Claudia Ackley, a well-known bigfoot hunter famed for allegedly catching footage of the cryptid on camera, was found dead in her home in Tennessee on Monday, July 3 after suffering a suspected heart attack, according to The U.S. Sun. She was 51 years old.


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First claiming to have seen the creature for herself on a hike with her two daughters back in 2017, Ackley rose to national fame two years later after she sued the state of California and California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife over the creature’s existence.



"They're on our property. They knock on our walls. They look through our windows," she told Chicago’s ABC News affiliate, ABC7 News at the time. "It's more and more and more."


This fierce advocacy, according to her partner Ed Brown, is what makes this loss so tremendous, especially among fellow bigfoot enthusiasts.  



"The community - regardless of anyone's views - has lost someone who was willing to stand up and fight for their beliefs,” Brown said, later elaborating on how Ackley dedicated much of her time to speaking with “hundreds of people who had seen similar sightings to her from all over the country and some from other parts of the world.”



“The Bigfoot community lost a soldier,” he explained.


Shortly after news of Ackleys passing made headlines, several fans took to social media to express their condolences.


“I'm not saying there's an underground resistance devoted to defending Bigfoot, but I'm not not saying it either,” wrote RobertSkvarla.


“[S]he got too close to the truth,” mused @firagawalkwthme, referencing Ackley’s lifelong dedication to finding Sasquatch.


RIP Ackley, you will always have big shoes to fill … and not just because of the Bigfoot thing.