In 2019, the FBI released its official file on Bigfoot, and spoiler alert: Bigfoot is real. OK, just kidding. Or am I???
All jokes aside, the FBI has a file on Bigfoot that dates back to the 1970s. It contains 22 fascinating pages of content, and it's now available online.
The FBI published the file on The Vault, a treasure trove of previously sealed files that the organization releases for public perusal. The Vault contains thousands of pages of information on many persons of interest, like Al Capone and Jack the Ripper.
And on June 5, 2019 the FBI added Bigfoot to the list.
Normally, the FBI does not release files to the public until after the subject is dead. So the release of Bigfoot's file had many people wondering if Bigfoot is … dead? Which would mean that he was alive in the first place, which would mean that he was real, which would mean that all those years of Bigfoot enthusiasts hunting him down weren't in vain?
Scroll down to see what's really in the FBI's file on Bigfoot!
There are two types of people in the world: Bigfoot believers and Bigfoot skeptics. The myth of Bigfoot has very old roots, all the way back to indigenous stories of tall, hairy, two-legged creatures hiding in the wilderness.
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Could Bigfoot actually be real? It may seem unlikely, but a surprisingly large percentage of people do believe in Bigfoot's existence. A 2014 poll by the Associated Press showed that more people believe in Bigfoot than the big bang theory.
And, y'know, there IS an awful lot of Bigfoot "evidence" out there. Many people claim to have seen Bigfoot with their own eyes, and some of them have even captured his likeness on camera. He's often spotted in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.
Some believers are especially devoted to the topic. These Bigfoot enthusiasts have spent years searching for evidence, like footprints or hairs. They're determined to prove Bigfoot's existence to the world.
One group of Bigfoot truthers even got the FBI to help them in their research, and the FBI just released that file to the public.
Yep, Bigfoot's official FBI file is now available online for your perusal.
The FBI tweeted a link to the file without comment.
Bigfoot believers were very excited to see if the file contained any concrete info, and even skeptics were curious about WTF could be in this file. Immediate clicks all around.
OK, so! What does the Federal Bureau of Investigation have on our friend Bigfoot?
The file mostly consists of the FBI's correspondence with an organization called the Bigfoot Information Center (BIC) from 1976 to 1977.
It seems that the BIC discovered a tuft of 15 hairs on a patch of skin, which it couldn't link to any known animal. The BIC sent the hairy patch to the FBI to have it tested.
The BIC wrote that the hairs were "the first that we have obtained in six years which we feel may be of importance."
The FBI wrote back to the BIC that its lab "primarily conducts exams for law enforcement agencies in connection with criminal investigations."
However, the FBI agreed to make an exception for this case.
After several follow-ups — during which time Bigfoot was covered by the New York Times and other newspaper outlets — the FBI finally sent the results of the test back to the BIC.
The results are, uh, pretty disappointing after all that buildup.
"It was concluded as a result of these examinations that the hairs are of deer family origin," the FBI wrote.
THEY WERE JUST DEER HAIRS?! OK. All right.
People have been reacting to this file's findings on Twitter, though, and … let's just say that Bigfoot believers have remarkably strong convictions.
Just because this one sample of hair turned out to be deer hair doesn't mean that Bigfoot isn't real, OK?!?
And there's always a chance that the government will more seriously investigate Bigfoot/Sasquatch/other hairy cryptids at some point in the future, right???
After all, the government is only just now starting to take UFO sightings seriously, sooo …
Bigfoot, if you're out there, send a selfie!
