Bigfoot and Wildman
Undoubtedly one of the most famous, legendary cryptids around the world has to be Bigfoot by in part to countless eyewitness reports, video evidence, foot prints, audio clips, and even DNA findings. The amount of sightings and fragmented evidence suggesting some type of tall hairy humanoid creature exists out there is truly overwhelming. Their resemblance to humans is striking in many ways - Imagine if the Sasquatch population turned out to actually be our living ancestors!
Although the name Bigfoot is traditionally attributed to the North American area, we find numerous accounts of near identical creatures roaming the wild in other parts of the globe; Each area tends to have its own specific native name (and lore) used for referring to these creatures. It comes to no surprise for many trackers and researchers attempting to make the physical discovery that Bigfoots do exist considering evolution of human population alone. Our ancient ancestors branched off from their origins in Africa to settle the world over. Many contributing factors may suggest how Sasquatch is indeed part of our species, breaking off from mainstream groups to survive away from society.
Descriptions of the legendary cryptid, Bigfoot, point to a confusing mixture between Homo habilis and Homo erectus (approximately 0.5-2 million years ago) mainly due to the fact that sightings always indicate a completely hairy biped with ape-like features, wearing no clothing, and often alone. Archaeological record demonstrates our ancestors did not begin to live in groups or wear clothing until the Neanderthal age, around 30-100 thousand years ago. The record also portrays a transition period when both Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal coexisted, just as Cro-Magnon and Homo sapiens later in the time-line.
Mixed traits between the latest two have even been discovered in Portugal, dating to nearly 25,000 years ago. As our ancestors spread around the globe, and started to live in groups together, it doesn't seem out of the ordinary that some of them may have split off during these transition phases. Suppose part of Homo erectus population continued on by themselves during formation of the Neanderthal period, deciding not to wear clothing or live in larger groups, or simply that they were too far away from the groups to pickup this evolutionary change.