Bigfoot is coming! To Natchez that is, and you’re invited to come celebrate the creature’s birthday.
Kicking off at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, is a meet and greet at the Natchez Little Theatre with fellow Bigfoot enthusiasts, researchers and curious onlookers. This is followed by the one-act play, “Bigfoot’s Revenge” at 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Nov. 18, the birthday bash takes place along the Mississippi River at Bluff Park near the Gazebo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission to the bash is free and features live musical performances, specialty food, an auction, and various craft vendors. You may even get your photo taken with Bigfoot.
The event concludes on Saturday evening with the Sasquatch Symposium back at the Natchez Little Theatre. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the symposium begins at 7 p.m. Special guest is M.K. Davis, a renowned Bigfoot researcher known for his analysis of the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film.
Typically, the Pacific Northwest comes to mind as the location of the most Bigfoot sightings, not Natchez. But the city known as the birthplace of Mississippi, is considered to be the location where the earliest known written account of a Bigfoot creature in North America occurred.
On December 25, 1721, Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, a French Jesuit priest, explorer, and historian, wrote a journal entry about an alarming incident while he was spending time with the Natchez Indians. One evening he heard “a big scream in the woods” and when he inquired about it, was told about “a beast of an unknown species of an extraordinary bulk, and whose cry did not in the least resemble that of any known animal.” Initially skeptical, he was left confused when heard the cry again that night. No one saw the creature that night, but they had heard it, and figured something big must be out in the woods because livestock were also reported to be missing.
The festival was created in 2021 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Charlevoix’s account. While this is only the third birthday bash, it serves as a testament to the profound impact that folklore can have on a community’s heritage.
The Natchez Little Theater is located at 319 Linton Avenue, Natchez, MS. Tickets for the one-act play can be purchased (while available) on EventBrite and under the “Current Productions” tab and/or for the symposium under the “Special Events” tabs of the Natchez Little Theatre website at www.thenatchezlittletheatre.com.
