By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Believe it or not, JoBlo‘s paranormal investigative program on YouTube, We Want to Believe, is going Bigfoot hunting! This show is, as long-time supporters know, very compact, and I’m very impressed at how well Jason Hewlett‘s introduction touches on the basics and goes further with the legend.
From Patterson–Gimlin’s creature footage from Northern California to its role within Indigenous beliefs where it’s commonly known as the Sasquatch, the gambit is well covered. The latter is important because we rarely think of this beast as a nature spirit. They protect the untamed land from interlopers, namely developers. When feeling threatened, they will throw rocks and emit foul odours to deter humans from coming near.
Part One re-familiarizes newcomers to the lore, including what makes this cryptid unique in Super, Natural British Columbia. We have to focus on what may be out there in the hills of Kelowna because that’s where this show is from. In the next two episodes, more meat will be offered, and all I know is that they obviously survived whatever they faced in them thar hills.
These creatures are also believed to lurk somewhere around Sooke, British Columbia. I’ve heard a few tales of screams–mating calls or something. Just what sends shivers down a human spine is simply explained by Chris Bose, Indigenous artist and storyteller, and he is no longer frightened by them. He also claims to have met one up close during a tribal rite.
The First Nations relationship with the beast is far more symbiotic because they respect the immaterial world. This focus is rare when considering the amount of recent works I’ve viewed which don’t touch upon the subject at all. We see the group paying tribute to the land before camping out for the night! This latest entry makes this work shine above all other network television attempts since it shows people paying homage like Bigfoot was King Kong.
It’s not to say Bose is right. I’m one who doesn’t believe they are part of some alien experiment. UFOs are one thing, Cryptids are another… as for the Hollow Earth theory, something must explain how the species quietly spread.
Over the centuries of wandering primeval forests, spreading around the planet and adapting to various climates, they must have the same forebear.
