Bigfoot America

Matt Belcher

Bigfoot America

1. Attention catcher: Patterson footage video.

2. Listner relevance link: Bigfoot is always making the news; from coast to coast thousands of reports have been made claiming to have witnessed a Bigfoot. Do you know that their have been reported sightings of Bigfoot in 22 different Kentucky counties? There is even a golf club named after Bigfoot. Jack Links beef jerky boasts commercials about him. Bigfoot has clearly become a household term, and yet has never been scientifically documented to exist. I assume that most of you are familiar with the video that was just played. The video was recorded by Roger Patterson on October 20, 1967 and is the most well known footage of a Bigfoot.

3. Speaker credibility: Over the past couple of weeks I have done extensive research on the subject using several credible sources such as the Scientific American Journal and the University of British Columbia Press. The reason for my research is twofold, one I wanted to enhance my knowledge on the subject, and second I wanted to present an interesting informative speech. Giving an informative speech about a myth is a task in itself, I did not realize this would be so difficult. Due to the fact that Bigfoot is itself only a myth makes it extremely difficult to find factual details.

4. Thesis: Bigfoot is an interesting myth to learn about.

5. Preview: Today I will speak on three points that pertain to Bigfoot. I will first give a description of Bigfoot, next I will talk about Bigfoot sightings, and lastly I will discuss the three types of hoaxing that takes place.

Body

First Main Point: I began my research by hoping to define the word Bigfoot.

1. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines Bigfoot as “a very large, hairy humanoid creature reputed to inhabit wilderness areas of the U.S. and Canada.”

2. Some synonyms of Bigfoot include the Yeti, Sasquatch, Abominable Snowman, The Florida Skunk Ape, Yowie, and also The Wild Man of China.

3. The questionable existence of Bigfoot places it under the study of cryptology.

Cryptology is the study of animals whose existence has yet to be proven. Bigfoot falls into this category as a cryptid meaning “hidden animal”.

3A. According to Micheal Shermer, journal writer for the Scientific American,

“The reason that cryptids merit our attention is that enough successful discoveries have been made. Many cryptids have lately been proven to existence. Such animals are as follows: 1847-gorilla, 1902-mountain gorilla, 1869-giant panda, 1912-komodo dragon, 1976-megamouth shark, and 1984-giant gecko.”

Transition: The Bigfoot; however, has not been a hidden creature in the United States, at least for some people.

Second Main Point: Every year in North America many ordinary people claim to encounter a large, hairy, upright-walking, primate like creature.

1. Robin Wilson in The Chronicle of Higher Education Journal reports that every state in the United States except Hawaii and Delaware have accounted for Bigfoot sightings. The vast majority of these sightings have been reported from the western half of the country in such states as Idaho and Washington where densely forested regions are prevalent.

2. Wilson claims to have found volcanic rocks with carvings of Bigfoot on them. He suspects this to have been done by Indians. This he believes proves that the origin of Bigfoot goes back earlier than once predicted.

Transition: All of these sightings however are not true.