I first heard of BigFoot in the mid-60’s, there was a big flap over sightings. My Granddad lived on an isolated ranch in Texas and I asked him one day if he had ever heard or seen anything about such a creature. He answered matter-of-factly as if talking about a mountain lion or any other unusual animal sighting in his area.
Paraphrased: “Used to see one every once a while, but haven’t seen one since the 30’s. We called them Skunk Apes because you smelled them more than you saw them. They really had a stink.”
Another interesting story came from a Forest Ranger in Colorado perhaps 30 years ago. He reported finding one very large human-type footprint on the bank of a creek. He said he couldn’t imagine any faker bothering to put one track in such an isolated spot where the chance of anyone finding it was one-in-a million as it was in gravel/mud on the bank of a small creek 5 miles from any road and not near any trail.
Two Apaches, mother and daughter, I knew, saw one in Texas in 1970s. They were so scared they moved to California, which didnt help much.