Childhood Bigfoot sighting in San Bernardino Mountains

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Student
Residence: Redlands, CA
Language: English

Text:

AB: “Okay, so when I was eleven years old, I remember I had spent a lot of time in elementary school fighting against the superstitions of the other kids, arguing with them that their beliefs weren’t real. Then one day, in the winter, I was snowshoeing with my younger brother in the San Bernardino Mountains.”

[Younger brother who was present at AB’s retelling]: “I was there?”

AB: “Yeah, you were. We were walking through the woodchip field in the forest. The snow was really deep and at some point we got separated. All of a sudden, I saw this large, dark figure walking in between two trees. I knew it was bigfoot because it was walking weird – they have this really weird way of walking, I’ve never been able to replicate it. Then because the snow was so deep, I fell down and it took me like two minutes to get back up because I was wearing snowshoes. When I looked back at the trees, there was nobody there. 

“I knew about bigfoot because I watched a lot of TV specials about him, discovery channel stuff. My friends had also told me about bigfoot. But then no one believed me when I told them about what I saw, and people kept making little snide comments about it. My family just won’t let it go even now. I would say I grew up in a very ‘scientific-minded’ community. So over the years from all this pestering from everyone, I just stopped believing in Bigfoot altogether.”

Context: Informant AB grew up in a rural community in Southern California called Forest Falls. His parents are both psychologists and members of the Seventh-day Adventist church, which is a Protestant Christian denomination that generally condemns belief in all supernatural beings except for demons, angels, God, and Satan. AB does not currently identify with Adventist beliefs and describes himself as agnostic. Among family and friends, AB is known for his sarcasm, intelligence, and argumentativeness. He is currently pursuing a doctorate of psychology at an Adventist university.

Analysis: AB’s story serves as a memorate to the legend of Bigfoot. The details he describes correspond with several popular characterizations of the cryptid (i.e. tall, dark fur, elusive, lives in forests). Interestingly, AB’s parents are both from the Pacific Northwest, where the legend of Bigfoot/Sasquatch has the most cultural weight in the contiguous United States. AB notes that he was not inclined to believe in any supernatural beings before his personal experience, and he then faced skepticism from his family and peers to such a degree that he felt forced to give up his belief once again. AB’s experience demonstrates the dynamics of folk belief in social circles that discourage ‘superstition’ and reflects dismissive attitudes towards children’s beliefs and experiences.

White Peacock Encounter & Mythology

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Director of Student Engagement for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: “So, I was in Scotland for my fortieth… Forty-fifth birthday. Fortieth birthday. Forty-fifth birthday. Yes, I’m sorry, I was in Scotland for my 45th birthday, and I was on my way to find Iona Abbey, because Iona is the birthplace of Scottish Christianity and is kind of a pilgrimage site. But to get to Iona Abbey, you have to go across several little tiny islands to catch a ferry over to Iona abbey. So um.. and these little tiny islands have like a one lane road.

“So, my honey bun and I were driving on the last… across the last little island to catch the ferry. When we came around a bend in the road, out in the middle of nowhere, no like, country, and there was this beautiful white peacock with its feathers fully displayed, standing in the middle of the road, just looking at us. So I freaked out. I’m like, ‘oh my god you see that white peacock?!’ So the white peacock is just standing in the middle of the road looking at us, and we’re looking at the white peacock. And it didn’t move, and it just had its beautiful feathers displayed. And I knew that that white peacock was there for me, I just didn’t know what it meant. But I knew it was there for me. It did not move until we started to creep the car forward, and when we finally started to creep the car forward a little bit, it moseyed — you know, in Oklahoma terminology — it just moseyed off the road. Um… but it was gorgeous, and I’d never seen a white peacock in the wild, and I certainly had never come around a bend and had one waiting for me. But I felt like that peacock had been waiting for me. So I was mesmerized, and if we hadn’t been in a hurry to catch the ferry — because we were catching the last ferry over, and we were of course running late — I would have gotten out and, you know, tried to interact with this peacock. So it always haunted me that I never interacted with this white peacock, because I knew it was there for me.

“So fast-forward to when I’m 50, and I’m reading a book by Meggan Watterson, who’s a Harvard-trained divinity scholar, and it’s called The Sutras of Unspeakable Joy, and I think it was sutra number 14… I think it was 14. She has a line in it that says, ‘I am nothing more than the albino peacock of my own incandescent soul.’ Well, the moment I read that line… You know those moments in life where your whole body goes aflame, you’re like, “Wah!! What does this mean?” It took me down lots of rabbit holes where I was trying to understand the symbology around white peacocks in particular, not just peacocks but white peacocks. Well, there’s a lot of different things. One is that if you see one, it portends that you are on the right path, and because I was sort of on my pilgrimage at that age, I was like ‘yes, this is — I’m on the right path.’ I was sort of starting my path towards my spiritual sovereignty, so for me it was about spiritual sovereignty, and just knowing that I’m on the right path. But there’s a whole mythology around white peacocks that’s connected to Kuan Yin. And I’m gonna totally butcher this, but I want you to look it up. If I could go back to my journaling, I have it written down. But Kuan yin at some point, a goddess, was incarnate. By choice, because she wanted to be here to help the humans. And for some reason she had to go back to wherever that is. And she, like…. um… See, I’m not gonna say this very well, but the mythology is that the eyes on the peacock? She’s the one who created the eyes on the peacock. And the eyes on the peacock are supposed to be looking out for humanity while she is not here. While she is, you know, on the side of the gods and goddesses — the eyes of the white peacock are supposed to do that work for her.

“I just thought that was really cool because part of my growing up years, you know, I did my doctoral research about abusive Christianity, and I framed that through a panoptic gaze, and a punitive gaze, and it was so lovely to have a different framing of a gaze… And these eyes on the peacock feathers were a loving gaze, and a watchful gaze, but in protective way, and not like a “Let me see what all you’re doing wrong,” you know that kind of a gaze. So that’s partially why it was so striking to me. But look up the mythology around white peacocks, its pretty cool. And so now white peacocks are one of my… Totem animals, spirit animals? I don’t know what you would call it, but yes, there’s the story.”

Context: Informant RS is a highly educated individual from the Oklahoma with multiple PhDs. A key part of her life was recognizing and healing from the abusiveness of the religious tradition that raised her. After graduating college, she spent many years exploring different spiritual traditions that valued divine femininity, intuition, animism, and environmentalism. RS currently identifies as Pagan and feels a spiritual connection to Scotland, especially upon learning that she has ancestral connections there. She is also a Carl Jung enthusiast and values his theories of archetypes and synchronicity. Kuan Yin is the Buddhist goddess of compassion.

Analysis: RS’s experience with and reaction to the white peacock is reminiscent of various (and often overlapping) traditions including witchcraft, Wicca, Native American spirituality and Paganism that ascribe magical or spiritual powers to non-human beings. Thus, she interpreted the peacock sighting as a sign of guidance, protection, and compassion during a formative point in her spiritual journey. Her knowledge of Kuan Yin’s mythology in Chinese culture reflects her education and spiritual exploration, and she was able to translate her experience in terms of spiritual and religious folklore she had studied.

Kappa

AGE: 81

Date_of_performance: April 10, 2025

Language: Japanese

Nationality: Japanese

Occupation: Retired

Primary Language: Japanese

Residence: Yokohama

Context: The Kappa are river creatures that drown people and it’s a cautionary tale to be careful in water. B also naturally heard of the Kappa as she grew up in Japan. But today she doesn’t interpret it as the scary monsters they originally were, as Japanese media has made them more cute over the years.

Text: 

Interviewer is I. Subject is B

I: What’s another legend you like?

B: The one of the Kappa because I find them cute!

I: Can you say what Kappa are exactly?

B: They were originally ugly creatures but now they are cuter and even come up in that kids show that your cousin watches

I: Do you think the legend of the Kappa lost a little meaning from what it once was?

B: I think more and more people are forgetting they were meant to be dangerous creatures. But I also like the new Kappa and see no problem with them being nice creatures

Analysis:

The Kappa are interesting to me because I feel like overtime their haunting nature has been overshadowed by the cute lens that Japanese media has begun to paint them in. Kappa can be seen in kids shows and even other adult animes where they serve the roles of good characters. I’m curious if this is in a way killing the traditional folklore as their entire image is being shifted. Overall I also don’t see too much problem with it as their design and characteristics are being preserved, with the only things changing is their image from bad to good.

La Patasola

AGE: 21

Date_of_performance: April 10, 2025

Language: English

Nationality: Colombian

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: New York

Context: The story of La Patasola is a Colombian legend about this very beautiful woman who cries out for help at first, but if a man approaches she transforms into a creature with one leg and long claws, attacking them and eating them. Some say she used to be a beautiful woman that cheated on her husband and had her leg chopped off. Now, she targets men who are not loyal to their wives. L first heard this story from his cousin, who talked about the importance of faithfulness. L interprets it as a cautionary tale to not cheat on your partner.

Text: 

Interviewer is I. Subject is L.

I: What other legends have you heard?

L: My cousin told me the story of La Patasola, which is just a woman who turns into a monster and attacks men

I: Why does she do that?

L: I think it’s because she was killed for being unfaithful. But now she targets men who are trying to cheat apparently

I: What do you think the significance of the story is?

L: To be honest I don’t think it’s too deep aside from just telling people to stay loyal

Analysis:

The story of La Patasola does not seem as ambiguous of that of Urashimataro. It seems pretty straight-forward, she targets men who’ve cheat on their wives or any man that harms a woman. In a society where there is a lot of cheating and hook-up culture, I believe maybe some people should be reminded of La Patasola, and the dangers of cheating!

La Llorona

AGE: 21

Date_of_performance: April 10, 2025

Language: English

Nationality: Colombian

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: New York

Context: The story of La Llorona is one of a woman who drowned her children out of anger because of her husband’s infidelity, and took her own life after realizing what happened. Now her soul wanders forever, searching for her kids. L heard this story from his father who is an immigrant from Colombia, and in Colombia it is told she comes out around the Magdalena River. He interprets it as a cautionary tale for kids to not stay out too late at night.

Text: 

Interviewer is I. Subject is L.

I: Do you have any legends from your culture?

L: Yeah I know a lot of other cultures have this one but La Llorona is pretty well known

I: I’ve heard of that. What’s it about again?

L: It’s about this woman who lost her children and now wanders around looking for them. It’s a way to tell kids to stay away from water and to not stay out late

I: Did you believe it growing up and did your dad scare you with it?

L: Not really to be honest. But he definitely told me about it, he just didn’t bring it up after that like other Colombian parents may.

Analysis:

I think the story of La Llorona is tragic and very sad. I feel like it almost invokes a sense of empathy, for a mom who misses her children and continues to search for them. But yet I think it is very effective to keep children home and out of trouble. Although I was never told of the La Llorona growing up, I feel like if I was in a Colombian household I would believe it and obey curfews out of fear.