Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
The age of internet hoaxes and deep fakes may have left a lot of people skeptical about what they see and hear online. But there's one legend that's got a cult following: Bigfoot.
Whether you refer to the large, hairy mythical humanoid as bigfoot or Sasquatch, it could have a foothold in Utah. Several sightings of the man-beast have been reported in the Beehive State in recent years — including some with supporting videos.
The Ogden-based Rocky Mountain Sasquatch Organization, a Facebook page with 247,000 followers, is a home base for Utahns to share their sightings of the hairy creature.
Take a look at this recent video
A recent post on their page allegedly shows Bigfoot running up one of the snow-covered Wasatch Mountain peaks. Helicopter footage also captured Sasquatch-like footprints leading up to the point where the sighting occurred.
The footprints are supposedly consistent with other Bigfoot sightings in that they appear in a straight line, which indicates that the creature was moving quickly.
"Perhaps one or both of these pieces of video evidence is just a coincidence, or one or both is actual evidence of this rare, elusive giant," the video's narrator says.
And there's more where that came from
Luckily, there's more than one video for Bigfoot-spying hopefuls to scrutinize. This YouTube search is a goldmine of potential evidence that Sasquatch is roaming around the Utah mountains and elsewhere.
Among the many examples is a three-part video from YouTube user johnnny11.
"I took my kids and their friends hiking and sledding high up in the Utah mountains," johnnny11 writes in the video description. "A few weeks later as I was watching the video clips I spotted three different clips with unexplained creatures that appeared to be a family of bigfoots."
In the first video, you can see something walking into the trees. The second clip shows a second alleged bigfoot that appears to watch the family before disappearing. Finally, the third clip looks as if a bigfoot is struggling to run away at the top of the hill.
As with most reported Bigfoot sightings, the evidence is just blurry or distant enough to make you question its authenticity — but it's strange enough to make you look twice.
This wasn't the first alleged sighting of Bigfoot in Utah
Flash back to 2012 and you may remember this KSL article about a viral video from Provo Canyon that purported to capture Bigfoot near Squaw Peak. At the time, the video had more than five million views and received national attention.
A group of friends was camping near Little Rock Canyon Overlook when they noticed some deer on the hillside and went to get a closer look. At first, they thought they saw what looked like a black bear. But when the animal stood up on two legs and looked at them, the friends ran off in a panic.
Grant Olsen, who wrote the story, sent the video to Bigfoot experts around the country to get their opinion on whether it was real or fake. Some believed it could be the real Bigfoot, but they couldn't say for sure.
"The only thing that can be determined for sure from that video is that it most definitely isn't a bear," K. Steven Monk, director of the Georgia Bigfoot Society told Olsen. "This is evidenced when the creature stands up and reveals the very long, primate-like arms."
Monk did say that he wished the cameraman would have kept filming, though, as there wasn't time to determine much else.
Others were quick to say it was a hoax.
Rhettman A. Mullis, Jr., a Bigfootology expert in the Pacific Northwest explains to Olsen, "There is no way to have a height and size reference based on what is present in the video. There is not enough information nor any frame of reference for pertinent analysis."
Ron Losey, who's been featured on Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot" series added, "It's what we Bigfooters call a 'blobsquatch.' When videos like this one come up I am cautiously optimistic, but after watching it several times it doesn't look real promising."
There's even more where that came from
If you want to track nearly every Bigfoot sighting in the Beehive State, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has mapped out every reported sighting on Google My Maps. You'll see that people have supposedly tracked Sasquatch from as far north as Bear Lake to as far south as St. George.
Each pin on the map also offers a description of the incident. For example, click on the sighting at Huntsville Cemetery and it reads, "A few people near the cemetery observed a hairy animal scamper off at first on two legs and then on all fours."
Not all of these encounters include an actual Bigfoot sighting. Some just report strange noises. And not all of them are recent. One says, "Some teenagers hiking in the mountains near North Salt Lake spot a bigfoot below them. They can even smell it and watch it go out of sight, 1975."
In total, there are about 80 sightings listed on this particular map — and there are surely more to come.
Bigfoot or big hoax? You decide
The existence of Sasquatch and whether or not he lives in Utah may never be definitively proven — but no one can definitively disprove it either. That leaves plenty of room for personal opinion, which means you ultimately get to decide what to believe.
But if you happen to be wandering through the woods anytime soon, you might want to have your camera ready.
7 unusual and interesting man-made photo ops in southern Utah
In addition to its natural beauty, Utah offers an abundance of man-made art installations that make for some unique photo ops. Should you find yourself in southern Utah, here are seven unique spectacles you might want to check out. If you're a fan of soda, license plates, junk art and random fixtures this list will not disappoint.Siegfried & Jensen
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