Bigfoot Lives!

Young detectives find evidence of sasquatch in library escape room

There was evidence to solve a massive mystery in Highland Park Municipal Court, and it was up to 10 supersleuths to find it.

Bigfoot exists. And the sneaky sasquatch hid the proof somewhere in the courtroom, which was transformed into a campsite for the day thanks to the imagination of park ranger Victoria Rice, who doubles as the youth services librarian at the Highland Park Library.

Teen Cryptid Camp Escape, the library’s first-ever escape room, was brought to Highland Park on July 24 through a partnership with the University Park Public Library, and the efforts of library staff and volunteers.

Four groups of up to 10 young detectives were each given 45-minutes and a maximum of one hint to locate evidence solving the age-old mystery of Bigfoot’s existence. With time of the essence, the group scheduled for 11 a.m. immediately got to work looking for clues.

Among the first hints they found were puzzle pieces scattered around the campsite. When assembled, the puzzle spelled the word “LORE.” The word’s letters were the combination to a padlock on a blue tent. Inside was a jackpot: a photo of Bigfoot.

Later, the team used a Cryptid Hunter Code to unravel the mystery of symbols at the bottom of a sign decorated with woodgrain duct tape. The symbols spelled “BIRD,” which pointed the students to a birdhouse on the side of a “tree” that the library’s teen volunteers had helped build out of construction and tissue paper, old poster tubes, and packing material.

Along the way, the team was distracted by binoculars through which they could see the shadow of a Bigfoot-like-creature, but which wasn’t the physical evidence that they’d been directed to find. They were also diverted when they unlocked a duffel bag filled with enough candy for everyone to share.

Some of the clues were trickier to unravel than others. The group never managed to open the combination lock on a small, blue bag. The code was on a compass, but one eager detective squeezed a hand inside while the group was puzzling through the clues. “That’s part of the process, is them figuring out alternate ways,” Rice said.

She said she hoped the escape room, which was designed for teens and tweens, would raise awareness of library services and pry older children away from devices. “I know it’s really hot and everything, so I really like the idea of bringing the outside indoors,” she added.

Even with the red herrings, the sleuths beat the clock to find three items “proving” that Bigfoot is real — a tuft of fur, the track cast of a footprint, and the photo.

Rice said that the library plans to create different escape rooms with other themes in the future. “They seemed like they had fun and that’s all I ask for,” she said. “They did a really good job.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence, 9-year-old Alexandra Shultz said after the escape room that she remained unconvinced that the sasquatch exists. “Google says it doesn’t,” she said. “And I listen to Google.”