Being human, we are drawn to myths and legends and folktales. Being Washingtonians, we are particularly attracted to the myth of Bigfoot and the legend of D.B. Cooper; they are, at this point, part of our heritage.
So it is that the news of recent weeks has piqued our interest. Because there was a story about some Bigfoot enthusiasts suing the state of California for denying the existence of the creature, and there was a story about the latest theory regarding the identity of D.B. Cooper. If you want to trigger provincial protectiveness among the people of the Northwest, Bigfoot and D.B. Cooper are pretty good avenues.
Anyway, a woman in California claims that in March she came upon three Bigfoot creatures during a hike. They were “barrel-chested,” had larger-than-human heads, and looked to be about 800 pounds. “We were face to face,” she told a newspaper, saying the creature was about 30 feet high in a tree. Now, the California definition of “face to face” might be different than it is here, and so might the likelihood of a tree supporting an 800-pound creature that is able to climb 30 feet. Still, we are a little skeptical of the story.
Apparently, so are officials in California. So the woman has filed a lawsuit that, according to the San Bernardino Sun, “alleges the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state Natural Resources Agency have been derelict in their duty by not acknowledging the existence of the Sasquatch species.”
We expect the lawsuit to quickly be tossed out. That’s because everybody knows that Bigfoot lives in the Northwest and not California. Sheesh! You see, when it comes to myths and legends, people tend to be protective of their own.
Which is why we’re also skeptical about new claims that “D.B. Cooper” is alive and well in Southern California, 47 years after he famously hijacked an airliner and took a parachute jump over Southwest Washington. In 1980, an 8-year-old boy found $6,000 of Cooper’s $200,000 bounty along the shore of the Columbia River near Vancouver. Aside from that, no trace has ever been found.
So, the legend of D.B. Cooper fascinates. Decades of investigations and conspiracy theories have intrigued the public, and they have outlasted the official FBI probe that was closed in 2016. They probably always will.
Which brings us to an exploration of the human need for myths and legends and folklore, a trait that seems common among cultures ancient and modern. Such stories help define a society while providing a shared touchstone for its inhabitants.
Bigfoot falls into the myth category; we know this because in 2006, The Columbian wrote editorially, “Bigfoot doesn’t exist.” And you can’t get much more definitive than The Columbian’s editorial page. Still, a part of us wants to believe. Carving out a civilization amid thousands of square miles of forests leads to fertile imaginations about what might lurk in the wilderness, and the idea of a giant gorilla-like creature satiates some of that curiosity.
D.B. Cooper certainly existed, which lands him in the category of legend rather than myth, and yet we cling to his story as well. The tale of the anti-hero is part of local lore, and one that we secretly hope never is definitively solved. The mystery is part of the fun.
And so, we remain drawn to stories about Bigfoot and D.B. Cooper, recognizing that in very different ways their stories serve some basic human needs. Even if The Columbian in the past offered a possible explanation for Cooper’s disappearance: “Maybe Bigfoot ate him.”
