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Redbone, thanks. The other interesting item I saw on the chart was seeing Illinois at what looks like about 215 and Ohio at about 290. Right in between these two states is Indiana, and it had only about 85. It would seem to indicate little east-west movement. I'm not very familiar with Indiana's geography so maybe that's a factor? The map on the BFRO showed the big majority of reports they had were from the southern half of the state.

Northern Illinois is a mystery to me but I tend to think they use the rivers as travel paths and there may be some South-North (and vice versa) migration patterns there. Southern IL has large forests so no big surprise that there would be encounters. It's the same reason I get encounters in Iowa and Nebraska. The Missouri and Mississippi rivers (and tributaries) provide cover these creatures need. How do they get through Omaha? I have no idea, but there has been sightings there. Texas is skewed high (at the moment) because the SSR contains reports from multiple organizations. I've been adding NAWAC reports the last several weeks. Some of these NAWAC reports are also listed with the BFRO, so there are duplicate entries for the same incident. We will be correcting this issue in the near future. At present there are 226 BFRO reports for Texas and 211 NAWAC reports. I don't have the exact number of how many are duplicates in the SSR system now (more than 39, but less than 106), but I have identified 106 total encounters where NAWAC and BFRO report the same incidents. When we are done, each incident will only have one SSR entry and both BFRO and NAWAC will get recognition. In many of these, it was NAWAC investigators following up for BFRO. Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana are also somewhat skewed for the same reason, although less progress has been made getting those NAWAC reports into SSR. Edit to add BFRO only Sightings by State chart:

gigantor, thanks for filling in on numbers of sightings. I was thinking there were considerably more than a couple of thousand or so but I wasn't certain. Over 5,000 makes it even more unlikely, as Homer mentioned, that every one of them is either making up fake sightings or is misidentifying or is being fooled by a hoaxer. This is just a side comment, I don't want to steer things away from the original topic. In the "Sightings by State" chart, something I thought was interesting were the number of sightings for Texas and Illinois; they both ranked higher than I would have guessed. Caenus, there have been a few witnesses in the BFRO reports that have said the same thing. They stated they were skeptical of Bigfoot's existence, until they actually saw one for themselves. Then they became believers. Seeing one with your own eyes is the best evidence.

Better late than never, catch next years rendition in the Blue Ridge of NC https://wlos.com/news/local/bigfoot-festival-debuts-to-huge-crowd https://wlos.com/features/galleries/gallery-2018-wnc-bigfoot-festival https://www.mcdowellnews.com/news/marion-s-upcoming-bigfoot-festival-getting-nationwide-attention/article_2e1419e6-ac95-11e8-849c-7bd2866bc086.html Who made it to the shindig? How was it?

An lets not forget, how many sightings go unreported.

If any one thinks the government is anywhere near aware of these creatures then they need to sit down and think long and hard about why we do not have a Sasquatch publicly on a slab. And if the government does not want public discovery by anyone trying to bring such a creature in then one has to also think long and hard about what lengths a government would go to in order to make sure it does not happen........and HOW the government would go about it. I have said on several occasions that unless an individual or group becomes a 'digital ghost' (as in completely OFF the digital grid) then any chance of securing a voucher specimen, or even a piece of one, and getting it to science anywhere will be virtually impossible. (P.S. I cover this in my tiny 88 page book along with many other things including a chapter on 'To Shoot Or Not To Shoot')

I would believe my own eyes...absolutely. Mine! But if I saw one and didnt shoot it? Then I would feel like a failure. My own sighting would do nothing to prove its existence to the world. And it wouldnt be enough for me just to see it and then yell at skeptics for the rest of my life that “I know”! I want them to know too....