About one-third of all reports of Bigfoot sightings are located in the Pacific Northwest, with the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America. (Some Bigfoot advocates have postulated that unknown hominoids of various types are a worldwide phenomenon.) The most notable reports include:

 

 

 

1870: "The Wild Man of Crow Canyon." An anonymous "correspondent of the Antioch Ledger writing from Grayson" stated that he observed, from hiding, a Bigfoot visit his campfire. "It was in the image of a man, but it could not have been human." It was "joined by another—a female, unmistakably" and they both swung sticks from his campfire around "until the fire on the end had gone out." He said the first one "stood fully five feet high, and disproportionately broad and square at the foreshoulders, with arms of great length. The legs were short, and the body long. The head was small compared to the rest of the creature, and appeared to be set upon his shoulders without a neck. The whole was covered with a dark brown and cinnamon colored hair, quite long in some parts; that on the head standing in a shock and growing close down to the eyes .... I have told this story many times since then and ... I have met one person who has seen the mysterious creatures, and a dozen who have come across their tracks...." This account was reprinted in several California newspapers at the time.

 

1895: The Winsted Wildman. ""While (Riley Smith) was stooped over picking berries, his bulldog (Ned), which is noted for its pluck, ran with a whine to him and stationed itself between his legs,' accounts from the Aug. 21, 1895 Winsted [Connecticut] Herald reported. 'A second afterward a large man, stark naked and covered with hair all over his body, ran out of a clump of bushes and, with fearful yells and cries, made for the woods at lightening [sic] speed where he soon disappeared. Selectman Smith is a powerful, wiry man and has a reputation for having lots of sand, and his bulldog is also noted for his pluck, but Riley admits that he was badly scared and his dog was fairly paralyzed with fear.' Word of Smith's tale spread throughout the little town quickly and it eventually piqued the interest of newspapers from New York and Boston. Soon after newsmen converged on Winsted — on what was then a very active rail service — to not only write about the incident, but to try and capture the wildman and bring him back to the city on a return train trip. According to [local historian] Wentworth, the gaggle of reporters were unsuccessful and all they went home with were sunburns and hangovers from the local beer. Townsfolk were scared, however, and a local posse was formed to find the mysterious creature. But like the reporters, the posse also was unsuccessful." However, this tale has not held up well under the scrutiny of Brandon T. Bisceglia in a January 11, 2010 article in The Examiner titled, "The truth about the Winsted Wildman."

 

1924: Prospector Albert Ostman said he had been camped near Toba Inlet in Vancouver Island, British Columbia when he was abducted by a Sasquatch and held captive by him and his family for about three days. He went public by writing to a newspaper that had written about William Roe's Bigfoot encounter in 1955. John Green wrote that Ostman had a credible demeanor, that he was never tripped up in cross-examination, and that, "with no pattern to follow," he "was able to describe ... facial features, teeth, fingernails, and a lot of other details ... with nothing ... that conflicted with the consensus of later detailed opinion." On the other hand, Green said there two things that were "very much wrong with" his story: The area's actual geography versus what Ostman described, and the too-human-ness of the Sasquatches' behavior and family living pattern.

 

1924: Fred Beck said that he and four other miners were attacked one night in July 1924, by several "apemen" throwing rocks at their cabin in an area later called Ape Canyon, Washington. Beck said the miners shot and possibly killed at least one of the creatures, precipitating an attack on their cabin, during which the creatures bombarded the cabin with rocks and tried to break in. The incident was reported in the local-area press at the time. Cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall pointed out that Beck, in a 1966 interview with Roger Patterson, significantly increased the ape-men's height, weight, and foot size from what he had told the press in earlier interviews. Beck co-wrote a 22-page pamphlet about the event in 1967, in which he said that the creatures were mystical beings from another dimension, stating that he had experienced psychic premonitions and visions his entire life of which the apemen were only one component. Speleologist William Halliday said in 1983 that the story arose from an incident in which hikers from a nearby camp had thrown rocks into the canyon. There are also local rumors that pranksters harassed the men and planted faked footprints.

 

1941: Native American Jeannie Chapman said she and her children had fled their home in Ruby Creek, British Columbia when a 7.5 feet (2.3 m) tall Sasquatch approached it in September. Her husband and co-workers found tracks that crushed potatoes under them and that stepped without breaking stride over a fence; a broken shed door; and a smashed 55-gallon tub of salt fish inside, with fish scattered around. "In the days that followed, the Bigfoot returned to the house every night for a week ... and the experience was too much for the family, and they left the house for good." John Green wrote, "The story had been publicized at the time and had been investigated by Joe Dunn, a deputy sheriff from [nearby] Bellingham, Washington [who] measured and cast the tracks.... One of his sons showed me a report he had written that confirmed what I had already been told." However, in separate interviews, she provided differing details in her account. In one version, she fled down the railway tracks until she met her husband; in another, she ran to her father's house in the village. But Green, who interviewed her twice, as well as others who had talked to Mrs. Chapman at the time and visited the scene, did not consider such discrepancies significant.

 

1955: William Roe, a highway worker, was hiking alone up Mica Mountain near the British Columbia/Alberta border and the little town of Tete Juan Cache. He sat down when he saw a dark shape ahead of him. As it approached, the features he described were those of a female Sasquatch. It got to within 20 feet and began eating leaves. It noticed him, backed away, turned, and departed, looking over its shoulder and making a whinny at one point. He did not shoot it, because he thought it might be a man. Roe followed its tracks and found sign and a sleeping bed. In March 1960 True magazine published Ivan Sanderson's "A New Look At America's Mystery Giant," about the Roe encounter, and reprinted his affidavit. His daughter made a drawing of it under his direction. However, the drawing gives the creature long hair on the back of the head and a distinct neck, unlike what Roe had described.

 

1958: In 1958 large footprints were found on multiple occasions at a road-construction site along Bluff Creek in Del Norte County, California by bulldozer operator Gerald Crew. Annoyed at not being taken seriously about what he was seeing, Crew cast the prints in plaster, following the instructions of his friend, taxidermist Bob Titmus. The story was published in the Humboldt Times, along with a photo of Crew holding one of the casts. Locals had been calling the unseen track-maker "Big Foot" since the late summer, which Humboldt Times columnist Andrew Genzoli shortened to "Bigfoot" in his article. Bigfoot gained international attention when the story was picked up by the Associated Press. In December 1959, True magazine printed Ivan Sanderson's "The Jerry Crew Story," which was read by millions, including Roger Patterson.

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Crew's crew was overseen by Wilbur L. Wallace, brother of Raymond L. Wallace, of the Washington state-based Wallace Brothers Construction Company. After Ray Wallace's death, his nephew and other relatives came forward with a pair of 16-inch (41 cm) wooden feet, which they said Ray had used to fake the Bigfoot tracks in 1958. In addition, the wife of L. W. "Scoop" Beal, the editor of the Humboldt Standard, which later combined with the Humboldt Times, in which Genzoli's story had appeared, stated that her husband was in on the hoax with Wallace. However, Chris Murphy notes that Ed Schillinger, "who is the only living witness from the Bluff Creek job" and "who considers himself almost an adopted son of the man [Ray]," strongly disputes the family's allegations.

Wallace is poorly regarded by many Bigfoot proponents. John Napier wrote, "I do not feel impressed with Mr. Wallace's story" regarding having over 15,000 feet (4,600 m) of film showing Bigfoot. However, cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall has been a persistent critic of the authenticity of Crew’s 1958 tracks, and of certain other Bluff Creek tracks. Another cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, has been similarly critical.

 

1964: Mrs. John Utrup said she was chased into her house near Dewey Lake in Dowagiac Michigan on the night of Tuesday, June 10, by a 9-foot tall hairy biped weighing some 500 pounds, which shook ground beneath her. She claimed her dog, which was visibly wounded in the attack, saved her. Police were dispatched, large footprints were found and plaster casts, and photos were taken. The story was picked up by the AP and UPI, covered by over 100 American newspapers, and became known as the Dewey Lake Monster case. Cass County Undersheriff Ernest Kraus said "about 10 persons have claimed they saw the monster." Residents of the Sister Lakes area have reported seeing the "thing" for from two to five years, always during the summer months. As well, the "monster" made a daylight appearance on Thursday, June 11, 1964 terrorizing three young girls and causing one of them to faint. After the "monster" fled, the fainter revived and they ran to a neighboring home and telephoned police. Sheriff’s deputies armed with rifles rushed to the area.

 

1967: Chris Murphy wrote, "Three Sasquatch—a male, female, and juvenile—were observed in November 1967 by Glen Thomas (who was taking a break from sawing trees to assist the construction of a nearby forest road) in a natural rock and boulder pile near Estacada, Oregon, searching for rodents. When rodents were found and caught, the Sasquatch would eat them ... The largest Sasquatch ... actually dug a deep pit in the rocks." Thomas subsequently claimed Bigfoot sightings in spring and November 1968 in the same general area of Oregon. Thomas's fullest account is in John Green's Encounters with Bigfoot. In February 1969 Thomas found a long trackway made by two individuals walking alongside each other.

 

1969: "On 24 August on the construction site of the Big Horn Dam ... in Alberta," five construction workers observed a very tall Sasquatch atop a 300-foot high bank on the opposite side of the North Saskatchewan River for 85 minutes. When they went public, others in the area came forward with accounts of their own sightings.

 

1969: "The Bigfoot of Lake Worth, Texas, was seen repeatedly during 1969 ... [and] locals watched the famous beast cavort up and down a bluff. At one time some of them apparently annoyed it and it picked up a spare [automobile] wheel and hurled it some 500 feet towards the onlookers..." John Green wrote that although there was some evidence of Bigfoots in northwest Texas, and some seemingly sincere testimony about the Lake Worth monster, "If there ever was a story that should be nonsense, this is it" and "If there ever was a case where mass hysteria took over after the first report this would appear to be the one."

 

1972: The Legend of Boggy Creek, a low-budget docudrama re-enacting several bigfoot encounters in swampy areas of Arkansas, was released, to great success.

 

1975: The Vancouver Sun reported, "on the Lummi Indian Reserve ... Bigfeet were seen more than a hundred times and the witnesses included the reserve policemen." Sightings occurred from October 2 until "a few days after" October 24. The Bigfoot Encounters site says, "The Lummi Reservation is seven miles northwest of Bellingham, Washington, in the western portion of Whatcom County, 95 miles north of Seattle. The reservation is a five mile long peninsula." "When reading these reports, we wish the police and public would carry cameras rather than guns."

 

1994: The Freeman video was shot by the controversial Paul Freeman in southeastern Washington. Nothing obviously phony has been detected in it so far.

 

1995: The "Redwoods footage" was videotaped in August near Crescent City in far-northern California, in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The observers were the crew of Adventures television shooting an episode featuring a drive up the California coast highway ... in Del Norte County, CA. A cameraman shot a 30-second video of a Bigfoot walking along a minor road, then crossing it right in front of their RV. Comments on the video can be found on the Bigfoot Encounters website, including "a BBC article and on-going comments by the late Richard Greenwell, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Dave Bittner, Daniel Perez, Larry Lund and Robert Stansberry." Opinions of Bigfooters were split on its authenticity. The BBC Wildlife magazine article concluded, "In our view, there are only two hypotheses about the Sasquatch, both of which seem improbable. 0ne is that the Sasquatch doesn't exist and the thousands of reports are spurious. The other is that a giant, non-human, bipedal primate inhabits the forests of the US Pacific Northwest and western Canada and has so far eluded conventional scientific observation. One must decide for oneself which is the less improbable of the two."

 

1996: "The Memorial Day video is a Hi-8mm video that is purported to show a rapidly moving Bigfoot, going from left to right. It was videotaped on May 26, 1996, by Lori Pate while on a fishing trip with family and friends at Chopaka Lake, in Okanogan County, north central Washington. ... [It] shows a figure, matching the description of a Bigfoot, running across a hill. It disappears behind a less-inclined, sloped area, then reappears briefly, walking this time, before going into the trees at the extreme right of the frame.". "An elaborate forensic reconstruction was undertaken." Bigfooter Bobbie Short was skeptical of the video, based on her gait-analysis and the negative analyses of other Bigfooters.

 

2000: The Marble Mountain footage shows a Sasquatch walking down a ridgeline about 750 yards away. It was shot in July 2000 near Ft. Jones, California by the leader of a group of 15 hikers, mostly youths. Bigfooter Bobbie Short commented sarcastically on her website that the subject’s gait was unconvincing, and posted an image analysis by M.K. Davis showing demarcation lines indicative of clothing.

 

2000: Michael McLeod wrote, "In the summer of 2000, a psychologist named Matthew Johnson reported an encounter with a Bigfoot while hiking with his family on a trail ... at the Oregon Caves National Monument. His sighting report to BFRO is online. On the web, the Bigfoot network buzzed with excitement." McLeod was distinctly unexcited about it.

 

2005: Three Silver Star Mountain photos were taken by Randee Chase, an avid backpacker, from its peak in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington on November 17. They show a bulky figure standing atop another snow-covered peak 275 yards away, and then descending down its far side.

 

2007: On September 16, 2007, hunter Rick Jacobs captured an image of a Sasquatch by using an automatically triggered camera attached to a tree, prompting a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Game Commission to say that it was an image of "a bear with a severe case of mange." The photo was taken near the town of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny National Forest.