Native Americans and Bigfoot

I think if we have any doubts that Bigfoot is real, we probibly should do some research about Native Americans. After all, they have been here for a very long time. If anyone had seen them, it should've been them.

Now, I don't claim to be any authority on Native Americans. In fact, what I do know of them, one could put on one sheet of paper. But I do have an interest and from time to time I read about them and of their way of life of long ago. I happened to come across a book about the Koyukon Tribe of Alaska about seven or eight years ago, and even then it was 20 years old. It was called 'Make Prayers to the Raven' by Richard K. Nelson (1983). Now this was not a Bigfoot book. it's a book about the traditions and cultures of the Koyukon people.

They told the author what their views are of the bear, crows, ravens and every other creature that lives in the woods. They also told him of the 'Woodsmen". In their language it's called Nik'inla'eena' or, the sneak. I'll type a few excerpts from the book. 'A human creature that occupies the wildlands and remains almost totally alien from society..Woodsmen are real as any other inhabitant of the Koyukon environment, but they are extremely shy and quick to vanish when people come near...Occasionally, they harass people of steal from them, but they are not a great danger...They are especially interesting as a bridge across the narrow gap between humans and animals.' They go on to say that their bodies are covered with short hair and can run very fast. They throw things unseen from the receiver. I could go on and on about the descriptions and behavior, but I'd run out of space here.

I was having a er..couple of cups of coffee with a member of the Penobscott Tribe of Indian Island, Maine a decade ago. I mentioned Bigfoot to him. He said, "Oh yeah, the Elders sometimes talk of it, but we have our own name for it." He told me the name it's called in his language, but I have long since forgot it.

The point I'm trying to make here is, how do the Koyukons know and describe the same animal as we'll say tribes in the Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast of here in our part of the States? It's not like one of the Koyukons or Penobscotts hopped a flight out to the Yakama tribe in the Northwest and learned about Bigfoot. And why does every indian tribe have their own names for them? They surely know about the same creature.

If you're interested in learning more about the names of these creatures and what they're called by the tribes that know about them, there's an excellent site with the list of them provided by Kyle Mizokami, Henry Fronzoni and Jeff Glickman and you can find it here: http://sasquatchresearch.net/sassynames.html

Okay folks, see you all next Sunday.
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Bob and Mike's email is BigfootQuest@gmail.com