Gayle Beatty, Bigfoot hunter, claims Sasquatch is real: “They’re more than just an ape in the woods”
A team of Bigfoot hunters in New York State say the mythical creature really does exist - and is present on the U.S.’s east coast.
A group of Bigfoot hunters in New York State is adamant that the mythical beast really is out there, claiming in a recent interview that there is “all kinds of evidence” of the creature’s existence.
Founded by Gayle Beatty, a bait shop owner in Red Hook, New York, the Bigfoot Researchers of the Hudson Valley have been searching for the animal in rural areas around the River Hudson since 2013.
“We are a group of researchers dedicated to the preservation of the Species and their Habitat,” reads a mission statement on the group’s Facebook page, which has amassed around 6,400 followers. “We believe that Bigfoot does exist and it is here in the Hudson Valley of New York.”
What is Bigfoot?
An animal also known as Sasquatch, Bigfoot has been the subject of long-standing, unproven claims over its existence. According to the Bigfoot legend, which took off in the late 1950s, a hairy, ape-like animal, standing up to 10 feet tall, inhabits remote forests in North America.
Certain widely-shared, unverified videos - such as 1967’s Patterson-Gimlin film and 1994’s Freeman footage - purport to have caught Bigfoot on camera.
Both films were taken in the Pacific Northwest, an area considered the epicenter of the Sasquatch legend; however, the Bigfoot Researchers of the Hudson Valley are convinced the animal exists further afield.
“Just unbelievable”
In an interview with the New York Post this week, Beatty said of the Bigfoot Researchers’ beginnings: “I started going out with my friends just out of curiosity and we started finding tracks, structures, hair on barbed wire fences up on a farm, all kinds of evidence. It was just unbelievable.”
Meet the Bigfoot hunters of the Hudson Valley — they’ve investigated hundreds of sightings, including one in a Dairy Queen dumpster https://t.co/Wua2XSNM0T pic.twitter.com/9SyIdu47ZF
— New York Post (@nypost) January 13, 2026
“You can’t see them with the naked eye”
Beatty, who says she has received hundreds of reports of alleged Bigfoot encounters, told the Post that the creature employs tactics aimed at warding humans off. “I’ve had [bait shop] customers out in the boat where they’ve thrown little rocks, pebbles, or pine cones, or, if they really want you out of an area, they will scream,” Beatty said.
Beatty also claims Bigfoot can stay out of humans’ view by using camouflage powers that allow it to “go in and out of dimensions”. “You can’t see them with the naked eye, but they can see you,” she alleged.
Beatty also declared: “They’re more than just an ape in the woods. They can be around us, and we can’t see them because they can be cloaked.”
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