Quite a few of us have typed "not sure" in our profiles. I'd love to hear some of yours, so here is mine. Anyone care to contribute?

In the late summer of 1970 my (now ex-) wife and I, along with our 2-year-old daughter, went on a road trip to California. It was low budget. That means we camped out on the nights between stops with friends and relatives. So low a budget that we didn't even have a tent. We had two cots and sleeping bags, and we would string up a large vinyl tarp between two trees as a kind of wind break. This particular night we were camping near Laguna Hills in a remote, hilly area far from the main road. I remember thinking how lucky we were to find such solitude, as there were no other campers at all in the area.

Even back in those days I was a Bigfoot enthusiast, but at the time I was of the opinion that BF was strictly a PNW phenomenon – to the point that what I'm about to describe was never associated with the subject until just recently. The memory of the event over time had become rather dim, but one day not too long ago, while reading this forum in fact, descriptions of some classic BF behavior rang a bell and I started to wonder.

I have a unique resource in that I diligently kept a daily journal from the time I was 13 years old up to the year 1993. I skimmed through the entries for 1970 and when I read the entry for the day after this very frightening night, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I had indeed forgotten some of the details, including the way the whole thing started.

Again, please keep in mind that, at the time, I didn't associate this event in my mind with Bigfoot. Had it happened in northern California, Oregon, or Washington I would have. In fact, the earlier part of our trip did extend through Willow Creek (I had wanted to see the area badly because of the sightings around there) and I was nervous enough up there that we intentionally didn't camp out (now that I've been divorced for 20 years maybe I can blame it on my then-wife and say that she was the nervous one!) .

So here, verbatim, is the text of the journal entry for September 17, 1970 (written the morning after a very sleepless night):

The first thing that woke me up was a raucous, ungodly chorus of ghostly howling coyotes. Cary and I, sleeping in the black wilderness on cots, closed our eyes to that and slept on. But the sounds that next alerted me were gruesome enough to prompt our quick, teeth-rattling retreat into the car (Destri was obviously dead to the world). The sound of brisk, plodding footsteps in loose dirt somewhere very close by . . . then a SHARP rap on the vinyl tarp we had hanging at our heads [as a kind of wind break] . . . and at that there was a soft but guttural sound that literally rose the hackles on the back of my neck! We drove around after we'd clumsily climbed into the car, expecting some drooling, hairy mutant to grab us . . . but we saw nothing.
Re-reading the page brought back both the fright I had felt and the nature of the sounds, because for a time afterward I would bring it up to friends and relatives around campfires and such. The footsteps had been heavy and fast and they had stopped very suddenly. At the point I was lying in my bag with eyes wide open, startled to say the least, as we had gone to sleep certain that there were no other people for miles around. The sharp rap on the tarp was obviously something striking it with a good amount of force (my first thought was that a rock had hit the vinyl about half way up the tarp). I was already panicking and just about to shake my wife awake when the guttural growl occurred and it was all she wrote! I remember scrambling out of my sleeping bag and violently shaking my wife's – yelling at her to grab the baby and get in the car NOW. Whatever sounds may have occurred in those moments would have been drowned out by my own voice.

We immediately started the car and drove around in a circle, hoping our headlights would reveal what or who had been responsible. The area was a big flat campground amongst chaparral covered hills – not pine forest. Still, there was a lot of brush around where we'd camped and the headlights did little but throw deep, black shadows. We spent the rest of the night in the car, and the next morning I searched in vain for some kind of sign. We were still very much alone out in the boonies. The only thing I was able to find was a short stubby stick at the foot of the vinyl tarp. No rocks.

So now, this many years later, I'm left wondering . . .

Great question - and a great report of what a "not sure" might be.

You write that you heard "the sound of brisk, plodding footsteps".

What was it about them that makes you feel it was footsteps? Do you think the footsteps came from a bipedal creature?

Late summer 2001 we were driving from Ridgecrest to Bakersfield, and went via the Sequoia National Forsest (Map). We dropped in at the ranger's station, and they directed us to a short trail right up in the forest, high up in the mountains.

When we got there there were a couple of other cars there, and a school bus full of children - a Bigfoot attractant if ever there was one. We walked the trail - during which I clowned around and whacked a tree with stick, and found a footprint-like depresion in a stream bed. On returning to the car everyone else had departed, and we sat on a bench and ate lunch. I was a beautiful day, and a bald eagle glided right overheard.

Whilst we were sat there, I became aware of pincones 'pinging' off the trees behind me with more velocity than you'd expect then if they'd just dropped from the tree. This happened several times, and I stated to get an unconfortable feeling.

Then we heard a very deep 'thud' - just like something very large stomping its' foot. It wasn't loud - just very deep. This happened several times, and was very difficult to locate. Because of the isolated location (on the drive down out of the forest, we didn't pass another vehicle or dwelling for 90 minutes), and the danger of a bear encounter, we decided discression was the better part of valour and retreated to the car.

It's not much - but there's a chance that this was a bigfoot encounter. What else throws things ? It's also a Bigfoot hotspot, and the presence of children could have drawn one near.

I'm another "not sure". IMO, the "not sure" is the most frustrating situation. My "not sure" issues include< the heavy running footsteps, vocals ( screams, growl ) m/h getting hit on (could have been bats, but at one time it was hard enough to drop a picture off the wall) something down on all 4's (never saw the entire animal) chickens killed on multiple occasions ( could have been normal predators) 2 prints ( not normal, IMO) multiple arcs and markers (even though I'm not convinced these things make them, because no one has seen them in the act of doing it ). Again, the not knowing, for sure, leaves too many questions unanswered. Good thread BTW, allways wondered about others "not sure" situations.

Here's mine, also posted over here.

Here's where, when, and what happened:

It happened on the Queen Charlotte Islands, near Masset, back in '76 or '77. I don't recall the exact date but I'm pretty certain it was in '76. I and three friends had driven to the end of Cemetery Road, a small paved side-road leading from the main road to the beach. After spending some time at the beach, I and a female military police officer decided to walk back to the main road, and then continue on to the station. The other couple decided to drive back. It was very late in the evening, I believe it was around or after midnight.

We were walking along chatting with each other, when we noticed something walking parallel to us in the woods to our left. Let me say that this road was not very wide, two vehicles could pass each other, but not with much room to spare. The trees grew so close to the road that they hung out over it, causing it to be even darker than it normally would be. We looked to our left, but the combination of darkness, and thickness of the woods, prevented us from seeing anything. The sounds we heard were small twigs snapping, and as we walked the snapping of twigs stayed parallel to us on our left. When we paused to see if we could make anything out, the snapping noises stopped. We started walking again, and the snapping began as well. We stopped, it stopped. This went on at LEAST three times, might have been four. Each time we continued walking, the snapping sounds to our left would start up again. After the third or fourth time, when we started walking again, the snapping twigs were now on the right side of us, indicating that whatever was making the noise had seemingly crossed the road behind us. Talk about hairs standing up on the back of your neck!!

I believe it was at about that time our two friends who had left us earlier drove up in their car. They had come back to get us to go to a party, as best as I can recall. Initially my thoughts were that it was a bear, but I checked with some of the locals afterwards, and they thought it would be strange behavior for a bear.

I never thought of sasquatch at the time, nor did I notice any strange odor. I did think about the incident afterwards. I also initially entertained the idea it may have been someone playing a prank on us, but I can't fathom how a human would have walked through those woods as stealthily as they did without a light source. No one ever came forward in the days that followed, nor did any prankster jump out at us on the night in question. It remains a mystery what, or who, was stalking us that night.

Am I convinced it was bigfoot? No. I'm also not convinced it wasn't.

RayG

I feel awkward posting this but here it goes.
Me and a good friend were going hunting on a game management land we have hunted bunches of times before here in the upstate of South Carolina. We always walk the main trails without our flashlights so not to spook anything. It was a windy morning and we had walked for 20 minutes to where we split up. I walked into the woods maybe 150 yards while my friend walk kind of parralell out another trail. I had just turned on my light on for it is about 5:30/ 5:45 in the morning and stood on top of a ridge that I was about to go down into a creek bottom with thickets and hardwoods when something directly in front of me maybe 20 / 30 feet let outta scream that was long and drawn out, it made my ears hurt and scared me to death. I decided not to walk any closer. I set my climber tree stand up on a tree right close to me. Due to the wind I could not make out the rustle of leave as it was going away from me. about 2 minutes later it let out another 2 screams a little further off. I'm telling you that at this point I'm in a full sweat climbing this tree. Once I got set up I radioed my buddy and asked him what in the hell was that? He said something came close to him stopped and headed away from his spot but he couldn't tell what it was and that he was freaked out because he too wasn't in the spot he wanted for the same reason I wasn't where I wanted to be. We agreed that we had not heard anything like it before and swore it off as a big, sick bobcat. I never thought of bigfoot until a couple of weeks later when I was driving to the same WMA land around 4:30 am and was changing radio stations and heard them talking of BF (think it was Art Bell) so I listened and they played a recording of a scream. I had to stop my truck because I couldn't believe what I was hearing, almost identical to the scream I heard before. I had instant tears in my eyes I was so scared. My buddy won't bring himself to call it bf and jokes at me when I bring it up in conversation. This was in 2001.
Last year we found footprints at another spot a few miles away, this area is thick, bad thick. I won't go there anymore, just don't feel right. My friend said the tracks were a "cow" and walked away I don't know of cows with a size 11 or 12 foot, five toes, wandering around a thick swampy area with no farms for miles. I thought about going back the next day to photograph the tracks but I couldn't do it.

Ewwwww bigGun....that one gives me the willies!

May I ask if you stayed in the tree stand for very long? How did your buddy ask when you two first met back up after this happened? Thanks.

We talked to each other maybe 15 minutes after it happened on our 2 way radios. He asked me "What in the hell did you piss off?" He knew that I had walked up on something. I told him I had no idea and that I didn't shine my light on it.
Then he said whatever it was that it was between us and he didin't walk as far in as he had wanted to because he was nervous about it being on the ground around him.
At the time, I wasn't thinking BF so I stayed there in the tree most of the morning. Would have stayed longer had it not been so windy that day. I think the fact that the woods were noisy with the wind allowed me to sneak up on what ever *it* was.

Okay!... I guess I'll jump in.

On my listed information, I am a "No". On my intro in the "Meets and Greets' section, and in response to the question of whether or not I have had an encounter... I said, "Yes", "Technically No", "Possibly"... its a long story! Well... here is the long story!

About 16 years ago, I was hunting with a friend (Troy) in an area due East of Springfield Oregon. The area is known as "Booth Kelly". The Booth Kelly logging roads begin in the McKenzie River Valley and wind their way through some of Oregon's most rugged country. The logging roads are cut through the Western Oregon Rainforests, and make their way approximately 60 miles over the top of 6000 foot hill and ends up on the Fall Creek side of the Mountain. The area is very remote and is known as an exceptional place to hunt Blacktial deer.

It was raining hard and Troy and I were soaked to the bone. (This is not unusual when hunting Western Oregon.) We decided to park on an old side road known as "Miles Rock Road", and wait for an afternoon hunt. (Some would call it road hunting... we called it "Drying out until the evening hunt!" If a deer just so happened to walk out in front of us... ALL THE BETTER!)

As we sat in Troy's pick-up, we listening to the rain on the roof and the police scanner which sat on the dash board. Suddenly we heard an Oregon State Trooper call out to his partner and say something to the effect of, "You better get over here NOW!" His partner asked for his location, in which the reply was, "About a mile south of Miles Rock Rd." (The first Trooper's sounded very distressed over the radio.) The second Trooper asked if he was "Okay". The first Trooper's reply was, "Yea!... just get over here!... Its not for over the air!" With nothing better to do, Troy started the truck and we drove south to see what was going on. I remember Troy and I teasing with one another that maybe the Trooper had found "D.B. Cooper!". (If you don't know who D.B. Cooper is... I can tell you later!)

As we rounded a corner, we saw an Oregon State Trooper parked on the left side of the logging road. (At this point, Troy rolled down his window.) As we approached, we noticed that the Trooper was standing in front of his truck holding his shotgun. Troy slowed, and was going to ask the Trooper if everything was "Okay". As we slowly approached the Trooper's location, there was an almost "overpowering" odor of "Wet Dog" that filled the air. The odor was so strong that it was almost like having a soaking wet, stray dog in the cab of the truck with us.

Troy stopped next to the Troopers truck, and before Troy could say anything, the Trooper said, "YOU KIDS, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" The Trooper seemed more scared than authoritative. As I looked, I noticed that the Trooper had been looking at a large impression in the side of a dirt embankment. (The dirt embankment was about 10 feet high.) The impression was about half way up the embankment, and appeared as though a rock, about half the size of a volley ball had been removed from the hillside, leaving a large hole. There were no other impressions on the hill. As Troy and I drove away, I turned around to see the trooper take several steps up on the embankment and looked carefully at the impression.

Troy and I drove about another two miles until we reached a locked gate. Troy turned the truck around and parked. We talked about the situation with the State trooper, and wondered what it could have been. Eventually, we decided to leave... but would ultimately have to drive past the Trooper's location.

As we approached the Trooper's location, His partner had already arrived, and both were out of their trucks, holding their shotguns. As we were about to pass, the first Trooper quickly walked towards our truck and yelled, "If you boys are looking for trouble... you're about to find it! Now get your @ss out of here!!!" I quickly looked at the impression in the embankment and noticed that it looked more like the front part of a large foot that had dug into the dirt... as though something or someone had jumped up the embankment in one stride. Troy and I drove back to another road to continue to hunt. (I mean "Dry out!")

When I told Troy what I thought I saw, Troy said that he was reluctant to say that when we originally drove by... he thought it was a large human foot print, but said nothing because he thought I would laugh at him. Nothing else happened that evening.

About a week later, I was at work listening to a local radio station when the morning D.J. came on the radio and began to tell a story of two Oregon State Troopers who claimed to see a large ape like creature, in the hills just East of Springfield. The D.J. went on to say that the alleged sighting occurred only a week earlier. The D.J. laughed and accused the Troopers of taking liberties with the contents of their evidence locker, stating something to the effect of, "Don't you wonder what all the cops do with all that marijuana they confiscate? Well... now we know!"

Well... that is pretty much it!


Have a great day!
Donnie

The footsteps sounded exactly like a very large person running "flat footed", intentionally making as loud a noise as he could by forcing each foot down hard to the ground -- but the pace was a running pace, so that would have been very hard to do. It seems to me that I heard five of these heavy footfalls (there could have been more, obviously, before the sound actually awakened me). I have no doubt that it was bipedal. Whatever or whoever it was made a pretty big impression on our vacation, I can tell you -- and did a fine job of disappearing, as well. BTW, there was no unusual odor present.

I still don't know whether or not to associate this with a BF, but the fact that we were unable to find any signs of people around other than ourselves makes me lean that way. It certainly doesn't sound like the behavior you'd expect of other wild animals (what other animal could throw a stick at our vinyl tarp, for instance???)

Donnie, that's one wild happening! I'd have to say that the odds are extremely high that you and your friend were very near the same animal the troopers had reported. Cool story.

Great stories!!!

Here is my 2 cents. I didn't even think of this until I read some of the sightning here on the BFRO website. I was camping 30 miles SSW of Duluth, MN in a small town called Duquette, not sure of the spelling, anyhow its on HWY 23 half way between Askov & Duluth. I used to camp there every weekend as a kid (10-16).
The campground was on Oak Lake. I never saw anything, but there were trails in the woods & I can remember hiking and seeing what i now would call twisted breaks in the branches and limb on certain trees being broken down like in a wind storm. I always thought it was odd (the twisted breaks) that no other trees were broken in the imediate area, like from a wind storm. Oh yeah this would have been back between 1980-1986

I've had two unrelated incidents that fall under the "not sure" category. One of the incidents is rather exhaustively detailed in a report I submitted to the BFRO in 1998. It can be read here:My report

It was this report that put me in contact with many people in the Bigfoot research arena. I spoke on the phone with Dr. Henner Fahrenbach about the whistle sound we heard. I corresponded via email with Loren Coleman, I met several local researchers in Washington State, and was even publicly harangued by the illustrious Erik Bekjord on a couple of email lists.

It was while I was talking to Fred Bradshaw, an investigator from Grays Harbor County, that I told him of an incident that occurred many years ago that I had previously not thought of as being BF related.

When I was 14, my cousin and I decided to go camping behind his house in Elma, WA. Their farm was located in a remote area, and was bordered on all sides by deep woods. There were several old logging roads leading into the woods, and we followed one of these to the clearing at the end, where they yarded the logs up a canyon to the landing. There were still several large slash piles there, although it had been many years since the area was logged.

We made our camp at the foot of one of these piles, so we had abundant dry firewood for our campfire. We had a good time that night, roasting hot dogs and talking and such, and fell asleep around 2 AM. We had no tent, just sleeping bags. I remember having problems falling asleep, the ground was uneven and I was a bit cold and uncomfortable.

It seems that I had just fallen into a fitful sleep, when I began to dream of a train approaching me, carrying a pack of wild dogs. I could hear the steady clack, clack, clack of its wheels on the track, and the barking of several agitated dogs. In my dream I was stuck on the tracks and couldn't move. I slowly woke up, and realized I could still hear the noise. As I came more fully awake, I remembered where I was, and knew there were no train tracks for miles around.

As I woke up, I could hear several dogs, perhaps four, running some distance in the woods, and they were accompanied by an almost steady loud clicking sound. The cacophony seemed to be heading towards us, and my tired mind envisioned a pack of dogs chasing a deer with a large set of antlers through the woods, the deer hitting it's antlers against the trees as it ran.

It soon became clear that the group was approaching rapidly, and whatever was making the clicking sound was much bigger than a deer. It now sounded like a strong man bashing the trees with a wooden baseball bat as he ran by them. It was still dark, the fire had burned down and I could see nothing. Our little campsite was about ten feet from the old logging road, and there was a small creek about thirty feet away on one side.

The group was now approaching the creek, and the banging sounds became less frequent as the tree line thinned out. I then heard something very large enter the creek with a great splash, and over the barking of the dogs I could hear heavy footsteps in the creek as whatever it was ran upstream. The water was maybe a foot deep at the most, and the creek was never more five or six feet wide. While it was in the water, the banging sounds stopped, and all I could hear were the heavy, rapid footsteps through the creek.

At this time, I was franticly feeling about me for the BB gun we brought, knowing it offered no real protection, but somehow feeling I would be safer if I had it. My cousin woke up when I rolled him over to see if he was sleeping on the gun, and he sat up in kind of a daze and said "What?" really loud.

Just then, whatever it was had come out of the creek, and was running across the clearing parallel to the road, straight for our camp. I could actually feel the footsteps reverberate through the ground, and I knew whatever this gigantic animal was, it was about to run right into us. I lay down and closed my eyes, expecting to be stepped on at any moment, but when my cousin sat up and said "What?", whatever it was veered onto the road, and ran to the other side. The dogs passed within ten feet and never noticed us, they were too intent on their quarry.

When the thing got to the other side of the road, the banging noises started again, and it clearly sounded like a large piece of wood being struck against the trees with great force. The sound faded into the distance, and soon I could no longer hear even the echo of the dogs' barking.

My cousin was still not quite fully awake, and he later said he thought it sounded like dogs chasing a horse through the woods, although he couldn't explain the banging sounds. Needless to say, I didn't sleep anymore that night, and at first light I convinced my cousin it would be best to leave now. It wasn't until years later that I equated the occurrence with possible BF activity. I wish now that we would have looked for tracks, I know there would have been some in the creek bed.

When I think back on it now, I can picture a BF being chased through the woods by a pack of angry dogs, carrying large stick and hitting it against the trees as it ran. I'm fairly certian that whatever it was would have ran right into us if my cousin hadn't woke up when he did and alerted it to our presence. I can't think of very many worse ways for a fourteen year old boy to be morbidly wounded or killed than being stomped on by a fleeing Bigfoot. It would have made for some interesting pathology though, having your chest caved in by what appears to be a giant human foot with hundreds of pounds of force behind it. Of course, finding dermal ridges in that cast would be a challenge.

Sorry about the novella here, when I start typing I sometimes get gripped by diarrhea of the fingers and the s**t just keeps spewing out.

ResplendentYeti, hi. I'm curious about your above post where you stated you heard a "clicking" sound. I realize it was long ago, but can you please explain how the clicks sounded? If there was any type of rythme to it. Same type of click sound or did it change in sound? Also, in your dream, you heard what you thought was the "clack" sound of a train< did the click sounds also sound like clacking ?> Might sound like an off the wall question, but I would really like to know what you remember about it.

Painthorse,
Looking at my post now, I see where the clicks and clacks could get interwoven and confused. The clicking, or clacking as I interpreted it in my sleep was the same. When I fully woke up and got a good listen to it, it definitely sounded like wood on wood, or more specifically, a large stick or club banging against a tree. What I thought was the "clack" of a train, I believe was just what my sleep addled brain interpreted the sound as. I don't believe the character of the sound actually changed. I'm not very good at writing phonetically, I'm afraid.

In my dream, I interpreted the clicking/clacking as the rhythmatic movement of a train. When I woke up, there wasn't so much a rhythm to it, more of a consistency, if that makes any sense. It was as if whatever it was hit a tree as it ran by. When it went in the creek, the clicking stopped, and didn't start again until it had crossed the road and entered the woods on the other side.

Thanks, ResplendentYeti.

wow cool stories, thanks for sharing! My own semi-quasi-sighting (didn't see anything, just distressed deer and limb snapping) is buried somewhere here in Sightings--Deer on the Run thread

hey cochise
I had a maybe. back in 93 in eastern wa. a friend and me were logging some property just off the canadian border. it was janury 3 feet of snow and about 15 below. this property was pretty remote and was a game reserve. there was cattle up there in the fall when we started. we would get there before light and stay till dark. there wasn't anything to do out there but work. anyway we pull up to a landing and was waiting for light. when it got light my friend stepped out of the truck and said bigfoot? I said huh? he repeated and I went to he side of the truck and there was tracks in the snow going up the road. so i followed them till they left the road and went through where we were workin and it got harder to follow. my friend was workin allready so I got started. after a while I got a chill and started lookin around. I could feel something watchin me. I kept workin and every now and then i could smell an animal. but not see any thing. i also heared what sounded like a wood peaker and i would follow the sound but never seen anything. anyway a few weeks or a month went by and i asked my friend what he thought the tracks we seen were and he said. I allready told you what i thought. He believed in bigfoot from logging in grays harbor back in the late 80s. he had watched one walk across a ridge line. several years later i asked another friend that logged. if he every got real spooked in the wood like you we being watched. and he said only once. when i asked him what he thought it was he said he was workin and bigfoot walked up behind him and watched. i'm convinced the track couldn't have been made by anything else and i think i was being watched. check this out. i had a camara but i take pics of trees and snow and not tracks.

one more

Hi Resplendid!
I wanted to ask about the dogs, as it might tie in with a discussion we were having, in another thread.
Were you able to get a look at these dogs, or was it too dark, even though they ran close to you.
If you did see them, What kind were they? Wild dogs? Domestic muts of assorted kinds? Or were they tracking hounds?

As my first post on this illustrious board, may I tell about my first maybe:

I was about 11 or 12 years old and it was late summer in extremely rural Vermont (not a hot bed of BF activity for sure). The area is thick with deer, moose, turkey, coyote, and black bear; there are even claims of mountain lions tracking through the area. The foliage runs from stands of cedar, pine, and tamarak to large groves of maple and birch. The terrain is mostly ridge lines separated by narrow river valleys. Although a rural highway and interstate run nearby, there is ample ground cover and wide avenues for free movement through the area.

My parents house sits on three acres, bordered by wooded farm land on three sides. My brother and I had helped my father clear an acre of brush and saplings from behind the house the year before and what scrub had grown back was about 3-4 feet high. The brush we had cut was stacked in a large pile to the side of the clearing. During the brush clearing, I had discovered a horseshoe shaped rock, which reminded me of a hearth, and I spent a lot of time playing near it.

On this particular day, my brother and I had gotten into a scrap and I headed off to the horseshoe rock to cool off. As I sat there whittling with my pen knife, I heard the sound of rustling brush behind me, in the tree line (about 30' away). Thinking it was my brother trying to sneak up on me, I dropped low to the ground to listen, slowly turning toward the noise. It was then I saw a large dark figure push through the bushes at the treeline. The black stood out distinctly against the bright green foliage. I got one good look and then fight or flight kicked into high gear and I ran down the bank to the house, screaming my brother's name to get home. When I got inside I was in an extreme panic and wouldn't let my mother leave the house to get my brother. I've never asked him about that day.

Why I'm skeptical: First, I was 11. This was and still is black bear country. My parents property butts up against some prime berry picking land that was cleared several years before this incident. In the late summer, the berries nearly fall off the bushes.

Why my heart is beating like a race horse's right now: I grew up spending a great deal of time in the woods; it was my playground. My father taught me to hunt when I was very young and he took me on long nature walks into the forest to view wildlife, which was plentiful where we lived. My first encounter with a bear was exciting but not terrifying. I can not account for my immediate, uncontrolled reaction to this incident. Additionally, what ever it was, was standing on its hind legs and pushed the brush apart with its arms. The glimpse I saw is still seered into my memory; the body shape was that of a man, only much more stocky.

I never told anyone about this. My father was hunting buddies with the state game warden and I eventually gathered up the guts to ask him about any strange sightings in the state. His answer was "None" followed by a knowing chuckle. I never pursued it further. For a couple years the fear lingered and I had a difficult time sleeping with the curtains to my bedroom open; I always feared being watched. I still feel a tension in my chest when I think about it.

Ch. 7 of Monsters of the Northwoods, pp. 84-105, describes encounters in Vermont. It's sold on Amazon.

Nothed, thanks for the account -- I wish the photos you included were a little better, though. I can see they are Polaroids and it looks like they've faded with time, can't see enough detail to see tracks. Is that what you were alluding to? Still, it's a good example of what I'd call a "most likely" instead of a not sure.

Can you describe the tracks at all from memory? Size and shape, what kind of stride? Any single print that was clear and obviously of a Bigfoot type?

Enkidu, welcome to the BFF. It sounds like your experience really had a life changing effect on you. Believe me, I know what you mean. Thanks for sharing that with us.

cochise
the track i saw were about 4 inches longer than my foot. 16in. would be real close. the length when i step them off was about 2-2.5 feet longer than mine. i followed them for about 1000 ft.before the left the road. at that point you could still follow them but it was more difficult. they were clear and consisent. the bottom of the tracks were hard packed ice. no the pics don't show them. it shows the type of area and weather. what i was saying is i burned up all my pictures on snowy trees.and never took any of the tracks. at the time i never even thought to. I seen something and was haveing a hard time explaning it to my self. hey my father inlaw took a close up of a track in northern california. he said early fifties. he said you could see hair pressed in to the top of the mud. the print were real clear. their on slides. but he said he'll get a photo made for me. if and when he dose i'll post it. its just another track but it's pre wallace. hard to call it a hoax. there were no roads and hadn't been logged. said him and a friend flew over the area in a plane and mapped out a way to a high mountain lake bye way of a dried up creek bed. they fished for a couple nights when something came through their camp. he said he'll have to dig them up.

Great - I'm sure all of us would love to see these!

My "not sure" experience happened during the summer of 1984 at Shasta Lake, CA. My family and I were vacationing there, and after we put the houseboat to shore in a tiny little cove off of the main lake, I decided to go for a walk. There was a small, nearly-dried creek bed nearby, so I followed that for a while, as it made for an easier walk than through the nearby brush. After about a mile, I happened upon some bare human footprints in the rocky mud alongside the creek bed. At first, the tracks didn't really impress me. There were two sets, one smaller than the other. I'd say the larger were about a size 12 or 13, while the smaller about a size 9. The only truly unusual things I noticed about the prints is that they were very wide, and the location in which I found them. I was about a mile in from shore and walking towards the deeper woods around, and these bare footprints were coming down one side of the creek from the woods, following it for a while, and then crossing back into the woods on the other side. Like I mentioned before, the creek bed was rocky, and it consisted mostly of sharp shale-like stone that nobody in their right mind would walk across. And the footprint impressions were deep in the rocky mud. And the fact that they came from the brush-lined edges of the creek over and through to the other brush-lined side would have meant that the two walkers must have had some pretty hard-soled feet!

But at the time I saw these prints, though I was interested in BF at the time, I didn't put the two together. If I had, I would have snapped some pics with the camera I had. D'oh! Anyway, my family stayed parked along that shore all day and night, and it was at night that it finally dawned on me that those footprints may not have been human. Because that night, as my brother and were drifting off to sleep, we were both startled by the most chilling sound I had ever experienced. It was a long scream that started as an infant-like wail, but then rose to a high pitched scream, then ended into a gargling-type sound. But though the scream sounded high-pitched, it was also very resonant. Almost hollow sounding. My immediate impression was that I had heard a woman scream, because I was half asleep and wasn't sure exactly that what I thought I heard wasn't just imagined. But then I heard it again, and this time it was obviously not human, nor any other animal that I have ever heard. I've heard mountain lions, coyotes, wild dogs, wild cats, hawks, owls, eagles, etc. I have hunted with my family since I was very young, and I know my sounds. I looked to my brother and could see his face from the light of the moon, and his eyes were as wide as his mouth was agape. We didn't say a word, and he ducked his head in his sleeping bag. Then it hit me. The footprints. Their size, shape, and location. Now the screams. Bigfoot. I stayed awake for a few hours listening for more sounds. After awhile, and hearing nothing, I fell asleep.

I awoke to the sound of deep humming and the feeling of air on my face. Opening my eyes to the morning light, I realized that as I slept my family had pulled away from the shore and were driving the houseboat on the lake again. My chances of investigating those footprints again were gone. I didn't tell my family of my thoughts and findings, because I was sure they would pass off my ideas as the unstable imaginings of the average 13 year old boy. It wasn't until later when my brother asked me if I had heard the large animal on the shore that night of the screams. As I apparantly slept, he said that he had heard the movements of a very large animal walking along the shore near the houseboat, and that he heard heavy breathing and grunting. His thoughts were of a bear, but that was not where my logic had taken me!

Well, that is my "not sure" experience. I still regret not speaking up about my thoughts to my family at the time. Years later, when I finally told them what I had thought, they were intrigued. My brother especially, since he had witnessed the screams himself, and had not really been able to explain them to himself all those years ago. They may have humored me, and ley me further investigate those tracks if I had just spoken up! Again, "D'oh!"

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty bizarre -- barefoot tracks heading into a deep forest. Have you ever gone back to that area now that you're older?

[QUOTE]We didn't say a word, and he ducked his head in his sleeping bag. heh find a happy place, find a happy place!

allright i have to put mine in too.after reading the shasta post,i feel compelled to share mine.it was in 01,also on a houseboat.it was about 3:00 am.i was sleeping on the roof.i like to be outside in the fresh air.the stars are amazing .and this is something i always do.we were in a very secluded cove.it was late october so there arent nearly as many people on the lake as in the summer.for some reason i woke up and was trying to fall back to sleep.that was when i heard the yell.it was far away .but you could tell it was from a very large set of lungs.what immediately struck me ,was that it sounded verynvery similkar to the yell that i have heard the bfro use for their night call.i got a chill and said to myself."wow,could it be?"we were away from everything.i am not 100% sure of this .so this is why i have never brought this up.also,last year ,in a very secluded inlet.i saw what could have been a half a track.there were 5 toes clearly visible.it was at the lakes edge.it is very rocky and the other half of the track would have been on the rocks. there were no claws.i know there are alot of bears in the erea.i showed my dad and uncle .they kind of laughed it off.but agreed that it looked human and was in a very remote place.hope these stories help.

Unfortunately, I have only been back to Lake Shasta once more since then, and that was about 16 years ago. Again, I was with my family but I saw and heard nothing. Now I have a family of my own, so it may be time to take them on up to Shasta for some research...er...relaxation! Yeah, that's the ticket!

hi all, new to this site and this is my first post, my "maybe" encounter happened in the fall of '83 my parents had just bought a new camp in slippery rock Pa, we were the first ones to buy the land on the road, it was 1.5 miles back a dirt road and we had just a small clearing to put a small camping trailer in and had a small porch added on it, well being 18 it was a great opportunity to use our new camp for some hunting with just the guys, since it was our first year there we didnt really know the woods very well, but myself and 3 other friends went up for the first day of archery season (we were not drinking) since our trailer was fairly small and it being early october, my one friend decided he would sleep on the porch, which was fine for me since i got the main bed for myself then, well to make a long story as short as possible, about a half our after bedding down Brian came running into the trailer and said, I'm not sleeping out there, ther's something huge walking around out there and busting big limbs, we all laghed at him and went out to here this "huge" animal. well it didnt take long for all 4 of us to get the pants scared off of us, we did here something making a ton of noise about25 yards to the left of the trailer, so my other buddy bruce said it was probably a bear nosing around the new trailer so he yelled at it to try and scare it away, well the next thing that happened was we kept half of a 55 gallon drum for garbge beside the trailer, well this drum comes flying across the front of the porch and lands about 10 yards on the other side of the trailer, well nedless to say youv'e never seen 4 guys race into a trailer as fast as we did, not having any light other than kerosene lanterns we couldnt see anything outside much more than 10 feet beyond the porch, whatever it was stayed out there and busted brush and circled the trailer for more than an hour, it knocked the drum around a few more times also and we found it the next morning about 75 yards away in the woods, i know that it very well could have ben a bear because i have seen them there since but it sure didnt behave the way a bear normally does around here with all the bear hunting we have, usually at the first hint of human presence they are gone and this thing semed mad because we were there, oh yeah, we didnt go hunting the next morningeither lol, there is an interesting side note to this story also, and if there is any interest, i can write it later, thanks for reading and you have a great site here, Derek

Welcome Derek/Mountman!

Heck yeah, after reading that account I definitely want to hear the side note!

My friends and I were up at a cabin on a lake a couple of hours north of the Twin Cities. It was around three am and we were sitting around the fire pit about 25 feet from the cabin. I was sitting facing the others with my back to the treeline.

We were drinking earlier in the night, hitting some of the local taverns, but I was driving and hadn't had as much as the others. Things were winding down when all of the sudden Dan jumped up and went inside his storage shed. He came out with a lit roman candle which started whooshing bright green and red flares...But as soon as the first flare went up... something HUGE crashed through the woods directley behind me and was making fast tracks out of there.

Everybody was looking in the woods instead of watching the fiereworks. I found myself standing and facing the woods holding the stick I was using to poke the coals of the fire with out in front of me. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end.

A few minutes later we heard some dogs from a house a little farther down the lake barking frantically. A little while longer, and a little farther down the same direction more dogs started barking just as frantically.

Yes bears have been in this area. My friend Dan jokingly suggested it could have been the wild turkeys he had seen before on his property. And I agree that it could be either of these...driving a Ford F-150 through the woods.

I am 75% sure it could have been a bear. But the breaking sounds seemed more like limbs of trees being snapped high in the air as whatever it was made its hasty escape. I would think a bear would only break sticks closer to the ground. There was no smell, and I never felt like I was being 'watched' before the comotion.

I grew up in Southern Il during the 70s (when there were sightngs in this area) and always was interested in Sasquatch, but had forgotten all about him until now at the age of thirty six.

I plan on Kayaking on the Chyenne River and camping along some of the least travelled areas of SD. Hope there is some truth to the water connection. I hope to get time to get out and search, but it will be fun either way.

How did I miss this thread?
Cool stuff guys!....MUCH more entertaining then discussion of poor photos, or, a certain upcoming book...

ok, since I have a little more time, i'll give the quick side note to my maybe encounter. about 5 years after we bought our camp another family bought one a little closer to the beginning of the road, and their father bought one directly across from theirs, they both put up small cabins, well after the father retired he moved up to the camp, and he lived there until about 2 years ago, you see we had been hearing lots of banging and noises coming from his cabin area, (about1/4 of a mile from ours) and usually very late at night, since we had the only 3 camps on this road we figured it was just the old man going a litle goofy on us, well he recently passed away and i was talking to his son, (now in his forties) and he asked me if i ever saw or heard anything strange around the camp, and i said no not really, except for when we first bought the place, he said the reason he asked was because his father used to run an extension cord out into the woods with a small tv because he believed that would keep the bigfeet away from his cabin, apparently his father said they used to bang on the sides of his cabin and would throw things around his camp, and he supposedly saw one once, his son figured he was just going senile, and maybe he was but i thought it was pretty interesting anyway. i asked his son if he ever noticed anything and he said only once and it was that a deer he had hanging outside the cabin was stolen once but he just figured it was a person, which it very well could have been, i guess my point is if you have an overactive imagination like myself you can see bigfoot anywhere (even in Pa) but there is probably more logical explanations to my stories, but then again what fun would they be?

Hey, that is interesting! Especially since he told you about what his father was doing first. Kinda creepy!!

And I know what you mean about the overactive imagination. I creep myself out all the time thinking about what MIGHT be out there, watching me walk from the car to the house at night. (There's nothing...I can see no possible way for there to be anything right here in my immediate area.)

I don't remember reading this anywhere--does your family still own that land, and does the other family? Might be cool to touch base and see if there have been any other interesting developments.

Mountman, very spooky accounts -- thanks for sharing. If not mistaken, I've heard just recently (maybe elsewhere on this forum????) that PA has for a while been kind of a hot spot for bf activity (or supposed bf activity, I should say).

Again, good reading.

yes, my mother still owns the property, but i dont really get up as much anymore since my parents divorced, i dont really feel right going up there without my father, but i do sneak up every year after christmas for some late season muzzleloading, the other family sold out this past summer, a lady bought it to rent out to hunters, the road is stil pretty secluded although there has been a few people putting houses along the end closest to the road, i really find it pretty suspect for BF to live in pa year round, even with the heavy forests we have in places but I often wonder if maybe they migrate and pass through the state on their way north or south, either way its still fun to believe maybe just maybe we have a few around up there. in case your wondering, no i dont go into the woods to hunt til daylight lol, bigfots probably not there but this coward isnt taking any chances. MM

Excellent posts, Mountman!

Welcome to BFF!

Well, I guess since everyone else has come clean I might as well relate something that happened to me some years back....I was driving to Kentucky from Ohio to visit my parents late one night or very early morning, around 11:30 pm to 12:30 am. The part they live in is in the southeastern part of the state with large, forested hills and valleys around in all directions. There were three other people in the car with me at the time, all sleeping as I was the driver. We were on a four lane highway, (United States Route 23 to be specific), and a couple miles north of State Route 645 which intersects US 23. The farther south I traveled the foggier it became and visibility was very limited in some stretches to somewhat better in others in a revolving manner. I was just beginning to start into a dense section of fog when something huge was suddenly standing on the centerline of my two southerly directional driving lanes. I was in the far lane away from the center grass median, the slow lane. This thing was not facing me I don't think. It
appeared to be facing east, backside parallel to the driver's side of my car. I saw it at the last second in the dense fog and swerved right to miss it, but made slight contact somewhere on the left side of this things body, a glancing blow, not direct, but at the same time it appeared to spin the thing when I hit it. After inspecting my car the next morning the parking light was broken and the bumper which was mostly hard plastic was smashed in somewhat and cracked, kind of hung down. I only got about a second look at this thing and half of that was spent trying to avoid hitting it. What's more, I really believe there was more than one, possibly three, but I'm almost sure there was at least two. I kept trying to tell myself that it was a couple of deer for a long time, and me being tired plus the fog made me think I saw something I didn't. I was 20ish age wise back then, now I'm in my thirties and after thinking about it from time to time when something brings it to my mind, I know it was no deer I hit. I've never told anyone about this incident not even the people in the car with me that night. They did awaken that night upon me swerving but I told them I slightly bumped a deer and they all went back to sleep and I don't think we ever even discussed the matter again. If it hadn't been dark and them half asleep to begin with I'm sure they would have noticed I was pretty shaken up. If this would happen to me today the fact that I'm older and think differently now would propel me to turn the car around to see what I hit, at that time, no way. I was just glad I didn't lose control of the car. A ticked off thing or things in that kind of foggy setting might have been bad for us was sort of my thinking. I just wanted to get the hades out of there. It's always possible that it was a bear or bears standing in the highway on their hind legs, I guess, but what I saw sure didn't appear to be any bear. The legs were too long and the body appeared to be disproportionate to a bear's. Besides, before local conservation officials started a conservation project a few years back at which time bears were released into the wild in that area they were basically none around. I lived in these parts until about 22, and my dad all his life. Both of us hunted a lot and I never saw a bear or signs of one, and my dad didn't until they began releasing them. I never related to him what I thought I hit, but did ask about the bears.

On another note:my grandmother told me before she died, when I was a teenager, that when she was young that she and some of her family had seen something in these parts or close proximity that she described as being, " as tall as the loft and heavy built." It meant nothing to me at the time, just a good story.

Wow, great post! May I please ask you why you think there was more than one? Welcome to the BFF, Basher4.

great story basher.welcome.sounds like a legit encounter.almost too much detail for this thread.sounds like there was definitely something in the road.ghosts dont bash the front of your car in.

JayleeD:

I just think that I saw from my peripheral vision at least another one. I never saw
the face of whatever I hit, maybe just mid-chest down and for a split second. I was on it quick before I knew what hit me or it. It's something you just don't forget especially if you think about it over the years. I don't even know if it was a
bigfoot, but I know it sure didn't look like anything I ever saw before.

Talk to you later, it's bedtime.

Thanks for the reply. Wow, I bet you didn't have a problem staying awake while you were driving then, huh?

Here it goes. I was deer hunting about five years ago.Took a stand about 2 oclock that evening.It got dark and I got down from the tree and packed my stand. On the way out I decided to take a short cut to truck( about quarter mile)and had to cross a creek, about midways the creek a heared a noise that I'll never forget in the distance about 150 yards away. Sounded something like a bear whinning loudly although no bears around here. I was as cold as I've ever been and wanting to get to the heater in truck but couldn't let that sound go. Got across the creek and dropped my gear except for my rifle and eased toward the sound which was fairly consistant. Whinning and a occational I don't know what... I guess like a loud deep grunting. I very slowly eased closer and closer to whatever it was that was making these noises. It moved every now and then alittle but not much. Finally I got within I'd say, 40 foot of it and stopped cold and listened a while. It made sounds like I had never heard and haven't heard since from anything. After what seemed like an hour although I was very cold and probably more like 20 minutes.I decided to move in quick and run it off. It was super thick in there and I moved a few steps quickly making all kinds of noise...the thing shut up and was silent.I mean not a sound. I moved alittle closer making even more noise. It didn't make a sound. Like it was waiting on me. I was alittle scared at this point as I was really close with a scoped rifle in a thick place. Probably within 20 to 25 feet of something REAL big .I sat there awhile and honestly punked out. I shoot my rifle in the air. It got out of there then and I mean ran over everything in its way. Sounded like something really big getting out of there. And maybe It was just my mind playing tricks with me but a swear it sounded like a man running from the pattern of the steps.I left out of there that night and have always wondered since what that was.Have went back several times and have seen some strange sign but nothing I would consider unexplainable. Guess I'll never know what it was and regret not going back to the exact spot it left from that night with a light.

My NOT SURE is posted in the contest post. NOT SURE
meaning I did not see nor smell the animal I was hearing to the left of me.

First time poster here. Just thought I would add my not sure type encounter.

I'll ramble a bit just to let you know my background.

I was born and raised near Port Angeles, WA. A port town that borders on the Olympic National Park. Very rugged and dense country there. Our family home was in one of the several creek (Ennis) valleys that drain into the Strait of Juan de Fuca

I was involved in Explorer Search & Rescue Post 100 during the 70's as a youth for a few years.

I and some of my friends at the time made several hikes deep into the park back in those days. Any Cedar Lake or Three Horse Lake vistors on board?

None of the above has a bearing on my NOT SURE. Just a bit of back ground.

To make a long story short, I eventually came to reside in Penticton, BC Canada. Spent 2 years living out in the bush the next valley over before I ended up in Penticton.

Anyhow, those 2 bush years I felt quite comfortable. A few times in the Similkameen valley of BC where I was living and hunting in the early 80's I had the odd feeling of being watched.

During those 2 years I was living in a very isolated place. No electricity or indoor water.

We had running water, but we had to run to the creek to get it as they say.

Now we cut to the chase.

I never saw anything in my entire previous out door life. Just heard stories. Seen or glimpsed most common critters.

Moved to Penticton and became mostly citi-fied. But I still liked to hunt.

A few years later a friend took me to a place that he once had been that had lots of deer. I went with him and his brother. It was a wonderful place. Several creek valleys over a few miles, very old abandoned logging roads. One could heard the woods alive with the sounds of life... Squirrels, birds etc. We saw lots of deer sign and even heard a few. We didn't get anything out of that patch of country that time.

A year later I went back to that same place by myself. It was very quiet.

It's hard to explain the terrain, but there is a main road that follows the creek valley. There is an old cow trail that branches off from a landing that leads up to the much older logging roads on the shelf ridge above. That's where I had been the year before.

I followed the cow trail up to the top to where it met the old roads. I had crept VERY quietly as I noticed the wind was in my face. After cresting the hill I slowly moved forward. 75 yards ahead of me was clump of trees.

Take a step... Listen... Listen.. Stop yourself and listen.. I did that for 10 yards.

Imagine the terrain if you will, steep creek bank behind me. semi-open 3rd growth left and right. Thick s**t of tall timber and much shorter deciduous undergrowth ahead.

I stepped ahead a bit. What I saw next was unexpected. The shorter (30 foot) tree that was maybe 20 yards in front of me was being shaken in a vigorous manner.

I've never see a tree shaken like that before. Thinking it was a bear, I retreated the 10 yards or so to rearm my gun...

The gun I had was a Winchester M70 Featherweight chambered for the 257 Roberts cartridge... I reloaded the gun with 5 rounds of Federal Premium 120 grain Nosler Partition bullets. Pretty much the ultimate in 257 Roberts loads. I was gonna bag a bear.

I crept up to the same place that I had been before. Peeking over the hill, everything was quiet.

I moved that 10 yards and the trees started shaking again. Assuming I was after a bear and emboldened by my technology I took 2 steps forward and was rewarded by even more vigorous shaking.

Not being really "loaded for bear" as they say I backed down.

How does this relate to BF? I dunno. I've wittnessed bears shaking fruit trees before. But these trees had no food on them.

I didn't make the connection to BF until years later.

44_Fan

I guess since everyone else is tossing in their story, one more wont hurt.

My "Not Sure" happened around 1980 or so when I was in the Boy Scouts. Every month we went on a campout somewhere...either a park, private land whatever. Well, this time we ended up camping at Camp Bullis which is a well known military base just North of San Antonio. Everything was going great and we were having a fine time.

Nightime rolls around and that was *the* time to play a game we called "Commando". We would divide up the troop into teams and split up to try to capture one another. It was great and we had some fantastic experiences in the dark on many outings. We had a great game and retired back to the camp to sit around the fire like normal.

Everyone went to bed like normal and sometime in the middle of the night, I was awakened by one of our troop dads who was literally scared to death. He was wanting to get all the kids together. I asked him what was wrong and he said that something had gone through the camp and tore up the place. Thinking this was BS, or a joke, I got up half expecting a big prank or something as this was typical of our troop and the adults.

Once I got out into our camp area proper, I could see what had happened. One tent, a Baker, had been torn down and the Cedar crossbeam had been broken by what appeared to be a twist almost in the middle. Our "chuck box" where all the cooking utensils had been was knocked over and about 30 ft or so from where it should have been. It looked like it had either been carried or thrown as it was broken beyond repair. I dont remember any drag marks where it was moved. Anyone here thats ever been in the scouts knows about the Chuck box. You have basically make this thing for your camping trips and good ones are made really sturdy and heavy, nevermind all the stuff that goes in them. Everything to prepare a meal is in one with the exception of the food. This makes moving your "kitchen" easy but the weight can easily exceed 70-100 lbs.

Anyway, by this time, all the scouts were up and we were kind of just standing around looking at each other. The troop dads were telling us to build up the fire as high as we could and to stay in sight. Some of the other guys were scared and crying because the adults were obviously terrified. I was still thinking it was a prank as I had been around long enough in the troop to know what to expect.

After building up the fire, we sat around it talking about what had happened and noticing that there was movement in the woods beyond our vision in the dark. This movement circled our camp for at least a couple of hours and then we didnt hear it again. I dont recall smelling anything or hearing anything other than the obvious walking through the brush. Nobody suggested Bigfoot. Not once.

One of the troop dads (the one that woke me up) wanted to pack up our vehicle and leave right then, but he was talked out of it by one of the other dads who insisted that we could pack up but leave at first light, so that is what we did.

Upon leaving, we stopped at the office, MP place, whatever you call it and reported what had happened. From my understanding, they kind of laughed at our Scoutmaster and told him that it was probably "a couple of drunk soldiers messing with you". Not wanting to argue with them over some of the obvious issues with that explanation, we left and went home.

Now, I should explain that I dont believe this was a prank by our scoutmasters for a couple of reasons. One, the destruction of the tent would have been a big no no as we bought all of our own equipment and good quality tents like Bakers were expensive. And two, they wouldnt have destroyed the chuck box as that was built by us and it would have been expensive and time consuming to replace/repair.

Additionally, they would not have pulled a stunt where they cut our campout short. For some kids, that was the only outdoor experience they had.

I dont believe it was "a couple of drunk soldiers" for a couple of reasons...Bullis is a big place and what the hell would two drunks be doing out on this base and more importantly how would they have found us considering that nobody knew where we were other than we were on some of the base that was considered "safe" (they do survival training and theres lots of live munitions about). Additionally, the broken tent pole was a serious mark against the idea of it being two drunks. Baker tent poles were either cedar or redwood and approximately 2 inches thick by 2 inches wide. This pole was broken as if it had been twisted..you could see the wood and how it was bent. I find it hard to believe that these guys would have done that rather than just knocking the tent over, making a racket etc.

Then the adults come to mind. They were scared. The guy that woke me up was practically in tears. Everyone bugged out at first light and there was no reason to do that other than something had happened and it was best for us to leave. We did not look for prints or anything like that. If this had been a prank, they would have let us in on it at one point, otherwise, whats the reason for pranking if you cant enjoy dropping the bomb at the end?

Welp, thats it and thats the best I can recall from a 13 yr. old kid.

After reading story after story and case after case of sightings, encounters etc. I determined that my encounter *might* have been something unusual and unknown. From what Ive been able to learn, there have been other sightings in this general area of Texas and even a couple right here in San Antonio itself.