Sasquatch in Indiana: A Mapping Project (2025)
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1IYkSDSWd51U5p8Wogs3HLSk-m9XcZSs&usp=sharing
Hundreds of sasquatch sightings have been reported in Indiana, dating back to the 1830s. To determine the extent of these sightings, I have mapped the most reasonable Indiana reports and found that there are currently 327 consistent, publicly available sightings. In the map, the sightings are sorted by modern relevance, with older reports that happened 50+ years ago on the lowest layer and incidents in the past 15 years being at the top. From this data, we can determine geographic patterns, estimate the number of sightings around North America, and find the best times of year for reported sasquatch activity. There are likely over 35,000 publicly available sightings in North America, with October being the month with the most reported events.
The internet search for Sasquatch in the Hoosier state began on November 17th, 2025, and was completed 183 days later. I began by Google searching four terms: “Indiana Sasquatch,” “Indiana bigfoot,” “Hoosier bigfoot,” and “Hoosier Sasquatch,” followed by a year between 1995 and the present. After using these search terms, I would manually read each website in the feed to determine whether it would be relevant to the mapping project until all available pages were scanned. After collecting data from the various websites, I then began searching through thousands of transcripts of videos and podcasts to find content that involves the state of Indiana and Bigfoot, using Ctrl+F. I lastly searched Facebook and Reddit, as well as the Wayback Machine, for any other incidents that could be added to the map.
In total, I ended with 327 sightings reported in the state of Indiana, but it must be stated that this is only a fraction of the true number. Any records that did not provide an approximate location within a few miles of an encounter and did not provide an estimated year were omitted. Reports that could be attributable to humans, like tree structures or animal remains found in strange places, were ignored. I also excluded evidence that shows clear signs of being hoaxed, like dug-out footprints or figures with human proportions, and all sightings that involve the supernatural. Further, a lot of Indiana evidence has been lost to time. Eleven of the more reliable sightings were removed following the deletion of the Indiana Bigfoot Research Organization (IBRO) website and a YouTube channel by Lynn Smith during my search. I estimate that there would easily be 700 sightings if less detailed and non-archived accounts were included.
The heavily forested region of South-Central Indiana has the most incidents based on the information collected. The eight counties with more than 10 reported occurrences are Monroe, Brown, Morgan, Parke, Jennings, Jefferson, Putnam, and Kosciusko counties. Monroe County has the most overall, at 30 sightings, doubling Brown and Jennings County’s second place at 15. This extreme difference may be due to the high number of individuals who focus their research in Monroe specifically, like Aaron McAtee and Leroy Nail. Putnam County, of the researcher Larry Battson, and Kosciusko, of Steve Abney, also likely have comparatively more sightings due to higher emphasis. The five counties with multiple reported sightings in the past decade are Monroe, Dubois, Jennings, Martin, and Crawford counties.
From this data, we can draw several conclusions. October has the most sightings out of any month, with 33, followed by August at 28 and July at 27 total. Encounters seem to correlate with the months when people spend the most time outdoors. In Indiana, thousands of people go hunting each year in October, influencing this high number, and it's also no surprise that many of the summer months have an increase in reports. We can also determine that there might be more sightings in Indiana than ever before, with consistent growth until now. This increase could also be due to the expanding availability of digital technology and more belief in this subject. There were zero available sightings between 1898 and 1933, which correlates directly with the extirpation of game species and the mass deforestation in the state during that time. Given that there may be four to eight times as many reports in Indiana as are listed on the BFRO, we can estimate that there may be between 24,000 and 49,000 reliable encounters available on the internet.
327 / 82 = 3.99
BFRO sightings before 2026 are at 6,086
6,086 (3.99) = 24,270 sightings
This map aims to help others interested in this field, whether in Indiana or one of the many other places where Sasquatch is reported. The details are surprisingly consistent with long arms, sagittal crests, no neck, and broad shoulders being frequently described. Other details that are very common are guttural sounds, foul odors, and eyeshine. This map puts further scrutiny on the theory that all sightings are of bears, as many sightings take place at times of the year when black bears should be hibernating, and Indiana has no known bear population. It also nullifies the belief that sasquatch is a supernatural entity rather than physical because these sightings are rarely sporadic and often involve the creature interacting with resources.
For future mapping projects in this vein, artificial intelligence can be programmed to search transcripts and Google for terms rather than doing it manually. This method has been used on the site Squatchable, which scans YouTube videos for anything involving Bigfoot and determines where and when they took place. The Indiana Sasquatch Map still fails to include the total number of sources that can be found on the Internet due to the limitations of manual searching. If you are aware of the sites that I missed, feel free to get in contact.
