Where The Footprints End Volume 1

 

Where The Footprints End – High Strangeness & the Bigfoot Phenomenon Volume 1: Folklore by Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner (2020 softcover 322pp)

 

Its no secret that I’ve always had an interest in the paranormal – I grew up in the golden era of ‘the unexplained’ when books, movies and TV programmes moved such things from the fringe into the mainstream. I like to think I take a typically Fortean view on such Fortean topics – sceptical but at the same time interested in the stories, personalities and world views involved. I’m no true believer in any of it but enjoy the sense of wonder and possibility it gives me.

Bigfoot and its related cousins have never been on the top of the list of interests for me. I always thought it was a pretty rare and possibly easily explained mystery but it seems now the ‘high strangeness’ from other areas of the paranormal are seeping into the realm of the big hairy fellow.

Timothy Renner and Joshua Cutchin postulate that most Bigfoot reports have involved elements of the of strange (besides the already strange fact of spotting an 8-foot-tall hairy humanoid) but these have usually been edited out or forgotten by those who wish to promote a flesh & blood explanation of the creatures. Much like in the field of Ufology where the nuts-and-bolts ETH held sway for decades, the authors believe the long-held explanation of Bigfoot as a ‘missing link’ ape has hindered our understanding of the phenomena and we must now look to the evidence and seek new answers. Lights in the sky, poltergeist type activity and telepathy are among the thing also reported by Bigfoot witnesses. It seems the hairy ape may have a paranormal spiritual or mystical aspect that’s been ignored by many researchers.

After a few case examples the book quickly descends into a laundry-list of folklore topics and the way Bigfoot cases possibly intersect with them. If you’ve read Cutchin’s earlier books such as “the Brimstone Deceit” and “Thieves in the Night’ you’ll know what to expect in these sections. Using meticulous research, he compares the lore and traditions from both the new and old worlds and how they may explain what has been observed in encounters with bigfoot and related phenomena. Much of this is very interesting but I found it did outlive its welcome a bit and some very long bows were drawn. The most interesting part of this book to me were the many witness reports quoted, some going back well over a century.

As this book is a single work split into 2 volumes for reasons of publishing logistics, I expect the second volume to be more of the same although it is subtitled ‘Evidence’ and promises more intriguing cases. I’m reading the second next so stand by for a second review.