A land bridge between continents.

Ancient stories of wild men in the forest.

And, deep in the Pacific Northwest, footprints too large to easily explain.

In this first part of Haunted UK Podcast’s Bigfoot special, Steve begins exploring one of the world’s most enduring cryptid mysteries — the legend of Sasquatch. Chosen by listeners for the end-of-season break, this episode traces Bigfoot from ancient folklore and Indigenous tradition through early sightings, strange photographs, famous encounters, and the moment the creature entered modern popular culture.

The journey begins with stories said to reach back to Norse explorers, Native American accounts, petroglyphs, and the many names given to huge, hair-covered beings across North America and Canada. From there, the episode moves into the mysterious 1894 Lillooet photograph, the alleged dead creature linked to the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the unanswered question of what happened to the body and any further images.

Steve then explores two of the most famous early Bigfoot encounters: the 1924 Ape Canyon attack near Mount St. Helens, where a group of miners claimed their cabin was besieged by large, human-like creatures throwing rocks through the night; and the extraordinary account of Albert Ostman, who said he was carried away in his sleeping bag and held for several days by a family of Sasquatch-like beings in British Columbia.

The episode also investigates the 1958 Bluff Creek footprints, the origin of the name “Bigfoot”, the role of Gerry Crew, the Humboldt Times, Ray Wallace, alleged hoaxes, Native American testimony, and the wider question of whether all of this can be dismissed as folklore, misidentification, and practical jokes — or whether something genuinely unknown may be moving through the forests.

Atmospheric, curious, and grounded in the strange tension between evidence and legend, this opening chapter sets the stage for one of cryptozoology’s most debated mysteries: a creature seen in glimpses, recorded in footprints, and still waiting somewhere between myth, hoax, and possibility.

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