I just want to give a sense of what the vlogs on my vlog list are about and why I like them. You'll find the links on the right-hand side of my main page.
But first, About Bigfoot
(and Why I Like the Idea)
Firstly, I should say at the outset that I've never personally seen one, but I am inclined to think there may in fact, be something to these stories, especially those from Indian Nation Reservations. I certainly maintain an open mind. (I believe in God after all so, it's not such a stretch for me.)
Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a centuries-old American tradition (named by Native American tribes under many names). Sasquatch is the English for "the anq'ets (sas-kets)", which means "hairy man" in Halq'emeylem, the Sts'ailes upriver dialect.
It is an interest of mine, simply because I spend time in the mountains and backcountry where he/she/they have been known to hang out. I camp in wild places and I enjoy local stories and legends as well as myths from around the world.
Bigfoot is known around the world as:
- Yowie (Australia)
- Yeti (Nepal/Himalayas)
- Mande Barung (India)
- Yeren (China)
- Am Fear Liath Mor, The Grey Man (Scotland)
- Hibagon (Japan)
- Isnashi (Brazil and Bolivia)
- Barmanu (Pakistan)
- The Abominable Snow Man (Russia - translated into English for convenience sake but: Отвратительный снеговик)
- and many other places all over the world. These are just a few.
Around here, where I live, he is known as Tso apittse (Giant) by the Shoshone or Tse’nahaha (Cannibal giant) by the Mono Lake Paiute, and specifically in Nevada "Si-Te-Cah" (tule, a type of plant, eaters but also culturally understood to be cannibals) by the Northern Paiute Nation in Nevada.
There has to be more than meets the eye here when it comes to these stories. They may have been extra large hominoids, which the Native Americans were fully familiar with over thousands of years. Stories like these, generally do not begin or exist in a vacuum.
Whether Bigfoot exists today remains to be seen, but it is a pervasive and thoroughly consistent myth at the very least. That they were known by distantly located Native Americans, from completely different tribal nations all across the continent, with no way of communicating with each other, including north into Canada, and south to Latin America, is inexplicable and fascinating.
Some argue that it is the result of "multiple discovery" or "simultaneous invention." I don't think this quite fits, but perhaps. Nonetheless, the original lore from our Native brothers and sisters certainly cannot be ignored as fully fantasy.
Onto the vlogs and why I enjoy them...
Canada - Outlaw Country - This is a thoughtful vlog about Bigfoot. Insightful and often poignant. Absolutely worth the valuable time you think you "own". Think again. And again.
UK - Chronically Outdoors -- Fun, Bushcraft, and Beer: This man is fun, and talks plainly about his life, and his adventures. I call that a "straight shooter." He also has a very cool Arctic dog named Sookie.
UK - Grizzly Gaz - Gaz is funny, very funny, and his dog is Fendi. Gaz is one of my favourite UK campers. I have learned quite a few things from him. Nowadays he seems to like "scary camping" and it's always fun.
UK - TA Outdoors - Bushcraft. I like this channel because I always learn something useful. Some of it doesn't translate well into American use, simply for reasons of terrain, etc, but fascinating nonetheless and good/useful stuff to know if you plan to camp in the UK
USA - 8 Native American Scary Stories from the Reservation - see my section above about Bigfoot, and other creatures, like the Wendigo.
USA - Base Camp Chris - Chris is local to me. He lives in my immediate vicinity, and I love his channel. (I will bet my bottom dollar that his wife is as nice as he is.)
In his early days as a vlogger, he did a lot of reviews on gear, and all of them are still very useful.
Now, he vlogs about Bigfoot sightings around the USA, including my local area, and offers very personal accounts, often including interviews with the witnesses. He also offers and includes a beer review on every episode. I don't drink beer, but he almost makes wish I did.
USA - Mike Wanders - Bigfoot and Camping! Another thoughtful vlog about Bigfoot. Some unusual stories.
USA - MrBallen - John is a YouTube sensation. He vlogs about true crime, unexplained mysteries, obscure stories, and the supernatural. He donates quite a bit of his earnings from Ballen Studios, to Victims of Crime all over the country. Terrific gent and a true storyteller, of real talent.
USA - Native American - PIkuni Bigfoot Storytelling Project - Modern Bigfoot witness accounts from the Shoshone Nation up in Idaho, a neighbouring state to mine.
USA - Over On the Wild Side - Cowboy Camping - self-explanatory. This guy camps with horses and offers real cowboy camping. I would argue that his channel is the only channel that really covers the subject.
Modern hikers/enthusiasts only define "cowboy camping" as sleeping without a tent in the wilderness. I call bullshit on that, and say that cowboy camping, properly speaking means: camping with horses and on the trail, wherever that might be.
USA - The Appalachian Storyteller - The Appalachian (pronounced rightly as "appa - laaaa-chan") mountains are in the eastern United States and are known to be some of the oldest mountains in the world, and connected to, quite literally, Scotland from a geologic event that occurred millions of years ago. Hikers and backpackers from all over the world go there, to hike the world-famous Appalachian Trail.
Scottish and Irish / Briton descendants live there today, and have preserved their own manner of mountain life, American style. Many of them can claim ancestry to titled families, believe it or not, and yet, are among the poorest of all Americans. They barely have medical care and numerous charitable orgs have build small clinics there.
It is said that many who live in those mountains are completely unknown by the United States government, having no birth certificates or any other official documentation, paying no taxes and simply squatting on their land for over 3 centuries.
Their mountain tales of "haints", and other ghostly phenomenon are utterly spell-binding. You will never regret listening to these tales in accurate Southern Appalachian accents/dialect.
