Flap: Ashland, Oregon, Jul–Oct 2002

The reports, in order

1. Jul 2002 Witness reports that two married couples camping near Ashland heard high-pitched screams and breaking branches at night, prompting one man to shoot his rifle.
   Other / Unknown · Ashland, Oregon
2. Jul 21, 2002 Witness reports strange screams and dogs barking wildly outside their house in the pre-dawn hours, with a father noting an unusual odor he initially thought…
   Bigfoot · Grants Pass, Oregon
3. Oct 2002 Witness reports seeing two dark brown, long-haired creatures, likely a mother and baby, jumping a fence and staring at them before heading towards the river.
   Bigfoot · Yreka, California

Sources: oregonbigfoot (3).

How we find flaps

• Plain rules, no model: reports within 37 miles and about four months of each other are grouped, and a group counts only when it is at least 5 times what that place usually sees over the 10 years either side.
• A flap needs at least 3 reports from at least 3 separate documents: one article listing six sightings is one telling.
• Copies are not confirmations: a story reprinted in thirty papers counts once.
• Investigator logs (BFRO, NAWAC, the Loch Ness Register) are left out, because a busy field season looks just like a flap.
• Only reports placed to a town or county and dated to the month are used. A flap is a burst of reports, not proof of a creature: panics, hoaxes and newspaper fashions make flaps too.

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