Reviewed by Jeanne
John O’Connor spent months writing a Sasquatch monster movie
which was never produced—and that’s probably all to the good. As O’Connor admits, research was limited and
even that is a generous assessment.
Years later he became interested in the search for the apelike cryptid
who goes by so many names: Bigfoot, Yeti,
Sasquatch, and even our own “Wood Booger.” He reached out to some groups who search
for the creature and spent some time in the woods with them. He even helped an attempt to re-create the
famous Bigfoot footage shot by Roger Patterson in 1967.
However, don’t expect this book to prove Bigfoot exists. And don’t expect it to prove that it doesn’t exist. This book is more about human nature and why
we believe or, more to the point, why we want to believe in the things we do.
Since we were doing a display on cryptids, I decided I’d give
this one a try. Right off the bat, O’Connor lets you know that he doesn’t take
himself too seriously and that the book is going to more light-hearted than
most on the topic. He makes some
flippant remarks about some Bigfoot enthusiasts, but he obviously likes and
respects the people he met. They come
from all walks of life, but they all bond over Bigfoot. O’Connor does a good job of presenting the
arguments for and against the existence of such a creature, and also compares
the search to others—including the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, thought to be
extinct until a researcher claimed to have evidence to the contrary. The jury
is still out on that one as well.
For me, the book did take very seriously the question of
belief. I found that to be
thought-provoking and made me consider some of my own biases. It is definitely not an argument against
believing in Bigfoot, ghosts, or Ivory Billed Woodpeckers but just asks the
reader to ponder. There is an epilogue
which really puts it all in perspective and had a definite effect on the way I
saw the book overall.
