He’s Baaack!!

I learned about the Marion (NC) Bigfoot Festival last year . . . on the day after the festival. Well, I suppose the news is usually backward-looking. My disappointment at missing this festival spurred me to mark my calendar for 2026. The festival will be happening Saturday, August 29.

I was under the impression that Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) was a west coast phenomenon. Not so. I am hearing more and more about sightings in the Appalachian Mountains, and specifically in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Lest you think that we are dealing with the lunatic fringe, WUNC News recently replayed an episode of their podcast “The Broadside” (originally aired on 7/18/24) with the provocative title “Bigfoot is from North Carolina”. Apparently stories of Bigfoot are no longer relegated to the listeners of “Coast to Coast AM”.

The schedule of events is interesting: lectures, a presentation by NC Squatch Watchers (probably the Marion group Bigfoot 911), a Bigfoot calling contest, tales of close encounters with this notoriously shy cryptid, a reconnoiter down some of Bigfoot’s favorite trails in or near Marion, music, vendors, and of course, food.

It should be great fun. As for the photo at the top of this post, I took that a couple of days ago in our neighborhood. Of course, you know that it is just a silhouette cut from a sheet of metal.