Three thousand good sightings and likely another seven thousand sightings
just not good enough to be sure gives us an excellent map of distribution. As I have posted many times, this creature is
a forest dweller that is also curious about us but knows how to also avoid us.
Unfortunately, no one is going to shoot one soon and none are going to show
up at a laboratory for a full body scan.
Our legitimate problem is to entice one to interact on camera. They do like apples. I actually think that this can work so long
as one is patient and you know one is nearby and we have several excellent
prospects there. Once we are comfortably
trading with one of them the possibilities open up nicely.
This map serves a serious purpose, it displays the actual depth of data
available already and takes a newcomer past the singular reports he may be aware
of.
Looking for Bigfoot?
Follow this map — others have seen 'em there
Marc
Lallanilla
Reported sightings of Bigfoot — the legendary apelike
creature that's been a favorite of cryptozoologists for decades — have abounded
for decades. Now, for the first time, someone has created a map showing the
places where alleged Bigfoot sightings have occurred.
Joshua Stevens, a doctoral candidate at
Pennsylvania State University, used data compiled by the Bigfoot Field
Researchers Organization (BFRO), which tries to document "the presence of
an animal, probably a primate, that exists today in very low population
densities," according to the group's website.
Stevens converted the BFRO data and, using
geographic-information software, plotted 3,313 data points showing where people
have claimed to see Bigfoot (aka Sasquatch, Skunk Ape, Yeti,
Skookum or dozens of other names
"Right away, you can see that
sightings are not evenly distributed," Stevens said on his website. "There are distinct regions where sightings
are incredibly common, despite a very sparse population. On the other hand, in
some of the most densely populated areas, Sasquatch sightings are exceedingly
rare. The terrain and habitat likely play a major role in the distribution of
reports."
The map, which uses reports from 1921 to
2012, shows a plethora of supposed sightings in the Pacific Northwest, the Ohio
River Valley, central Florida, the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the
Mississippi River Valley.
Stevens' analysis also includes a
chronological timeline showing a rise in reported sightings in the late 1970s
(perhaps coinciding with the release of several B-movies about the mythical
creature). Another spike in reported Bigfoot
sightings occurred
between 2000 and 2009.
Despite his exhaustive analysis of the BFRO
data, Stevens stops short of giving the information more credibility than it
deserves. "Ultimately, I'm not convinced there's a descendant of (giant
ape) Gigantopithecus playing hide-and-seek in the Pacific Northwest,"
Stevens said. "But if respectable folks like … primatologist Jane Goodall
believe there's something more to the myth, I think it's at least worth putting
on the map."
Goodall, in an interview that was broadcast
on NPR in 2006, said, "I'm sure that
they exist." The famed primate researcher also confessed, "Well, I'm
a romantic, so I always wanted that."
A handful of other academics, including
Jeffrey Meldrum, professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State
University in Pocatello, have taken a scientific interest in the legend of
Bigfoot, but to date, no hard evidence of any hominid or apelike creature has
been substantiated.
All alleged samples of Bigfoot hair,
for example, have turned out to be from elk, bears or cows. Photos, audio and
film footage have been determined to be inconclusive or hoaxes, and no bodily
remains have ever been found — despite the fact that there would have to be
hundreds or thousands of the creatures in existence in order to maintain the
"species."
But Bigfoot enthusiasts will no doubt
continue their search undaunted — and now, thanks to Stevens' map, they know
where to look.
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