As the early European settlers moved westwards into the northwestern United States and western Canada they began to record stories of the Sasquatch, which had long been a part of the traditions of the Native People of this region. As early as 1784, the London Times reported the capture of a "huge, manlike, hair-covered" creature at Lake of the Woods, Manitoba. In 1840, after spending nine years living among the Spokane Indians of the Pacific Northwest, missionary Elkanah Walker described them as believing "in the existence of a race of giants which inhabit a certain mountain, off to the west of us. They inhabit its top... They hunt and do all their work by night... They say their track is about a foot

According to the critics all BigFoot tracks are fakes made by hoaxers with a pair of large false feet attached to their shoes. The weight required to make a typical footprint has been estimated at 700 lbs. Author/researcher John Green attempted to simulate the depth of Sasquatch footprints while wearing 141/2 inch fake feet and carrying a load of 250 pounds, his total weight of 450 pounds was too light to make deep enough impressions in firm wet sand. A kind of mechanical stamping device or footprint machine may be an alternative means of faking tracks.

For over 200 years, the legend of a half man, half beast creature has clung to the curiosity of people all around the world. No undeniable evidence has been discovered to prove that a Sasquatch exists. A bigfoot is just as phony as the Lock Ness Monster. "To have 9 foot tall creatures running around the United states wilderness and have no one have any decent video footage or pictures proving they exist is ridiculous."3 Good does come from this hoax though. In a world where our imaginations are ruined by television and videogames, the legend of bigfoot gives us something to keep our curiosity and imagination alive.

Many theories have been proposed to try to explain what a Sasquatch is. Some say they are an ancient race of "Giant American Indians that eluded the expanding Europeans." This is definitely a phony tale. Others say it is, without a doubt, the missing link: not quite human but not quite ape. This is the most arguable theory of what a Sasquatch is. The main argument to this is a lack of solid evidence. Footprints are one of the few pieces of 'hard' evidence supporting the existence of Sasquatch. They have been photographed, cast in plaster, and even dug up wholesale on a few occasions. Sasquatch footprints are typically 12 to 19 inches long, 5 to 9 inches wide; and are always deeper than a man's walking right next to them in the same material. While roughly human in shape the foot is very broad, one-third wider than a human footprint of the same length (very few humans have feet 16 inches long), with toes of nearly equa

Some common words found in the essay are:
American Indians, Patterson Gimlin, American Bigfoot, British Columbia, John Green, Northwest California, Elkanah Walker, America Exist, Ness Monster, Powder Mountain, bigfoot hair, half half beast, half half, 16 inches, foot tall, creature's existence, patterson-gimlin film, british columbia, half beast, faking tracks, inches wide,
Approximate Word count = 1435
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)