I’ve been fascinated by Bigfoot ever since, as a ten-year-old boy, I wandered the stacks of the Billings Public Library and stumbled upon a section dedicated to books of high strangeness—three shelves of esoterica on the Loch Ness Monster, ghosts, aliens, ESP, and, yes, North America’s mythical wood ape. My fingers trembled as I pulled these books off the shelves, thrilled by this trove of arcane knowledge I’d discovered.
Little has changed for me in the forty-some years since.
While researching my forthcoming novel, American Mythology—which tells a tale of the final expedition of two down-on-their-luck Bigfoot seekers—I had the opportunity to steep myself once again in all things Bigfoot. Multiple shelves in my library at home are now stuffed with these books. Each one was useful in some way, each one contributed to crafting the story, shaping the characters, capturing the verisimilitude of a creature no one has yet proven to exist. Conducting research has never been so much fun.
When you’re ready to deepen your knowledge of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, here are five Bigfoot books that will help you on your journey:
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Matthiessen’s book detailing his expedition across the Himalayas in search of the titular creature won the National Book Award and positioned him as one of the world’s foremost nature writers. But what struck me most upon re-reading The Snow Leopard was how preoccupied Matthiessen’s narrative is with local reports of Yeti sightings. At one point on his journey, while off trail by himself, Matthiessen even had an encounter with something that he believed could have been the fabled Abominable Snowman.
Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Bu Bluhs
In the preface, Bluhs writes, “I still don’t think Bigfoot exists – indeed, writing this book actually gave substance to what was before only a vague kind of skepticism.” While Bluhs and I disagree on this point, his book (perhaps unencumbered by belief) is a deep and insightful look into the culture surrounding Bigfoot. He explains how a creature of legend and folklore came to be a modern phenomenon, a kitschy purveyor of everything from beef jerky to bundling insurance.
Raincoast Sasquatch by J. Robert Alley
No exploration of Bigfoot would be complete without an examination of the creature’s origins in Native American lore. Raincoast Sasquatch is a compendium of Bigfoot encounters, ranging from Southeast Alaska, along coastal British Columbia and Northwest Washington State. The majority of encounters described come from Indigenous people local to this area. Along the way, the book weaves together stories from the cultures from which these creatures first sprung, doing justice to Bigfoot’s true roots.
Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide by Robert Michael Pyle
A Yale-educated lepidopterist with a PhD in insect conservation ecology and a Guggenheim Fellow, Pyle brings a naturalist’s sensibility to his explorations of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in western Washington. While conducting biological fieldwork, Bigfoot remains an intellectual itch Pyle can’t help but scratch. “Yet just there and then I was perfectly prepared: not to believe in Bigfoot necessarily, but to believe that the world is wider than we normally wish to accept.” No matter where you fall in the Bigfoot debate, this book is a profound exploration of mankind’s relationship to the natural world.
The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster by John O’Connor
While researching his book, O’Connor participated in several Bigfoot expeditions in order to better understand the individuals who spend their lives looking for this mythical creature. The portraits of the people he encounters are sensitive and honest, capturing the fact that their fascinations may tell us more about ourselves as a country than we care to admit.
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