Imagine, if you will, an 8 foot giant hairy ape that weighs at least 500 pounds, has been known in ancient Native American folklore for centuries, and might possibly be the greatest cryptozoological enigma ever. It is known as Bigfoot, or Sasquatch north of the Canadian border, and it remains one of the true great mysteries of our time.

This creature roams the densest forests of the Pacific Northwest, is nocturnal, has a call that sounds like a baby crying, a woman screaming or unearthly howls unlike anything ever heard before, leaves footprints that a normal man could nearly fit two of his inside, and has been seen by virtually thousands of people. It has been filmed walking along a creek bank (and although controversial, has been authenticated by a number of research institutes as the real thing), has had hair and feces samples collected, has had voice analyzation done to it's calls only proving the sounds are coming from no known identified animal, and to top all of this off, the county of Skamania in the state of Washington, has a law on the books forbidding anyone from killing it! Yet orthodox science says that this beast cannot possibly exist because there has been no actual body to examine. However, if this was a civil trial to prove the existence of this subject before a court of law, a verdict of existence would have come forward without the jury ever leaving the room! How strange can this be?

The crux of all this is that the scientific community needs to have a dead body before it recognizes a new species of animal. This is a long held practice that goes back to the early days of scientific research, back when people, hundreds of years ago, were telling tales of all sorts of beasts, with nary a one of those ever having even a smidgen of reality connected to it. Regardless, everyone was sworn to be real and they were duly accepted as such. Gargoyles, griffins, mermaids, boogie men, all were fairy tales made up to either scare or be scared of. There were no genuine physical traces or evidence of any kind, nothing except hearsay and a will to believe. Needless to say, that is all that these creatures were then and now, hearsay. So science established age-old boundaries regarding the cataloging of animals, actual proof that could be felt and examined instead of pondered and imagined. There was only one absolutely sure way to do that, and that was with something that could be put on the dissecting table. A body.

As with all myths, and they all were, each has been etched in our consciousness, and beckon our curiosity. But with Bigfoot, well, this is one of those myths that just don't go away. In fact it has grown larger with time, and with the advent of modern technology, has in every aspect of evidence and research, virtually been proven real. But science still has its doubts. Besides the fact that there has been no body to examine, one of the biggest questions and controversies is how a creature this large can be alive and yet remain hidden for such a long time? People actually scoff at the notion that an animal so large could remain hidden on such a densely populated continent such as America. There is just no way possible they will tell you.

When you think about it, how could a creature like this exist in the first place, and then even if it does exist, remain undetectable as well? Tall, wide, heavy, not on first glance a very hideable animal. We think hiding is for small animals like mice and rabbits, birds, snakes and things like that. To be large and able to hide you need to have an effective form of camouflage and an area large enough to use it. This would include stripes to hide in tall grass, a tawny color to blend in with the black, white and gray scenery that your prey sees, or the dark backs and light undersides of the largest whales to mimic the dark water and the sky, respectively. All of these animals exhibit good camouflage and blend in extremely well with the environment that they live in. But when one considers Bigfoot, that notion appears to be way out to lunch in the hiding category. Or are they?

From what we know, if this creature exists at all, it is nocturnal. It also lives in the deepest part of the forest where only the largest and heftiest trees live along with it. It is dark furred, and walks silently when around people, as almost no encounter ever puts a Bigfoot as being noisy unless it is fleeing or wants to be heard. As we begin to envision this picture as a whole, our friend Sasquatch subtly begins to blend in and disappear.

Have you ever walked in a wood at night? No light or other form of illumination, just the stars and the moon as your guide? Try it for some eye opening revelations. Any woods will do, even thick brush or bushes separating suburban yards. Even with a flashlight, the beam only penetrates just so far into the darkness, casting shadows that make the eye see things that aren't really there, and hiding things that really are. Beyond that beam of light is infinity, and the infinity out there in the darkness is the home of Bigfoot. Out there where size and heft no longer matter, where being as big and as wide as a tree is the best form of camouflage any creature could have in the woods. And I mean any woods. Dark fur resembling tree bark adds to the confusion of the visual senses, and just as suddenly as a creature was there, it has now vanished.

I had to prove this had at least a bit of truth to it. Being able to hide in plain sight could be such an advantage to a creature of this size and bulk, and could perhaps be one of the reasons why it is rarely seen and even more rarely photographed. Researchers continue to make treks out into the wilderness, yet more often than not, they do not return with any truly tangible evidence. Many is the tale of being followed and watched, knowing something is out there, but unless the creature wants someone to see it, they never will. I decided to test this theory that one can hide in plain sight, just to see if I could disappear like a Sasquatch. I wanted to prove to the naysayers that a creature like this could remain hidden, regardless of whether people were out looking for it, or our civilization was crowding it.

Dressing in my best black commando uniform, and blackening my face with charcoal, I attempted to make myself look like a smaller version of BF. Being 6 foot tall and about 220 pounds, there is no way that I even vaguely fit the characteristics of a giant hairy gorilla, this I will readily admit. On the other hand, no giant hairy gorilla would dare endeavor to make a fool of themselves, if they had been discovered during the attempt, so I figured that this made us about even. Looking like this, I went to a local sub-division bordered by a small woodland. Not even a thick woods, more like scattered trees with scrub brush everywhere. This wooded area bordered nicely manicured lawns, expensive houses, and access roads. Then, to make this as real as possible, I made sure that it was dark, too.

It was a warm spring evening when I tried this, so the ground foliage was well sprouted but still patchy in spots, and the trees were pretty much all leafed out. In the daylight, anyone could see pretty deeply into this tangle of greenery, and unless you were dog or cat sized, a human's presence would be fairly apparent, at least out to about 50 feet or so. After that, it became increasingly more difficult to see deeper as the brush began to quickly obscure usable vision. Hiding and getting anywhere near this civilization would have been virtually impossible, but just remember, this was during the day.

After dark it was a totally different story. No matter who or how many people could see you, once you penetrated not more than 5 feet into the depths of woodland, your form almost completely disappeared. This is where I decided to begin my research, a little past that 5 foot mark.

Entering the brush down a bit from the actual sub-division, I moved through the wooded area inside the tree line, walking quietly, but not gingerly, slowly making my way past house after house and yard after yard. A few yards ahead of me was a gathering of people, some sort of yard party, maybe 20 or so genuine humans, and I moved along steadily in that direction. This would be a critical test of my theory as there were so many eyes and so many lights, I almost could not imagine remaining invisible.

They were making enough noise to mask any sound that I made, so I didn't have to worry about stepping on and breaking branches, and when I did that, no one could hear it at all. I moved directly in front of the party, out in the scrub, blending with the trees and the shadows, standing there for a good half-hour literally daring someone to see me, but no one noticed. My estimate put me between 7 and 10 feet behind the tree line, and even at that small amount of distance, I was positively invisible. One couple walked hand in hand towards the trees and stopped directly in front of me, so close that I could hear their whispers and their breathing. My heart pounded, and I thought for sure they would hear that, but this couple stayed occupied with each other and after a few minutes finally went back to the party. I had been standing in front of a tree, but sideways to mimic the way it stood, brush and other plants covering my legs, shadows of scrub breaking up my silhouette. However, in actuality, my entire upper torso was completely exposed to view. Still, no one noticed and I'll wager that everyone who looked out that way saw me as the tree and never gave it a second glance, the hand in hand couple as well.

After this little episode, and with my heart pumping a bit slower, I decided to try moving, first going deeper into the woods away from people and then moving sideways. Filled with a bit of anxiety at first, I soon found out that both ways were easy. Going away, I just made sure I kept in front of a tree, and when I moved, I went behind it first, and then to the front of the next one, quietly yet deliberately. No one was the wiser.

Moving parallel was even easier. I picked out a tree, no matter how thick or thin, and moving from behind one, I took a few easy gliding steps and moved behind another one. I always stood sideways behind these trees making sure my silhouette was as small as it could be. Although I broke some branches, moved clumsily at times, and even tripped over a branch and fell once to all fours, I remained virtually invisible.

After I had proven to myself how truly easy it was to remain unseen only a few yards out, I was filled with a bit more confidence, so I had to take this show on the road. Literally. I moved out of that wooded area, made my way out to the adjoining highway, and found a rather large tree that I could stand behind as traffic went by. I stood behind this tree with traffic whizzing past at near 60 miles per hour, and there was absolutely no reaction. So I stood sideways against the tree and with blackface reflecting not a shred of light, there once again was no reaction. It was not until I broke free from the influence of the tree where I was casting a different shadow that people saw me and began to slow down. Some flashed lights to see what this crazy person in all black was doing out there next to the highway. But once again, as soon as I blended with my surroundings in the darkness, I became completely invisible.

I don't at all claim that this was scientific at any rate, and please don't try this at home kiddies. It just seemed to me that a total novice in a woodland setting, that uses a little makeup for camouflage, and walks around on the edge of civilization, can literally remain hidden from view even when people are looking. Although elementary and a bit amateurish to be sure, what I accomplished gives a good indication that if a creature was present in a wilderness and didn't want to be seen, it would be a fairly easy task to avoid detection. Particularly if was at night, among large trees, with dark colored fur, anywhere on the American continent. I would be willing to bet that one could hide nearly anything from eyesight in those surroundings, so long as you made it look like a tree in the darkness. And after all, isn't that exactly what a Sasquatch imitates?

This whole purpose was to contest all of the knowledgeable people the world over, who continue to insist that a creature as large and as hefty as Bigfoot, could not possibly be where it is purported to be. However, the reality as I have attempted to prove, shows that Sasquatch is a creature perfectly camouflaged within its native surroundings. Even suburban tree lots and scrub brush are enough to hide a full grown BF after dark. Couple that adaptation with an inherent behavior of stealth and reclusiveness, add in a high degree of intellect, and you come up with an animal that can, quite literally, disappear right before your very eyes and hide in plain sight.

* The woodland area that I was using for this research was connected to a public use park, so I broke no trespassing or other laws in doing what I was doing.

Can you see me? The forked tree on the right-center is roughly half the width of my body, yet I am standing behind it with basic yard light illumination. If you look closely and know I am there, you can see my slightly lighter jacket protruding from the left side of that tree. If you are not looking, I can remain there all night, or move off slowly into infinity behind me.