Does a Sasquatch live among us in Centre County? Science has thus far been inconclusive, but believers may very well be onto something.

A month ago, on October 4, 2025, an unnamed witness, deemed “sincere and very credible” by the authorities on Bigfoot sightings, claims he saw one only 25 miles from Penn State’s campus. 

This spotting places a third Bigfoot sighting in Centre County in only six years, with the earlier two only 25 miles away; a feasible range for a cryptid to roam. Is it among us now? Has it enrolled in classes? How do we know it’s not right behind us? 

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, also known as the BFRO, has done in-depth research and fact-checking on all of these reports and thousands more across America and the world. Established in 1995, the organization is determined to compile and collate reports in one central database, to, hopefully, truly answer the question of Bigfoot. 

The October sighting in question occurred at 5:30 p.m. on I-80 Westbound, near the 169 mile-marker. The witness, left unnamed in BFRO’s report for his privacy, is a retired civil engineer, Air Force veteran, and an avid hunter of 50+ years.

Returning to his home in Western Pennsylvania from a trip with his wife in a Dodge Ram truck, the witness says he was driving around 77 mph with a Subaru Crosstrek around 165 yards in front of him. Then, he says, he saw what he initially assumed to be a man begin to cross the road directly in front of the Subaru. Startled, he continued to observe, slowly realizing that this thing could not be a human. 

“It was completely dark; all the same color,” the witness said. “It was the way it moved across the road that shook me. Nothing quick or jerky like a sprinter. It was fast, but almost a glide or sliding motion to it.”

His wife was watching the view out of one of the truck’s windows and didn’t see the scene until the entity had disappeared from view on the other side of the road.

The witness, shaken by the event, decided to speak to the drivers of the car in front of him, who surely would’ve seen it, and began to follow them off the highway through an exit. Once at a red light, the witness exited his truck and moved to the car, but a green light flashed and the Subaru sped away, without a word. 

“I know what I saw, but I don’t know what I saw,” said the witness. 

Could the occupants of the Subaru have seen the same thing? Where are they now? Perhaps they were so terrified of the creature that passed before them that they ran off, for fear of exposure? It’s very likely we’ll never know. 

This is not the only supposed Bigfoot sighting in the area. On BFRO’s website, there are two more sightings, both only 20 miles from the one on October 4 near Gamelands 333 and Fisherman’s Paradise— spots significantly closer to Penn State campus.

One, which reportedly occurred on February 19, 2025, to a Penn State student, was much more action-packed than even the one on I-80. 

The student claims he was raccoon hunting in the woods, around 6:30 p.m., and it was dark at the time. As he walked through the woods, he described a “dreadful feeling” overcoming him, though he pressed on with his trip. He had set off a call to attract his prey, which could potentially account for his inevitable encounter.

The dreadful feeling increased, and he decided to leave the area and head back to his car. He stopped at some point, with his back to a creek, and turned with his flashlight, seeing a black silhouette disappear into the brush. 

He escaped with clean hands that time, but returned to the area later on and had another experience. In the woods, he heard a loud “knock,” a noise commonly attributed to Sasquatches. As he pushed on, he began to hear movement in the brush, which seemed to be following him. He pointed his flashlight all over the place, eventually landing on another dark figure disappearing as quickly as he had found it.

Frantic at this point, the witness ran from the noise while on the phone with a friend. Scanning the forest again, his light met one of the creatures dead in the face, only 40 yards away. 

Information from these two events, along with a third dated in 2019, all align in their descriptions. We may very well have a Bigfoot on our hands, hiding masterfully in the shadows of the wilderness around our campus.

For the nonbelievers, this information may not mean much. But, it should be acknowledged that seeing is believing. The witness to the October 4 encounter claims to have never believed in Bigfoot and only came to the conclusion after reading other reports of similar creatures in the area. And, after the BFRO reached out to him, the witness was willing to drive over one hundred miles from his home back to the site, simply to add more concrete data to the investigation.

Some may discredit his sightings, perhaps due to age (he was at least 60, if not older), or the distance of the encounter. But, as an avid hunter of over half a century, it can be assumed he has “good eyes”.

The BFRO has put a significant amount of energy into these sightings and their investigations, which you can read here. The reports on the earlier two sightings are linked within the article.

It may be easier to dismiss all of this, of course, or just move on. But someone needs to ask the questions, don’t they?