Looking for Bigfoot?
In today’s newsletter, we pursue the benefits of a ‘Bigfoot’ search, discover the roots of a fatal Amazon attack, see a 98-year-old injustice rectified on a Pacific beach, hear about the hunt for the world’s first LGBTQ+ archive … and learn that an eel larva is, well, beautiful.
You don’t have to believe in Bigfoot to “go bigfooting.” And doing so can, in any event, have an unintended benefit for travelers—the opportunity to explore America’s unsung places.
The “search” helps travelers connect with nature and adds a dash of myth and folklore in deepening appreciation for the great outdoors.
“I’ve looked for Sasquatches in 46 states and five continents,” Cliff Barackman, a Bigfoot investigator, tells Nat Geo. “The Sierra Nevada, the tundra of Alaska, the craggy river bottoms of South Dakota—[Sasquatches] live in wonderful, wild areas.”
Read the full story here.
Pictured at the top of the story is Tom Sewid, a member of the Kwakwakaʼwakw tribe, who wears an outfit representing Dzunuḵ̓wa, a figure in mythology that resembles modern-day visions of Bigfoot. Above, a frequent Bigfoot search is through Oregon’s Cascades region.
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STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING
• A photographer documents her own gender transition
• Gladiators used more skill—and sometimes less blood, new findings show
• Want to see the real Paris? Walk this way.
• The long-lost secret in the Maya ruins of Palenque
• The hunt to find the world’s 1st LBGTQ+ archive
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The Amazon slayings: The headline grabs you from the start. “I knew the men murdered in the Amazon.” The murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira mark a new escalation in the battle for the Amazon, its resources, and its Indigenous defenders, Scott Wallace writes for Nat Geo. (Pictured above, a June 12 demonstration in Rio de Janeiro on behalf of the two victims.)
PHOTO OF THE DAY
What is it? The answer: eel larva. That’s one creature that Nat Geo Explorer Enric Sala saw on his Pristine Seas expedition off the coast of Colombia—and showcased in this collection on our Instagram page. “Our team found a great diversity of life from the surface to the deep, including an abundance of deep-sea fish around underwater mountain ridges. Some of those fish were the largest ever recorded for those species.” Sala’s Pristine Seas conservation program has helped create 26 marine reserves worldwide. See our feature from our August edition of National Geographic on Sala’s work.
IN A FEW WORDS
Money can buy you almost everything, but it has its limitations. It cannot buy you passion or fill a void.Adams Cassinga, Wildlife conservationist and criminal investigator; Nat Geo Explorer
FUTURE FORWARD
Justice: Nearly a century ago, a California town took away a Black couple’s stretch of the Pacific coastline, among many illegal seizures of land owned by people of color. Last week, after a long campaign, Los Angeles County now will lease the land from the Bruce family’s descendants; the agreement includes the option for the county to purchase the property for $20 million, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, an advocate for returning the land, Kavon Ward, looks at the ocean and Bruce’s Beach.)
