Who was Claudia Ackley? Famous Bigfoot hunter passes away at 51

Claudia Ackley, theprominent Bigfoot hunter who claimed to have encountered the cryptid, passed away at the age of 51. She was found dead at her Tennessee residence on July 3. Her partner, Ed Brown, informed The US Sun that her cause of death is suspected to be a heart attack.

Ed said he "lost a soldier," adding that he was out of town for work and grew concerned when he didn't hear from Claudia for an extended period of time, the Hindustan Times reported.

He said, "She wasn't moving so the police were called and discovered she had passed away. That was Thursday, July 2. Her last messages were on Thursday so I assume at some point that evening she passed away."

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He added, "More tests need to be done, but according to police, she died of cardiac arrest."

He also mentioned that her death might have been caused by hypertension or an issue with her medication, although nothing has been proven yet.

Claudia's Bigfoot Sighting in the forest:

The mother-of-two claimed to have seen the cryptid on 27 March 2016 in the mountains of Big Bear, California. Following her sighting, Claudia returned to the location and found a giant 22-footprint and another 13-inch footprint near the site, both with all five toes.

After the sighting, she reached out to locals who shared similar stories and the hiker reported hearing screams resembling "women getting raped."

Claudia also found thousands of similar sightings across the US and established a PTSD group for survivors of bigfoot sightings.

Recounting the incident, Claudia in an interview with The Sun in 2018, explained that one evening, around 6:30 pm, she and her daughters were on a hike, capturing videos and photos on her phone. Suddenly her daughters froze with an expression of fear, confirming they saw something.

Upon noticing their reactions, she quickly ran about 20 feet ahead of them and witnessed an enormous creature weighing around 800 pounds, with a large head, huge ears and black almond-shaped eyes.

"He was like a Neanderthal man with lots of messy hair. He was kind of perched about 30 feet up between two branches of a tree and I'm looking at it, trying to register: ‘What is it this? What am I looking at?"

Following her encounter, Claudia filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in an effort to prove the existence of the animal.

Ed stated that her goal was to prompt real investigation and research. He said Claudia not only believed in what she saw, but she also had verifiable photographic evidence and had multiple witnesses who saw the same thing.

"No matter what you believe, she collected everything she could to go forward with this and come hell or high water she was out to prove they existed."

Till now, nothing has been proven.

(With inputs from agencies)

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