Romance and Reality of the Wild Man

In this video we look at an article from 1908 that looks at the then popular legends of what were called wild men of the woods. Many times the descriptions of these wild men seem rather more like what we call a Bigfoot today, and I have to wonder, home many of these wild men tales are actually encounters with the Sasquatch of North America?

Follow along as we look at and discuss the history of these sightings and the world of the search for the wild man of the woods from the turn of the century viewpoint...



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Was An Orang Pendek Captured in 1885?

This story comes from the newspapers of 1885, and relate the story of the capture of three members of a hairy, tree dwelling tribe from the depths of Laos. Were they simply hairy people, or were they what we now call the Orang Pendek? Follow along as Bigfoot Tales shares the story of these strange jungle people.

Was this really a story of the capture of the Orang Pendek? We cannot tell for certain today, but from the details of the story, it certainly seems possible. Much of the description of these creatures suggest something other than a conventional human being as being captured. Could these creatures have been a throwback to some former race of mankind, long forgotten in the jungles of Asia?

Follow along with Bigfoot Tales as we explore the possibilities...

http://youtu.be/j85lSlUWNNk

A Possible Bigfoot Capture in Mexico?

I came across an article in the 23 Jan. 1907 issue of the Telegraph-Republican newspaper titled “Hairy Wild Man Is Captured in Mexico. As usual, I am immediately drawn to all stories about wild men, and in reading through it, found a few morsels that suggest this may have been another encounter with what we call a Bigfoot today.

A couple of points that I want to draw attention to in this piece is the suggestion that it may have been a human gone demented for one, and the location of his capture in Mexico for two. Frequently we will hear stories of wild men that turn out to be simply men who had gone wild in response to some catastrophic event, usually the rejection of some women. However, there are some where these stories cannot be corroborated, and the details of these stories compel me to give great consideration that the events may actually be depicting encounters with that race of people we call Bigfoot today.

This one in particular suggests the being had no language, at raw food, utilized no fire, and was covered with long shaggy hair, superseding the need for covering of any kind. Many of the wild men caught in the past had at least some kind of covering, if not against the weather, then for modesty’s sake. These stories I place in the pile of wild human class encounters.

The other interesting this is the location of capture, which was in the state of San Luis Potosi, which is located in south central Mexico. An area of little renown, poor in value as well as culture, I find it interesting in that this area is just a few hundred miles from the state of Sinaloa, which is where the famous Julia Pastrana was discovered. Ms Pastrana was exhibited in Europe as a wild woman exhibit. She too was covered in hair. There are some  other details, but we will look at that story some other time.

The point of the potential connection is that this wild man may well have been related to Pastrana. A few hundred miles was a long distance in the 1800’s, but it is still possible for related families to be separated by such a distance as people moved to find a better life elsewhere. Ms Pastrana was found as a slave at a moderate Mexican farm, and her actual parentage was unknown. Supposedly, as the story goes, she was found wandering in the desert by her owners.

However, as usual, I will simply share the story here and let you come to your own conclusion in the truth of this story of the maybe Mexico Bigfoot encounter.

HAIRY WILD MAN IS CAPTURED IN MEXICO

Eats Only Raw Meat and VegetablesAnd Possesses Low Order Of Intelligence.

San Antonio, Tex.^__ A wild man, such as has not been seen before, has recently been captured in Mexico.  A miner who recently arrived from Xilitla, a small village in the southern part of the state of San Luis Potosi, tells of the capture alive of a most remarkable creature.
   The wild man is now detained in Husteen, and will be transferred to some museum if his life is preserved. He is about six feet tall, vigorous, covered with long hair, and has blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. He eats raw meat and uncooked vegetables, but will not touch cooked food. He has no apparent language, but seems to possess intelligence above that of dumb brutes.
   Travelers in the remote mountains of El Apio a month ago saw the wild man and gave chase on horseback. The creature was run to earth in a natural cave in a hillside. There he was overpowered only after a fierce fight.
   There was no furniture in the cave nor any appearance of there ever having been a fire. Bones and portions of roots and fruits were scattered about the place, which presented the appearance of having been inhabited by the wild man for many months.
   There was a fragment of calico in the cave, which may have been a part of a garment. The wild man wore no clothing at all, being well covered with shaggy hair.
  After the people of the valley below were informed of the capture, they related the disappearance of a young woman from the settlement a year ago. Some of the captors thought there might be some connection between the rag found in the cave and the disappearance  referred to.
   Some persons advance the theory that the Wildman is really a human being, who has become demented, and from long exposure and rough living reverted to animal methods, even to the long hair.
   No signs can be found of any other specimen of the sort, although there is considerable unexplored territory that might cover a few more of his kind without discovery.

The First Bigfoot Hoax Prosecution

It is interesting to see the changes that have occurred over the centuries as I research this phenomenon we call Bigfoot today. Of course, we have only known this creature as "Bigfoot" since the latter 1950's, but he has been skulking around the shadows of our imagination since time immemorial. Prior to that he was commonly known as Sasquatch by some. Other peoples have had different names, but the bottom line here is that  for centuries it was simply referred to as "the wild man of the woods."

Up until the latter part of the 1800's this creature was accepted as being a primitive human sort of being. Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" began the name change when people started referring to him as a "Mowgli." Kipling's stories first ran in several newspapers as a serial column (1893-94), and Mowgli himself became a widely known character with the dissemination of these stories.

Mowgli, of course, as we all know was a fictional character that had supposedly been abandoned by his parent(s) in India, and was adopted and raised by a pack of wolves. The fascination we had with the wilderness areas of the world fueled the imagination of his readers, and the term became a somewhat popular term for any person that was considered wild, or lived outside of the norm.

Edgar Rice Burroughs further enticed the imagination with his stories of Tarzan, and his description of "ape men" was transferred onto these creatures. At the turn of the century, many fanciful tales of these creatures described them as being ape men, and so began the transformation of these sasquatch people into creatures that were now considered to be man-like apes. This unfortunate chain of events exacerbated any logical attempts to normalize these creatures into what they really were, and still are; wild men of the woods.

While they may have some characteristics in common with the gorillas of Africa, they certainly are not of a simian species. If they were, we would have little difficulty learning about them. Through the years, many have attempted to hoax the public by portraying men as wild men by exhibiting them in sideshows.

One of the most famous, Herbert Asbury, better known as "The Wild Man of Borneo" was a short-lived success. He was coated with tar and horse hair, placed in a cage and fed raw meat. His tenure only lasted a week as he became ill from being coated in such a fashion, and had to be admitted to a hospital. However, history treats us to a long list of sideshow attractions that featured these faux wild men.

Generally, people realized these were fake characters, but that did not stifle the success nor the numbers of these attractions. For the most part they were enjoyed by the willing shills who put down their nickels and dimes for admittance to the show. But occasionally, there was a rube or two that sincerely thought they were going to be entertained by a true wild man, ape man, or whatever they wished to call them

One case in particular comes to light in what may well be the worlds first hoax trial. This was reported on in some of the May, 1891 issues of the Deseret Evening News, out of Salt Lake City.

Follow along in the video as we share what well be the worlds first wild man, or Bigfoot hoax trial and learn the outcome. Believe it or not, this trial actually sets a precedence in law regarding these sorts of lawsuits, and why we don't see many of them occur even today.

The bottom line is that while these wild men, or Bigfoot today, may be displayed as an attraction, since there is no valid proof they exist, how can any reasonably intelligent person claim they were defrauded. In other words, one cannot hoax what does not exists. At any rate, enjoy the video, and don't forget to subscribe for more Bigfoot Tales.

A Lumbercamp Bigfoot Kill

This story is a fictionalized story from one of C.A. Stevens' young adult series, The Knockabout Club, written in the latter half of the 19th century. This one in particular is from the book title The Adventures of Six Young Men in the Woods of Maine. Rather a long title, but that seems to be normal for those days. The book describes the journey of six young men as they travel through the backwoods of Maine into Canada and back into the Aroostook region with a guide named Nugent.

At one particular place, and old abandoned lumber camp, they decide to camp for the night, and Nugent tells them the tale of why the camp was considered to be haunted. The story was subtitled, the Woods Demon. In a nutshell, back in the early 1800s a lumber crew of twenty plus men were there one winter, and had some problems with not a four legged critter, but a two legged one. While the story itself was presented as pure fiction by Stevens, I can't help but wonder if this not really a story telling of an actual Bigfoot encounter, resulting in the creatures death.

Stevens describes the woods demon as being bipedal, giant in size, covered with hair, the hair on its head being pulled into a frightful tuft, which could have been a way to describe a coned shape or sagittal crest, brown skinned, strong enough to wrench a log door held together by clinched spikes, and unable to communicate with speech, although it uttered garbled sounds.

Not your normal human being in any way, is it? Here they were, in the dead of winter, and this bipedal, manlike creature was about with no clothes save a loosely wrapped bearskin and skins tied around its feet. At that time of year it can get to 40 below on some nights.

So, enjoy the video, and come to your own conclusions, as always, and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Bigfoot Tales.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5-xSZM4PLA&list=UU2SWNa9SF0eogNXDISPdKNg&feature=share