a link to photos of the area of the dam are below/ i looked for these to show the area of the sighting. seeing the area helps me decide if the report can or cant be true.

this report was found on bigfoot encounters web site.

Maricopa County, 1987
Main PageState by State sightings


Southern Maricopa County 1987
Painted Rock Reservoir, NW of Gila Bend, AZ
I do not care what the skeptics say, I saw one in 1987.
The encounter happened in May of 1987 at Painted Rock Reservoir / Lake
about 30 miles Northwest of Gila Bend, Arizona. My four friends and me
were on a weekend Fishing Trip. The only one with a rifle was me, so I was
responsible for the group. We arrived at the lake at about 5:30 pm and
loaded ourselves down with our supplies to stay overnight right up against
the face of the Dam. As we walked the distance of about two thousand yards
to the dam through Salt Cedars taller than us we knew we were there for
the night, No chance walking out in the dark. The Dam was very high and to
the north of us was a sheer cliff a few hundred feet high, the dam to the
East; South was impassable Salt Cedars and one way in to the west which
you did not try to navigate at night with all the Rattlesnakes and other
wild animals around such as Coyotes and Mountain Lions. As I said, we were
in for the night. . Just before dark we all saw Special Forces Personnel
on Quad Runners and three wheelers with high-powered weapons and
tranquilizer guns but we paid them no mind. We were after catfish.
Everything was fine until about 2:00 o'clock in the morning. We heard
strange rumblings in the bushes all around us and it was rather un-nerving
because I was the only one armed and that was only with a 410 single shot
shotgun. The noise stopped and I dozed off. To my surprise, this was a
night with a full moon. So besides our Coleman lantern, you could see
well. As I was laying there half asleep, it all of a sudden got dark and
it awakened me to see this huge hairy thing not ten feet above me!!!!! I
shiver to this day just writing you about it. All I said was "oh great, a
damned Bigfoot." I thought I was dreaming but I was not. There it was
right above my head. I got to my feet and it took off into the darkness.
I cannot be sure but it looked like a female because it had what appeared
to be mammaries. One of my friends was just outside the camp taking a
relief and I yelled to him to look out, he came running back into camp
scared to death. Evidently he ran straight into it coming back to camp.
By this time we were all wide-awake and my other three friends were armed
with nothing but hunting knives and we all stood guard in all directions.
We were boxed in and no way out until light. Then came that God-awful yell
and we were absolutely scared out of our skins.
The rumbling in the bushes returned and then we heard the fish in the slew
going crazy and we found out why. Not 15 feet from us stood this huge
creature in the middle of the water!!!!!! This thing stood about 9 Feet
tall, I know because I stand 6 feet tall and in that water came right up
to my neck but on this creature it barely came up to its waist.
We were terrified as it stood there looking at us. I did not want to
shoot, God Help Me, because I was not sure. It looked almost human !!!!!!
I was keeping my rifle pointed at it just in case. Then our lantern
started running low on fuel and we had no backup except our fire. We soon
found the bright lantern light was the only thing keeping it back. Lantern
low on fuel, we decided to build the fire as high as we could and refuel
the lantern fast. My friends did so and I held my shotgun on it. Just as
the lantern went out; it charged straight for me so I fired at it point
blank range dead in this things chest but it did not go down!!!!!!!!!! My
friends got the lantern going again and there it stood holding the right
side of its chest. It Just looked at us and then turned and it cut through
the waist high water on it 25 feet to the opposite shore in seconds and it
crashed through the trees and it started yelling again. About this time it
was approximately 4.30 am. We were praying for the sun to rise so we could
get out of there!!!!!!! When morning came we investigated and we found the
footprints and we found blood from whatever it was. We saw the hole the
thing made when it crashed through the trees the night before and it was
big enough for us to walk through, no problem. We did not stick around. We
got the hell out of there. As we made our way to my truck, we saw two
Special Forces Agents. One remarked to the other "well at least one of
those guys were smart enough to be armed." We said nothing. We got the
heck out.

Nobody believed us when we reported our encounter to the Police and the
Game Warden. Here is the funniest part. Two days later the Game Warden
tried to arrest me for shooting an endangered species. When I told him,
you arrest me but first you have to tell me what it was I allegedly shot.
He then backed down from arresting me but told me to stay where I could be
found for further questioning. I swear I am not making this up. It
actually happened and I really fell apart two weeks later on my birthday.
My Brother showed me a sketch of what we had seen that was not accurate
deliberately so he would know with my completing the sketch he knew we had
really had this encounter.

To this day it still scares me to death. I was 31 years old back then, but
today I can still see and hear it as if it were yesterday.
Roger A. Peterson, Douglas Arizona
Thu Mar 22 00:29:20 2001
Credit Source Tom Akren, Tucson AZ


i have some thoughts on this report.
first it sounds a bit fantastic and may have been embellished. the location is in hot desert . the surrounding area is desolate with the usual desert flora such as paloverdy trees various scrubb etc. there are very dense areas of vegitation near water sources such as along sides of normally or frequently wet streams. some places have water a few feet below the streem bed in non severe drought years or in times like the recent very wet winter and early spring.the lake varies in size and is probably a local fishing spot but because of the location it isnt a statewide destination. i think the part about the so called special forces should be discounted as to ther implied purpose in the report. the report implies the so called special forces were tracking the creature. at least that is the implication i got. this area may be boardering the barry goldwarter gunnery range. it is not uncommin to see marines practicing assaults desert warfare dessert recon etc. there is a marine air base in yuma. an air base in phoenix and other instilations that were present at the time but are gone now. all of them used the open desert in this part of the state.

there was another couple of sightings in buckeye witch is in the general area and if i remember correctly in the same time frame date wise buckeye is all flat farm land up to foot hills. either sighting by them selves seem unlikely but together in the same geographic vicinity may tend to lend credence to them both. this is up to you.
in the month of may this area is either very hot or in the 80s in the day and can easily drop into the 50s at night. so being near a watersource may be expected in this tme of year. this is not typical squatch habbitat but there have been many reports in simular habbitat in other areas of the southwest.there is a system of riverbeds that would lead one up to hiher and cooler parts of the state such as prescott then on to the east toword the rim. this is a long distance and i only add it to show that if this creature was roaming there is a corridor to get to more usuall squatch habbitat.

now we get to the gun aka rifle aka shotgun. not many if any of the people i know who regularly carry weapons in the field call a shtogun a rifle and a rifle a shotgun and interchange the terms all the time. a 410 gage shot gun has a shell about the size of your pinky. they are almost exclusivle fo the so called magnum or high base or high brass type[depending on your termonology]it is not a particularly powerfull gun but at close distances light 12gage field loads of bird shot will go thru and thru leaving a fist sized hole in different mediums. a 410 woulld be on the outside of its intended use around 30 yards or sooner and one would need to be with in ten yards to have the effect stated in this report. point blank is a relative term. as for their purpose in the area i know better cooler places to fish but they may have been from the area at the time and didnt want to go far.

so is it real hoax real with embellishment or was someone playing a trick on them. this can be cinstrued because of the terraign and other relatively close sightings by other people.
i tend to lean in ther direction of either a flat lie by the reporting parties or there was a person in this general area perpertrating hoaxes. this area was an out of the way area to hope for a hoaxer to run into people. it may have been a popular fishing spot for those close. i dont know but it seems to have too many extras added and it has items not normally included in sightings such as location and him being able to determine tranq guns but not knowing what to call his own shotgun.also his thinking oh great a bigfoot when he saw the thing standing over him. most people would think of an intruder in the camp not a cryptic creatcure in a non usuall habbitat.

well i would love to hear others thoughts on this report. it is a bit different as reports go. i have not heard of many charges into camp sights.the creatures either avoid intimidate by sound or throwing or observe.

photos of the dam,lake and surrounding area

hi chrisandclaudia good morning wow thats a wonderful sasquatch sighting. the area in the photo looks like great habitat for sasquatch creatures. please keep me updated ok. bill

Nice scary story but I think it's only a story, jmo. One of the first things that brought up a red flag was the Special Forces on Quads and three wheelers. This in itself is not all that unbelievable but depending on the distance the fisherman were from the Special Forces and the speed they were traveling on their vehicles. How could someone really tell the difference if what the Forces were packing were truly tranquilizer guns?

yep that was a majior red flag for me. either it is embellished or they made it up .either war the credibility is in question.

Sounds to me like he took bits and piees of several reports an included them into his own.
His friend who took a leak didn't notice the bigfoot until after he did? even though he would more than likely be more awake than the guy who thought himself to be dreaming?
How far did he go to take a leak anyway in the middle of a boxed in place that he had to run back?
Other things.. several times mentioning he doesnt care if someone believed him and it really happened. You may as well say "once upon a time" because tharts how it reads.
The near arrest by the park rangers is the clincher,very unlikely IMO. And tif they got the "heck out" how was the ranger able to attempt to arrest him two days later? If you left, you left? You didn't leave and remain.. non-sensical at best. The ranger showed up at his door or what? Lots of other "red flags" as well. As stories go,nnot even a remotely convincing one.

Very good sighting and pics. Man, I'll tell you, I would have been scared out of my wits if a Bigfoot was actually charging at me!

cough*bullshit*cough

how can you "just" notice it's a full moon? Was it cloudy or something?How does he know the military has tranquilizer guns? The gun keeps morphing...it's a rifle, it's a shotgun, it's a rifle. The guy "evidently" ran smack into the thing? Doesn't he know whether he ran into it or not? I would think running into a 9 or 10 foot tall hairy ape would be something he'd remember. All the fish went crazy just because the animal was standing in the water?? How do you know when fish go crazy? Were they flopping all over the place? If so, why would they do that just because an animal is standing in the water?

He says:


Then he says:



Okay..so besides the full bright moonlight these guys had a lantern going and he wakes up to see something standing apparently right over him casting a shadow because it went dark all of a sudden even though the lantern was going and there was bright moonlight but then he says the lantern was the only thing holding it back?? It sounds like the moonlight and the lantern is going the way of the shotgun/rifle/shotgun. It's bright/dark/bright/dark. They built up the fire and refueled the lantern and then it went out. and the animal charges right at him even though he's the one with the shotgun/rifle/shotgun

And..the best part of all...he's scared out of his mind when it's standing 15 feet away in the water, but when it's standing right over the top of him he just says "oh great, a bigfoot."

I'd toss this one and move on. There's more there that stinks than just the animal. :doh:

This report has been discussed in this thread.

http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11608

Moved this to the other thread...

another point jim brought up about park rangers. in az there are no park rangers except federal typs in forrests. some cities have park rangers in the city parks[im talking large areas like the phoenix mountian preserves]. also have

jaylee since that thread was only talking about parts it didnt catch my attention . if you want merge the threads ifn you feel it is necessary.thanks

This thread has taught me never to post a sighting here or anywhere.

yep the whole rifle shotgun,shotgun rifle thing and then the special forces guys definetly made up.

while i sometimes think we as a group and bee too hard on those who post sightings i have also learned that those who stand up to the questioning and answer like an adult are more readily believed and or taken seriously. we have read thousands of reports and know what jives and what dosent. some here are better than other at discerning red flags.
foe example
i have interviewed hundreds of criminals, inmates and thieves[aka criminals lol] doing so has tought me what is believeable truthfull or what is too out of it to take at face value. picking apart stories and researching the background is nothing more than prudent responseable investigating and should not be taken personally. everyone hase an opinion. an adult understands and respects that.

edit to say when i say we i mean the board as a whole. there many who have a better understanding than i of the particulars of common threads to the more believeable reports. different people all see and intake things different. this is how a group comes to a conclusion. you nor anyone should take it personally especially if they are sincere in their belief in what they experienced. it is just part of the process.

Zog say this story pile of dinosaur poop.

I'm with you O Master of the Cave.

Stanpaw say, Zog nailed this one.

I already commented on this post in the other thread, but in reading it again I noticed one more bit of goofiness:

What the hell was this guy doing out in a river where the water was up to his neck?