:Yes, in the Himalayan which is what I'm going to talk about.
Speaker 1:You're welcome for that.
Speaker 2:It's thank you for the segue. It's possibly, maybe, in my opinion, the second best well known version of the Bigfoot. The Yeti is a creature from the folklore of the Himalaya people. Uh, it is also known as the Abominable Snowman Yep, and it lives in the mountains of Nepal and Tibet and Asia. Uh, it is said to either have dark, gray or red brown fur, which is very interesting. I always thought the Yeti was white.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I thought the whole thing was. The Yeti blends with the snow and you have a hard time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what? I've not seen anything about why in popular media the Yeti is white and blue. Yeah, think of the cartoon.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Every cartoon the Yeti is white and blue or white and gray, but it's said to either have dark, gray or red brown fur. Someone's lying that. That's crazy. It's said to have a similar height range to the Bigfoot, just a little shorter around six to eight feet tall. Um, who's actually often described in its folklore as really dangerous.
Speaker 1:I think that's common. Yeah, it's like uh, scared or dangerous. There's no middle ground, there's no like uh, depending on the day.
Speaker 2:And then we have, you know, the Bigfoot that's over here whistling, just not having a good day Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think it means like whistling a happy tune. I think it means like high pitched noises Like dog whistle, whistle.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like hey, do you know what Bigfoot's favorite drink is? What Yeti?
Speaker 2:That took me a second.
Speaker 1:I like that. I love the confused look, ellen. I often talk about how we need to start videoing yes, our podcast because you miss a lot of gold just from Ella's little looks. I give Ella, or the crazy hand motions that I think you can see, or like Ella's confused looks are worth their weight and gold alone.
Speaker 2:Anyway, yeah, um, it's described as being dangerous Um, and it's often used in its stories as like a representation of staying away from dangerous wild animals, staying close to safety of home, things like that. Um, fun fact and just interesting history tidbit. Yeah, um, when Alexander the Great invaded the Indus Valley in three, three, 26 BC, he had demanded to see a live Yeti, because I'm guessing, show me the Yeti. Show me the Yeti, I'm guessing, because of their talks through the folklore.
Speaker 1:I kind of want a t-shirt now that says show me the Yeti and like big, we can make it. We can make a sticker. We can, we can, we might do that. Watch out for merch, you never know it. Might, we, might. We're definitely making chicken ear lobe stickers and if you don't know what that's about it's somewhere hidden as an Easter egg in one of our Easter egg You're going to have to go back and find it.
Speaker 2:It was very excellent. I will stop now. Um so, alexander the Great asked to see a live Yeti, and did he get to? No, and there's actually a very good reason why the locals said that they could not present one because the Yeti doesn't exist. No, how dare you have some whimsy.
Speaker 1:You didn't mean like right, Not that type of whimsy.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. Later have your whimsy elsewhere, whatever it's, because the Yeti cannot survive at lower altitudes. Oh, isn't that convenient? Yeah, I think you could. You could bring a dead Yeti.
Speaker 1:Just bring me some DNA like one hair, one plucked hair, that's it. You can't tell me that there is not one hair from a big foot stuck in a limb that he broke because his big old body stomping through with his giganto feet.
Speaker 2:Well, remember, in that Josh gave you like a bitter. You're very bitter. I'm just going to move on from that. This is just normal.
Speaker 1:I just can't show me some science, please.
Speaker 2:Okay, if you remember in that Josh Gates episode someone, I forget where it was, where he was.
Speaker 1:It was. It was, wasn't it, when they hiked up to the monk, the monastery, and some monks had this hand or head A supposed Yeti hand because they wouldn't let them film in there. So he just had to describe it later. But they know that was a there was a different place.
Speaker 2:I think it was like a shady business. Oh no, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And they're like you want to buy a hand and they're like what, four million dollars, yeah, and, but the one I'm talking about they let him take hair back, yeah, oh, and after like two hours, and it ended up being not big foot, I forget what it was- Seriously watch that episode.
Speaker 2:It's really good.
Speaker 1:Hey, do you want to know some of the names in America, in the United States, for it.
Speaker 2:Could I finish talking about the Yeti, add one more thing, if you must Wow Something I found. Maybe one of the most interesting parts about the Yeti that I did not expect is it's pretty serious. Around 350 years ago it became a more serious part of the Sherpa slash, buddhist, like religion, like it became a religious icon and I did not know that. The supposed tale around that is that a holy man named Lama Sangwa Dorje moved into a cave near a village. Are you?
Speaker 1:just doing the Spanish pronunciation for everything.
Speaker 2:Look, I have to fight everything I have in my body to not say Dorje, okay. Look, that's why I stumbled so much. I just immediately go into Spanish.
Speaker 1:I noticed that when you're doing other languages you don't know, you automatically revert to your Spanish.
Speaker 2:I know. Why do you think I struggle so much? Okay, I just wanted to let's just call him Lama, just because that'll be easier. He moved into a cave near a village, in the village of Pingboche, and, according to the legend, lama wanted to remain alone to meditate, and friendly Yetis would bring him supplies to stay alive.
Speaker 1:I want a friendly Yeti that will bring me supplies and that way I won't have to pay. I know Door dash.
Speaker 2:I know or like, can we have like shipped?
Speaker 1:or any of the other services I use.
Speaker 2:That's a good pun. Yeti delivery I want my Yeti delivery Yellow.
Speaker 1:Here's your delivery. It's no Cuber but okay.
Speaker 2:So after those supposed events, whenever he built a new temple, yeti relics would be a big part of it, and I did not know that was a thing. What about?
Speaker 1:I'm just going to go down a list, okay. Cyberian counterpart, the almas, oh there, believed to be more human than apes. Australian counterpart to the Bigfoot, the Yowie.
Speaker 2:That sounds cute and harmless.
Speaker 1:In Florida. Yes, in the United States Bigfoot is called the Skunk Ape. I've heard that Really stinky lives in the marshy areas. I had not heard of this one, but from the farmlands of Ohio in the United.
Speaker 2:States, Wait really.
Speaker 1:Bigfoot is called the Ohio Grassman.
Speaker 2:I'm the grayest man.
Speaker 1:Sumatra, the orange pendek. He's only a few feet tall.
Speaker 2:The orange.
Speaker 1:I love him. The Map and Gwari is one of the most debated ones of the Bigfoot cousins, if you will. Oh, why so? Comes from the jungles of South America. I don't know why he's debated. Oh, because some researchers have gone through all the folklore about it and said, and they're saying that this is an odd but plausible. This is why it's kind of could be true. Some are saying it's a giant sloth because it has mega fun, massive claws it has. It's stinky. Some people say it has a mouth on its stomach. Instead, researchers looking through the lore are saying they actually think it's a giant sloth.
Speaker 2:That's cool. It's so down for giant sloths still existing.
Speaker 1:Think of those giant claws, though Terrifying, In the Forest of China the Yeren.
Speaker 2:Yes, I have more information on the Yeren, so it is mentioned several times in ancient Chinese writings. The Yeren means wild man and are described, as you guessed it hairy, humanoid beings. Do they stink? I don't think it said it did not mention anything. I think it did mention something about whistling. Now I think of it. They are said to have reddish fur, long, swaying arms and are said to eat chickens and dogs.
Speaker 1:So that's concerning yeah, you know what it's from. It's from the same area that there was the reported Gigantopithecus, which is that ancient giant ape you might read about sometimes and that people think are now distinct, but they think it's some extinct. What did I say?
Speaker 2:Distinct, yes, extinct, they're very distinct.
Speaker 1:Well, they might be distinct too. I don't know. Some people think that it might be like the relative of the Gigantopithecus that is on extinct.
Speaker 2:I mean it's possible. It's said that the stories of urine have been traced for back to over 2,000 years ago, so we have some wiggle room for the origin of this. Let's see People say that the urine, like you mentioned, could be an unidentified species or a misidentified one. Yeah, but here's my favorite theory that I heard. This theory proposes that the urine are actually. The descriptions of the urine were actually ancient encounters with Europeans that just had a lot of body hair.
Speaker 1:Okay, Well, that's not too far from what I was saying earlier, where I was. Like you know, I think some people are just hairy. Some people are Well to support this theory, and they're shoveled and stinky.
Speaker 2:To support this theory. When an anthropologist, someone who studies human cultures, named Frank E Poiller, visited China to investigate the urine, many kids ran away screaming from him, saying that he was a urine. Oh, because he was hairy, he was tall. He was tall and hairy and had a big beard.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:And I love this theory. Yeah, I just thought that idea that's like yeah, it's a bunch of hairy dudes. That's the ancient dog and chicken eating monster.
Speaker 1:Yes, do you want to do some fun facts? Yeah, let's talk about some fun facts. Did you know that Bigfoot has been reportedly spotted in every state in the continental United States?
Speaker 2:Except Hawaii.
Speaker 1:Well, that's not the continental. Oh, I said continental.
Speaker 2:I didn't hear that part.
Speaker 1:Once upon a time there was a TV show. You wouldn't know this because I don't think it's on anymore. There's a TV show game show called Truth or Consequences. Oh, they offered a thousand dollars to anyone who could prove the existence of Bigfoot. Seriously, guess what it's. You're going to be shocked. No one has won that money. What that's crazy. In the 80s there was like a push to show this goes along with, like the mainstream Bigfoot. Yeah, they wanted to like show a softer side of Bigfoot.
Speaker 2:Excuse me, Okay, hold up. How, how or why. He's fluffy in general why, why, how.
Speaker 1:How he became associated with like environmentalism, yes, and he became like the symbol of wilderness and like forests and why we need to preserve them. I mean, I don't know that. Let's preserve our forests to save. Bigfoot is big on my list. I mean, I'm preserving forests, yeah, but they had a movie and this came out when I was younger called Harry and the Henderson's.
Speaker 2:Wait, oh, I forgot, I've seen. Oh, my goodness, I forgot about that.
Speaker 1:And they portrayed Bigfoot as this big, friendly, misunderstood creature. Yeah, and he needed the protection of this family, so I think he moved in with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did, he did. They tried to integrate him into society Then, since then he's become a superstar, like he's everywhere.
Speaker 1:Think about how many times we, when we're traveling, we see Bigfoot on stickers for that area.
Speaker 2:Yes, I actually have a Bigfoot sticker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you see him in books, movies, TV shows, cartoons, stickers, t-shirts. That's underwear.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of the size of underwear. I fully support this.
Speaker 1:It's kind of become like a friendly giant into children's folklore almost now. So whereas it used to be like once again.
Speaker 2:Look at so many versions, Right? So the word saskets means wild man or hairy man, which you know makes sense, Right? But the word Yeti? You know what that means? Underwear, no, stop going underwear. The word Yeti means that thing over there, yes.
Speaker 1:Everything from now on, when I can't remember its name, I'm going to point and just say Yeti, you know the Yeti, the Yeti, and you're going to know. I mean pencil or underwear.
Speaker 2:Yes, how great is that? Yes, and then another interesting Yeti fact is the phrase, the other word, that people call it the abominable snowman. That's kind of weird, right, I mean, snowman makes sense. It's a quote, unquote man that lives in the snow.
Speaker 1:Whenever I hear abominable snowman, I think Rudolph, I think of the, the Did they call him the abominable A bumble? That he was a bumble, yeah, abominable snowman, and they called him bumble, I think of the Yeti from Monsters Inc.
Speaker 2:Do you remember him? It was the part where they got trapped in like the little kids bedroom. No, it was the first one. It's the part where they got trapped in the deserted like winterland when, like no, I got stuck trapped in there. I don't know what you're talking about. And there was the Yeti who was like I got snow cones and, for a change, don't eat the eye ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for a change, I did see that movie.
Speaker 2:She actually did for everyone. She did Everyone stopped. She saw a popular piece of media and animated movie.
Speaker 1:Well, let's be honest, if it has a lot of singing, I'm out. Yeah. If it's not smart and written smart, like written in a smart way, I'm out. Yeah. I've watched Cloudy with a chance of meatball eight million times because I think it's genius writing it is. I've watched Despicable Me.
Speaker 2:Hotel Transylvania. Hotel Transylvania and. Monsters University.
Speaker 1:Yes, because I think those are all really well written pieces of animation. They really are Not. This has anything to do with it.
Speaker 2:And Zootopia. Oh yes, zootopia is so good. Yes, this is a really big side track.
Speaker 1:I think that you just named all of the animated movies I've ever seen.
Speaker 2:Exactly Anyway. So the term Abominable Snowman may have originated from a misunderstanding. So when a group of British explorers returned and they were describing so this was in 1921, these explorers returned and started kind of explaining their journey to a journalist named Henry Newman and they told them that they had seen these giant footprints on their travels Right. And the explorers said that their guides had said the prints were caused by the Meadow Kongmi, meaning man Bear, snowman.
Speaker 1:However, Henry. So how did it get to that man Bear Snowman to Yeti.
Speaker 2:Well, henry mistranslated Meadow to mean Filthy, so he called the creature Abominable to make it more interesting for his writing. Right, abominable means very unpleasant Right. He called it Abominable Snowman in his writings.
Speaker 1:See, I think this is how a lot of things happen though. Mistranslations we talk about this a lot. Yes, like in historical documents how we think. Sometimes it was like a mistranslation or juxtaposition of words or whatever, and it completely changed everything. Huh, Okay.
Speaker 2:That was interesting. Is it time to talk about our two truths and a lie? Oh yeah, let's do that.
Speaker 1:Okay, here we go, I'll say them and you say if it's false or true, okay, okay, ready. Yes, there is a science subculture called Sasquatchology. That is the lie. We think we think we just made up that word, we made it up.
Speaker 2:If we're wrong, you could prove us wrong.
Speaker 1:Right, but let us know a social media that we are talking about today is Cryptozoology. Call me out on social media. Everyone else does. Oh no, so yes. Number two Cryptozoology is the real word. Yes, there is a. Some scientists call it as pseudoscience, A pseud.
Speaker 2:What's a pseudoscience mean? Well, pseud was false, okay, so it's a false science. So, but some people it's like the Webster's Dictionary, whatever Dictionary.
Speaker 1:So, like science, no, as far as we know, sasquatchology, by the way, is really hard to say. Yeah, try it right now.
Speaker 2:Sasquatchology, sasquatchology, sasquatchology, sasquatchology, sasquatchology.
Speaker 1:Sasquatchology. It does not exist. It is Cryptozoology. Number two, woodberger is another name for Bigfoot.
Speaker 2:It is, and I love him for it. Yep, that is true, but he will take children, so watch out.
Speaker 1:We think, we think, or it could just be a black bear like us.
Speaker 2:Like we saw, that takes children.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, the kangaroo was considered a cryptid at one time. It was, which is weird, yeah, I mean, considering we've always known kangaroos.
Speaker 2:That's terrible. Like I can get the platypus.
Speaker 1:Platypus makes sense, so do you remember that time I thought that jackalopes were real. I forgot about that, yeah. Like I legit a college. Educated grown adult woman thought jackalopes were real.
Speaker 2:But you didn't think pond skippers were. No, the water bugs that you see, like that kind of look like spiders that just like boing, boing, boing across the water. She thought they were fake. She grew up going to the rural farms, creeks and creeks and all summer, every day. And her six year old had to prove to her that pond skippers were real and jackalopes were fake. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:And just to Thank you for ending on that confidence boosting. You're welcome.
Speaker 2:Make clear jackalopes which aren't being a cryptid. I would say they are. Yeah, are rabbits with antlers? How?
Speaker 1:can they not be real? I love them, I want them. Join us next week and Ella will prove me wrong in something else.
Speaker 2:As always. Okay, have a great day, guys. Bye.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks for listening. If you like what we're doing here, we'd love your five star review to help us reach more families and also to let Ella know that her homeschool research isn't going to waste.
Speaker 2:Seriously, it takes forever. But hey, if you want to check out more of our stuff, we're going to have a new episode every Tuesday and if you want to see some of the older episodes, they'll always be there. You'll just have to scroll down a little bit.
Speaker 1:Also, you might not know this, but we have a free buster deduction sheet over on our website, parent busters dot com, and actually it's an entire downloadable fun pack and it's all free and you can download it and the on the buster deduction sheet you can follow along with every episode, write down your facts and there's a place to do to truce and a lie on it. And we also have a companion learning post called learning after listening, for every single podcast episode we do. You can continue learning over on parent busters dot com.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just head over there and check it out. Okay, bye Thanks.