Reasonable Doubt
American Monster
Everything you need to know about the mess that is America in 2019 can be explained by our deepening national belief that Bigfoot is real
I. Patterson’s Beast
This begins, as it must, in childhood. The year is 1982, and I am six years old, sitting cross-legged on a living room carpet, transfixed by the television. The show I’m watching concerns monsters — no doubt a documentary with a tautology for a title, something similar to Unexplained Mysteries, or else a docudrama kin to In Search Of. What I see in this television program, whatever it’s called, causes all the plates in me to quiver and shift. Something truly tectonic happens. It’s almost — religious.
Across a bleached creek bed, in fluid, calm possession of its hirsute bulk, strides a monster. For a full 50 seconds, it ambles into the woods, obviously set on fleeing whoever has just invaded its domain with a handheld movie camera. At first the footage jolts and quakes, because the invader has arrived on horseback, and upon spotting and smelling the bipedal beast, the horse reared up, chucking its rider. But then the rider finds his feet and poise, and for a few seconds the film settles down. And there, for all the world to witness, is Bigfoot.
