Recorded October 22, 2022 · Dewittville, New York
Inside the 2022 Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo
The stories, the research, and the open questions. Watch the interviews, town hall, and highlights recorded on a day when researchers and eyewitnesses gathered on the shore of Chautauqua Lake.
- Format
- Recorded archive
- Speakers
- 4 featured
- Includes
- 8 recordings
- Access
- $2, one time
About the Expo
A tourism idea that became a gathering place for the unexplained.
In 2012, Peter Wiemer, a western New York events organizer whose family runs vacation rental cottages, started the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo as a special event to bring visitors to the region. He staged the first one on May 6, 2012, with help from his friend Larry Battson, a longtime Bigfoot researcher.
Chautauqua County is better known for the scholarly summers of the Chautauqua Institution than for Sasquatch. Still, the expo found its people: field researchers, curious neighbors, and people carrying accounts of their own. When the Associated Press covered the 2015 gathering, it counted about a hundred attendees swapping stories between lectures.
The event changed its founder, too. By 2022, Wiemer said 45 people from Chautauqua County had come to him describing what they believed was a Bigfoot sighting, along with others from neighboring Cattaraugus County and Warren County, Pennsylvania. He has even asked New York State to list Sasquatch as an endangered species.
On October 22, 2022, the expo convened at YMCA Camp Onyahsa on the lake's eastern shore, with Idaho State anthropologist Dr. Jeff Meldrum flown in for the occasion. Wiemer also tried something new that year: recording the program and offering it on demand for $2. These are those recordings.
Most conferences vanish when the chairs are folded. This archive keeps the 2022 interviews and town hall intact, for believers to revisit, skeptics to scrutinize, and anyone curious to weigh for themselves.
Featured Speakers
Four voices from the field, the lab, and the camera.
A university anatomist, a documentary filmmaker, a licensed investigator, and a regional field researcher, each approaching the same mystery from a different direction.
- JM
Dr. Jeff Meldrum
Professor of Anatomy & Anthropology, Idaho State University
A physical anthropologist whose research centers on the evolution of upright walking. His interest in footprints attributed to Sasquatch began in 1996, when he examined a line of tracks in Washington's Blue Mountains. Author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.
- Idaho State faculty since 1993
- Specialist in primate bipedalism
- Flown in for the 2022 expo
- SB
Seth Breedlove
Filmmaker, Small Town Monsters
An Ohio documentary filmmaker and former reporter best known for Small Town Monsters, the production company behind films that return to the communities where monster sightings were reported and record the original witnesses on camera.
- Began with Minerva Monster (2015)
- Created the On the Trail of… series
- Witness-driven documentary work
- SK
Steve Kulls
Licensed Private Investigator · SquatchDetective
A professional investigator and trained forensic interviewer who brings an investigator's discipline to eyewitness reports. Founder of SquatchDetective and known for publicly exposing the 2008 Georgia “Bigfoot body” hoax.
- Author of 50 Large, What Would Sasquatch Do?, The Sasquatch Playbook
- Longtime podcast host
- Also spoke at the expo in 2015
- PM
Paul Mateja
Field Investigator · Western New York & Pennsylvania
Active in Bigfoot field research since 2004, with more than 200 reports personally investigated. He has attended or organized BFRO expeditions across six states and now concentrates on western New York and northern Pennsylvania — the expo's own backyard.
- 200+ reports investigated
- Expeditions in NY, PA, OH, NM, TN, WV
- Regional focus: the expo's home ground
What's Included
What's inside the video library.
One $2 payment unlocks all 8 recordings from the 2022 expo, in a private streaming library built for this archive.
- 5 interviews
The interviews
Interviews with Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Seth Breedlove, Steve Kulls, Paul Mateja, and expo organizer Peter Wiemer.
- Town Hall
The 2022 town hall
The town hall session recorded at the 2022 expo.
- The Expo
2022 Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo
Recorded October 22, 2022, at YMCA Camp Onyahsa on Chautauqua Lake's eastern shore.
- Highlights
Interview highlights
Highlights drawn from all of the expo interviews.
01
Pay once
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Watch everything
Your purchase unlocks all 8 recordings. Watch anytime.
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One-time payment · 8 recordings from 2022
As Seen in the News
The expo, on the record.
Independent reporting on the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo, including a preview of the 2022 event and wire coverage of the 2015 gathering.
- The Villager2022 expo
October 19, 2022
Chautauqua Bigfoot Expo, YMCA Camp Onyahsa, Dewittville NY, October 22
A preview of the 2022 expo, including an interview with organizer Peter Wiemer on the featured speakers and his plan to offer the event on demand.
Read the article (opens in a new tab) - ABC7 New York2015 expo
October 25, 2015 · via Associated Press
Bigfoot believers gather at New York retreat, swap stories
AP coverage of the 2015 expo: about a hundred attendees, eyewitness accounts from the region, and Wiemer's push to list Sasquatch as a protected species.
Read the article (opens in a new tab) - CBS News Bay Area2015 expo
October 24, 2015 · via Associated Press
Bigfoot believers gather at annual lakeside retreat in New York
The same 2015 AP report as carried by CBS, describing the expo's lakeside campsite setting near the Chautauqua Institution.
Read the article (opens in a new tab)
Links lead to independent news coverage of the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo. These outlets are not affiliated with BigfootExpo.com and do not endorse this video library or any claim about Bigfoot. The ABC7 and CBS articles are the same Associated Press report and describe the 2015 expo, not the 2022 recordings.
A documentary film
I Have Seen Bigfoot
Chautauqua County, New York
Related Documentary
Go deeper into the mystery.
I Have Seen Bigfoot follows expo founder Peter Wiemer and a community of eyewitnesses, researchers, and legend hunters around Chautauqua County as they gather footprints and testimony, and weigh what they believe they saw.
The film features interviews with Bob Gimlin, Larry Battson, and Steve Kulls, and is available to rent or own as a streaming title.
Explore the Documentary (opens ihaveseenbigfoot.com in a new tab)Full Access
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Unlock all 8 recordings from the 2022 Bigfoot Expo: the interviews, the town hall, the expo footage, and highlights.
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Questions
Is this a live event?
No. The archive contains recordings from the expo held on October 22, 2022, at YMCA Camp Onyahsa in Dewittville, New York.
Is this a subscription?
No. Access is a single $2 payment. There are no recurring charges.
What's included?
All 8 recordings: interviews with Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Seth Breedlove, Steve Kulls, Paul Mateja, and organizer Peter Wiemer; the town hall; footage of the 2022 expo; and interview highlights.
How do I watch after buying?
You create an account (or sign in) on our video platform, pay once through Stripe, and the recordings appear in your library. Sign back in any time to keep watching.
Does the archive prove Bigfoot exists?
No, and it doesn't claim to. It preserves what researchers and eyewitnesses presented and discussed, so you can hear it firsthand and draw your own conclusions.