Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 01 | Chief Big Foot and Finding Bigfoot Season 2 Premiers

Photo of Chief Big Foot taken on January 1st 1891, 2 days after the Wounded Knee massacre .

This photo had been taken on January 1, 1891, two days after the chief was killed by a horrific revengeful Seventh Cavalry gone berserk. Although far from the cryptozoological Bigfoot, Chief Big Foot got his namesake in a similar way; not from his actual feet, but from his tracks. Jut as Jerry Crew's 16 inch print discoveries led the media to describe our favorite cryptid as Bigfoot, Chief Big Foot was also known for his extra large snowshoe prints he left while pursuing deer. In other words, white people have been abusing the word Bigfoot 70 years earlier than we thought. It should be noted that only U.S. soldiers referred to the Chief as Big Foot, he was known by the Lakota as Spotted Elk (Unpan Glešká).

Spotted Elk (Chief Big Foot) The son of Lone Horn, he was cousin to Crazy Horse and half brother of Sitting Bull. He became chief upon his father's death in 1875.

Though skilled in war, he was known as a great man of peace, adept at settling quarrels between rival parties. Known for his political and diplomatic successes, he was often called upon to mediate disputes. Following their defeat during the War for the Black Hills, he encouraged his people to live in peace, and to adapt to the white men’s ways while retaining their native language and cultural traditions. He encouraged them to adapt to life on the reservation by developing sustainable agriculture and building schools, taking a peaceful attitude toward white settlers.

This makes all the more tragic the circumstances of his death. Sick with pneumonia, he was en route to the Pine Ridge Reservation, seeking shelter with Red Cloud's band. Apprehended, he became a victim of the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) in which nearly 300 men, women and children of his tribe lost their lives.

Cliff Barackman trying to be a "baby Bigfoot"

On a less somber note, on January 1st, 2012 the second season of Finding Bigfoot kicked off. Below is an excerpt from the full Finding Bigfoot press release.

Over the course of 10 hour-long episodes, Animal Planet’s FINDING BIGFOOT returns for a brand-new season on Sunday, January 1, 2012, at 10 PM (ET/PT) for further expeditions to investigate reports of the mysterious bigfoot. From small towns in the South to remote areas of the mountain West and dense forest of the Northeast and into Canada, four passionate, driven researchers and adventurers embark on one single-minded mission – to find this beast.

BFRO members Matt Moneymaker and James “Bobo” Fay, professional educator Cliff Barackman and skeptical biologist Ranae Holland engage in the ultimate quest in search of proof that Bigfoot really does exist – and that he or she is alive and abundant in North America. By examining photos and videos of the creature, speaking to local witnesses, using new technology and luring the mysterious beast with the team’s squatch calls, the group uncovers startling proof of the legendary and highly intelligent enigma that has eluded capture for centuries and fascinated man for just as long.

During the series premiere, called “Baby Bigfoot,” the quartet of investigators head to the Catskills in New York near Poughkeepsie to provide in-depth analysis of 15-year-old video footage from 1997 that indicates a juvenile or baby sasquatch could have been in the area at the time.

 Click the following link to read responses to the Baby Bigfoot episode.