The "BIGFOOT IS DEAD!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at the cover of a magazine that my daughter-in-law, Barbara, had just dropped off at my house at Woodcrest Villas.  My son, her husband, Derek works at a business that distributes a wide variety of items; magazines being one of them.  One of the magazines she dropped off at my house was titled "Skeptical Inquirer."  Never had heard of it before, but found it to be a rather interesting read.  The cover of the magazine had an inch high, two line, bold headline that read "BIGFOOT IS DEAD".

Drew my attention to say the least!  Page 4 had an article titled FROM THE EDITOR.  The editor, Ben Bradford, began by asking, "Is Bigfoot Dead?" The story continues with...In the article, before considering the evidence, we first encounter a history of key developmental milestones, such as Bigfoot's 1958 birth in the pages of the "Humboldt Times" based on footprints discovered in California.  In the years that followed, the idea of Bigfoot continued to develop with evidence such as the 1967 film of the beast's stroll through a forest.  Skeptical Inquirer wasn't yet around to report on Bigfoot's first steps, but reporting was well underway by the time he reached maturity.  Type "Bigfoot" into the search tool at skepticalinquirer.org to find over 200 results from many  noted contributors.  You'll also find that Paul Kurtz wrote the first SI Bigfoot article, titled "Bigfoot on the Loose: Or How to Create a Legend," in the Fall 1980 issue.  And, more recently there are more monstrous insights such as "Bigfoot Lookalikes: Tracking Hairy Man-Beasts.  But....there's one thing...there hasn't been a cover featuring Bigfoot in all that time.  Given that the skeptical community has been criticized for focusing too much on frivolous topics, Mr. Hupp decided to search to see when Bigfoot last made a cover appearance.  Seems it's been over two decades since Ben's reporting made the cover in 2002.  By comparison, 2021 was the last time a UFO was on the cover, and at least nine other covers have featured stories on encounters with extraterrestrials.  In a previous issue, the U.S. government and the Mexican government both appear to be taking claims of encounters with extraterrestrials seriously, but they seem to care less about Bigfoot.  Perhaps their apathy is related to absent findings from shows such as "Finding Bigfoot" and the "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty."  Overall, the thorough reporting in the magazines cover story points to the reality that true belief in Bigfoot is indeed dead, and I thank Ben for the article and Celestia Ward for beautifully depicting the funeral on the cover!  Lastly, one of the things that I love about this magazine is its ability to report on fun topics, such as Bigfoot and UFO's, while also covering more important topics, such as some of the other featured articles in this issue on the judicial system, brain training, and cancer.  I hope you enjoy all the discoveries within.  Editor: Stephen Hupp.  Perhaps you may want to try out an issue of "Skeptical Inquirer" in the future, or maybe you might be to skeptical about the idea.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.