Bigfoot Friend or Enemy of Humans?

Bigfoot Friend or Foe?

When you think of Bigfoot do you think of the gentle friendly creature portrayed in the film Harry and the Hendersons or something from a horror film?

There are many reports of Bigfoot showing violence but only one story talks of Bigfoot killing a human.

President Teddy Roosevelt wrote a book  "The Wilderness Hunter" (1890) in which he described this death encounter:

Two trappers  were followed by a Bigfoot creature in a remote region  possibly Wyoming. One  of the trappers fired his rifle at the creature but missed and it continued to follow them . Their new camp was found ransacked when the trappers were away from it checking beaver traps. After it happened for a second time  the trappers decided to leave and move on.They split up to collect their traps and were away for a few hours. When one of them finally got back to camp he found the body of his fellow trapper. The head  showed teeth or claw marks and the neck was broken.

In modern times there are tales of Bigfoot throwing rocks ,sticks and pine cones .

ON  25 OCTOBER 2013 :

Extract:

“But unlike previous sightings, Harry Cruikshank’s bigfoot actually may have tried to convey a message to him and his friends.The message was, “stay away!”The group of four men and one woman say they saw the creature Oct. 19. The weather was nice and everyone was hungry for country food so they decided to go seal hunting.The group traveled by motorized canoe to an area 45 minutes south of Akulivik on Nunavik’s Hudson Bay coast. After a short coffee break they continued to a remote bay known to be a good spot for seal.“We all saw the unexpected something on a small hill, it was dark and we started staring at it,” Cruikshank said. “We knew there was nobody up there because there were no other canoes and you can only reach that hunting area by canoe.”The group decided to go after the creature. They approached the area and climbed the small hill, but they found nothing. Then they spotted a caribou trail.“We heard a strange noise up in the land,” said Cruiskshank, “like the sound of something throwing rocks.”“Maybe the creature was trying to communicate with us,” added Cruikshank. “But I don’t know how to talk to the bigfoot.”

Source : https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674nunavik_hunters_run_into_rock-throwing_bigfoot_creature/

The most famous rock throwing story is set in the summer of 1924, a group of gold prospectors stumbled out of the woods,looking like they had seen a ghost. They said giant apes had attacked them.

Fred Beck, Gabe Lefever, John Peterson, Marion Smith and Smith’s son Roy described coming upon “gorilla men” near where they had built a small cabin for their gold-hunting forays.

They were about eight miles from Spirit Lake when they encountered four giant creatures walking like men.The newspaper report described them as  covered with long, black hair with  ears  about four inches long. They have four toes,not five like humans, and weighed about 400 pounds each.

Fred Beck fired his rifle at one of the creatures and the wounded animal fell..

That night they were awakened by the noise of huge stones hitting the cabin. Then giant bodies slammed against the walls and door. Eventually the creatures tore a hole in the roof and carried on tossing rocks.

So was it revenge or just territorial behaviour? Since the 1960s, researchers have recorded such behaviours from chimpanzees who throw rocks in displays of dominance.I would argue it was simple animal behaviour protecting their territory. There are occasional stories of campers saying a Bigfoot type creature urinated up their tents and wrecked their campsite. If true again it is simply territorial behaviour as can be seen in many animals who mark territory with their scent .If Bigfoot are indeed giant apes then it is normal behaviour for them. They may not be the cuddly creature in the film but are simply doing what their instinct tells them, marking and protecting their territory. Violence against humans isn’t  intended but would be the same with any creature that  they felt threatened their home.They may well do the same to bears or wild cats but we would not know about it.