'Where the Footprints End, Volume 1: Folklore' Adds Context and Depth to Bigfoot Debate

Veteran fortean researchers Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner have teamed up to tackle the weirdest aspects of reported sasquatch encounters with their latest project, Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon.

Volume 1: Folklore was released earlier this year, while a second volume—focusing on the “anomalous evidence collected in conjunction with sasquatch sightings”—is yet forthcoming.

The first volume in the two-part series concerns itself with providing a “closer look at the folkloric overlap between modern encounters with large, hairy hominids and ancient folkloric traditions—traditions which, at first glance, seem to share little-to-nothing in common with bigfoot.” To that end, the work explores similarities between bigfoot reports and a broad spectrum of paranormal phenomena, including ghosts, faeries, aliens, witches, and a folkloric favorite—women in white.

These comparisons are apt far more often than not, despite any preconceived notions the reader might have regarding hypotheses based on the existence of an undiscovered primate species—an explanation that both Renner and Cutchin admit could be accurate, at least in some cases. However, a careful examination of the reported evidence shows there may be something much stranger lurking in the woods. Cutchin even coins a new term, Wildnisgeist, to describe what he refers to as a “wilderness poltergeist”; something he posits as one possible source for reports of rocks mysteriously thrown in the forest, politely pointing out that such a phenomenon is often attributed to capricious wood apes, despite the fact that in many instances no corroborative evidence of such a cryptid being present exists to lend surety to that hypothesis.

Those familiar with Renner and Cutchin can expect the same careful research and deliberate thoughtfulness seen throughout their other works. Both authors take care to present only what is known—namely that the similarities between certain aspects of bigfoot reports and other anomalous phenomena are not only present, but striking—never straying into the dogmatic thinking which all-too-often haunts every aspect of fortean research. It’s clear that they entertain many of the “paranormal” hypotheses regarding bigfoot’s nature and origin, but that’s a far cry from presenting them as fact and, as stated earlier, a material component to the phenomenon is freely admitted.

In true fortean fashion, this work isn’t about disallowing anyone’s hypothesis, but rather, asking the cryptozoological community to examine them all.

Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon, Volume 1: Folklore is available for purchase through Amazon.

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