Over the last few centuries, there have been many reported sightings of a large, hairy, bipedal creature walking through the wilderness. Some of these sightings have been caught on film or camera. Undoubtedly, one of the most famous is the Patterson-Gimlin film that was shot in Northern California in 1967. There have been Bigfoot (aka Yeti and Sasquatch) sightings all over the world with the exception of Antarctica. There have been documentaries and movies about Bigfoot and there is even a television series that follows the adventures of a team of people who are determined to prove the existence of Bigfoot.
If you are a believer, below are 5 places in the U.S. where you might actually encounter this hairy dude. Just be careful. Bigfoot might not be so gentle as Harry from the movie and television series, “Harry and the Hendersons.” Some people have reported violent encounters with Bigfoot.
Mount St. Helens, Washington
The area around Mount St. Helens is covered in dense forest and lava tube caves, making it a perfect home for Bigfoot. The most famous encounter with Bigfoot in this area occurred in 1924. Known as “The Battle of Ape Canyon,” this event tells of 5 gold miners who fought off several “hairy apes” throughout an entire evening. The miners reported that these giant creatures threw rocks at their cabin, pounded on the walls and one of them even reached inside and grabbed an ax!
Everglades National Park, Florida
Around these parts, bigfoot is known as the “skunk ape” because people have smelled it long before seeing it. This Bigfoot resides in the swamps surrounding the Florida Everglades. People who have seen this creature reported that it is fast, agile and aggressive.
One sighting tells of two men and their dogs encountering a skunk ape in the Eastern Everglades. Their dogs followed the creature’s scent down a road only to come running back a few minutes later, jumping into their cages in the back of a pickup, and refusing to come out. One of the men walked up the road and encountered an 8 foot tall ape-like creature with red glowing eyes. After he shot at it, there was a loud uproar from the dense forest next to the road and what sounded like a stampede of elephants.
Of course, the national park is home to tons of other types of wildlife too. So even if you don’t see or smell the skunk ape, you’ll find yourself enjoying so many other things.
Honobia, Oklahoma
In the Southeastern part of Oklahoma lie the sandstone ridges of the Ouachita Mountains. The valleys surrounding the mountains contain spring-fed rivers and dense forest. It’s also the roughest and least populated area of the state, making it a perfect spot for Bigfoot to live. In 2000, a family living on a remote 30 acre farm claimed to be terrorized by several Bigfoot over the course of a few weeks. The event is known as ‘The Siege at Honobia.”
The family had planted snow beans on their farm which enticed deer to the fields. They would then shoot the deer and keep the meat in a locker on the property, which they believe is what drew Bigfoot to the farm. According to the family, a group of Bigfoot grew more and more bold – pounding on the house, throwing rocks and even peering into the windows. Two family members claim to have shot one of the Bigfoot creatures and killed it. But, the other Bigfoot carried the corpse away. Afterward, the family removed all of the snow beans and never saw another Bigfoot again.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
I remember driving through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee as a child and thinking it was the most beautiful area I’ve ever seen. It’s still in the top 5 on my list of beautiful areas in the U.S. It’s a vast 800 square miles of densely forested area that is called “smoky” because of the blue mist that is almost always hovering over the mountains.
According to local lore, a 6 year old boy named Dennis, who disappeared when his family was camping in the forest, was taken by bigfoot. He was playing hide and seek with some other children when he went behind some bushes and never came back. Some hikers reported hearing a scream and then seeing an enormous, hairy creature running up a hill. It appeared to be carrying something over its shoulder.
Bluff Creek, California
Bluff Creek in Northern California is where that famous Patterson/Gimlin film was shot. The two men were riding horseback through the woods when they rounded a bend on Bluff Creek and saw the Bigfoot that made them famous. Both men said the creature appeared to be agitated at their presence and gave them a look of “contempt and disgust” at their intrusion.
Years previously, in 1952, a man driving on a logging road in the area came upon an ape-like creature he described as an, “ogre,” that attacked him when he exited his car to remove brush from the road. The creature circled him several times before leaving, only to return at full charge. The man got into his car as quickly as possible and drove away as the ogre clawed at his car.
