Over the past few years, I have become obsessed with Bigfoot. Not to the point of prowling the woods looking for him, but I have definitely become more interested in the existence of this creature, and possible proof of it being a real, flesh-and-blood creature.

Tom Burnette & Rob Riggs' BIGFOOT: EXPLORING THE MYTH & DISCOVERING THE TRUTH is a fascinating book, and Burnette and Riggs have some interesting stories to relate, both first-and-second-hand accounts. Burnette, in particular, is on to something that I have always thought would be the only way to find any kind of concrete evidence that Bigfoot exists: He lives on the edge of a massive piece of forested land that is supposedly home to a group of the creatures, and he has been working for years to befriend them, or at least acclimate them to his presence. Getting them used to humans, or one human in particular, would surely be a better way to finally capture indisputable proof than some of these dopey shows where large groups of researchers clodhop around the woods yelling and whooping and using walkie-talkies and huge spotlights.

Riggs and Burnette have some fascinating theories, such as the sightings and encounters being long-hidden Native American tribes that have become almost feral, or Bigfoot being psychic or perhaps some kind of interdimensional being. Some are easier to swallow than others, but I appreciate them laying these theories and speculations out. After all, as they point out in the book, they are not experts. In fact, who is? (I love seeing Cliff and Bobo from FINDING BIGFOOT talk about how "Everyone knows that 'squatches love apples!", or "We know for a fact what a Bigfoot howl sounds like." Until one is found and captured or killed, no one really knows anything about them for sure...)

The publisher provided a review copy to me years ago, and I'm finally getting to it almost seven years later. Sorry...That said, the intervening years have provided some interesting context to the book. Both Riggs and Burnette seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth. (As far as I can tell....I didn't hire a detective to find them, and I am not on any form of social media myself...) No new books have been written, a brief search has not yielded any new information about either man, and the website that they point to in the book was taken down for non-payment. (The internet wayback machine points to an archived homepage but you can't scroll around or click on anything because of the huge nonpayment pop-up from their old web host.) Also, they speak repeatedly about what they refer to as the best photographic evidence of Bigfoot ever captured, which is supposedly a trail-cam pic that Burnette took, of a startled-looking Bigfoot staring at the camera while sporting a visible erection (!). They print a strange-looking picture in the book of what appears to be a black-haired Cousin Itt, but not this one, which I would think to be a huge selling point for a book. The picture is supposed to be available on their site, which is now gone. I was unable to find this picture anywhere on the internet. (If someone has a link to this, I would appreciate it.)

Were Riggs and Burnette discredited? Was the picture a hoax? Was Burnette, as he feared, kidnapped and consumed by these creatures? The world may never know....

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*