Most reported Bigfoot sightings stall at the evidence problem: blurry images, ambiguous prints, nothing that holds under direct investigation. Several sightings in Damariscotta, Maine last week did not stall. The Damariscotta Police Department received what it described, in a Facebook post, as an "unusually high number of calls," launched an investigation, and closed it with an unambiguous finding.
The finding: a man in a very convincing costume.
An officer located the figure in the field and, after a direct conversation, confirmed the identification. The department posted its conclusion on Facebook, stating "Bigfoot is not real," with that conclusion applying to the hat-wearing figure residents had been reporting. The costume, in the department's words, was "very convincing."
The evidentiary bar in these cases rarely gets cleared cleanly. Trace evidence, prints, and photographs typically leave enough ambiguity to keep a case open indefinitely. Damariscotta's resolution came through the one method that removes ambiguity: an officer who found the subject and spoke with him directly.
The Facebook post, beyond the costume conclusion, gave substantial attention to how residents had behaved. The department said it "greatly appreciate[d] everyone's excitement, curiosity, and willingness to keep an eye out for one another" and noted that it had appreciated "all the calls and information that came in." The post added: "Rest assured, we were on the hunt from the very beginning."
The department described the community's response as something "almost as rare" as a genuine sighting: "a town full of people willing to stop what they're doing to investigate a Bigfoot sighting and keep each other safe." It said it "wouldn't have it any other way."
The man in the costume has not been publicly identified.