All language subtitles for HistorysGreatest.Mysteries.S04E15.The.Legend.of.Bigfoot.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-WhiteHat_track3_[eng]

Tonight, the most elusive beast
in North America.

Bigfoot might be the most widely
spotted cryptid in history.

LYNNE MCNEILL: This is not
something that's limited

to just one region,
or even just one continent.

This is something that is
reported all over the world.

Despite thousands of sightings,
this mysterious animal

remains unidentified.

FORREST BURGESS: Top scientists
are at a loss.

They can't find any match
to any known species.

Now, we explore the top theories

surrounding
this cryptic creature.

RYAN GOLEMBESKE:
How did these two cowboys

pull off the greatest thing
in creature feature history?

CHRISTOPHER BADER:
It is possible

that some of these
could be wild humans.

LYNNE: There was a creature that
was thought to have gone extinct

that did match this description.

LAURENCE: Does Bigfoot exist?

And if so, what is it,
and where is it?

[music]

September 1958,
Humboldt County, California,

lumber worker Jerry Crew
is operating a bulldozer

when he spots something strange
in the woods.

Maybe 20 feet away from where

he's working, he sees these

large human-like footprints
pressed deep into the mud.

And he mentions it
to his supervisor,

a man named
Wilbur Shorty Wallace.

LAURENCE: Upon closer
examination,

the prints
are 16 inches across,

much too big to be human.

It's unlike anything
he's ever seen before.

Could it be an animal print?
Sure.

But if it is,
it's strangely human,

but much larger.

LAURENCE: Initially,
Jerry suspects a coworker

is playing a prank on him.

RYAN: Let's be real,
you're working in a remote area

with a bunch of guys,
it's a brotherhood.

We play pranks on each other,
it's just what we do.

Shorty Wallace's brother
Ray Wallace

is a complete prankster.

So, when Jerry
sees these prints,

he's assuming that the guys
are pulling his leg.

LAURENCE: But soon,
other strange accounts surface.

LYNNE: At a job site
the year before,

a 450-pound fuel drum

went missing.

It was found nearby in a gully,

but it had these giant
human-like footprints nearby.

This is not something that
an average-sized human being

could move on their own at all.

People also see
a 700-pound tire

is magically moved
over to a ditch.

And what is around it?
Tracks.

LAURENCE: Given the size
of the footprints,

the loggers come up with
a nickname for the creature--

Bigfoot.

FORREST: There are lots of
logging operations in the area,

and workers on other sites
catch wind of this Bigfoot.

For many of them,
this strikes a chord.

LYNNE: A number of them
who have been working

out in these woods
have reported the sensation

of feeling like
they've been watched,

that there is some
sort of intelligence

that is observing them
as they work.

LAURENCE: It's not long
before these accounts

attract local media attention.

FORREST: The story of Bigfoot
makes its way

to the Humboldt Times newspaper
in the form of a letter

that lands on the desk
of writer Andrew Genzoli.

Like Jerry Crew,
Genzoli assumes at first

that the letter is from
some crackpot.

But on September 21st, 1958,
he has a column to finish,

so he mentions it
towards the end

just as a bit of a joke,
like, "Hey, guess what,

"Humboldt County has its very
own abominable snowman.

They call it Bigfoot."

Once people see this story,
it catches on like wildfire.

People are intrigued by this.

It ties in with
their own experiences.

They've heard rumors that fall
right into line

with what's being reported.

It only makes sense
at this point

that Genzoli
is going to follow up.

So, he sets out to follow up
with Crew

to talk to the other lumberjacks

to find out
what's going on here.

What Genzoli ultimately
found out

when he did some more research

is that the idea of Bigfoot
itself,

of a large creature
with large footprints,

was not new, and in fact,
was part of the folklore

of Native American tribes
for some time.

There are reports
of unusual footprints

and sightings here dating back
throughout the 1800s.

RYAN: In 1850,
a prospector was mining

on the side of Mount Shasta,

and he had what could be said
as one of the first interactions

with Bigfoot, when a large
hairy hominid

came out of the woods
and smashed his sluice,

and then went back in the woods,
as if to say,

"Get the hell
off my mountain."

Because of all of the stories
coming in,

all of the engagement
from readership,

the Humboldt Times ends up
publishing an entire series

of stories about this creature
called Bigfoot.

This causes a huge stir,
and this story goes national.

LAURENCE: Within weeks,
the name "Bigfoot"

is known across America.

RYAN: With all this attention,

there is a mad rush
to investigate.

And so, the L.A. Times,
the New York Times,

they all show up because
they want a piece of Bigfoot.

The whole country
is buzzing about this.

We see an immediate divide
between believers

and non-believers,
and skeptics and die-hards.

Everyone has an opinion.

A popular TV show
offers a $1,000 prize

to anyone who will come forward

and admit to perpetrating
this hoax.

And no one steps up
to claim the money.

LAURENCE: In fact,
new evidence emerges.

RYAN: So, on October 17th, 1958,

a gentleman named George Smith

is driving through
Humboldt County,

and he has to slam on his brakes
as this large hairy beast

crosses the road
in front of him.

JEFF MELDRUM:
He described it as being

at least eight feet in height.

It stood upright
and walked,

and it appeared shaggy

like it was wearing
a bearskin coat.

FORREST:
Could this be the same beast

that's been leaving behind
all these footprints?

Or is Smith
just making this story up

to get his 15 minutes of fame?

Despite the fact that we don't
end up with any proof

either way,
Bigfoot becomes engrained

in our nation's
collective psyche.

People are actually
making trips,

making pilgrimages--
what folklorists

would call legend trips
to Humboldt County

to look for Bigfoot themselves.

For years, unsubstantiated
reports of sightings

continue pretty regularly.

More oversized Bigfoot tracks
are found,

some trails stretching on
for several miles.

LYNNE: This is not something
that's limited

to just one region
or even just one continent.

This is something
that is reported

in firsthand
and secondhand accounts

all over the world.

But as time goes on,
the mystery begins to take on

a slightly different tone.

LAURENCE:
Tales of Bigfoot encounters

grow more outlandish
and increasingly suspicious.

CHRISTOPHER: People started
to claim everything

from Bigfoot kidnapped them,

to they've seen Bigfoot
reading a newspaper

on a flying saucer.

They saw Bigfoot at 7-Eleven.

FORREST: The vast majority
of these later Bigfoot stories

are clearly made up.

Bigfoot almost becomes a joke.

People do not take this
seriously.

This is not treated
as a scientific finding.

It's something that's
largely considered to be untrue.

It's a shame, really,
because there are people

who really saw something,
and they really want answers.

There are proven
scientific methods

that could possibly find
those answers.

Once everybody thinks
Bigfoot is made up though,

they stop taking
the search seriously.

Still, it's worth pointing out,
as silly as things get,

that original Humboldt Times
story from 1958

is never officially debunked.

LAURENCE: That is, until 2002.

In November of 2002,

Jerry Crew's coworker
Ray Wallace passed away.

Soon after his death,
Wallace's children come forward

to reveal their father
orchestrated the whole thing

back in the 1950s
and kept quiet about it

all these years.

LAURENCE: On his deathbed,
Wallace has told his children

the whole story.

Ray Wallace comes up
with the idea,

and he enlists the help of
his brother Shorty, obviously.

And then they also get
their nephew

Mack McKinley
in on it as well.

CHRISTOPHER: He and his brother
and his nephew

would strap
essentially wooden flip flops

onto their feet
and walk around,

creating these large footprints.

Wallace's kids even have
a pair of the shoes

their dad used
to make the famous footprints.

CHRISTOPHER:
Wallace was a prankster,

and according to his children,
his original goal

was simply to scare
his friend Jerry.

FORREST: But when the story
blows up,

rather than enjoying
his "gotcha" moment,

he decides to double down

and keep the ruse
going for decades.

LAURENCE: Wallace's efforts
aren't limited

to fake footprints.

On his property, Ray Wallace
keeps a number of bison,

and he uses their fur
and their droppings

to custom craft
hair and stool samples

that he leaves in the woods
for Bigfoot hunters to find.

Based on Wallace's
hoax confirmation,

for a lot of people, that's it.

It should be case closed,
we figured it out,

this guy made something up.

LAURENCE: But what about
the other sightings?

It is impossible for Ray,
and Shorty, and Mack

to be responsible
for all Bigfoot sightings,

experiences, interactions
in the entire world.

And Wallace never dressed up
as an eight-foot-tall creature

and walked around at night.

What does that say for people
who actually spotted an animal,

and not just footprints or hair?

And what about the many
sightings

that take place before
Wallace is ever born?

Has there been a century-long
series of hoaxers,

or are people really
seeing something out there?

CHRISTOPHER: While Wallace
clearly played an important role

in the gestation
of the Bigfoot myth,

he is certainly not
the cause of it

or the entire
explanation for it.

RYAN: There have been over
5,000 documented sightings.

There's no way one guy

could be responsible
for all of that.

FORREST: I believe Ray Wallace
accidentally shined a light

onto a legend
of a very real creature.

The irony is that
Ray Wallace's fake footprints

may ultimately lead us
to the truth.

LAURENCE: 1967, Bluff Creek,
California,

11 years after news
spreads nationwide

of a creature called Bigfoot,

two outdoorsmen head off
to hunt the beast

along the Klamath River.

FORREST: In the summer of 1967,

Roger Patterson,
who's become fascinated

with the legend of Bigfoot,
is filming

a sort of pseudo-documentary

on the subject, when he bumps

into his old friend Bob Gimlin

at a gas station.

He tells Gimlin
about his film,

and that he's heading
to check out

some unidentified footprints

found in
the Northern California area.

Gimlin agrees
to go with him.

LYNNE: So, Patterson and Gimlin

are about halfway
through their journey

when they're approaching
a river,

and something spooks

Patterson's horse.

He ends up falling off
the horse,

but when he sees what it was
that his horse saw,

he pulls out his camera
and begins filming.

The filmed encounter
lasts 59 1/2 seconds.

To Patterson and Gimlin,
it feels like an hour.

Something emerges
from the brush--

an enormous animal
Patterson and Gimlin

have never seen before.

They think it might be Bigfoot.

CHRISTOPHER: Once they surprise
the creature, it starts walking

quickly away from them,

and they manage to follow it
for quite some time

before they lost sight of it
in the woods.

Patterson and Gimlin then
hurry back to their campsite

to grab some plaster.

They know they're going to need
as much proof as possible,

so they take casts of the prints
left behind by the beast.

LAURENCE: That night,
the 16-millimeter film

is developed.

LYNNE: What the film shows us

is a massive bipedal creature.

It's maybe six and a half,
seven feet tall.

It's covered head to toe

in this sort of
silvery brown fur

that reflects the sunlight,
and it's walking

with this loping sort of gait
through the landscape.

FORREST: Compared to previous
descriptions,

it's slightly smaller,
with wider hips

and a rounder silhouette.

It also appears
to have mammary glands.

Gimlin and Patterson theorize

that they're looking
at a female Bigfoot.

They nickname her Patty,
after Roger Patterson.

LAURENCE: Though the pair
are convinced by what they saw,

many dismiss the film
as a hoax.

RYAN: The Patterson-Gimlin
footage has been scrutinized

since it came out.

Everyone's had a chance
to look at it,

try to break it down,
try to explain

why it would be fake or not,
and to this day, you know,

you have people on both sides,

real or fake, but nobody

can disprove it. Nobody.

FORREST: 1967 is the same year

that the movie
"Planet of the Apes"

is released.

This is the height of big-budget

Hollywood special effects
back then.

If anything,
the Patterson-Gimlin footage

looks more realistic

than the ape suits
we see in that movie.

RYAN: You're talking about,
you know,

two guys
in the backwoods of Humboldt.

They didn't have deep pockets
to build something like this.

So, how did these two cowboys

pull off the greatest thing
in creature feature history?

And the thing is,
is they didn't.

FORREST: There are no
visible seams,

no zippers, no buttons.

It's not baggy.

You can actually see
the creature's musculature

moving under its skin.

Even special effects experts
can't explain that.

LAURENCE: But if this film
of Bigfoot is real,

what type of creature
might it be?

There have been several attempts
to classify the animal

seen in Patterson
and Gimlin's film.

It's analyzed by Stanford
scientists Jessica Rose

and James Gamble in 1994,

and they're experts
in physiology and movement.

They analyze
the creature's gait,

and can't find any match
to known species.

LYNNE: They concluded
that this is not a gait

or a movement
that could be replicated

by a person in a costume.

The relationship of bones,
to musculature,

to skin and hair,
is a unique thing

for different animals, and it
really wouldn't be possible

for a human being to fake
this type of difference

in gait and movement.

RYAN: In 1999,
a pair of professors

from the University of Florida's
anthropology department

also analyzed the film.

And in 2009, the film
is broken down

frame by frame
by an anthropologist

from the New York
Museum of Natural History.

FORREST: As for what type
of animal this is,

they have no idea.

These top scientists
are at a loss.

It's possible
that Patterson and Gimlin

have discovered
an entirely new species.

CHRISTOPHER: There are many
examples of creatures

that at first seemed mythical,

or their description
seemed hard to believe,

such as the Komodo dragon,

a giant lizard
that would eat sheep whole.

The narwhal, a whale
with a horn on its head

like a unicorn.

LYNNE: The pelican--
an incredibly common bird

in contemporary life,
was at one time

thought to be
a mythological creature

back in the Middle Ages.

How about this?
The giant squid.

For millennia, since at least
the days of Aristotle

in the fourth century B.C.,
sailors would swear up and down

that they saw these massive
20-foot-long-plus squid

while out at sea.

There are thousands
of depictions and stories

of people who claim
to have seen the giant squid,

and yet still, it was considered
a mythological creature.

It's another in a long line
of fanciful tales

of make-believe sea monsters
like the Kraken.

Squids just don't get that big.
There's no evidence.

LAURENCE: Until one day,
there is.

FORREST:
Throughout the 19th century,

small pieces and remains
of giant squid

would periodically wash up
on the world's beaches.

And these would convince
some scientists

of the giant squid's existence,
but others kept on denying it.

They'd say that until
we find a living one,

it's simply not proven.

It wasn't until
a fishing trawler caught one

in 2004 that we realize
that squids

of this size actually exist.

FORREST: They catch a nearly
30-foot-long giant squid

that's later named Archie.

It's been preserved by London's
Natural History Museum,

and can still be viewed today--
proof positive of a giant squid.

So, hopefully one day Bigfoot
can join the giant squid

as a proven animal,
but it could be tough.

RYAN: A lot of people
like to believe

that all of life
has been discovered,

when it's quite the opposite.

Over 80% of life on this planet
is undiscovered.

So, absolutely,
a Bigfoot species

could be out there.

LAURENCE: Ever since
large mysterious footprints

were first reported in Oregon
in the 1950s,

there has been no shortage
of Bigfoot sightings.

Institutions like the Bigfoot

Field Researchers Organization

have been cataloging accounts

since the 1990s.

Even today,
they're reporting sightings

at a rate of four or more
per month

across the U.S. and Canada.

LAURENCE: But in 2007,
one in particular

makes headlines.

RYAN: In the Allegheny National
Forest in Pennsylvania,

there is a new piece

of information that comes out

that's very intriguing.

FORREST: We get what could be
the most compelling set

of Bigfoot images
we've seen in 40 years.

CHRISTOPHER: One evening
at about 10:02 p.m.

a motion-activated trail camera

captured several bear cubs

foraging for food.

RYAN: After that,
you have another picture

that really, like,
catch your attention.

Something else
comes into frame

and is actually standing--

I like to call it
downward-facing dog position.

And the way that
it is smelling the ground

is exactly how primates do it.

And this comes to be known
as the Jacobs Bigfoot,

after the camera's owner
who set it up in the woods

to help him track deer.

It seems that the situation
provides a pretty stark contrast

between what are clearly bears
and what is clearly not.

It's fairly obvious when
you compare the first photo

of the Jacobs Bigfoot
with one of the bear cubs

taken in the same spot.

They're in the same pose,
but their anatomy

is completely different.

LAURENCE: The following week,

the state of Pennsylvania's
Game Commission

offers an explanation.

Sorry for all the Bigfooters
out there, believers,

but the Game Commission come out
to check out the area,

and their response is that
it is simply a bear with mange.

Scientists love to cite
Occam's Razor--

the concept that
the simplest solution

to a problem is often
the best and most likely.

If you're in Texas
and you hear hoofbeats,

you should probably think horses
and not zebras,

because horses
are the more common animal.

Well, bears are super common.

LYNNE: Let's consider
Ursus Americanus--

the American black bear.

What we know about this bear

lines up really well with
the reported characteristics

of Bigfoot-- its size,
its shape, its coloring.

It seems like a very likely
explanation

for the Bigfoot legend.

CHRISTOPHER: When they stand
on their hind legs,

black bears can reach up to
six or seven feet in height,

which is similar in height to
many reported Bigfoot sightings.

LYNNE: Seen from far away,
from the right angle,

at the right moment,
when it's standing up,

when it's moving bipedally,

it would be easy to mistake
a black bear for Bigfoot.

LAURENCE: The vast range
of black bears

could also support this.

FORREST: Black bears live
in the Pacific Northwest,

the Northern Midwest,
and the Rocky Mountain region,

Alaska, and the northeast
from Maine

all the way down to Georgia.

All of these places
have had Bigfoot sightings.

LYNNE: If we add in
other species of bears

besides Ursus Americanus,
we have the potential

for Bigfoot or bear sightings
all over the United States.

LAURENCE: In 2014,
Oxford University

genetics professor Bryan Sykes
further tests this theory.

What Dr. Sykes did
which was unique,

was instead of simply looking
at sightings reports,

or photos, or tapes of Bigfoot,
of vocalizations,

Sykes actually
as a genetics professor

wanted to look at DNA samples,

and he requested
Bigfoot investigators

from all across the world
to send him their best examples

of Bigfoot DNA.

FORREST: Sykes collects
30 samples

of purported Bigfoot hair,

sent in from a wide variety
of sources,

from hardcore cryptozoologists,
to amateur Bigfoot hunters,

to roadside oddity museums.

And what he finds
is really telling.

Almost all of them
come from known animals.

They come from bears,
they come from horses,

some of them even come
from humans.

But there's one sample
that isn't accounted for.

FORREST: Remember the theory
that Bigfoot

is an unknown species?

Well, incredibly,
Sykes' DNA analysis

of one sample actually does
reveal the existence

of a previously unknown species.

But it's not an unknown ape,
it's an unknown bear.

LYNNE: What we see is a hybrid
between a brown bear

and a distant cousin
of the polar bear

that was thought to have gone
extinct a long time ago.

LAURENCE: While Sykes believes
this bear species

may have given rise
to the Bigfoot legend,

some other scientists
aren't convinced.

Remember, Sykes' sample pool
is just 30 specimens.

Are all the Bigfoots out there

just ordinary
run-of-the-mill creatures?

We've still got a long way to go
to figure that out.

Despite many long years of
searching for proof it exists,

the legendary creature
known as Bigfoot

remains more myth than fact.

Then, a chance encounter
in 1974

convinces one man that
he's finally solved the mystery.

LYNNE: It is undeniable
that the real heart

of Bigfoot sightings have been
in the Pacific Northwest

of the United States.

So, that's California, Oregon,

Washington-- that's where

the highest percentage

of sightings
have been reported.

LAURENCE: But there have been
alleged sightings

of a creature like Bigfoot
in other places,

most notably Southern Florida.

RYAN: In 1974, Dave Shealy
is 10 years old,

and him and his brother
are walking

across the Everglades,

and they have an encounter.

FORREST: Dave is too short
to see over the grass,

so his brother picks him up,

lifts him over his head,

and there he sees it

100 yards away.

LYNNE: And what
he ends up seeing

is a creature that he describes
as large, hulking,

walking on two legs,
and hairy--

exactly how we see Bigfoot being
described in other regions.

LAURENCE: But Shealy knows it
by a different name.

This is something that
he's heard stories about

his entire life.

He knows that what
he's seeing in front of him

is the Florida skunk ape.

We already know that Bigfoot
has been given

multiple names
in multiple places.

Sasquatch is probably
its second most famous moniker.

Some call it a yeti.

In regions prone
to winter weather,

it's been called
the abominable snowman.

But fewer people have heard
of the skunk ape,

which is particular to this
one unique swampy area.

CHRISTOPHER: The skunk ape is
described in a way very similar

to your common Bigfoot sighting.

It's supposed to be about seven

to eight feet tall,
although it's more common

for the skunk ape to be
slightly smaller.

DANIEL PEREZ: Perhaps it might
be a subspecies of Bigfoot.

The coloring of the hair
is different.

Some of the behavioral
characteristics are different.

LAURENCE: But there is one
key difference

that gives the creature
its name.

FORREST: The skunk ape has
a distinct unpleasant odor.

It's been compared
to a wide array of foul smells--

wet dog, hot garbage,
boiled cabbage, rotten eggs--

hence the name skunk ape.

Maybe it's the heat,

maybe it's the muggy
wet conditions,

or maybe nobody anywhere else

has gotten close enough
to Bigfoot to actually smell it.

Maybe they all smell this way.

LAURENCE: Stories of
a human-like beast

with an unmistakable stench

have long been part
of local lore.

LYNNE: The native peoples
of Florida,

the Seminole,
the Miccosukee people

have stories of a creature
described very similar

to what is now called
the skunk ape.

RYAN: These legends
of the skunk ape

go back to the times
of Spanish colonization.

You know, we're talking
16th century.

FORREST: Then, throughout
the early 20th century,

we get isolated reports
from hunters and hikers

about strange hairy
two-legged creatures

spotted in the Everglades.

Surprisingly, not much research
is done at that time.

LYNNE: And the story
really takes off

in the 1970s in Florida,

and we start to see
many more encounters.

LAURENCE: More intriguing,
these alleged sightings

increasingly come
from larger groups

sharing the same story.

FORREST: In fact, in 1997,
an entire tour bus of 40 people

all see the strange creature
simultaneously

on the side of the road
in broad daylight.

LYNNE: Before long,
we start hearing reports

of encounters in the highly
populated Broward County--

things like skunk apes
breaking into people's homes,

or even stalking pedestrians
on the street.

LAURENCE: Accounts become
so frequent,

the state government
takes action.

FORREST: In 1977,
the Florida legislature

introduces a bill
to try and protect

the skunk ape
and the public.

LYNNE: The bill includes
specific language,

making it illegal
to take, possess, harm,

or molest any sort of humanoid
or anthropoid creature.

FORREST: The bill doesn't pass,

but it does add
a certain legitimacy to the idea

that skunk apes are real.

LAURENCE: One man
who doesn't need convincing--

Dave Shealy.

FORREST: In 1994, Shealy opens

the Skunk Ape
Research Headquarters

in Ochopee, Florida.

CHRISTOPHER: The Skunk Ape
Research Headquarters

might at first appear
like a tourist attraction.

It has a gift shop.

But in fact, Shealy claims
that those sales

help subsidize serious research
into the creature.

FORREST: Primarily, it's a hub

for legitimate
paranormal investigators

to share information
and gather resources,

and it's helped spawn
some major breakthroughs,

including by Shealy himself.

LAURENCE: After a lengthy
stakeout in 2000,

Shealy manages to capture video

of what he claims
is a skunk ape in the wild.

LYNNE: We can see the creature
moving through tall grass,

walking in what seems
to be maybe ankle-deep water,

until it notices
that it's being filmed,

and suddenly takes off.

RYAN: The thing
with David's video,

is you take the still-frame
shot of it,

people think, yeah,
you're looking

at maybe a teenager Bigfoot,

or what we call in Florida
a skunk ape.

But then, you watch
the actual live video,

and for some of us,
it kinda looks

like you could have thrown
someone in a suit

and just had them
run through the grass.

LAURENCE: In 2014, a Smithsonian
Magazine journalist

named Joseph Stromberg

decides to get
to the bottom of this.

CHRISTOPHER: Shealy told
the journalist

that he believes skunk apes
are drawn

to the particular area
that they were investigating

because of the calls
of other primates.

LYNNE: He had been following
two skunk ape tracks,

and they led him straight
to this barbed-wire fence

in the middle of nowhere
that he described

as being some sort
of secretive or mysterious

primate breeding ground

right there in the middle
of Florida.

CHRISTOPHER: Stromberg was
skeptical about this story,

but in fact confirmed
that such a company did exist.

LYNNE: Is in fact a company

called
Primate Products Incorporated

located in Immokalee, Florida,

where primates are bred.

LAURENCE: This leads Stromberg
to speculate

that perhaps
some of these animals got loose.

CHRISTOPHER: When Hurricane
Andrew hit Florida in 1992,

there was extensive damage
to Primate Products,

and they believe
over 6,000 primates

may have escaped into the wild.

LYNNE: In addition,
Stromberg turns up other reports

of people acquiring exotic pets

and then releasing them
into the wild

once they are too strong
or too powerful

to be cute anymore.

So, chimpanzees as pets
are a common animal

that gets released in this way

and adds to that population
of very unexpected primates

living in Florida.

LAURENCE: A report from the
Sarasota Sheriff's Department

may offer further proof.

DANIEL: In 2000, a person
who had claimed

that there was disturbances
around their property

by an unknown critter

eventually get a picture of it,

and they wrote a letter
as to what happened.

And they send it
to law enforcement.

LAURENCE: Two experts
examine the photo

and make a surprising discovery.

They determine that based
on the creature's appearance,

the scale of its features,

the distance between different
parts of its body,

that it is, in fact,
an orangutan.

Not a creature
that we would expect to see

in a Florida backyard,
but not a skunk ape.

CHRISTOPHER: Stromberg concluded
that people

who report the skunk ape
are sincere,

but may not be seeing
what Shealy claims they are.

Certainly, some people
who see Bigfoot

are in fact
misidentifying a monkey

that someone has released.

LAURENCE: Since the 1950s,
most Bigfoot eyewitnesses

describe the creature
as a hybrid

between an ape and a human.

CHRISTOPHER: There's a debate
in the Bigfoot community

about what Bigfoot actually is.

Some believe that Bigfoot
is more of a stray animal.

I think the ideal answer
would be

that there's probably
an unknown primate there.

CHRISTOPHER: But scientists
are very skeptical

about the possibility
that the United States

could support an undiscovered
species of ape.

But it is possible
that some of these

could be wild humans.

LYNNE: There have been reports

throughout history of wild men,

human beings, but who are living
in a feral state--

not in cities, not in
any sort of civilized way--

living like an animal.

RYAN: So, in South Central Texas
in the 1830s

we have the story
of the Wild Man of Navidad.

People were seeing
what they were describing

as something
that was Bigfoot-like,

covered in fur head to toe,

acting like an animal,

but with human qualities,

and that sparked
everyone's interest.

LAURENCE: The descriptions
line up perfectly

with later sightings of Bigfoot.

In some ways, this is almost
the first Bigfoot legend,

but just going by
a different name.

CHRISTOPHER: The Wild Man
of Navidad was stealing piglets

and chickens, was leaving
footprints all over the area,

was breaking into homes
but only stealing food,

never valuables.

LAURENCE: For over a decade,
the Wild Man of the Navidad

remains at large.

At one point, people looking
for the wild man

even found a shelter
in the woods

and conducted a stakeout.

But if that was where
the creature lived,

it never returned.

RYAN: It was something
nobody could get near,

and it had people interested
and also worried.

So, in 1850, they ended up
getting a posse together

to try and round up
this wild man.

CHRISTOPHER:
And upon investigating,

they found out that
it wasn't a creature,

but it was in fact a person.

This particular wild man
was an African slave

brought over
that escaped immediately

and ran into the woods,

and was able on his wit
and abilities alone

to survive for like 15 years
before being captured.

LAURENCE: Could such wild humans

account for more
supposed Bigfoot encounters?

One story about a purported
feral human

came out of Arkansas in 1892,

when there were stories
of what appeared to be a boy

running with a pack of wolves.

RYAN: I mean, this is Mowgli
from "The Jungle Book,"

taken in by wolves
and then raised,

and survived long enough
in the wild as a wolf cub

before finally being captured
by humans

and brought back
to be rehabilitated.

Stories of feral humans
have a lot of similarities

to stories of Bigfoot.

The creatures are usually
reported as hairy,

living in the woods,
leaving footprints,

stealing items.

LYNNE: The main difference
is that in these cases,

the culprit, the wild person,
is discovered.

LAURENCE: Is it possible
that modern Bigfoot sightings

could also be of humans
rather than of animals?

In the 1970s and 1980s,

there's a dramatic rise
in homelessness

in the Pacific Northwest,

especially among veterans.

And around this time,
there's also a noticeable uptick

of possible Bigfoot sightings
around Washington state,

and a theory begins to emerge.

We have returning veterans
from the Vietnam War,

many of whom
were struggling with PTSD

and other societal issues,
choosing to isolate themselves,

or being forced into
homelessness,

living on the edges of society,

and perhaps appearing
as these wild men.

To me, the story that epitomizes
humans mistaken for Bigfoot

happens in Western
North Carolina in 2017.

A self-identified shaman

is conducting some rituals
in the woods

while wearing
his ceremonial garb,

which is made of fur
covering his entire body

from head to toe,
including his face.

LYNNE: As a result of this,

the Greenville Police Department

started getting
report after report

of people saying that
they saw a creature

covered head to toe in fur
moving about in the woods.

The police had to take this
seriously.

CHRISTOPHER: One concern that
law enforcement has had

across the country,
is if people are out

hunting for Bigfoot,
it is possible

they will mistake a human
for a Bigfoot, and take a shot.

This brings us back to that
idea of Occam's Razor.

What is the simplest explanation
for all of these sightings?

We do have an incredibly common
bipedal hominid

walking around
all over the place,

and that's us-- people.

LAURENCE:
Bigfoot has been compared

with many modern animals
over the years,

most notably various species
of primates.

It looks very much
like an orangutan

or something of that nature.

RYAN: Some of the things these
people are seeing in the woods

are legitimately

a silverback gorilla
or a chimpanzee.

Then on top of that,
you have wealthy people

that buy these pets,

and they just kinda
lackadaisically keep 'em,

and they escape.

LAURENCE:
But many experts believe

this doesn't fully explain
Bigfoot.

Escaped monkeys typically
don't grow

as large as Bigfoot

is purported to be.

LYNNE: There is no
modern-day species

that really matches with
the description of Bigfoot.

But scientists are quick

to point out that

in the not-so-distant past,

there was a creature

thought to be extinct
that did match this description.

RYAN: Remains have been
discovered of a creature

that most resembles Bigfoot,

and that is the species
called Gigantopithecus.

LYNNE: Gigantopithecus
is a primate

from the Pleistocene Era.

It was believed
to have gone extinct

about 300,000 years ago.

LAURENCE: An ancestor
of modern-day orangutans,

Gigantopithecus is thought
to be the largest primate

to ever live on Earth.

JEFF: Gigantopithecus
was enormous.

Its teeth were of such
proportion

that we estimate its body mass

to be on the order of, oh,
800 to 1,200 pounds.

RYAN: We're talking
about a 10-foot animal.

And when people describe
seeing Bigfoot,

the sheer mass and size of it
leads some people

to believe that Gigantopithecus,

or a relic version of it
is Bigfoot.

Maybe it's evolved to be
a little bit smaller,

a little bit more nimble,

or we're just not seeing
the big boys,

and all we're seeing
are the females.

FORREST: In the early 1980s,

American anthropologist
Grover Krantz

becomes one of the biggest
proponents

of the theory that
Gigantopithecus

could perhaps be a candidate

for Bigfoot.

LYNNE: Considering this theory,

two problems
stand out immediately.

One is that Gigantopithecus
was thought

to be almost entirely exclusive
to Asia.

And the second problem,
of course, is that it's extinct.

RYAN: As far as where
Gigantopithecus lives,

Krantz believes
that a land bridge

formed across the Bering Strait
that allowed Gigantopithecus

to cross over
to the North American continent

during the Ice Age
in search of better food

and warmer climates.

LAURENCE:
As for their extinction,

he believes it never happened.

Scientists believe
that given the vastness

of the ocean and the wilderness,

that there are numerous other
seemingly extinct species

that we may find
in fact still exist.

RYAN: Let's take
the pygmy tarsier

and the Kashmir musk deer.

These are two animals
that were supposedly extinct

that we have found are not.

LYNNE: What's amazing
is that there was a giant fish,

a coelacanth that existed
60 million years ago

and was thought
to be long extinct,

until we caught one in 1938
off the coast of South Africa.

And there's not just
one of them.

A whole community of them
was found to still exist.

So, clearly,
our best understandings

of just how extinct
an extinct creature might be

can be wrong.

LAURENCE: Gigantopithecus may
not be the only extinct primate

that could fit the bill.

CHRISTOPHER: Bigfoot researcher
John Napier

actually believed that Bigfoot

might be a different form
of seemingly extinct ape

called Paranthropus.

RYAN: They're large,
really big heads, big frames,

and really fit the look

of when people describe
their experiences with Bigfoot,

what Bigfoot looks like.

See, with Gigantopithecus,

it was so massive,
we really can't be sure

that it even walked
on two legs.

But Paranthropus
did strut its stuff.

LYNNE: This theory,
the idea that a species

assumed to be extinct
is not in fact extinct

is now the favorite explanation

of the Bigfoot
Field Researchers Organization.

It is possible
perhaps that at some point,

one or more of these species

came over the land bridge
to North America

where their descendants
have remained undetected,

but occasionally sighted.

FORREST: Bigfoot might be
the most widely spotted cryptid

in history.

Hopefully, someday we'll finally
get close enough to identify it.

And when we do,
the scientific community

may be in for quite a shock.

Currently, there are more than

20 Bigfoot research associations

in the U.S. alone,

and dozens more worldwide.

Perhaps one day,
we'll finally be able

to identify this elusive
creature.

Until then, many Bigfoot hunters
are only too willing to search.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."