When Was Your First Time?

When was your first time hearing about Bigfoot? Not seeing a Sasquatch, but the first time you heard that such a creature existed.

My first time was when I was in my early teens -- roughly 1968. I think it was an episode of You Asked For It, where the program aired some of the Patterson footage. But I can't find a source for that, and it's possible I'm hazy on that memory.  (The dates for that program were: 1950 to 1959, with later incarnations in 1972, 1981, and 2000.) I do have a memory of watching a newsreel of the Patterson footage in the early 1970s when I worked in a movie theater. (Bigfoot on the big screen!)  So, in my teens if not earlier, was when I first became aware of the existence of Bigfoot.

I remember two stories from my teens about Bigfoot. One, from my brother, who insisted close friends of his who were camping in Northern California, were awakened at night and heard a large creature throwing oil drums at them. My brother was convinced, as were his friends, this was not being done by a bear. Both my brother and I were in our teens, so who knows if he was teasing me or not.

The other story I heard, again in my teens, was about Bigfoot living in the Topanga Canyon (California)  area, as I wrote for Tim Binnall's site, also here. As I wrote in those articles, I'm not that sure the people telling the stories actually believed them. They were just passing along a good story; more of a FOAF (folklore term: "friend of a friend")  tale, regardless of belief factor.

For myself, however, I believed back then that Bigfoot exists. And I still believe it.

"Trickster's Go ashore"

Something most definitely lost in translation here:

Regan Lee On The Paranormal Bigfoot by Marlaina Lucas: Regan Lee On The Paranormal Bigfoot:
At her "Trickster's Go ashore" border at "Binall of America", Regan Lee says: "The statement of charm Bigfoot' and creepy or paranormal phenomena amid other unknown creatures is synchronize for some to encompass mischievously. (It was for me, at first, heaps duration ago.) But go deeper, and you'll drop something fixed stranger: some classify of uncommon connection along with hazy military, paramilitary, scrutinize control and psy-op factions and outlandish creatures, such as Mothman, Bigfoot, and others." (UFO Brief Case.net) 

My column at Tim Binnall's site is Trickster's Realm, but I do like the jaunty idea of trickster's going ashore.

Frame 352 Cited by Skeptic Joe Nickell

Found this, from October of 2014 :Bigfoot at Mount Rainier? - CSI, by debunker Joe Nickell. Thought it funny he's cited this blog in his notes on the article, which, of course, pulls about Bigfoot, "proving" it to be a fantasy. Still.