My childhood memories of ape man sightings in the forests of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas shaped my mental picture of a creature that looked more like an ape than a human, yet walked on two legs rather than four.
My knowledge of the Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest was a little vague, but I’m not sure I ever connected the two.
The ape men that lived in the black jack oak forests were naturally smaller and weaker. Furthermore, these legends represented an animal that was crueller and more likely to kill for food. However, the ‘gentle giant’ of the Northwest was more like a Haight-Ashbury type who scoured the countryside for flora.
A mountain gorilla and a chimpanzee share many characteristics.
The Bigfoot frenzy grew in popularity as reports from the west began to spread, and I noticed a tiny overlap. More and more localised tales began to include generally available pieces from books, movies, and news reports. I began to wonder whether local sightings were influenced by past accounts or the expectation of what a witness may see rather than by pure observation.
I’m now pondering whether or not to write about this.
One of these creatures was seen by a friend of mine in Missouri. It wasn’t portrayed as a massive, well-built monster by him. It didn’t stand much more than five and a half feet. It wasn’t heavy or bulky at all.
An earlier sighting was reported in Alabama’s Mobile County, according to the BFRO website. As soon as they saw what they thought was a large creature, the witness quickly explained that it was nothing like what they had read about in the literature. These witnesses reported seeing a slimmer, shorter creature.
If the Greater and Lesser Sasquatch really exist in North America, I’d want to know more about them. How many different species are involved here? There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that it helps explain regional disparities in reporting. All of this is, of course, speculative unless it is based on actual, independently verified observations.