Leaderboard

Speaking as myself, not a mod, not representing forum management, I don't care about the number of posts, I care about the quality / quantity of new information. I get sick and tired of rehashing the same old stuff. What is needed is not more talk, more posts, what is needed is something new to talk about, something worthy of renewed engagement, renewed attention. MIB

I don't have a smartphone; I think it would be harder to use this format on a phone. Does anyone even learn to type anymore? I agree, oldies like us used to like to have discussions at length, for days or more. I mostly blame social media, which has damaged attention spans and increased sources of information. Another reason could be progression of knowledge; people learn answers to personal questions and move on.

I have been watching forums die a slow death for years. I.e. The old jet boating forum Mean chicken is gone. Along with it all of its extensive knowledge. The younger crowd doesn’t do forums for some reason. They stick with social media. And then cry about censorship, etc. I just don’t get it. I find forums like these much easier to navigate and interact with.

I love to see how my (admittedly very incomplete) data for just over 1200 reported encounters in the mid-Atlantic to northeastern United States and eastern Canada lines up with other data. I have more reports for this area than the than the BFRO because I've included historical encounters, encounters reported in books, and encounters from numerous other websites which are not (publicly) reflected in the BFRO website. I don't know if they privately incorporate these reports, but if they are a data-based research organization, it would make sense to use all the data available. 2. Other Notable States: * Pennsylvania 130 reports (BFRO) 368 reports (Trogluddite's data) * New York: 121 reports (BFRO) 262 reports * Maine: Not in Top 10 92 reports Temporal Trends 1. Seasonal Distribution: Summer accounts for approximately 34% of sightings, making it the peak season. I have 30% of sightings in the summer Fall follows with around 27% of sightings. And 30% of sightings in the fall Winter and spring have fewer reports, possibly due to reduced human outdoor activity. Winter has 17% and spring has 14% of all encounters. I would say that its likely that both Bigfoot and humans reduce their outdoor activity in the winter. That spring is the lowest % of sightings surprises me given that humans likely want to get outside again. However, Bigfoot may be even more secretive than usual IF that's when their offspring are born. The missing 9% of encounters are due to the fact that many so-called research groups and/or online reports lack basic facts. 2. Yearly Trends: TrogGPT is much less smarter than ChatGPT, so I'll just note some highlights * One can find 86 descriptions of what could be encounters with Bigfoot before 1900 in the limited geographical area I focus on * Not unexpectedly, there are less than 100 reports of "escaped gorillas" or wild men from 1900 to 1950 * The decade with the most reported encounters (not necessarily reported contemporaneously with the encounter) was the 2000s with 344 Lunar Cycle Correlation I find this data very difficult to trust. For example, some data sets use a default date, such as the first of the month, if no specific date is given. In other cases, witnesses have forgotten when exactly an encounter occurred; while some can describe the situation accurately, many can't. Additionally, weather conditions, terrain, and the local environment all help determine actual moonlight one can see, so a witness's statement that "there was very little moonlight" doesn't necessarily tell us what the lunar cycle information accurately. Out of just over 1200 reports, a concrete date was only reported in (or could be extracted from) 328 reports and of these only 183 occurred between dusk and dawn. (There is a reason I include lunar cycle data for daytime encounters if a concrete date is available.) * 41% of nighttime encounters occur when lunar illumination is less than 25% (i.e., first and last six days of a lunar cycle) * 23% of nighttime encounters occur during the peak of lunar illumination (i.e., before and after the full moon) I won't keep going. What I find interesting is that different datasets relying on different encounter reports still produce relatively consistent results. NorCal, I salute you for finding an innovative way to crack data - it would be interesting if this could be applied to the SSR. I also curse you (jokingly) for reminding us that computers are on their way to making us all a Captain Dunsel.

This caught my attention, since my topic post w/ graph showed an observable downward trend. Looking back on my data, code, and graph, I discovered I had mistook the date field as the submission date, when in fact what the Kaggle author called 'timestamp' is actually the reported sighting date. I should have caught this. The submission date is not available in the dataset I had used. The trends that AI pulled from Reddit are based on what the Redditor called an updated dataset relative to the one I used. This updated version has a submission date and a messy sighting year field (e.g., 2022, 2014-ish, 2001-2002, 1987 and 1994, 2011, etc.). The updated version also cuts off at 2021. There are other differences between the datasets, but here's what I found in terms of AI's response: Yes, there was a spike in 2012, though these were largely Class B sightings. My guess is that this comes from heightened awareness from Finding Bigfoot, which premiered in 2011. The downward trend resumed its course after the spike in 2012. Yes, there was an upward trend but it reversed around 2005. Here's my updated graph with correct labeling (LEFT) and a graph I created from the 'updated' data linked by the Redditor (RIGHT). Note that i had fewer records to graph (on the left), as I removed any records missing a date/year value (due to the witness unable to recall the encounter date). The graph on the right, since it's using the actual submission date (rather than the encounter date), had far fewer missing values (roughly 1000 more records to graph). BFRO launched in mid-late 1990s, and this is reflected in the near-zero submissions prior to then (righthand graph).

I asked ChatGPT to evaluate the BFRO sightings database. Here is what I learned: 📍 Geographic Hotspots 1. Washington State Leads in Sightings: Washington has the highest number of reported sightings, with 726 entries, accounting for approximately 12% of all reports in the BFRO database. Peregrine Chai 2. Other Notable States: California: 463 reports Florida: 344 reports Ohio: 327 reports Illinois: 304 reports Oregon: 261 reports Texas: 259 reports Michigan: 226 reports Pennsylvania: 130 reports Colorado: 131 reports New York: 121 reports Georgia: 145 reports 3. Regional Patterns: The Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Northern California) is a significant hotspot, likely due to its dense forests and mountainous terrain. The Great Lakes region (Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio) shows a higher percentage of visual sightings, with creatures seen in 38% of reports compared to the national average of 28%. Mid-Atlantic states (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland) have a higher incidence of auditory reports, with creature sounds appearing in 31% of reports versus the national average of 23%. Peregrine Chai+1Axios+1 🕒 Temporal Trends 1. Seasonal Distribution: Summer accounts for approximately 34% of sightings, making it the peak season. Fall follows with around 27% of sightings. Winter and spring have fewer reports, possibly due to reduced human outdoor activity. Reddit 2. Yearly Trends: 2012 recorded the highest number of sightings, with 191 reports. There is an observable upward trend in reported sightings over the years, which could be attributed to increased public interest and awareness. Reddit 🌕 Lunar Cycle Correlation Reports decrease significantly during the full moon and new moon phases. Environmental noises (e.g., wood knocking, rock clacking) peak around the waxing gibbous phase, just before the full moon. Reports where a creature is both seen and heard peak just after the full moon during the waning gibbous phase. Peregrine Chai+1BFRO+1 🧍‍♂️ Witness Demographics and Activities Many sightings involve individuals engaged in outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, camping, or hiking. Reports often come from individuals familiar with local wildlife, enhancing the credibility of their accounts. Encounters frequently occur in remote or less-traveled areas, reducing the likelihood of misidentifying known animals. 🐾 Behavioral Patterns and Physical Descriptions 1. Common Behaviors: Vocalizations: Screams, whoops, and howls are frequently reported, especially in the Mid-Atlantic region. Wood knocking and rock clacking are noted as possible forms of communication or territorial displays. Rock throwing and tree shaking are sometimes reported as intimidation behaviors. Nocturnal activity is common, with many encounters occurring at night.Peregrine Chai 2. Physical Descriptions: Height estimates range from 6 to 10 feet, with some reports noting creatures approximately 2.5 times the height of a deer. Descriptions often include a gorilla-like appearance, dark or reddish-brown fur, and a strong, muscular build. Movement is typically bipedal, with a swift and agile gait.New York PostThe Sun+2Axios+2Midland Daily News+2 🗺️ Environmental and Geographic Correlates Sightings are frequently associated with areas abundant in deer and elk populations, suggesting a potential food source. Remote, forested regions with ample cover and proximity to water sources are common locations for reports. Geographic features such as swamps, caves, and mountainous terrain are often present in sighting locations. AxiosOregon Bigfoot 🔍 Recent Notable Sightings 1. Michigan (May 2025): A father and son reported encountering a 6-foot-tall, ape-like creature near Plum Creek in Monroe County while bow fishing. The creature was described as having dark fur and was seen leaping from a tree before fleeing. BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker deemed the witnesses credible. Midland Daily News+1The Sun+1Midland Daily News+2The Sun+2New York Post+2 2. Connecticut (October 2023): A resident in Fairfield County reported hearing long-duration whooping sounds matching previous Sasquatch recordings. The incident occurred near Monroe in a forested area, with the sounds lasting up to 10 minutes. BFRO classified the report as credible and a Class B sighting. BFRO+7New York Post+7BFRO+7 These patterns and trends provide a comprehensive overview of the characteristics and distribution of Bigfoot sightings across North America, as documented by the BFRO. I found the lunar correlation very interesting. seems like Sasquatch like dark nights. never heard of this relationship before.

I use the PGF now as essentially an encyclopedia. As you point out, much has been thoroughly covered. Because it has, I can turn to the topics and “look up” information by topic. Where something isn’t covered I can just throw out the Question of the day in the appropriate thread and get great insight quickly. If you think of it, if the BFF was a Bigfoot Book it would have many chapters with each subject being covered thoroughly. . It is fantastic if used in this way. It is for me anyway. If that is all it did it’s a great thing.

^^^ Well said, as well... There comes a time when every thread and every point has pretty much already been made. The last few years have been spent regurgitating the same stuff over and over again, just phrasing redundant ideas differently. There is little left that hasn't been covered, but that can actually be seen as a positive thing. It means that this Forum has been very thorough in its discussions and debates. I belong to three other bigfoot forums which are all suffering from the same stagnation as this one. I'm hoping as well, BD.

Interest in many things comes in waves, ebbs and flows. Is it possible your time of joining the forum coincided with one of the peaks? I know this to be true of my own. Thinking of a parallel .. no athlete runs 4 minute miles 7 days a week. It is true of our interest here. I think the period we are in now with less interest, less bright shiny things to draw our attention, is more representative of bigfootery over the long haul. There is also a change of medium when it comes to information exchange. There are TONS of small bigfoot groups on facebook. Lot of people trying to monetize their interest which I think distracts from the larger communities like this one. There is not much to do but get out there and do your own thing in the woods.

^^^ JKH, yes, I know that the BFRO says at one place on their website that they believe it to be an authentic 9-1-1- tape, I'm just surprised that they don't list it as an encounter on their encounter map. Could be nothing at all. One other thing that I forgot to mention. I've spent roughly half of the last 40 years listening to people testifying and listening and looking for "tells" that they were lying so that I could find a thread to start pulling on to unravel those lies. I am pretty good at it and there are certain things that consistently tip off a memorized, made-up story.* Additionally, it's pretty hard for most laymen/laywomen to pretend to be emotionally triggered or afraid or reliving a past fear - the inflections are in the wrong place, they "over-act," they miss places where there should be an emotional response, etc., etc. It's possible that the "victim" calling 9-1-1- is a trained actor, but he sounds to me pretty much like I'd expect of an actual frightened, shocked, or surprised witness to an unexpected event. *True story, there I was, trying to tamp down a problem in a foreign country, listening through an interpreter to a cock-and-bull story about American troops being really, really mean to a person (they were actually stationed in the area to prevent ethnic cleansing against this guy and a few remaining other members of that ethnic minority). The guy had led us to a storage area above his garage or shed and listed everything that the American troops had broken, ripped, shattered, etc., and his last line was, "... and then they broke the holy icons." Now, this garage or shed looked like every garage, shed, barn, attic, outbuilding, etc., that I had ever seen in rural Pennsylvania and it was full of a lot of old stuff with dust two inches thick on everything. And it didn't help that the interpreter's tone in translating the last line sound just like a beer commercial where a guy was telling a sob story to get his buddy's bud light. I responded with a one word epithet that made it pretty clear to everyone that spoke English that I didn't believe the story. The interpreter was so stunned that he just stood there, jaw hitting the floor and I asked, "Do you need to interpret that for him?" He immediately answered, "Oh no, he knows exactly how you feel about this." Not telling this story to discuss politics, nation-building, etc., but just to point out some things that make it easier to pick out false stories - over-emoting, visual facts that don't add up to the story, and repeating the story like a kid rehearsing a poem and trying not to miss any lines. I don't hear any of that in either of the 9-1-1- calls.

I think Myrsell is/was refreshing too. Saw him present also. Think he runs an aquarium out near Ocean Shores. BF and Beyond went the premium pay route so not so enamored of them anymore, you gotta make a living I understand but the rehash gets old when you are a paying customer. Wish them luck, I still tune in on occasion. Bobo is Bobo, in small doses preferably, lol. Even though I had a highly irregular sighting I still cringe over many paranormal issues in the field even acknowledging the Skinwalker Ranch stuff is hard for me but I am faced with the evidence and where it leads. Pruitt is a good guy and was part of a team assisting me with a sighting locale prior to my sighting (I believe he trained as a paramedic too).

Dear BFF Members, The Forum Management Team proposed and the Steering Committee approved releasing the raw SSR Dataset to the community in order to facilitate independent research. The SSR database will always be available if you need to use its capabilities, but we have received requests for the raw dataset many times in the past, so here it is. There will be regular releases posted in this thread as more data is classified. Attribution to "The Bigfoot Forums" is required for any published analysis. We hope it helps somebody advance the search. Thanks, ~gigantor Data Fields Date <MM/DD/YYYY> - MM = {01..12}, DD = {01..31}, YYYY = {0001..9999} Time <hh:mm> - hh = {00..23}, mm = {00..59} Duration <mm:ss> - mm = {00..99}, ss = {00..59} Latitude <floating point> Longitude <floating point> Altitude (ft) <floating point> State <string(2)> County <string(30)> Height (ft in) <string(10)> Footprint Size (inches) <string(10)> Organization <string(30)> Researcher <string(30)> Season: (mutually exclusive - can only select one) 1 - Spring (Mar 20 - Jun 19) 2 - Summer (Jun 20 - Sep 19) 3 - Fall (Sep 20 - Dec 19) 4 - Winter (Dec 20 - Mar 19) Type: (mutually exclusive - can only select one) S - Single Creature M - Multiple Creature N - Non Visual T - Trace Evidence Witness: (mutually exclusive - can only select one) 1 - Single, no evidence 2 - Multiple, no evidence 3 - Single, evidence 4 - Multiple, evidence Witness Activity: (mutually exclusive - can only select one) A - ATV B - BFing C - Camping D - Driving (road) E - 4 Wheeling (off-road) F - Fishing G - Hiking H - Horseback I - Hunting J - Boating / Canoeing / Kayaking N - Normal Activity at Home P - Playing (children) S - Swimming BF Activity: (inclusive, can select any) E - Eating F - Food Gathering H - Hunting K - Knocking O- Objects Thrown P - Speech R - Road Crossing S - Standing T - Stalking V - Vocalization W - Whistling X - Swimming Disposition: (inclusive, can select any) A - Aggressive C - Curious I - Indifferent R - Scared S - Surprised Locomotion: (inclusive, can select any) C - Crawling G - Gliding J - Jogging R - Running W - Walking O - On all fours Terrain: (mutually exclusive, can select one) B - Beach C - Cave D - Desert F - Rain Forest H - Wooded Hill M - Mountainside P - Pasture / Crop Field S - Swamp W - Wooded Plain Zoning: (mutually exclusive, can select one) A - Agricultural C - City M - Commercial P - Park Land / Refuge R - Rural S - Suburb Print Evidence: (mutually exclusive, can select one) TP - Print (1) TS - Track (1) TM - Track (2+) TC - Print (1) + Cast TT - Track (1) + Cast TN - Track (2+) + Cast Photo Evidence: (mutually exclusive, can select one) PF - Photo Film PD - Photo Digital PI - Photo Infrared PN - Photo Night Vision MF- Motion Film MT - Motion Tape MD - Motion Digital MI - Motion Infrared MN - Motion Night Vision Biological Evidence: (inclusive, select any) B - Blood D - Dermal Print F - Feces H - Hair T - Tissue R - Remains Hair Color (mutually exclusive, can only select one) B - Black D - Dark Brown G - Green N - Brown O - Orange R - Red Y - Yellow W - White Skin Color (mutually exclusive, can only select one) B - Black G - Gray N - Brown W - White Weather (inclusive, select any) S - Sunny P - Partly Cloudy O - Overcast R - Rain L - Sleet F - Fog N - Snow W - Wind Moon Cycle (exclusive, can select one) 1 - New Moon 2 - Waxing Crescent 3 - First Quarter Moon 4 - Waxing Gibbous 5 - Full Moon 6 - Waning Gibbous 7 - Last Quarter Moon 8 - Waning Crescent Other: (inclusive, select any) E - Eye Shine O - Odor L - Lore, indigenous traditions, historical references BFRO Class (mutually exclusive, can select one) A - Class A B - Class B C - Class C URL: <string> Notes on Column Labels NED = Not Exact Date. The date was estimated AGPS = Not Exact GPS. The coordinates were estimated Date = Date the report was entered SDate = Sighting Date URL = Sighting report URL Confidence = Subjective rating by person classifying the report RepScore = Objective report scored using the criteria below

SSR Open Dataset (1/1/2022 Release) Entire Dataset: SSR-All-1-1-2022.csv Class A Sightings: SSR-ClassA-1-1-2022.csv Class B Sightings: SSR-ClassB-1-1-2022.csv Report Score 6+: SSR-Repscore=6+_1-1-2022.csv