Chatter around Chatham-Kent, Ont., has been centred on a large furry being, reportedly making stops across the community.
The Bigfoot Mapping Project, a database for reported Bigfoot sightings, shows sightings in Thamesville, Dresden, and Raglan over the past week.
When asked about the reports on Wednesday, Tom Chalmers, an area resident, had a little chuckle.
“So, I’ve heard and seen a lot of odd things, but no, Bigfoot has not been one of them, I’m afraid,” Chalmers said.
Across social media, posts about a supposed Chatham-Kent sasquatch have generated a lot of buzz, but not everyone is skeptical.
“Everything is possible,” Mike Oulds told CTV News.
Sightings
In one of the reports, an individual stated Bigfoot was seen on April 4, standing at nearly eight feet tall with cinnamon-coloured hair.
Scott Tompkins, the creator of the project, told CTV News reports across the deep Southwestern Ontario corridor follow several supposed sightings recently in Ohio.
“This type of activity has not been reported since the mid 70s in this type of concentration and frequency,” he said.
In an attempt to try to ensure credibility, Tompkins said there are “investigators” who look into some of the claims.
People who make reports are sometimes asked to provide added details, available photos and videos.
If they learn that a reported sighting was verifiably wrong, Tompkins said it’s removed from the map.
“It’s easy to refute somebody who thinks every twig snapping is a Bigfoot, right? Like that guy’s a tinfoil hat guy,” Tompkins said.
“There is so much more to the community than that, and I hope I can at least be a tiny representation of that.”
Skepticism
Bigfoot is considered to be a cryptid, an animal whose existence is disputed or hasn’t been entirely substantiated.
At Carleton University, Josh Redstone has previously taught a class on Philosophy of the Paranormal, challenging students to use critical thinking to examine claims related to paranormal beings and phenomena.
“I’m sorry to disappoint your viewers, but there probably is not a sasquatch out there for anyone to go and find,” Redstone said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
Redstone isn’t surprised to see reports still drumming up Bigfoot talks in Canadian communities.
While belief in the sasquatch has existed for centuries, its rise in Canadian folklore, Redstone said, traces back to John Burns, who held a title then known as an Indian Agent in B.C.
“It’s not entirely clear whether Burns was having a joke played on him or whether he was in on the joke,” Redstone explained.
“Shortly after that, it was decided to hold a sasquatch hunt to help improve tourism.”
Beliefs in Bigfoot largely come down to humans’ “fascination with the unknown,” Redstone said.
“We’re really good, for evolutionary reasons, at spotting things out there in the environment, which might be alive,” he explained.
“We’re so good at doing this that we even see these things when they are not there.”
Another potential reason behind the reported sightings, Redstone said, is the overlap with the description of the North American Black Bear or alternatively, a “Bigfoot hoaxer,” someone trying to spread false narratives to implicate its existence.
While the lack of a Chatham Bigfoot may be disappointing, Redstone encouraged residents to still get outside, explore the environment and continue to be curious.
Hope for the ‘mysterious’
For Tompkins, skepticism and doubt in Bigfoot’s existence are nothing new.
“So, there are enough credible reports and I will call it credible data and evidence that there is a creature like Bigfoot or multiple creatures, like Bigfoot, out there,” Tompkins claimed.
Since its launched in 2020, the mapping project has documented thousands of reported sightings, both recent and historical, from across the world.
Make no doubt, Tompkins admitted, some of the reports are certainly not Bigfoot, but it doesn’t mean it’s not out there.
“I like the idea that there is something out there that’s unexplained, undiscovered, intelligent, a bit mysterious and the fact that it really is emblematic of humans really not knowing everything. I really hope for that,” Tompkins added.
To the skeptics, Tompkins said the message is to get out, experience your local ecology and environment, and be open to the unusual.
