LOUDONVILLE — Bigfoot may be the ultimate hide-and-seek champion.
At least, nobody found him Saturday in Loudonville.
The second annual Mohican Bigfoot Festival brought visitors to the village for a day of exploring the legendary creature. Central Park filled with vendors and activities while the Ohio Theatre hosted speakers who discussed Bigfoot sightings, investigations and famous cases.
The outdoor festival began winding down around 5 p.m. The Ohio Theatre’s ticketed events continued until 5:30 p.m.
The evening continued at The Junction at The Lost Horizons Family Campground with live music from about 6 to 7:30 p.m. As the sun set, the focus moved to the woods.
Cory Frazier is a Part 107-certified drone operator. Frazier demonstrated thermal imaging technology and explained how the equipment can be used to locate animals, missing pets and people.
Thermal cameras detect heat signatures, but Frazier said interpreting what appears on a screen takes experience. Objects like trees and rocks can hold heat from the sun and create misleading images.
Attendees also asked whether the technology could detect something as large as a Bigfoot. Frazier said a large animal could potentially show up through the tree canopy.
Then came the part of the night many people had been waiting for.
Award-winning Bigfoot Investigator Bea Mills gave a presentation on Bigfoot vocalizations. She explained what researchers listen for before playing recorded sounds toward the woods.
About 20 people gathered beneath the pavilion and listened. At first, people around the campground answered with their own Bigfoot calls.
Then a different sound came from the woods. Volunteer event content manager and host Suzanne Ferencak immediately took notice.
The group turned its attention toward the trees. Some people looked toward thermal drone footage, hoping to spot a heat signature.
No one could say for certain what made the sound. It could have been an animal. It could have been someone from the campground responding to the calls. Or it could have been something else entirely.
That uncertainty was part of the fun.
Mills discussed her years of collecting and analyzing audio recordings from the woods. She described using long-duration recorders to capture sounds and building a large library of alleged Bigfoot vocalizations.
She also talked about using technology and outside expertise to separate known animal sounds from noises that stay unexplained.
Mills said investigating Bigfoot is not necessarily about having all the expensive equipment.
It starts with going outside and listening.
“All you have to do to be a Bigfooter is go outside,” Mills said.
The idea was fitting as the festival came to an end.
After a day of speakers and stories, the crowd at Lost Horizons had one question still hanging in the air and lingering across Mohican.
What made that sound?
Maybe Bigfoot was there after all. Or maybe the festival’s most elusive guest was doing what Bigfoot does best: staying out of sight.
See more photos from the Mohican Bigfoot Festival:
