MIDLAND, MI — Though Midland police have said they will look no farther into Breckenridge resident Anthony Padilla's claim that multiple Sasquatches are living on his property, Michigan Bigfoot investigators have taken up the case.

The Bigfoot Field Research Organization, based in San Francisco, has chapters in each state and investigates reported Bigfoot sightings. The group has sent Matthew Smith, a Michigan Bigfoot investigator, to follow up on Padilla's report.

Smith and Padilla have met, and Padilla supplied Smith with evidence including pizza boxes from which the Bigfoots have eaten, a photo album, tape recorder and video recorder.

“I looked at hair samples from the pizza box under a light, compared them to other Bigfoot hair samples, and they matched,” Smith said. “This could be something. This is going to be tested for DNA.”

To deem a sighting as legitimate, the group takes a look at factors such as location, the history of Bigfoot sightings in the area and the evidence. If these seem to check out, investigators will camp in the area Bigfoot is said to have been spotted.

“You have to look at how much wooded area there is. Obviously you’re not going to see a bigfoot in the middle of the city,” said Smith. “You have to look at the history, look at the archives and see if there are any other witnesses that have seen it. If you have people from the same community that haven’t talked to each other, you know it could be real.”

Matthew Smith has analyzed several pizza boxes Anthony Padilla has found in relation to bigfoot and found many "clumps" of hair.

Part of what Smith said legitimizes Padilla’s claim to Bigfoot investigators is that there have been sightings from four people in the area.

“A woman across the road from and a ways away from Padilla (emailed) me and said she had actually had three encounters on her property,” Smith said. “She has been a hunter for 31 years, says her son has seen it, and she has seen it twice.”

Padilla said his first encounter with a Bigfoot happened while he was walking through the woods behind his house. The night before, he had heard rumbling noises and decided to try to determine the source of the sound. While in the woods, Padilla came upon a figure he thought was a hunter in a Ghillie suit or a Department of Natural Resources employee.

“His back was arched, but I saw him first. I seen him first, and then he seen me, and he arched up like a big statue and froze,” Padilla said. “I tried speaking to it; I couldn’t spit it out. I wasn’t scared; he wouldn’t let me.”

The next thing Padilla said he remembers is seeing two deer leaving the area. After this encounter, Padilla said he and the creatures have a spiritual bond.

Padilla said many of his communications with the creatures have revolved around food he has left for it.

“I had a whole pack of Nutter Butter cookies around the tree, and the top was missing off one,” Padilla said. “The peanut butter was poked with a stick and (the stick) was sticking up in the ground.”

Gordonville Grocery has also taken note of the area’s Bigfoot connection. In honor of the recent sightings, the store's pizza makers created a foot-shaped pizza.

Amber Hunter, a pizza maker at Gordonville Grocery, said her brother is an artist and developed the pizza shape.

"A lot of people are coming in and asking where (Bigfoot) was sighted," Hunter said. "I've here lived on the same road that Bigfoot is supposedly living on, and I've never seen it. But I don't want to argue it because it's bringing so much business. I don't know."