7 Bigfoot Museums and Where to Find Them

Before creating the “Get Swept Off Your Feet at These Bigfoot Museums” episode for the Macabre Museums season of the podcast, I might’ve told you Loren Coleman’s International Cryptozoology Museum was the first of its kind. I would have misled you.

We’ll explore his museum more in the “Monsters & Mythical Creatures” episode of Macabre Museums. But in the Bigfoot museums episode, we focus exclusively on museums dedicated to Sasquatch.

And if you’re thinking, “Museums? As in plural? There’s more than one?”

You betcha. And while they’re all focused on the same hairy beast, they each also offer their own unique experiences and strive to highlight the creature’s connection to their region. Let’s take a look.

1. Willow Creek- China Flat Museum – Willow Creek, CA

Long before the International Cryptozoology Museum ever existed, there was the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum in Humboldt County. This is where the modern-day American legend of Bigfoot was born.

I would’ve told you that it all started with the Patterson-Gimlin film that captured footage of a Bigfoot in 1967. Again, I would’ve been wrong.

According to History, the legend actually started in 1958 with a newspaper article in the Humboldt Times. It “highlighted a fun, if dubious, letter from a reader about loggers in northern California who’d discovered mysteriously large footprints.”

To reporter Andrew Genzoli’s surprise, who thought it might simply make for “a good Sunday morning story,” it fascinated readers. They wanted more.

So the Humboldt Times printed follow-up articles about “Big Foot,” the name loggers gave to whatever had created the prints.

Then came the footage, followed by the tourists, Bigfoot-curious, and Bigfoot hunters, a flow that’s still in play today.

The Willow Creek-China Flat Museum isn’t specifically dedicated to Bigfoot. Its aim is to preserve the history of the eastern part of Humboldt County and the western part of Trinity County.

However, part of that history involves the birth of the Bigfoot legend right there in those very parts. That’s why they have a collection dedicated to it as well as a massive statue of one outside their building. Hence, why if you ask people for directions to the Bigfoot Museum, they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.

Admission is free. It’s closed November through April. May through September it’s open Wednesday through Sunday. October it’s open Friday through Sunday.

For more info visit http://bigfootcountry.net.

2. Skunk Ape Research Headquarters – Ochopee, FL

Skunk Apes are Bigfoot’s swampy, stinky, southern cousins. In addition to sightings in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp, they’ve also been spotted in the Florida Everglades, which is where you’ll find the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters.

As per their website, “the Shealy Family, Skunk Ape Headquarters has served as an Everglades Icon and World Famous roadside attraction for decades.” Especially after Dave Shealy caught a photo of the legendary creature in 1997.

You won’t see an actual Skunk Ape in captivity in their attraction of course, but according to RoadsideAmerica.com, you can see a small display about them in the Headquarters, including some prints of Dave’s photos. You can also purchase a DVD featuring Skunk Ape photos and videos he’s taken. And of course, no Bigfoot museum is complete without at least one cast. They’ve got a Skunk Ape one of those too.

But they do have an animal exhibit where you can see alligators, turtles, and snakes like Goldie, their beloved reticulated python that’s one of the largest in captivity.

But there’s more here than just a kitschy Bigfoot roadside attraction. Book an ecotour at their Everglades Adventure Tours, or a cabin, Chickee Hut, RV, or campsite at their Trail Lakes Campground.

And for some real wild fun, RoadsideAmerica.com mentioned that in years past the Campground has hosted the Everglades Skunk Ape Festival complete with a Miss Skunk Ape contest, and in October they’ve celebrated with Skunktoberfest.

For more info visit https://www.skunkape.info.

3. Bigfoot Discovery Museum – Felton, CA

Since the Bigfoot legend originated out west, it’s no surprise that’s where you’ll find another museum. The Bigfoot Discovery Museum technically opened in 2004, but couldn’t celebrate a public grand opening until 2006 due to red tape reasons.

However, for the last almost 12 years, one of the missions has been to “edutain” the public “with the facts about mystery primates around the world.” They also use cryptozoology to teach “reverence for wildlife and conservation of wilderness.”

Entry to the Bigfoot Discovery Museum is free, but donations are always gladly accepted.

For more info visit https://www.bigfootdiscoveryproject.com.

4. Sasquatch Outpost – Bailey, CO

Once it opened in 2014, this “simple, affordable, memorable” museum (as it calls itself) quickly earned a spot on the top 10 wackiest places to visit in Colorado.

According to RoadsideAmerica.com, this former country store turned Bigfoot museum is more Sasquatch shop than museum. But the Outpost does contain the Sasquatch Encounter Discovery Museum, a little museum with a variety of displays which includes a history of Bigfoot and related artifacts as well as a map pinpointing Colorado sightings.

Atlas Obscura says that a large Sasquatch statue is the first thing that greets visitors when they walk into the Outpost, but that there’s also a “magical forest vibe.” And for the kids, there’s a little cave for them to walk through where they’ll see a baby Sasquatch sleeping. Cute!

They’re closed on Tuesdays but are open Mondays and Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for kids 5-18, $0 for kids under 5. Something else to note is that you can score a free adult museum pass with every $50 purchase in the store.

Speaking of their shop, in addition to any kind of Sasquatch and Bigfoot anything you might want, they also sell outdoor gear of every variety, including camping, fishing, rafting, hiking and more.

And if you want to up the fun even more, Atlas Obscura noted they also offer Bigfoot-themed expeditions. And during the second weekend of August, they host the Bigfoot Adventure Weekend. But, you know, the past couple of years we’ve had a little something called a pandemic that’s complicated the festivities a bit.

For more info visit https://www.sasquatchoutpost.com.

5. Expedition: Bigfoot! The Sasquatch Museum – Blue Ridge, GA

I can’t help but smile at their cheeky tagline: North Georgia’s “Biggest” Family Attraction.

It must be one of North Georgia’s most popular too. This museum opened in 2016 and has received rave reviews ever since. Not to mention consistent ones across a variety of rating platforms, including TripAdvisor (4.5/5), Yelp (also 4.5/5), Google (4.6/5), and Facebook (5/5).

Inside their almost 4,000 square foot building, you can explore life-size and interactive exhibits, see the country’s largest permanent display of footprint casts, check out the world’s only Bigfoot research and tech vehicle on display, kick back in their Sasquatch Theater, and browse their gift shop.

RoadsideAmerica.com reported that among the most impressive exhibits was the full-size “Ape Canyon” incident diorama, and one of the most unique casts in their collection was the Bigfoot butt-print.

Their Facebook page also mentions they have FL/GA sighting maps, which could help with your Florida and Georgia travel planning. You might identify some areas to visit that you weren’t planning to, or perhaps rethink some areas depending on whether you want to try and have a Bigfoot encounter or not.

Admission is $8 for adults 13+, $6 for children 5-12, $0 for children under 5 and active military.

They’re open daily except for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

For more info visit https://www.expeditionbigfoot.com/

6. Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum and Research Center – Hastings, NE

Harriet “Bigfoot Lady” McFeely opened the Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum in 2018 because, as RoadsideAmerica.com put it, there wasn’t a Bigfoot museum within 500 miles of Nebraska.

Which isn’t entirely true. The Sasquatch Outpost in Bailey, Colorado is 469 miles from Hastings. (And, ironically, the first time she saw Bigfoot was on a camping trip in Colorado.)

Still, she saw a need to fill a Bigfoot vacancy in Nebraska so she opened her museum.

Plus, as she told a RoadsideAmerica.com field team member, she also needed someplace to display her Bigfoot collection. Especially all of the bones she’d collected over the years during her expeditions in search of Bigfoot. She’d had them scattered all over her kitchen and dining room table. As she put it, “I didn’t have very many people who wanted to come over for dinner.”

They’re now housed in her museum’s Bone Room, which includes possible Bigfoot skulls and bone remnants that Harriet’s convinced are evidence of Bigfoot’s leftovers. Meaning, his discarded meals.

My favorite photo of her on RoadsideAmerica.com is where she’s posing with the plyboard cutout of a Bigfoot print pressed under a skeleton’s foot. She lets visitors compare the size of their foot against that cutout too.

Like all the other good Bigfoot museums do, the Bigfoot Lady’s also has a map pinpointing Nebraska Bigfoot sightings, as well as casts of Bigfoot prints (both feet and hand), and an exhibit about Zana, “the Wild Woman of Russia.”

But hers has the only garden I ever came across. The museum’s website explains the idea for the Bigfoot Handicapped Accessible Garden was born when a wheelchair-bound attendee at the Nebraska Bigfoot Conference expressed an interest in experiencing what people see and hear during Bigfoot investigations. Her garden attempts to recreate that.

Also, she really is the state’s official “Nebraska Bigfoot Lady.” Governor Pete Ricketts bestowed that distinction on her in October 2020. He also issued an official proclamation designating October 20th as “Bigfoot Crossroads of Nebraska Day.”

Admission to the museum is $5. It’s open Thursday-Sunday and Harriet herself shares stories as she guides visitors through her Bigfoot Crossroads of America Museum and Research Center. There aren’t a lot of reviews on the museum, but the ones I found as well as RoadsideAmerica.com’s write-up of their visit all agreed this was the highlight of the experience for them.

For the past five years, the Bigfoot Lady has also hosted the Nebraska Bigfoot Conference.

For more info visit https://nebraskabigfootmuseum.com.

7. West Virginia Bigfoot Museum – Sutton, WV

This is the newest of the Bigfoot museums, having just opened in June of 2021.  You’ll find it in the Moutain Laurel Country Store in downtown Sutton, West Virginia.

It contains the same kind of displays as other museums of its kind, including track castings, encounter stories, locations of Bigfoot sightings, art, and there’s even Sasquatch merchandise to shop for.

However, at the time of this post’s publication, the museum is temporarily closed for a couple of reasons. One, they had planned a small expansion to add more display cases at the start of 2022 anyway.

Two, they’ve unfortunately experienced a tragedy. One of the museum’s co-owners,  Louis Petolicchio, died on Jan. 24, 2022, due to complications from COVID-19. Our thoughts and prayers are with their friends and family as they mourn their loss. Hopefully, they’ll find comfort in his legacy living on as part of the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum that he helped create.

Check-In

Have you ever visited a Bigfoot museum? Or, even more intimate, had a Bigfoot encounter?