Bigfoot with Lulu Miller
What’s that sound?! Leaving the campfire and trekking into the dark woods, Sarah confronts her childhood Bigfoot-phobia by following the footprints of America’s favorite cryptid with fellow investigator Lulu Miller. Sarah does her best to scare Lulu with the famous Patterson-Gimlin film and wonders about Bigfoot’s boobs—and eventually, the investigation leads to even bigger questions about nature, wonder, and belief.
Bigfoot Exposed by David J. Daegling:
https://archive.org/details/bigfootexposedan0000daeg_n9e1
More about Lulu:
https://radiolab.org/team/lulu-miller
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Comments (57)
I am also a woman who is very grateful to the more suspicious women who protect me all the time.
I. By
I hope Sarah and Lulu have both heard the song Mothman by ratwyfe 🩷
Would be fun to have Chelsea W.S. tell her bigfoot encounter story sometime. Heard her tell it to Jim on Eiphonet. Creepy!
My parents were very obsessed with The Curse of Oak Island during its early years. We’re from Halifax, and they even brought my family to the Oak Island Inn for a night during spring break 2015. Early marketing for the show really pushed the “seven men must die but only six have died so far!” narrative. So the show’s appeal was not-so-secretly couched in morbid anticipation that someone would die on the show. Unfortunately, I think a few involved in production have died over the years. Meaning more than 7 have already died, no treasure has revealed itself, and the show’s been falling off as a result. The whole thing reminds me of marketing tactics Chelsea talks about with the What Went Wrong pod in their new ep. Perhaps a Sarah and Chelsea bonus on the Oak island curse?👀
Sarah are you still working on your satanic panic book?
I now want to hear Sarah’s take on Oak Island desperately (apologies if you already did it and I somehow MISSED IT).
How was there no Harry and the Hendersons talk?! Not like Sarah to miss that opportunity. Also, another class Bigfoot named Sarah here. Namastae, tall girl. Namastae.
But have you heard of Mormon Bigfoot theology??
Omg, I have to tell you this, as a Portlander. I'm at the Lloyd Center, and in the old Loft on the 2nd floor there is a non-profit campaign, The Braided River Gallery. They've converted the dressing room area into a Peace Walk. The rooms are themed for pictures and there are hopeful quotes. One of the dressing rooms is Big Foot themed. How we need to protect the climate for Big Foot. Its super cute. I don't know if its here long term, but you should get pictures if you're in town! I took some, but can't attach here 😂 Thanks for the episode!
If anyone is in Western North Carolina, the WNC Bigfoot Festival in Marion, NC is on August 23, 2025!
Would you ever consider doing a bonus episode about the book "Sociopath: A memoir" by Patric Gagne? I just read it and I thought about all the times you've talked about sociopathy in the past--would love to hear your perspective!
Another great book if you're interested in the subject is The Unidentified by Colin Dickey. It goes into the politics of indigeneity and monsters, as well as the concept of monster vs cryptid. It's both a fun read and goes into depth in some unexpected places.
I wasn’t scared of Bigfoot but being from NJ, I was terrified of the Jersey Devil.
Oklahoma is also very into Bigfoot but I think it’s more of a co-opted tourism grab
As a Midwesterner, I was never too worried about Bigfoot, lol. The vibe I got was that they just wanted to be left alone, so if you happened upon one, no you didn’t. 😂 Kind of a gentle giant figure, I guess. When I moved to Oregon circa 2015 I was shocked at how prevalent he was in PNW culture.
I can’t wait to listen to this tomorrow!
Any chance of a YWA on the history channel series “history of sex”??
Wonderful episode <3 felt so comforting nostalgic old school YWA
The podcast This Is Love just put an episode out about Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring (mentioned in this episode) and her relationship with another woman that's really sweet.
I grew up in Oregon too, but I don't remember being afraid of Bigfoot. I think this is because the only Bigfoot media I was exposed to was the movie Harry and the Henderson's, which taught me that Bigfoot (Harry) is a vegetarian who loves dogs and just wants to live in peace with his family in the woods. Thank you for this fun bonus ep!
Loved this ep! It made me think of the book “Remarkable Creatures” by Tracy Chevalier where two women discover fossils that all of the male geologists think are nonsense. That would be a great topic!
Why are tents: It gets cold in the woods and it's hard to put a hatchback in a canoe.
Thank you for this gentle gift of an episode!
Believing in bigfoot, or mermaids, or aliens, or the loch ness monster always feels like a treat to myself. Like yes with everything going on I deserve to believe bigfoot might be out there! 😂
Humboldt local here! Bigfoot is a way of life
Yes!! I grew up there, and Bigfoot always meant so much to me.
Long time listener, first time commenter - I had to comment because I while listening to this podcast, I was looking at pottery tools online - one tool is called a 'big foot,' so the website has this t-shirt. My brain melted a little to see it while I was listening to the podcast! Bigfoot is everywhere o_o!
https://dirtygirlspotterytools.com/collections/t-shirts-merch/products/bigfoot-limited-edition-t-shirt
Who is the author of the book that Sarah references several times?
Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend - David J. Daegling - Google Books https://share.google/P45b7IuDZwm71SJ0N
YIPPIE!!!! Oh how I love to hear Sarah’s voice!
I just listened to your coyotes episode and then saw this on Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMS7SJo4S/
Does anyone know more details about the study Lulu talks about at like 52 mins? I’m super curious
“A jetson or I guess a flinstone at this point” is sooo funny 😂
Shout out to The Weakerthans (John K Samson) song "Bigfoot!", about a person unfairly maligned after reporting a Bigfoot sighting.
" I changed the oils and oiled the squeaks Patched the holes and fluid leaks At dusk beneath a diabetic moon And wait to take the TV crews Across the creaking ice The news is howling To the timber wolves and soon I'll go through it all again Watch their doubtful smiles begin But the visions that I see believe in me So praise the things I can't forget With burgers and a silhouette On t-shirts at the council general store I'll listen to the south winds sigh With rumors and regrets And I don't wanna talk about it anymore Won't go through it all again Watch their doubtful smiles begin When the visions that I see believe in me Oh the visions that I see They will believe me "
My sister is in Portland this week with her 10 year old who has been obsessed with Bigfoot for about 3 years. She planned a little trip for the two of them to go look for Bigfoot! Can’t imagine a cuter thing for a mom to do! I wish everyone had a mom who embraced their interests like that! I love it! Great episode! I can’t wait to tell my Bigfoot expert nephew all about it! ❤️🤩
This episode reminded me of a beautiful book of poetry I read in college callee Bigfoot For Women. Highly recommend it, and it references bigfoot throughout
I bet you saw the Bigfoot episode of the "In Search of ..." TV show (hosted by Leonard Nimoy). The music from that episode is the creepiest thing I have ever heard.
In Search Of (with Leonard Nimoy) was such a gem for us Gen X folks into keeping open to the possibilities. [It was Unsolved Mysteries, before U.M. existed.]
As a preteen in Portland I also was afraid of big foot! But mine was more irrational, such as that one would break into my house when I was home alone.
I've been struggling with Baby's First Herniated Disc lately, but huge thank you to Sarah for giving me the perspective to have gratitude that as hard as things might be right now, at least I don't have to deal with Growing Bones And Then Getting Up Early For School anymore 😭
loved this episode! if you're interested in Bigfoot then I highly recommend the Wellington Paranormal episode "Te Maero" about the Māori version of Bigfoot. it's very silly but also surprisingly informative for a comedy show!
As someone who thinks A LOT about Bigfoot this was very exciting to wake up to lol
another great episode and it's great to hear hopeful thoughts about the unknown world! A question about the end credits music, is is possible to get a longer version of as a track someplace? I really like it and think it could be a nice standalone song!
Yes! You could have a mini episode about how you chose it!
as a kid who also grew up watching specials on bigfoot, the shroud of tourin, and other pseudoscientific shows on the History Channel and took them to be real because "why would the capital-H capital-C History Channel be able to put out things that weren't true?" - I appreciate Sarah (and chelsea weber-smith) taking on these topics. It's helped me to process that time in my life as a small (well, I was also the class bigfoot as a child) conspiracy theorist
“capital-H capital-C History Channel” made me laugh out loud, thank you
My brother and I used to watch a show called "animal x" (I think) on animal planet, and they hunted cryptids. It made me so scared of mothman!! I rewatched it on prime recently and it was such a cheesy show 🤣 so funny looking back on what scares us!
so exciting!!!
Australian here, in juxtaposition to this lovely episode I am sharing news that last year it was reported that a team of scientists attempting to 'de-extinct' the beloved Tasmanian tiger shared that they have made significant advancements, including producing a reconstructed thylacine genome that is 99.9 per cent accurate.
Your final point made me wonder if you'd come across this oft quoted section from Terry Pratchett's 'Hogfather' (for context one of the characters here is the anthropomorphic personification of Death, whose speech is styled in all-caps without speech marks) “All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable." REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE. "Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—" YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES. "So we can believe the big ones?" YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING. "They're not the same at all!" YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED. "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—" MY POINT EXACTLY.”
To answer one question raised in this episode, we can turn to the foremost authority on the subject: the late Mitch Hedberg. “I think Bigfoot *is* blurry. That’s the problem.”
LET'S GO
NO WAY
BLESS YOU!