New Bigfoot Research Revealed, Findings Could Explain Most Sightings

A new study published by the Journal of Zoology could be disheartening for Bigfoot believers. Researcher Floe Foxon gathered data on the frequency of Bigfoot sightings around North America and data on the population of black bears, comparing the two. Foxon found that there is a very consistent correlation between the two data points.

Sightings of Bigfoot, sasquatch, yeti and other cryptozoological primate species have persisted throughout North America for decades, and they have existed around the world in a more folkloric context. Foxon used data from the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, which was comprised mostly of modern sightings. They catalog sightings with geo-tags, making it easy to count up the frequency of Bigfoot sightings in a given region. Foxon compared this with data on bear populations from peer-reviewed scientific sources gathered in 2006, though it had some gaps.

The consistency of the results was uncanny. Foxon found that in a well-forested area with consistent human visitors, there is typically one Bigfoot sighting for ever 5,000 black bears. For each additional 1,000 bears in the estimated population, the probability of a Bigfoot sighting increases by about 4 percent.

For comparison, Foxon also compared National census data with Bigfoot sightings, hypothesizing that Bigfoot sightings might simply correlate with the human population and the frequency of their visits to forested areas. However, the variable of the bear population generally had a stronger correlation to the Bigfoot sighting data. This could point to the conclusion that mistaking a bear for a humanoid is a major contributing factor to Bigfoot sightings, although it is clearly not the only factor.

Of course, for many believers the existence of Bigfoot is as much a matter of faith as science, and in many cases it’s a fun, light-hearted fantasy as well. Myths of large, hairy humanoid species have persisted in North America for centuries, but at this point it is well known that many of the viral pop culture stories of the past century were hoaxes – for example, logger forester Rant Mullens revealed in 1982 that he had used carved wooden feet to make the prints that were discovered in Ape Canyon in 1924, while logger Ray Wallace’s family revealed after his death that he had pulled a similar prank in 1958, leading to the alleged Bigfoot sightings in Six Rivers National Forest at the time.

Whether Foxon’s study changes minds or not, it is certainly making waves on social media. It has commenters discussing research methods, folklore and ecology. As always, readers are split over whether Bigfoot is real or not.