For the past few months I’ve railed against the connections between the fringe right, militant anarchists, paramilitary racists, and the belief in cryptids and aliens. The idiocy of the the Hellier pseudo-docuseries has fused with the Nashville bombing and even the Capitol insurrection in my blog to the point that some doubt my assertion that one form of bullshit contributes to the other.
Hulu’s compelling and brilliantly written documentary series, Sasquatch, proves my point perfectly.
The Sasquatch documentary reveals the links between the remote places of America where criminal activity flourishes fueled by drug culture, desperation, poverty, myths of cryptids, and the dark whispers of backwoods murders corroborated by missing persons posters and shallow graves. Unlike the classist monstrosity that is Hellier, Sasquatch manages to look at the deeper connections between people, the unconscious, the forgotten places in the deep woods, and man’s darkest impulses and how these collide to produce genuine horror. The tale of ex-hippies turned gun-fetishists in California’s Emerald Triangle points away from the paranormal and to the purely relatable yet more terrifying domains of greed, xenophobia, and substance abuse.
The problem with shows like Hellier is that they don’t realize the danger they invite upon their fandoms. Sasquatch serves as a caveat to would-be Hellier-inspired cryptid hunters and provides a peek behind the curtain at the power of myth to serve evil purposes. There may not be a Big Foot lurking in forests of the Pacific Northwest, but there’s something far more sinister than a tin can or a toy balloon. Sasquatch is a grown-up’s answer to the childishness of cave goblins.
My Job Is Scaring You 