by Rana Williamson

Created on: March 07, 2009

Armed with GPS technology and Google Maps, and possessed of a dedicated interest in the Bigfoot phenomenon, one website owner has compiled an impressive body of data to answer the question, "Where has Bigfoot been sighted?"

*What is Bigfoot?*

Known to the Native Americans as "Sasquatch" before the arrival of Europeans, Bigfoot, a theorized North American great ape, reputedly stands 7 to 8 feet in height. Reclusive and stealthy, Bigfoot favors the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but has been sighted in every state (except Hawaii) and throughout Canada. In fact, one of the earliest sightings by a European fur trapper, David Thompson, occurred in 1811 in Alberta.

*Evidentiary Background*

Since the 1950s, more than 700 footprints of this cryptid have been recorded, averaging 15.6 inches in length and 7.2 inches in width. Acoustic evidence has also been collected of an ape-like whooping sound, but to date, no carcasses have been recovered, no reliable DNA evidence offered, and no identifiable scat gathered for analysis. A significant body of first-person accounts do exist, however, as well as the famous 1967 Roger Patterson / Bob Gimlin video, which has been extensively debated and analyzed.

*Mangani's Bigfoot Maps?*

One of the more interesting online efforts to track Bigfoot sightings is the site "Mangani's Bigfoot Maps By installing Google Earth and downloading the data file provided at the site, armchair cryptozoologists can scan individual Bigfoot sightings on satellite maps. The site is a work in progress and was updated as recently as February 1, 2009.

Of the project, the site's author writes, "Initially I had planned to include only mapping information on this web page, as there are already many other web sites devoted to other aspects of the study of the Bigfoot phenomenon. These sites make it easy to find arguments, both pro and con, regarding the existence of these creatures . . .. All I am attempting here is to encourage anyone who happens upon this project to not dismiss out of hand the possibility these creatures exist, but rather to keep an open mind and do some research of their own before forming an opinion." (Click here for the remainder of the statement.)

Even the most cursory examination of the page seems to raise the more likely question, "Where has Bigfoot NOT been sighted?" and to suggest, that with so many accounts collected yearly, some as yet unidentified creature may well exist in the forests of North America.

Sources:

"Sasquatch: Best Evidence" - AboutDotCom

Patterson Video - YouTube

Mangani's Bigfoot Maps

Learn more about this author, Rana Williamson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.