Sociologists Jamie Lewis and Andrew Bartlett spent lockdown interviewing more than 130 Bigfoot hunters to understand why people dedicate time and resources to searching for a creature most scientists consider mythical. Their research, culminating in the book "Bigfooters and Scientific Inquiry: On the Borderlands of Legitimate Science," explores the motivations behind this community's persistent quest.

Lewis was initially intrigued while watching a Discovery Channel program called _Finding Bigfoot_, wondering why such content appeared on a channel known for serious natural history. The researchers discovered a divided community: "apers" who believe Bigfoot is an undiscovered primate versus "woo-woos" who think it's an interdimensional being or alien. The community numbers in the thousands, with several hundred dedicated serious hunters.

Their findings reveal that approximately one quarter of Americans believe Bigfoot either definitely or probably exists, according to a November 2025 YouGov survey. The researchers approached the subject as sociologists studying a community rather than validating or debunking Bigfoot's existence, maintaining that mainstream science has found no compelling evidence for the creature. Interviewees initially worried about being caricatured but ultimately shared their experiences and motivations for participating in this unusual pursuit.