JEFFERSON, Texas - Next to a lifelike replica of a giant ape head, the believers milled around tables Saturday covered with casts of large footprints, books about nature's mysteries and T-shirts proclaiming "Bigfoot: Often Imitated, Never Invalidated."
While they can have a sense of humor about it, the search for the legendary Sasquatch is no joke for many of the nearly 400 people who came here to discuss the latest sightings and tracking techniques at the Texas Bigfoot Conference.
"It's not a matter of believing, like faith, when you believe in something you can't see," said Daryl G. Colyer, a Lorena businessman who has investigated hundreds of reported Bigfoot sightings in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
"It's a flesh-and-blood animal that just has not been discovered yet. And I think we're getting closer and closer and closer," Colyer said.
You've got to love Bigfoot! Here's a giant ape or man, whose sightings and legends go back to the Indian stories circulating in Washington and Canada. Even his name Sasquatch comes from the Indians in the Pacific Northwest. While anthropologists and the true believers can argue whether Bigfoot exists or not, he has been ingrated into American culture. He's a blue pick-up truck with monster tractor tires that can roll right over cars parked in a traffic jam. You can order a Bigfoot pizza and then sit back and watch your favorite movie and television star perform in such classic hits as Harry and the Hendersons, or even the Six Million Dollar Man! You can even download all the internet content you ever dreamed of onto your Bigfoot hard drive--try Googling "Bigfoot." You'll end up with 4 million hits on the big guy. And just when you thought he disappeared, he's come back for a convention in a state known for its love of everything big. And while anthropologist may theorize that Bigfoot could be a "towering, ape-like creature descended from a prehistoric 9- to 10-foot-tall gorilla called a Gigantopithecus, and that it now inhabits North American forests," it is not the same. America loves big. Bigfoot is just another example of our quirky, cultural Americana.
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