When it comes to bigfoot sightings, at Top Secret Writers we remain agnostic when it comes to whether or not sightings represent that of a new species of creature. It is difficult to believe that such a species could remain so elusive and hidden within a country where it can be very difficult to find any location without sign of human presence.

With that said, bigfoot sightings continue. Furthermore, while some sightings are surely a result of someone ignorant of the wildlife in their area, there are an impressive number of sightings that come from perfectly sane, educated people. In fact, as we mentioned in our Bigfoot article last year, even Jane Goodall told reporter Ira Flatow on NPR that she found the evidence compelling, and while it hasn’t been proven they exist, she hopes that they do. In fact she told Ira, “…you’ll be amazed when I tell you that I’m sure that they exist.” (1)

The real question for researchers and scientists that are interested in trying to get a glimpse of this elusive species is where there could be high populations of them. Areas of the highest population represent the greatest chance for investigators to capture evidence of them, or maybe even experience their own bigfoot sighting.

In this article, I’m going to collate all of the available evidence and statistics to generate a list of areas in the U.S. that are virtual Bigfoot hot-spots. These are areas that would offer the most fruitful research results for someone (or a team) dedicated enough to set up observation posts and expeditions to collect evidence.

Throughout the Bigfoot community, the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast are very well known for the volume of Bigfoot sightings that occur. At least, those are the ones that have received the most publicity.

One of the best places to look for statistics on sightings is the central database for the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) where the majority of sightings from across the country are usually submitted (when they are submitted).

USA field reports are listed by state at the USA database page, and the number of total listings for that state are included in a complete table. (2)

You can click on any state to review listings for those states. In this review, once I break down the top 10 states with the most frequent sightings, I will also provide overhead maps of the areas of each state that appear to be Bigfoot sighting hotspots.

The BFRO database shows the following 15 states with the most sightings reported:

1. Washington – 528
2. California – 425
3. Oregon – 227
4. Ohio – 224
5. Florida – 207
6. Illinois – 176
7. Michigan – 141
8. Colorado – 110
9. New York – 101
10. Pennsylvania – 98
11. Missouri – 92
12. Kentucky – 85
13. Tennessee – 85
14. North Carolina – 78
15. Arkansas – 76

This pattern represents very clear regions of the country that could reveal population centers of this alleged unknown species of ape. There can be little doubt that the Pacific Northwest states of Washington, Northern California and Oregon are the main population center – even when you factor down a percentage of reports being erroneous from people that don’t know what they’re looking at when they see a regular animal.

An impressive map showing this in graphical format is available online – I’m not sure who put this together but it is a very nice display of exactly where these hotspots are located in the U.S. based on the BFRO database of Bigfoot sightings. (3) 

It’s also a good idea to take a look at other sources to confirm whether these national hot-spots are truly representative of Bigfoot activity, or whether it’s an anomaly of the BFRO reporting procedure itself.

Taking a look at the Oregon Bigfoot database, there were 800 reports in Oregon, 151 in Washington, 93 in California, and the rest of the states had single-digit report counts. (4) Clearly, in the case of that database, there is a reporting bias based on the location and focus of the organization.

The United Bigfoot Research Group sightings page only has report pages in the database for the states that made the top of the “hotspot” list in the BFRO database. These included Washington, Orgegon, Montana, Michigan, Florida and California. (5) While the UBRG is young and the database is small, the fact that the 15 states listed there that already have sightings reports confirm the top states on BFRO’s list.

Other lists around the Internet confirm the same regions that the BFRO list identifies, such as BigFootInfo.org where the majority of sighting reports are from Washington, Oregon, Ohio, California and Alabama (6), and the North America Bigfoot Search website which primarily has sighting details only from California, Ohio, and Oregon.

So, while there are plenty of places in the country with a lot of Bigfoot sightings, the clearest centers of each population are without a doubt located in Washington, Northern California, Oregon and Ohio.

Digging into the Bigfoot Sightings Data

Focusing on those four regions of the country reveal the 10 most active Bigfoot sites in the country. Using the BFRO database as the source and zooming into these four states, it’s possible to identify the 2 or 3 most active regions within each state.

For Washington, analyzing the visualization map turns up Pierce County, King County, Lewis County as the three areas with the most Bigfoot sightings.

It is interesting to note, as you can see from the area that I’ve circled above, that the sighting pattern follows the edge of the water sources, such as Puget Sound. If you look at the smaller population of sightings in Washington, you’ll see that the majority of them are near a water source as well.

Moving slightly south down the map and analyzing the reporting statistics in Oregon, the same pattern holds true. Population centers of any Bigfoot species appear to be focused on the Western side of the state, and along the major bodies of water.

The hottest areas in Oregon for Bigfoot sightings include Clackamas County and Josephine County.

Once again, moving just a little further south down the Western coast to the very large state of California, it’s easy to see where the most Bigfoot sightings are coming from – clearly the most mountainous and isolated regions of the state.

If even a half to three quarters of these sightings are legitimate, there appear to be population centers of these creatures living in Six Rivers National Forest and in Stanislaus National Forest, with many sightings occurring in Yosemite National Park. Humboldt County, Siskiyou County, Del Norte County and Shasta County all border Six Rivers National Forest, and the fact that human population areas are experiencing so many encounters suggests that there’s significant activity in Six Rivers National Forest.

It is also important to note that there are some massive bears, like the Grizzly, living in these areas – so not only could they represent a number of the sightings, but they could also present a significant danger if you’re exploring these areas for Bigfoot – so be careful!

Finally, on the strangest part of the country to produce the largest volume of Bigfoot reports – Ohio. It is strange, because it’s so far from the Pacific Northwest, where so many of the usual Bigfoot Sightings occur.

It is clear from the map that the majority of sightings in Ohio come from the Northeast Quadrant of the state. Areas that are particular hot areas for Bigfoot sightings in Ohio include Portage County, Stark County, and Summit County.

Top 10 Bigfoot Sites in North America

From this brief review, it’s safe to conclude that if you are a serious Bigfoot researcher, you would want to visit one of these 10 areas to increase the potential of a Bigfoot sighting by a very large factor. The 10 most active Bigfoot areas in the U.S. are:

1. Pierce County, Washington
2. King County, Washington
3. Lewis County, Washington
4. Clackamas County, Oregon
5. Josephine County, Oregon
6. Six Rivers National Forest, California
7. Stanislaus National Forest, California
8. Portage County, Ohio
9. Stark County, Ohio
10. Summit County, Ohio

Source: Top Secret Writers