Aloha Tide Riders and welcome to the first installment of a brand-new saga on New School Classic Cryptids. In this jam-packed episode of Strange Tides, we head deep into the tangled forests, icy mountain passes, and fog-shrouded folklore of the world’s most enduring mystery primates—Bigfoot and his global cousins. From the towering redwoods of the Pacific Northwest to the snowy slopes of the Himalayas, humans have been reporting sightings of large, hairy, human-like creatures for centuries. But are these beings all part of the same phenomenon… or do they represent something much more complex?

We kick things off with a dive into North America’s big celebrity cryptid: Bigfoot—also known as Sasquatch. We’ll walk through the timeline of sightings, famous evidence like the Patterson-Gimlin Film, and behavioral patterns researchers say point to Bigfoot being more than just legend. Then we trek across the globe to explore the icy lore of the Yeti, the elusive creature said to haunt the Himalayas. Is it just a bear… or something far stranger?

Next, we head south to the dense jungles of Sumatra to look at the smaller but no less fascinating Orang Pendek, a pint-sized primate cryptid that might actually be one of the most plausible candidates for a real, undiscovered hominid. And if you’ve ever wondered whether any of these sightings could be tied to Gigantopithecus—a real, giant ape that went extinct (or did it?)—we’ve got you covered there, too.

As always, we bring the classic Strange Tides balance of folklore, science, and speculation. We’ll unpack possible biological explanations, dive into the cultural roots of these stories, and of course, take a stroll through the Tinfoil Teepee to explore wilder theories involving interdimensional portals, the possibility of fantastic beasts and where to find them, as well as Hollow Earth guardians. Yes, really.

So grab your trail mix and night vision goggles—this one’s a trek through some of the deepest, hairiest mysteries on Earth.

Links:

The Wilderness Hunter by Teddy Roosevelt -

https://archive.org/details/wildernesshunter04roos

Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance by Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury -

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=39421

Among the Himalayas by Lawrence Waddell -

https://archive.org/details/himalayas00waddamongrich

The Long Walk by Slawomir Rawicz -

https://archive.org/details/longwalk0000rawi