Bigfoot is closer to Oberlin than you may think. In the fall of 1987, a 17-year-old reported a Bigfoot sighting in a wooded area near Oberlin.

Although there have been no further sightings in Oberlin since then, discussion of Bigfoot, Yeti and the realm of scientific thought behind mysterious animal species will return to Oberlin this fall when junior Harrison Demchick will instruct Oberlin’s first Cryptozoology ExCo.

The ExCo is perhaps the first full-fledged course since 1990 to explore this often-neglected branch of zoology.

“It’s less about what the class is, but more that it could be more significant than I originally thought,” Demchick said.

Demchick has been in regular contact with Loren Coleman, the world’s foremost cryptozoologist, for some time. Coleman has been researching, writing and lecturing about cryptozoology since 196, and has recently opened the International Museum of Cryptozoology in Portland, Maine. The museum represents 44 years of artifacts, evidence, curios and cultural representations of cryptozoology from around the world.

Coleman has advocated implementation of the course as a way to ruffle the misconception of cryptozoology as a pseudoscience.

“Various educational journals have discussed the possibility that cryptozoology might become a more frequent elective on college campuses in the next decade, and I see Harrison Demchick as a groundbreaker in this movement,” Coleman said.

Since the coining of the term in the late 1950s, cryptozoology has gained increased acceptance among scientific circles as a subdiscipline of zoology.

“At the heart of cryptozoology is skepticism,” Demchick said. “It is based on scientific inquiry.”

Demchick plans to invite Oberlin science professors to lectures and to an in-class screening of a Sasquatch DVD to determine if cryptozoology is a field that should be taught at Oberlin. Only scientific evidence will be used to educate professors and students alike about the legitimacy of the field.

“Cryptozoologists are scientists and as such are not about to ‘convince’ anyone of the validity of their area of instruction,” Coleman said. “This is not about obtaining converts to a religion, but merely about going about the task of educating students concerning the multifaceted and intriguing field of cryptozoology.

One of Coleman’s many books on the subject, Cryptozoology A to Z, will be implemented in the teaching of the course. The class will also consist of lecture and discussion, debate, weekly readings and current events reporting, and will culminate in a final report in which each student will research a cryptid from his or her locale. Six students are currently signed up.