Sasquatch

A fascinating dab of investigative documentary-making centered on journo David Holthouse trying to find the truth behind a supernatural encounter he'd witnessed whilst working on a Californian drug farm in the early 1990s. The doc becomes a bit of a shaggy-dog story after that, encompassing both the history of bigfoot sightings in the area, the drug trade, the exploitation of illegal workers and everything in between. It likely didn't need to be over three parts and long sections of it feel drawn out or unnecessary - but Holthouse is a charismatic narrator and his "weaponized dissociative behavior" makes him appear wildly fearless amongst the cast of the strange and dangerous interviewees he encounters along the way. A meandering but atmospheric tale, this, with a surprising amount of depth and empathy. I hope this isn't the last we see of him.

In this doc you are not going to find any revelations of real Sasquatch events building evidence the creature exists. So if you click on this doc thinking that you'll be disappointed. Instead it takes a story of Sasquatch massacre from a level of a folktale to a possible real event. In this you'll get twists and turns as the area around Humbolt County is a bizarre mix of the lawless old west and the counterculture getting squeezed out from their last outpost in the continental US. In other words it is a sparsely populated area that has plenty of characters who live outside of the norms and laws we are much more rigidly conformed to otherwise. Centered around the growing of marijuana illegally and legally there's a disconnect from the normal rules and lifestyles we all live by. In this atmosphere comes a Sasquatch story where three men were "shredded and mangled to death" by a Sasquatch. Is there any truth? Did, in fact, three men who were pretty much illegal aliens from Mexico meet a grisly death? If so, were these men victims of a Sasquatch attack? If you stick through this you get what is very likely the real gist of the story. Though too long it does deliver in the end an answer. As such I enjoyed it but admit it has nothing for those who want that proof Sasquatch exists.

I was all geared up for this. I love Bigfoot stories and documentaries. This is not one.

The first episode talks about the story of how Bigfoot allegedly killed three men at a pot farm in 1993, just like the description says. But after that, it just becomes a documentary about the marijuana farm scene in Northern California from the 1980s until today. It's an okay documentary about that, but ridiculous to mislead viewers into thinking this has anything to do with Sasquatch. That subject is barely touched upon here.

With some of the garbage docs that Netflix has been churning out recently Hulu decided they can play the game too. They hook you in with the title and get you thinking maybe this might be a fun romp down the old Big Foot trail, but nooooooope, this is almost all about weed and hippies and paranoia. If they had just said that up front with an appropriate title I might have watched anyways.

Very misleading tittle and artwork, but if you are a fan or interested on true crime give it a try.