When Bigfoot became an alien (around 1973)

Talk about a flashback! In my latest podcast interview with Jason Colavito, we are discussing the alien-Bigfoot connection (in the context of Bigfoot as Nephilim) when Jason mentions the TV series Six Million Dollar Man that featured Bigfoot as a recurring character in four episodes, and once on the Bionic Woman show from 1976 to 1977.

The Secret of Bigfoot (part 1) aired on February 1, 1976. I was 5 years old, so I likely did not watch this but I do have a strong recollection of seeing these shows and being rather frightened by the Bigfoot character – he was huge and had a look very similar to the Patterson-Gimlin film Bigfoot (“Patty”). In fact, other than the lack of breasts, this Sasquatch suit fit pretty well in comparison to Patty. The head and face are always the hardest to make authentic-looking. This TV bigfoot featured creepy eyes and appeared roaring out of the shadows, giving me a serious case of the willies. Already obsessed with monsters, I loved it anyway.

Bigfoot (Andre the Giant) and Lee Majors as the Six Million Dollar Man. The storyline ended with the two becoming friends.

Check out the YouTube clip here.

Yep. Bigfoot in the show was an alien cyborg. Head to the Bionic Wiki to see the episode summaries.

In the podcast episode, Jason remarks that this was certainly the most popular association for Bigfoot as alien, maybe the first proper connection. But an earlier Fortean flap, a series of sightings of both UFOs and Bigfoot-like creatures, was documented by researcher Stan Gordon in Pennsylvania to have occurred from 1973 to 1974. In Stan’s book Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook (2010) we are able to track the reports as they begin with descriptions of lights and UFOs in January of 1973. In early summer, monster creatures reports come in. Some are just of glowing eyes. The UFO reports also continue. By late August 1973, the strangeness evolves, with Bigfoot-like creatures seen in conjunction with UFOs. It’s at this time when people start to assume they may be connected. Creature sighting reports flood in until October. UFO reports continue into 1974. Claimed sightings of both Bigfoot and UFOs come in at a higher than normal rate through the end of 1974. Some of the reports were so strange that they defied normal explanation. That is, the creatures had supernatural elements – glowing green eyes, strange movements, showing no effect from bullets fired at them, and vanishing in front of the witness via a beam of light.

Local newspapers covered the reports mainly in 1973. The events in western PA were part of a nationwide uptick in UFO reports later called the “wave” or “flap” of 1973. Check out this report on the national news.

It was very much a time of panic over UFOs for many citizens. Note that this does not mean we actually were being invaded by UFOs, it means many people reported UFOs and investigators did not get to the bottom of all the cases due to a lack of available information. In such cases, people often see what they believe or fear is there, turning mundane objects (like planes and helicopters) into mysterious ones and seeing normal events in an ominous framing. Steven Spielberg developed his script for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) at this time, supposedly influenced by the news reports of the Great UFO Wave of 1973.

So far, all these happenings in popular culture at this time point to a convergence of two paranormal ideas – UFOs as alien craft and Bigfoot. As Jason notes, it could very well be that the Bigfoot as Nephilim eventually arose out of the ashes of this Bigfoot-as-alien concept. Bigfoot reports seemed so weird that supernatural creep set it – people required a non-natural explanation to account for their report rather than admit their observations were incorrect.

#BigfootAsAlien #BionicMan #BionicWoman #GreatUFOWaveOf1973 #Nephilim #Sasquatch #SixMillionDollarMan #television #UFOs https://sharonahill.com/?p=3686
Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) on X

The trouble with bionics.

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@wild1145

Open source contributors are built? Not bred? Nor raised?

Have the machines already risen and I've missed it?

(-:

#biology #FOSDEM #SixMillionDollarMan

@retroist

It's also sort of the reason #SheHulk was created.

When it aired, another show, called the #SixMillionDollarMan was based on a book called #Cyborg. But the series created a character called #TheBionicWoman, who the network kept the rights to, because she was created by the program's writers.

So #StanLee made #SpiderWoman and the She Hulk to prevent the same thing happening in the #Marvel shows.

L’uomo da sei milioni di dollari: eroe cyborg, cadavere vero - Boomerissimo

Il cadavere scomparso di un bandito riappare e spaventa a morte L’uomo da sei milioni di dollari

Boomerissimo

KNIGHT RIDER-Reboot als Film von den COBRA KAI-Machern in Arbeit

Die Köpfe hinter der KARATE KID-Fortführung COBRA KAI befinden sich in „frühen Gesprächen“ mit Universal, um eine klassische Fernsehserie aus den 1980ern zu einem Film zu machen: KNIGHT RIDER.

https://phantanews.de/wp/2025/09/knight-rider-reboot-als-film-von-den-cobra-kai-machern-in-arbeit/

#Airwolf #CobraKai #HaydenSchlossberg #JonHurwitz #JoshHeald #KnightRider #SixMillionDollarMan

Just finished reading Cyborg by Martin Caidin — the novel that inspired The Six Million Dollar Man. If you grew up watching Steve Austin leap in slow motion or remember that red jumpsuit action figure with the bionic eye, this one’s for you. From Cold War tension to cutting-edge tech (for its time), the book holds up in fascinating ways. Nostalgia, robotics, and a few surprises along the way. https://jrogel.com/just-read-cyborg/ #SixMillionDollarMan
#Cyborg
#RetroSciFi
#Bionics
#Nostalgia
#SciFiBooks
Just Read: Cyborg

“We can rebuild him”: Rediscovering Cyborg by Martin Caidin After a Lifetime with The Six Million Dollar Man “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build …

Quantum Tunnel
Fan theory: When the Six Million Dollar Man does super stuff, the dramatic ch-ch-ch-ch-ch slow-mo noise exists in-universe and can be heard by those around him. However, because they hear it in real time, it sounds like a lawnmower engine. #TV #SciFi #ScienceFiction #SixMillionDollarMan