Just out of curiosity, when did the Bigfoot 'myth' start, first European settlers, or after the migrations West?
The myth goes back to the Native Americans, before settlers ever arrived here, brought down by oral tradition. There are, apparently certain places in Oregon and Washington and BC where the natives were scared to go, because the Sasquatch supposedly lived there.
From what I've seen it seems that the phenomenon of a large, ape-like creature hiding in the wild is not confined to North America, there is the Abominable Snowman, for instance, which sounds pretty much like the same creature.
I think that, as with space aliens, there's something about the posibillity of a near-human creature lurking in the shadows, just beyond view, that fascinates people and speaks to the human mind.
A more recent myth would be the Jersey Devil, which is said to live in the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. This creature is, according to one version of the story, the cursed progeny of a woman living on a farm in South Jersey in the 1700s. It's known for stalking people and occasionally killing chickens and livestock. This myth is the product of white European descendents, as far as I know.
And, once, when I was a teenager, I had my own "Jersey Devil" experience...
