The Jacobs Creature: Trail-Camera Photos in the Allegheny National Forest

Northwest Pennsylvania. The Allegheny National Forest, about 115 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. In August 2007, Elk County deer hunter Rick Jacobs bought a Bushnell Trail Sentry 2.1 at Walmart. Its infrared flash was invisible. The camera went on a tree above a game trail, over an aromatic deer attractant mix and a mineral lick block on a black plastic plate. "We were just looking for a nice buck," Jacobs said.

Evening, September 16, 2007. At 20:02 the camera caught an adult bear near the salt lick. Two minutes later, two cubs stood at the lick.

Then nearly half an hour passed. At 20:32:05 the camera fired again. The salt lick had been knocked over. In the frame was something thin, dark and furry, on four legs, its face pressed to the ground. No tail was visible. The legs looked longer, the body less stocky than a typical bear. Wikinews described it walking hunched over, "with its knuckles dragging on the ground." A second frame came 36 seconds later. A bare patch showed in the fur under its arm.

No one saw it in person. "We couldn't figure out what they were," Jacobs said. "I've been hunting for years and I've never seen anything like this."

Jacobs's daughter saw a young Sasquatch. She persuaded her father to contact the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, the BFRO, headed by Matt Moneymaker. The BFRO labelled the animal an "unclassified primate?" Paul Majeta was direct: "It appears to be a primate-like animal. In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch." The group cited limb ratios, an unnamed English professor in Vermont, and zoo veterinarians who said it "looks much more like a primate than a bear." Investigator Mike Aragona was more careful. "We think it's a primate, but we can't say whether it's a juvenile Bigfoot or Sasquatch."

The Pennsylvania Game Commission saw something familiar. Spokesman Jerry Feaser put it plainly. "There is no question it is a bear with a severe case of mange." Sarcoptic mange strips a bear of its fur and leaves it emaciated. Commission officers trap and tag bears routinely. They often see animals that look like this one.

In 2012 the podcast MonsterTalk returned to the frames. Blake Smith measured the animal against the salt lick and a reference tree. It fell within normal black bear size, matching the adult bear photographed at 20:02 in size and position by the tree. Brightening the third frame, Smith found two dots of eye-shine and what he read as a bear's face with a rounded muzzle. Bear biologists he consulted supported the mange explanation. MonsterTalk called it "the overwhelmingly parsimonious explanation."

Then a twist. Smith's YouTube analysis was taken down after a copyright claim from Rick Jacobs himself, who demanded $5,000 to reproduce the images. Co-host Benjamin Radford argued fair use. The hosts noted the BFRO had licensed the photos to Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot, and argued that an unsolved mystery is worth more than a solved one.

Late in October 2007 the Associated Press carried the story nationwide. NBC, Fox News and NPR followed. No tracks, casts or hair were ever reported. Jacobs never revealed the exact site, fearing hunters and tourists would flood the area. Two frames, 36 seconds apart. The Jacobs Creature remains one of the most discussed Bigfoot trail camera cases.