For most of us Bigfoot is a mythical figure, akin to the Loch Ness Monster or space aliens with supposed sightings of the hairy beast very much an American phenomenon.
But for a dedicated band of British Bigfoot searchers, the giant ape-man not only lives – but is to be found in the UK countryside with sightings reported in diverse locations from a park in Salford to woodland in Sussex.
European folklore contains numerous legends of hairy giants or ‘wild men’, but the name ‘Bigfoot’ came into being in 1958 after Jerry Crew, a bulldozer operator for a logging company in Humboldt County, California, stumbled across a set of 16-inch human-like footprints deep in the mud of the Six Rivers National Forest.
Crew contacted local reporter Andrew Genzoli, whose write-up for the Humboldt Times mentioned that the loggers referred to the owner of the footprints as ‘Bigfoot’. The story quickly went international and a star was born.
Bigfoot became a pop culture phenomenon in the 1960s, spurred on sightings like those seen in the famous ‘Patterson/Gimlin film’, released in 1967, in which an ape-like creature can be seen walking along the Bluff Creek river bed in California.
By the 1980s Bigfoot had been firmly domesticated, with shows like Bigfoot and the Hendersons depicting a sweet-natured Sasquatch living with an American family. Last year Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough starred in the comedy adventure Sasquatch Sunset about a family of four of the upright mythological beasts.
But for some the dream of finding the real-life Bigfoot remains the real prize. While the hunt has usually focused on the least populated areas of the US, like the Pacific Northwest, there has been an explosion in British-based Bigfoot sleuthing since 2015, with both full-time hunters and hobbyists flocking to events like Bigfoot Bash UK and Cryptid Conference UK.
While the chances of the cryptozoological creature turning up on our tiny isle seem remote, having lost about 105,000 hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2021, Bigfoot could still be out there. Here are some of the main players on the British scene, including a 15-year-old who is so dedicated to the search he’s left school to hunt for Bigfoot.
Teen who’s quit school to search for Bigfoot
Aged just 15, Daniel Lee Barnett, from Bridgwater, Somerset, is the new face of British bigfoot hunting – introducing Gen Z to the Sasquatch.
Diagnosed with autism when he was six, he is now one of the UK’s youngest cryptozoologists and has dropped out of high school to focus his energies on tracking down the elusive creature.
He even claims to have discovered environmental DNA (eDNA) – DNA collected from the environment rather than an individual’s body – of an ancient ape from a footprint in a forest near his home, Esquire Magazine reported.
The teen fell in love with the Sasquatch after watching a documentary called Expedition Bigfoot with his grandfather in March 2021, throwing himself headfirst into the subject.
Researching the photo-shy creature online he found a community of like-minded Bigfoot enthusiasts. He decided to start a podcast and YouTube channel to share his own investigations into ‘cryptids’ – animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science.
‘Mythical Legends’ launched in June 2023 and documents Daniel’s explorations and interviews with scientists from around the globe.
Daniel says he is ‘skeptical’ about finding Bigfoot in the UK, but decided to look into it after reading about reported sightings – and hopes one day to go Sasquatch-hunting in the US.
Speaking to Somerset Live, he said: ‘I love the mystery around Bigfoot and that there’s a lot of investigating and science into it. I’m very hopeful that one day I’ll find him.
‘People think he’s a ferocious scary beast, but we don’t know that. We base our opinions on Bigfoot around research in America, when really we could have our own species here in the UK.
‘Finding Bigfoot would end the mystery and actually that’s part of the fun. In a way, I’d rather not find him and still have the mystery.’
Having struggled at school due to his autism and severe social anxiety, the search for Bigfoot has brought Daniel out of his shell and seen his confidence soar, father Craig and mother Gemma said.
The youngster regularly ventures out into Windown Forest, Bridgwater, setting up cameras in a bid to capture footage of the secretive cryptid and looking for telltale markers such as indentations in the ground or hair samples.
After finding a Sasquatch-shaped footprint he sent one environmental DNA sample to a laboratory in the Netherlands – who were so impressed with his handiwork that they sent a courier to collect a sample and ship it to a lab in Portugal for free, despite usually only working with commercial clients.
He was even invited to be a guest speaker at the 2024 Great Florida Bigfoot Conference.
Daniel is also trying to inspire other young people to join him in hunt for Bigfoot, and has previously set up a youth group for budding explorers to encourage children to spend time outdoors and learn about nature.
His father Craig told Somerset Live: ‘We’re so proud of Daniel and how far he’s come.’
Jon Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, called Daniel ‘a remarkable young man.’
He said: ‘Daniel has taken it upon himself to recruit a team of like-minded individuals, and to utilise modern technology and the scientific method to investigate these, the most intangible examples of modern cryptozoology.
‘Whether he will succeed, none of us know, but he has already garnered some remarkable results.’
Bigfoot spotted in Salford
Deborah Hatswell claims to have met Bigfoot in a park in Salford in 1982 when she was skiving off school with a friend.
She described her close encounter with the beast to The Observer: ‘We were playing in Buile Hill Park in Salford and I saw this movement in the corner of my eye. This thing leant out from the bushes.
‘It was like an ape and a man had been pushed together. It had thick brows, looked Neanderthal and it was awful. I ran.’
Deborah credits that experience with kickstarting an obsession with Bigfoot, as she began to place ads in newspapers seeking fellow witnesses, reading endless reports of past sightings and collecting clippings.
But the next logical step for the self-described ‘paranormal and cryptid investigator’ was to start looking for the Sasquatch herself.
After having an accident in 2006 that left her disabled, she set up Being Believed Research (BBR) Investigations as ‘a way to bring a spotlight to the hundreds of people left out there in society believing they are alone, or that their experience is just too ‘weird or out-there’ to share’ and turned full-time to the hunt.
BBR has now collected thousands of witness testimonies and the organisation helps witnesses deal with the ‘trauma’ of their brush with Bigfoot or other mysterious entities.
Deborah wrote: ‘Many people are left traumatised after an event and for some it can be a continuous lifetime of strange experiences or interaction with several different types of activity.
‘Talking through these happenings, exploring why they happened and how to navigate a way forward can be a time consuming project and Deborah & BBR offer a safe place to share your story along with showing you how to deal with this activity at home.’
She says she has seen private videos of Bigfoot that will be never made public due to fear of backlash or ridicule.
Gorilla-like creature spotted in Welsh woodlands
Bigfoot enthusiast Jason Parsons claims to have a close encounter with a ‘gorilla-like creature’ in the Welsh woodlands in 2016.
He was on the hunt for the elusive beast in woods near Caerphilly Mountain, North of Cardiff when he experienced the wild sighting.
Mr Parsons had whipped out his camera to record an oddly shaped twig he believed may have been related to yeti activity in the area when he caught the sighting, the Daily Star Online reported.
On watching the film back at home he was gobsmacked to see the shady outline of a tall creature lurking in the brush and was convinced he had finally laid eyes on the mysterious bigfoot.
He told the Daily Star: ‘To my astonishment, I saw what I can only describe as a gorilla-like figure, slightly blended into the dark bush, but still having a clear form, just like a gorilla or Bigfoot creature might have.’
Mr Parsons had decided to go on a trek across the mountain after finding strange x-shaped structures left in the woods which he believed could have been constructed by bigfoot.
After analysing his footage, Mr Parsons showed it to the British Bigfoot Research organisation – who were excited by his apparent close encounter.
Co-founder of the group, Adam Bird, said: ‘Sceptics will say it is just a person but why would a person stand in the middle of a remote forest, swinging and pushing a tree? Let’s think about it logically. We believe Jason Parsons has captured footage of something quite significant.’
The man who ‘photographed Bigfoot’ on British soil
Adam Bird, from Nottingham, is the co-founder of the British Bigfoot Research organisation and believes he is one of the few to have photographed Bigfoot on British soil.
He was strolling in Friskney nature reserve taking photographs and was astonished when he saw a large shadowy figure looming back at him on his camera screen.
After reading about prior Bigfoot sightings at the nature reserve, Adam ventured into the woodland in search of answers.
He followed some strange noises and suspiciously large footprints in the woods before capturing what he believes is the mysterious beast on camera.
Adam said: ‘My main reason for thinking there is something in the UK is the sheer number of sightings. People have been reporting hairy, upright figures since around the 1870s.
‘One misconception is that the UK doesn’t have sightings – but there are many.’
‘These creatures are seen all over the UK, and the phenomenon spreads from Scotland right down to southern England.
“These people are clearly seeing something and that something cannot be passed off as simply hoaxes or known animals. This is something unknown.’
People become obsessed
Mick Mclaren, 57, is a Bigfoot hunter from Bolton in Greater Manchester.
Him and his team roam Winter Hill, an incline on the West Pennine Moors that is a popular hiking area – but has also been the site of aeroplane disasters and a murder.
He dates the boom in British bigfoot hunting to 2015, the year that the Animal Planet network aired the show ‘Finding Bigfoot’ in which US Bigfoot enthusiasts – know as ‘Squatchers’ – came to the UK to expand their search for the mythical creature.
‘There are a lot more people coming forward because it’s been put out there,’ he told Esquire. ‘People aren’t as bothered about being ridiculed these days.’
Mick began by researching leylines – energy lines that connect significant locations – and noticed a crossover with cryptids, particularly Bigfoot, after spotting links between reported sightings and the patterns on certain maps.
Speaking to , he said: ‘I’ve been fascinated by the paranormal and the unexplained since childhood, influenced by personal experiences and a lot of reading over the years.
‘That early interest naturally led me to explore cryptids, which is how I eventually got into researching Bigfoot.’
And once he learned about the Sasquatch, it became an overriding obsession, as he freely admits.
‘Everything I saw was Bigfoot,’ he told Esquire. It’s a stage of belief that everyone goes through. Not everyone leaves it.
‘There are still them people who are stuck there, who don’t move on. And that’s where the arguments can sometimes appear.’
Despite their common goal – finding Bigfoot – the Sasquatch-hunting community can be a fractious place.
Mick admits that he has not personally seen Bigfoot, but says his investigations have exposed him to a number of unexplained phenomena.
He said: ‘While I haven’t had a direct encounter with Bigfoot, my research and time spent in the field investigating cryptids have brought me into some strange situations.
‘I’ve explored areas known for Bigfoot sightings, spoken to witnesses, and experienced unexplained phenomena in dense woods and forests, sounds of heavy footsteps, tree knocks, and an eerie sense of being watched.’
His Bigfoot hunting focuses on Winter Hill, a local hotspot for strange sightings and folklore where he regularly travels with night-vision equipment, audio recording devices and trail cameras to capture any potential evidence.
He said: ‘If I saw Bigfoot on Winter Hill, I think I’d feel a mix of shock, excitement, and maybe a bit of fear—especially if it was up close. It would be incredible to witness something so legendary in a place with so much history and folklore.
‘As for claiming the accolade for Bolton and the North, I’d love to document it properly and share the experience, but I’d also want to make sure it was investigated thoroughly.
‘Whether it turned out to be a cryptid, a misidentification, or something stranger, it would definitely put Winter Hill on the map for more than just UFOs and ghosts.’
His crew, the Winter Hill Investigation Team (WHIT) are planning to explore Rivington Pike, Belmont and the wooded valleys of the West Pennine Moors, where reports of mysterious figures and enigmatic noises have surfaced over the years.
Further afield, Mick says he wants to expand the search for Bigfoot to Cannock Chase near Wolverhampton, The Forest of Dean on the border of England and Wales, and the Yorkshire Moors, where numerous strange humanoid creatures have been sighted.
He said: ‘In the UK, I think Bigfoot-like creatures would exist in more likely places like dense forests, remote moorlands, and areas with a history of strange sightings like Winter Hill, Cannock Chase, The Scottish Highlands, Delamere Forest and Sherwood Forest which seems to be hotspot of strange paranormal and cryptid accounts.
‘Given that UK Bigfoot sightings are often fleeting, involve strange noises, and sometimes coincide with UFOs or ley lines, it might not be a flesh-and-blood creature but an interdimensional or spiritual being like a ancient guardian spirit linked to folklore about wild men and nature spirits.
‘It could be a remnant of pre-Christian beliefs, appearing to certain people under the right conditions.’
And whatever the Sasquatch is, Mick says his ultimate goal is to find the proof that would end the debate about Bigfoot’s existence.
Speaking to Stat Magazine, he said: ‘I’d love to get something on camera. Though I still think we’d have sceptics who would say it’s made up.
‘We’ve things on camera that aren’t the solid evidence that we can say: ‘that’s a bigfoot; that’s a dogman.’
Bigfoot spotted roaming Northumberland
Jon Downes is the director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology in North Devon, a professional scientific organisation dedicated to cryptozoology.
Founded in 1992, the body carries out research into ‘mystery animals and animal mysteries’ around the globe.
Jon claims to have seen a Bigfoot roaming around in Bolam Lake Country Park in Northumberland – but wasn’t able to get a photo in time.
He wrote: ‘People have been claiming that there is a British Bigfoot for many years. There is certainly a recurrent Fortean phenomenon which appears to be a humanoid giant. Our ancestors called them woodwoses.
‘I know that these things exist. I have seen one. In January 2003 an immensely tall figure ran between two marked trees in Bolam Lake Forest in Northumberland.
‘I was one of five people that saw it. What exactly it is I still don’t know.’
Jon was the leader of a 12-man team that ventured to Bolam Lake in search of the giant man-ape hybrid which had previously been sighted by three anglers.
Using cameras, dowsing roads and ‘electromagnetic field detectors’ – which measure the earth’s natural electromagnetic fields – they went in search of the upright ape.
Speaking to the Northern Echo, Jon said: ‘I was blown away. When I came up here, I thought it was a hoax.
‘I was convinced they had seen something and they believed it, but I didn’t in a million years think I would see it.’
Other sightings…
A group of walkers were convinced they had found evidence of Bigfoot’s existence after spotting a ‘mysterious’ footprint along a picturesque coast path in Devon.
The walkers, who were on a day out with Rock Solid Coasteering, discovered the footprint along the Maidencombe coast path in Torquay in March 2024.
DevonLive was told by a member of the group that the footprints came from the woods, followed the coast path for roughly 20 metres before it veered off back to the woodland.
The group who discovered the prints say they were all ‘weirded out’.
While the photo doesn’t have an exact measurement, one of the people who discovered the print said: ‘The prints were big. I’m a size 11 and they were half as big again. Clearly a bare foot, every print was perfect like the one in the photo.’
In 2006 sightings of a large woodland animal in the UK lasted for around six weeks, with fifteen witnesses eventually coming forward claiming they saw a Bigfoot-like animal.
They reportedly described an ape-like creature, around five foot tall, with brown hair covering its body and with a green face. These observers further stated that the animal didn’t have a tail.
On two occasions the being was seen swinging from tree branches, ‘with tremendous agility’.
In 2022, when reports of a ‘Littlefoot’ in Devon came out, Jon Downes said: ‘I have many similar reports of such creatures being seen in Devonshire woodland.
‘And this one is a real cracker because it has so much separate and credible corroboration to it’.