Top 20 States for Bigfoot Sightings

Want to know where Bigfoot has allegedly been seen, heard or left some footprints? The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has a handy-dandy database, with more than 4,500 reports, broken down by state and county.

Pennsylvania, for example, has 101 Sasquatch accounts, making the state No. 12 in the nation and No. 1 in the Northeast. Allegheny County is the top county for sightings, which can't be too surprising since it's close to Ohio, the country's No. 5 state, with 240 sightings. (The BFRO even has a Bigfoot search expedition scheduled for September in Western Pennsylvania, and The Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society says 101 is a very conservative undercount -- it has documented many more.)

In October, photos taken in Bradford, Pa., supposedly showed a couple of Sasquatch, but at least one skeptic had another explanation for the dark object(s): A tree stump or uprooted rootball.

The reports range from 573 in Washington State to just 5 each in Delaware and Rhode Island. The only state with no sightings is Hawaii.

Interest in Bigfoot may be higher than ever, stoked by reports of one shot and killed in Texas, and by such TV shows as Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot and Spike TV's $10 Million Bigfoot Bounty.

Click on a state for county breakdown and links to individual reports.

1. Washington, 573
2. California, 427
3. Florida, 266
4. Illinois, 245
5. Ohio, 240
6. Oregon, 234
7. Texas, 199
8. Michigan, 178
9. Colorado, 115
10. Georgia, 114
11. Missouri, 113
12. Pennsylvania, 101
13. New York, 100
14. Kentucky, 98
15. Tennessee, 93
16. Oklahoma, 88
17. West Virginia, 88
18. North Carolina, 86
19. Arkansas, 84
20. Alabama, 79

See full state rankings, including maps.

Here's the form for reporting your own sighting.

All of the BFRO reports have been screened for credibility to some degree, according to the group, which has been collecting and publishing data since 1995.

"The most complex investigations involve field searches with experienced trackers and wildlife biologists, surveillance projects, and lab analysis of forensic evidence," the website says. "The less complex investigations involve phone interviews and other steps to verify the relevant information."

The group believes a new species of woodland ape does exist, but acknowledges it will more hard evidence to win over the skeptics.

See more Philly Lists. Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.