"Sasquatch: An American Fairy Story" is a surprisingly well-produced independent documentary film, featuring the Irish Neo-Pagan and Chaos Magician Thomas Sheridan. It´s available for free viewing on YouTube.
Sheridan and his associates argue in favor of the paranormal hypothesis, according to which "Bigfoot" or Sasquatch is really an inter-dimensional entity similar in nature to the Celtic fairies. The documentary attempts to debunk the flesh-and-blood school of cryptozoology, according to which Sasquatch is simply an unknown animal, presumably an ape or ape-like creature. The main piece of evidence for this claim is the famous Patterson-Gimlin film. Sheridan & Co believes that Patterson was a hoaxer or at least a trickster, with connections to Hollywood interests and plans to make a film about "Bigfoot". Then, presto, he happens to come across one in the forests of California! I get the impression that the paranormal team thinks the "squatch" was really a man in a sophisticated monkey suit (compare "Planet of the Apes").
The main evidence against the film, in Sheridan´s opinion, is that "Bigfoot" (a term he dislikes) looked too much like an ape. Earlier reports of Sasquatch and similar creatures describe them as more human-like in appearence. For instance, they are said to be walking completely upright, and are frequently described as female! This is more similar to fairies, including the "Wild Woman". Other evidences for a paranormal origin of the creature include missing time, luminous orbs, abductions, an association with "UFOs", red eyes with a hypnotic effect, and strong spiritual experiences associated with the sightings. Large hairy fairies are reported from all over the world, including Britain and continental Europe, where nobody claims that unknown flesh-and-blood primates lurk. Sasquatch doesn´t need to be captured, he is already "captured" by being inside us, or rather our psyches, as some kind of archetypal pattern connected to the forests and their liminal nature.
I admit that "Sasquatch: An American Fairy Story" is interesting, but I´m not sure if I follow Team Sheridan in all the details. For instance, judging by Chad Arment´s "The Historical Bigfoot", *both* human-like and ape-like Bigfeet were reported before 1967, when Patterson and Gimlin taped their short film. Even American Indians (who presumably had never seen apes) reported ape-like creatures. Also, skeptics have great problems replicating the gait of the creature in the Patterson-Gimlin film, which either means that the hoax is very good, or...something´s up in the woods.
One thing that speaks strongly in favor of the paranormal hypothesis is that Bigfoot *still* acts paranormally, even after 1967, when the ape narrative became dominant. He still has red eyes, is associated with orbs, and so on. If there is *nothing* objective behind the phenomenon, you would expect the ghostly aspects to disappear the moment people come to believe they are seeing a flesh-and-blood gorillid creature. Sheridan believes that quartz might have somthing to do with it. Sasquatches are observed at places with large quartz deposits, leading Sheridan to speculate that the mineral opens up portals to hidden dimensions.
However, an (admittedly exotic) naturalistic hypothesis also suggests itself. Perhaps the entire fairy phenomenon is caused by unknown electromagnetic fields emitted by the quartz? This could trigger frontal lobe epilepsy in sensitive people, making them "see" all kinds of things. What they see is culturally constructed (apes, aliens or fairy), but *how* they see it would always be similar (in an alternate state of consciousness). Of course, a believer in the supernatural could always claim that the daimons manifest themselves in our world through these quartz-induced states. Indeed, that is exactly what they *are* claiming!
Be that as it may, I nevertheless recommend this homebrewn documentary to all fearless seekers out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment