Wide-ranging views on Bigfoot converged on Clearfield in northcentral Pennsylvania on Saturday, as about 50 Bigfoot enthusiasts and investigators gathered at the Clearfield Arts Studio Theatre for Bigfoot Day in Clearfield.

Bigfoot enthusiasts fall into one of three camps, the group heard from Fred Saluga, state director of the Mutual UFO Network of West Virginia and director of the West Virginia Mountain State Sasquatch Watch. The first believe that Bigfoot is a "cryptozoological hominid creature." (Cryptozoology is the search for animals that have not been proven to exist. The animals that cryptozoologists search for are often referred to as cryptids. A hominid is a primate mammal that resembles humans and apes, and walks on two legs.)

Bigfoot Day in Clearfield speaker Fred Saluga explains his view that there are three groups of Bigfoot enthusiasts.

Saluga said, the second group thinks Bigfoot "dwells in extraterrestrial origin," travels interdimensionally and has UFO or non-Earthly ties. And, the third group believes the Bigfoot types envisioned by the first two groups are two different creatures.

"I think he's a creature from another dimension," he said. "He can come through whenever he wants, and he becomes like us, flesh and blood." For Saluga that explains why Bigfoot is not susceptible to diseases, infections and the like; never has been wounded by people shooting at him; and can simply walk away from or disappear from collisions with vehicles.

Both Saluga and Stan Gordon, a Greensburg man who has investigated UFOs, Bigfoot and other paranormal incidents since 1965, noted apparent correlations between reports of UFOs and reports of Bigfoot within the same areas at about the same time.

Bigfoot Day in Clearfield speaker Stan Gordon discusses his 50-plus years of paranormal investigation.

Gordon pointed to 1973 as a time when both Bigfoot reports and UFO reports were at an unusually high peak in southwestern Pennsylvania. He described it as "an incredible time to live through" as a paranormal investigator.

He said "the case of all cases" was reported on the night of Oct. 25, 1973, when witnesses reported a UFO landing and two Bigfoot appearing at the same time in a field in Fayette County.

"There's more to the Bigfoot phenomenon than we understand," said Gordon. However, he cautioned, "There are things that may appear to be very unusual on the surface, but when you investigate may turn out to be natural or manmade. There are a lot of things you can explain, but there are a lot of things you can't explain." He noted that he has never seen Bigfoot or a UFO himself.

Eric Altman, director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society and producer-host of Beyond the Edge Radio, traced the legend and lore of Bigfoot-type creatures back to pre-Colonial Native Americans in various parts of Pennsylvania and newspaper accounts of "wildmen" in Pennsylvania as far back as 1838. He noted that none of those historical accounts used the term Bigfoot, which "was not invented until 1958."

Bigfoot Day in Clearfield speaker Eric Altman provides the historical context of Bigfoot reports in Pennsylvania.

Altman noted that concentrations of Bigfoot and UFO reports often correlate to the availability of a local investigator that is known to the local community as the person to call with reports. Southwestern Pennsylvania and northcentral Pennsylvania, around Clearfield, are two such areas just now. And, large numbers of reported sightings often lead to a localized pop culture around the Bigfoot phenomenon, which is ongoing in Clearfield County.

He commented, "I truly believe that the phenomenon is real. People believe they are seeing something. Is Bigfoot real? I'll leave that for you to decide."

"A lot of animals we know today at one time were cryptids," said Brian Seech of the Center for Cryptozoological Studies in Aliquippa, Pa. As examples, he pointed to the mountain gorilla, which African natives were describing long before physical specimens were recovered in 1902, and the giant panda, which was well known in China for centuries before westerners documented its existence in the latter 1800s. He wondered, "Could Bigfoot be far behind?"

Bigfoot Day in Clearfield speaker Brian Seech wonders if Bigfoot eventually will join a number of other previously unknown creatures that have been discovered and classified by western science.

Andrew Lin, a Bigfoot enthusiast from New York, told the gathering he believes Bigfoot could be captured by a team of special-operations-trained military in an "A Team meets Bigfoot" scenario. However, to raise the funding for that operation he plans to first produce documentaries, in which he will "interview everyone who's had an eyewitness account and those who have spent years researching it."