There have been bigfoot sightings in Butler County that can't be attributed to the crew of “A Wish For Giants” filming a scene.

As recently as May 2016, the hairy forest giant was glimpsed in northern Butler County, said Stan Gordon, a UFO and bigfoot researcher and author based in Greensburg.

“It was May 1, 2016, along Route 58 at 2 p.m.,” said Gordon. “A passenger in a car saw a creature in a field. It was very tall, covered in reddish brown hair with a brown spot on its back.

“The witness could only see the back of the animal. The passenger saw it turn its head and shoulders to the right like it was looking at something,” said Gordon.

Gordon noted this wasn't an isolated incident.

“There has been a history of bigfoot sightings dating back years.

“I have interviewed witnesses who have claimed to have seen bigfoot, people who have contacted me are extremely reluctant to come forward,” said Gordon.

But bigfoot doesn't just haunt rural roads and lonely forests. He's part of our pop culture landscape.

Bigfoot can be found everywhere in today's culture from beef jerky TV ads, to movies (both low-budget and major studio releases) to reality shows where searchers stalk, track and hunt Bigfoot season after season without ever finding much of anything.

Timothy Ruppert, an English instructor and playwright at Slippery Rock University, thinks he knows why bigfoot has become so prevalent in today's media.

He's familiar with folklore and legends through his work with creative writing classes and his playwriting career. His last play, “The Consorts,” involved ghosts and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Ruppert said, “The bigfoot vogue or craze is sort of like what zombies were a few years ago, where they are reaching the saturation point of large appeal.”

He said, “Creatures like that — dragons, zombies, vampires — are a gauge of what is going on culturally and socially.

“Some seem dangerous and menacing, like Godzilla, because they can come and destroy your city. Some seem menacing because they are outsiders,” Ruppert said.

“Godzilla will come and attack your society. He is a menace to the dominating society, whereas something like bigfoot becomes a romantic figure. Not in the romance sense, but a figure of interest and speculation,” he said.

“These creatures can take one of two paths. They are either a pernicious menace to the existing population or they are outside of it,” he added.

“They are inaccessible to us, they defy our science and our understanding of the world around us,” Ruppert said.

Bigfoot, he noted, is a particular North American folktale that can be easily manipulated by TV advertisements and reality shows.

Ruppert said the fascination with particular creatures and things bumping in the night depends on the psychological framework of the times.

He said, “Zombies were popular when people were fascinated and engaged in a direct way with medical achievements.

“In the 1890s, vampires and werewolves were popular in large part because they represented sexual aberration and sexual liberty that flew in the face of Victorian society,” Ruppert said.