The Fayette County Pennsylvania Bigfoot Research Project is hosting a two-day Bigfoot event Oct. 4 and 5, at the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Company, with proceeds going to benefit the fire company. The first day of the event is a town-hall roundtable style discussion with the researchers and investigators from 6-9 p.m. On the second day, there will be a variety of events, including vendors, food, events for children and several guest speakers according to the events Facebook page.

Mike Hartman, one of the researchers who was to speak at the event prior to having to cancel due to a last-minute illness, as well as the founder of Ohio Bigfoot Research and Investigation Center has managed a number of other Bigfoot websites that he outgrew before founding the center, being Knox Bigfoot and Central Ohio Bigfoot Research. During his time in the Navy, he used his hunting and tracking skills in both Mississippi and California in search for Bigfoot and other creatures.

Hartman says that he has been interested in Bigfoot research since the early 1980s. He recalls the dawn of affection for Bigfoot in a third-grade visit to the library.

“I just happened to grab this book by John Green, called, ‘On the Track of Bigfoot.’ And in the middle of that book was a picture of Patty from the Patterson film, frame 354,” said Hartman, “When I saw that picture, for whatever reason, it just burned into my brain and has never left.”

He described the historical precedence of Bigfoot research on a global scale. According to him, Bigfoot has up to 250,000 names worldwide for the many different relatives or “cousins” of Bigfoot.

Hartman elaborated, “The oldest, or closest genetic relative to the American coyote is the African golden jackal. There’s nothing in Ohio, in the United States, that’s closely related, or in South America, to the coyote. Its closest relative is in Africa. So I think it was kind of like that with Bigfoot. It started with Gigantopithecus, or some older that evolved in the Gigantopithecus that came across Beringia and spread around.”

As a part of his discussions for the event, Hartman was to discuss footprints and their structure, as well as a tribe in Papua New Guinea and the Sherpas of the higher Alps. He also previewed the content of his audio recordings, using weather conditions and other context clues to determine when a recording could contain evidence of Bigfoot.

“A lot of them are wood knocks, and then I’ve got whoops, and I’ve got screens,” Hartman stated, “Then I have the Woodbury howl. Ohio has its own specific, special howl that was coined. It was called the Ohio Howl, because Ohio was the first place that it was ever heard. I have something close to that that’s a little different. So, I call it the Woodbury howl, because that’s where I was when I recorded it.”

Wood knocks, according to Hartman, is general term used to describe impact sounds that are theorized to be Bigfoot hitting something off a tree, a clap or even two rocks banging off each other. In recordings where these wood knocks are heard, Bigfoot researchers like him listen for sounds of bipedal movement and a lack of conflicting weather noises.

For those interested in learning more, the speakers for the event including Dan Hageman, Aurora Swanhilde and Kevin Paul will be present to discuss their findings. In addition, Hartman recommends sources such as the Library of Congress or simply taking time to read in a local library to learn more.