Bigfoot: A History (Guest blog by Sweetums)

April 11, 2019, will mark a first for me: I am speaking at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville, Ala., and I will be with a special guest, Bigfoot. That’s right, Sasquatch (aka Sweetums) will be accompanying me, at the library’s request, and handing out Squatch-o-Grams, little bits of Bigfoot wisdom. I am speaking about my humor book “Not Quite Right” in which I discuss Sweetums’ desire to start a Rent-a-Squatch business (heavy sigh). In honor of my first Bigfoot-wrangling event, I am sharing below an excerpt from Sweetums’ book, “Alabama Lore.” To order a signed copy, email wile91575@gmail.com.

The sun was low on the horizon and its light almost nonexistent as the car went around a sharp curve on the country road in rural Clay County. Just past the curve, the car’s headlights shone on something by the side of the road. It was an over-sized figure just at the edge of the tree line. Against his better judgment, the driver stopped the car and got out, not quite trusting his eyes. As the man watched, the tall creature turned toward him as if inspecting new prey. The man grew increasingly edgy as the creature looked him over, and the man’s knees buckled when the huge creature yelled out, “Everything OK up there?”

The driver of the car, feeling a bit foolish, walked over to the now-apparent man standing in the field and said, “Goodness boy, you are so tall, I thought you were a Bigfoot.”

While this encounter may seem a little outlandish, it is the true account of a recent Bigfoot sighting in Alabama, a state with a long history of alleged encounters. However, the stories but seem to have become more prevalent with society’s encroachment into wild areas, as well as the growing popularity of America’s most notorious cryptid.

The Native Americans who settled the area we now refer to as Alabama had a fervent belief in the creature. Different native tribes called the creature Eeyachuba, Yeahoh, or Shampe, just to name a few. Some common names used today are Sasquatch, Yeti, Abominable Snow Man, Wooley Booger, Skunk Ape, Hairy Man or sometimes just Hairy Monster.

In the early days of Alabama, communication between settlements was quite difficult, and people relied on travelers to hear news from other areas, so few Bigfoot sightings were recorded from those times. As time passed and travel became easier, information began to be recorded in letters and newspapers. Initially, only the larger communities had newspapers, so events that occurred in remote areas went unreported in the papers.

***End excerpt ***

Sweetums also writes in “Alabama Lore” about the Alabama White Thang, which some people claim is like a Bigfoot and some say is a goat-like creature that walks on all fours. Here’s something I wrote on AL.com:

The legend of the Alabama White Thing has been prevalent since the 1940s in the triangle between Morgan, Etowah and Jefferson counties, where people reported seeing a creature more than 7 feet tall and covered in white hair. It has been sighted in Happy Hollow, Walnut Grove, Moody’s Chapel and Wheeler Wildlife Refuge.

The creature is known for its ability to move extremely quickly, despite its size, and for its eerie screech that sounds like a woman’s scream. Some have described the scream as sounding like that of a panther. Many have speculated that the White Thing is an albino Bigfoot, or perhaps a large albino bear.

In Huntsville, the phrase “Alabama White Thing” is used to describe a humanoid, possibly alien figure spotted in caves or drainage ditches in Jones Valley, along Governor’s Drive and on Monte Sano Mountain. The creature is described as having no eyes or ears and being completely white. A team of researchers of the White Thing started a Facebook page called Alabama White Thang.

Below are some of Sweetums’ photos from his trip to Expedition Bigfoot! It is a museum in Cherry Log, Ga.