The Mystery of Mythology: Bigfoot, Loch Ness, Flying Saucers

[wolram]

I think i can remember the one about the loch ness monster, and the one about Flying saucers, But what about bigfoot, yeti etc?

 

[marlon]

is sasquatsh also a myth or is that just a name for fat people ?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

UFO reports go back thousands of years, and there are some very interesting reports from WWII, but Kenneth Arnold's report in 1947 dates the so called modern era. He described the motion as "skipping like saucers on water", and the press ran with it as "flying saucers".

Native American sasquatch reports are assumed to go back for centuries. But without a written record, there is no way to identify the origin of the myth. The legend is old enough that it was an integral part of some cultures, and still is.

 

[waht]

I think a myth can be initiated by one person alone who is telling an extraordinary story or experience with enough convincing to capture the imagination of the listeners who will then pass that story or experience on with their own twists. Over the time the original story may be distorted to the point that an entirely new myth will be born.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There is a big difference between the evolution of a concept through story telling, and claims of direct observation.

 

[Astronuc]

It's all my fault.

When I first landed on this planet, it was going to be a century tops. Then it turned into centuries, and pretty soon centuries became millenia.

Maybe now is a good time to leave.


I wonder if anyone has missed me back home.

 

[Danger]

I wonder if anyone has missed me back home.

I'm sure that they have long-range wireless internet and are following your life here on PF.

 

[Astronuc]

I'm sure that they have long-range wireless internet and are following your life here on PF.

Ah - that would explain all the Guests.

 

[khemix]

clever people devised myths to protect their less intelligent counterparts.

bigfoot was probably invented to keep people from going alone to forests. yeti to prevent people from going to snow mountains. lochness from swimming (when it was unsafe). and ufos aren't myths, they're REAL!

 

[wolram]

It's all my fault.

When I first landed on this planet, it was going to be a century tops. Then it turned into centuries, and pretty soon centuries became millenia.

Maybe now is a good time to leave.


I wonder if anyone has missed me back home.

Ahhha, now i know what area to direct the hunters to

 

[montoyas7940]

clever people devised myths to protect their less intelligent counterparts.

Clever kids invented them to stay out of trouble.

"BOY! what happened to your new baby seal skin boots ?!"

"It's not my fault mom. You see there was this huge snowman..."

 

[Helios]

Most plausable explanation to me is that it started with human footprints. They melted by sunlight to grow in size. The rest is imagination.

 

[Chi Meson]

With Nessie, the myth took off after that English gynecologist/practical joker took that first fuzzy photograph.

With bigfoot, a guy made huge plywood foot-shapes and ran through the forest with them, then took a fuzzy video of his wife in a fursuit.

With crop circles, some guys (England again) strapped boards to their feet, drove a stake into the ground, tied a rope to the stake, and walked around. As the rope wound around the stake, they flattened a perfect circle in the field.

And even though these guys have all come forward to admit to their hoaxes, each of these myths have taken on lives of their own.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

With bigfoot, a guy made huge plywood foot-shapes and ran through the forest with them, then took a fuzzy video of his wife in a fursuit.

Who was this?

Note also that crop circles predate the modern hoaxers; in fact the inventors of modern hoaxing claim that real circles inspired their stunts. Back in the 1940's or so, it was suggested by meteorologists that votices forming along hilltops were responsible, as the circles were often found near the base of a hill. These are generally very simple, donut-shaped circles.

There are a few modern scientists who maintain that legitimate crop circles have been exposed to microwave radiation - they present evidence in the form of exploded nodes from exposed vegetation that was apparently damaged by rapid heating. Some have suggested that ball lightning, or a similar phenomenon could be involved.

 

[russ_watters]

I think i can remember the one about the loch ness monster, and the one about Flying saucers, But what about bigfoot, yeti etc?

Easy question, simple answer: these are all the same myth. As are dragons, mermaids, unicorns, etc. Someone gets a bad look at something they can't identify, squints, and sees something that isn't really there. They tell someone and that person has the idea in their head when they look and see the same thing.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Easy question, simple answer: these are all the same myth.

Yes, the Yeti, and a flying saucer, are vitually indistinguisable.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here is one of my favorite mermaid reports.
http://www.nsa.gov/ufo/ufo00020.pdf

 

[Ivan Seeking]

This is a very interesting flying Elvis report from 1942.
http://mfile.akamai.com/5022/wma/coast.download.akamai.com/5022/clips/05/12/120705_cbs_news_ufo.asx

 

[Danger]

Ah - that would explain all the Guests.

Jeez, man... you just gave up your true identity! Now we all know that your last name is 'Spider'. It's just a matter of time until we track you to your cave.

 

[russ_watters]

Don't fret, Ivan, if it's a real flying saucer, it is neither a UFO nor a myth.

 

[edward]

Many myths are local. In Tucson we have La Llorona, the weeping woman. She supposedly walks the banks of the normally dry Santa Cruz river every night looking for her lost children who were washed away in a flash flood.

The myth's origins are Hispanic and go back several hundred years. It is tradition for Hispanic children to be told about La Llorona.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Don't fret, Ivan, if it's a real flying saucer, it is neither a UFO nor a myth.

My point was that there are reports [most of them] that might be or are easily explained, and there are others that are not so easily dismissed as trivial.

An excuse to post a couple of favorites is always appreciated.

 

[wolram]

An excuse to post a couple of favorites is always appreciated.

Interesting, and i am sure not every thing is myth.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Interesting, and i am sure not every thing is myth.

myth

• noun 1 a traditional story concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, typically involving the supernatural. 2 a widely held but false belief. 3 a fictitious person or thing.

Strictly speaking, reports of strange observations are not myths provided that no explanation is given. So by definition, UFOs would not be included. Nor would be crop circles, or any claim of observed, unexplained phenomena.

The "myth" concept only applies when we assign interpretations that can't be proven, and even then it doesn't imply that the claim is false. So, for example, since there is no way to prove that all claims of ET visitors are false, we can't really say that such beliefs are myths. On the other hand, the belief that the Earth is flat, is a myth.

 

[physics girl phd]

Interesting, and i am sure not every thing is myth.

I'm pretty sure my husband and stepson are descendants of Sasquatch. (Oh yeah -- my husband sports a beard and still shapes with scissors and razor every morning... and https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=271424", he should braid his back hair! )

Isn't Danger a Sasquatch too?: https://www.physicsforums.com/customavatars/avatar24024_1.gif

No insult here... from the above you can see I like them!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm pretty sure my husband and stepson are descendants of Sasquatch.

Check for flat, wooden feet.

 

[Danger]

Isn't Danger a Sasquatch too?

Sorry to disappoint, but no. I am merely a minor demon from a nether-realm several stages removed from Hell.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

One thing that I find rather amusing is the notion that a bigfoot would be sooooo incredible. Granted, as time goes on, it seems more and more likely that if there was such an animal, we would know it, but there are still vast regions of wilderness in which a bigfoot might hide. Given that they would be well adapted to their environment, and assuming that such an animal would be much smarter than the average bear, it wouldn't be surprising that us humans would be at a great disadvantage in locating such an animal.

Unlike claims of ghosts or ET, a living bigfoot isn't really that hard to imagine. So there might be a smart ape that has managed to avoid absolute detection. Big deal. It would be of intense interest to science, but it isn't like proving the existence of life after death, or building a working warp drive system. Same goes for Nessie and the many claims of lake monsters. So maybe there is a rare species of lake creatures that is very difficult to detect. Again, big deal. That's not so hard to believe.

If we find hundreds or thousands of people who claim to have seen such beasts, why not allow a little room for "maybe"?

 

[Danger]

why not allow a little room for "maybe"?

What 'maybe'? We have Zoobie (or, at least, had him) in captivity. That should eliminate any doubt.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

What 'maybe'? We have Zoobie (or, at least, had him) in captivity. That should eliminate any doubt.

Heck, Physics Forums was started by a bigfoot.

 

[wolram]

What is this, first Astro then Danger and now GREG, are there Any NORMAL people here excepting me.

 

[Danger]

are there Any NORMAL people here excepting me.

By whose twisted definition do you categorize yourself as normal?

 

[wolram]

By whose twisted definition do you categorize yourself as normal?

Ouch ,well i do not stand out to most people as abnormal, and i am sure i will soon have a letter saying i not barking, i hope, so at least the mill has tested me

 

[physics girl phd]

What is this, first Astro then Danger and now GREG, are there Any NORMAL people here excepting me.

But aren't you the Minotaur?

 

[Danger]

But aren't you the Minotaur?

Nope. A minotaur has the head of a bull; Woolie is a ram. He does have a lot of bull in him, but not in his physiology.

 

[wolram]

Hey stop it, you are supposed to make fun of and take the mickey out of OTHER people, not me.