Bigfoot, Fringe Science and Citizen Science: Inside the Bigfoot Community

The Conversation reports on a sociological study of the Bigfooting community, based on lockdown interviews with 130 Bigfooters, and previews the authors’ forthcoming book Bigfooters and Scientific Inquiry. It frames Bigfooting as a form of citizen science that intersects with mainstream science.

Overview

In The Conversation, Jamie Lewis and Andrew Bartlett describe their study of the Bigfooting community, based on lockdown interviews with more than 130 Bigfooters and their forthcoming book Bigfooters and Scientific Inquiry.

"From reading books and from discussing it with people, there was a sense that Bigfooters are anti-science. We did not find that. In fact, I would say a lot of them are pro-science, but they’re counter establishment." - Lewis

Scale and Diversity of the Bigfoot Community

Lewis and Bartlett explain a split between apers who see Bigfoot as a primate unknown to science and woo-woos who imagine interdimensional or alien origins. Numbers run in the thousands, with a couple of hundred deeply engaged interviewees, and YouGov surveys suggest a notable portion of Americans entertain belief in Bigfoot.

"We’re talking in the thousands of people." - Lewis

Interviews, Credibility and Community Culture

The researchers describe how interviewees worried about caricature, but the authors frame their work as understanding social dynamics rather than endorsing belief, and note that Bigfooting differs from paranormal pursuits through reliance on local evidence and ecological contexts.

Traits, Hierarchy and Community Culture

The Bigfooting community is described as predominantly white, male, rural and blue-collar, often with ex-military backgrounds; a-list figures include academia and TV presenters, while groups like the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization sit below in the hierarchy.

"The community is very white, male, rural and blue collar – often ex-military." - Lewis

Learning from Scientists and the Gateway to Local Understanding

The authors argue that Bigfooters are not anti-science but counter-establishment; they collect data and can illuminate local biodiversity when studied with academic discipline, acting as a bridge between fieldwork and formal inquiry.

"They are collecting lots of data." - Bartlett