Saturday, June 14, 2014
LEETONIA
Many people remain convinced that Bigfoot is little more than a big urban legend, while others have reported sightings of what they believe is the imposing, apelike figure — but were never to find it.
Much easier to track down, however, was a festival bearing the elusive creature’s namesake.
“My interest [in Bigfoot] began when I was 11 and saw footage. I was mesmerized,” said Jeffrey Meldrum, an anthropology and anatomy professor at Idaho State University in Pocatello and a renowned Bigfoot researcher.
Meldrum’s one-hour lecture Saturday at the Leetonia K-12 School about Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, was a highlight of the first Genoskwa Festival, named after the Canton-based Genoskwa Project, a team of researchers that collects evidence to try to prove Bigfoot’s existence.
The Leetonia Coke Oven Commission hosted the two-day event, also called the Bigfoot Festival, which kicked off Friday on and near Main Street. Proceeds will go toward repairs to the Leetonia Beehive Coke Ovens, a 19th-century iron-making facility and historic site.
Many Bigfoot sightings have occurred over the years in the area, as well as in neighboring Stark and Carroll counties.
Meldrum recalled having seen such a creature on a sandbar near Bluff Creek, Calif., which led to an interest in studying and examining its footprints, he told his audience. To date, he has amassed more than 250 footprint impressions.
Later, he found additional tracks near Walla Walla, Wash., and began to closely look at the anatomical structures of the creature’s feet, including bone structure and ridges, and create overlays of his findings. Another footprint analysis followed Meldrum’s having spotted what he felt was Bigfoot while on a family vacation in Oregon, he continued.
Other topics Meldrum touched on regarding the hominid-like creatures were sole patterns as a result of continual running, and various scientific adaptations they have made.