Bigfoot could be the next big thing in Derry.

The town annually has celebrated its historic association with Pennsylvania Railroad trains and engine houses.

But what about the looming presence of Bigfoot?

Council members this week floated the idea of creating an installation that could draw visitors interested in the mysterious hairy creature that has been reported in sightings along Chestnut Ridge, at the town’s eastern border.

“I would like to explore the option, with some of the local paranormal investigators, of how to commemorate Bigfoot … with a statue, a plaque and a map of the sightings — something that people could come and interact with,” Vice President Nathan Bundy said at this week’s borough council meeting.

“There’s a lot of interest in our area,” he said. “The entire Chestnut Ridge has a long history of sightings, going back to the ’60s and ’70s and continuing to today.

“It’s definitely something that has happened here and that people are interested in. It’s another way to recognize the significance in our area and a way to attract people to our town.”

Council President Barbara Phillips agreed the borough should step up to the promotional possibilities of Bigfoot since efforts to bring back some of the jobs and foot traffic lost with the closure of major employers over the decades have yet to bear fruit.

“Let’s do something for ourselves,” Phillips said. “Nothing’s going to happen if we do nothing.”

Phillips suggested the possibility of attracting a Bigfoot-related festival to Derry.

Interest in Bigfoot and/or Sasquatch and other uncanny, unexplained creatures known as cryptids has grown with the proliferation of cable-channel shows and podcasts devoted to such subjects.

Regional events on similar themes include a Forest County Bigfoot Festival, which was held June 7-9 in Marienville, and the fourth Pennsylvania Bigfoot Camping Adventure, set for Sept. 6-7 at the Benner’s Meadow Run campground near Farmington.

Eric Altman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society, is promoting the Farmington event.

In addition to raising money for local charities, Altman said the camping weekend will include speakers, workshops and hikes meant to provide attendees with more information about the Bigfoot phenomenon and the work groups like the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society undertake to investigate creature sightings.

“The Chestnut Ridge has been a hot spot for sightings for decades and decades,” Altman said. “It’s probably one of the most active areas in the state.”

Stan Gordon of Greensburg, a longtime researcher of sightings of Bigfoot, UFOs and other anomalies, has noted that 2023 was a prominent year for such incidents in Pennsylvania and the local region.

On his website, stangordon.info, he recorded several reports that year from sites along Chestnut Ridge.

At about 7:15 a.m. on Feb. 20, a witness spotted a creature about 4 feet tall and covered in gray hair that ran from behind a building toward “loud whoop-whoop sounds coming from the nearby woods,” Gordon reported. Two days later, residents there described a stench similar to rotten eggs or meat that lasted for a half-hour.

At about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, a woman walking her dogs saw a figure about 7 feet tall covered in black and brown fur and with arms hanging down at its side among trees in the woods. When the creature stared in her direction, Gordon wrote, “She left the area quickly and never looked back.”

“I think we’re getting more (Bigfoot) reports because it’s a more acceptable topic than it was 10 or 15 years ago,” said Altman. “It’s becoming more popular with the mainstream public as part of pop culture.

“I think it’s making people feel more comfortable about coming forward. I always get people telling me about a sighting they had years previously.”

As for the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society, Altman said, “We’re doing this as kind of a hobby, as citizen scientists. Our goal isn’t to prove that Bigfoot is real, but to collect data, information and evidence, anything we can pass along to scientists to study or analyze.”

That includes a cast preserving unusual tracks discovered by hunters on April 26 at a site south of Hollidaysburg, he said. Each of three footprints was 15 inches long and 7 inches wide.

Visit pabigfoot.com for more information about the society.