- Class 1a
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1a A sasquatch/bigfoot specimen has been collected (alive or dead).
- Class 1b
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1b A report investigation results in a sasquatch observation or the documentation of clear tracks or other forms of physical evidence by an investigator.
- Class 1c
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1c An investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot by a very reliable observer is a distinct possibility, tangible corroborating evidence is documented, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 1d
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1d A visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility involving two or more reliable observers, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 2
- Class 2, Competency: Reports involving sightings by professionally trained or highly skilled observers.2 Investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility, the observer is exceptionally trustworthy, professionally trained, and experienced in the outdoors and/or is accustomed to looking for and recording details (e.g., biologist, anthropologist/archaeologist, ranger, trapper/tracker/seasoned hunter, bird watcher, game warden, naturalist, law enforcement), and other explanations can be reasonably excluded.
- Class 3a
- Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.3a Investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility, the observer is credible, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 3b
- Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.3b Unidentifiable vocalizations were reported and there is accompanying tangible evidence to possibly indicate the presence of a sasquatch/bigfoot, the observer is very reliable, and other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 3c
- Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.3c No visual encounter occurred, but physical evidence was found to indicate the presence of a sasquatch/bigfoot (tracks, hair, scat, etc.), the observer is very reliable, and other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
Case: 01080019
Class 3aWoman has morning encounter at home after dogs become alerted.
Report Details
Occurrence date: March/2008
Location: Wood County, TX
Nearby/Vicinity: Mineola
Time / Conditions: 08:00 — Morning light, clear.
# of Witnesses: 1
Location: Wood County, TX
Nearby/Vicinity: Mineola
Time / Conditions: 08:00 — Morning light, clear.
# of Witnesses: 1
Witness Account:
I normally get up rather early, put on coffee and let my small dogs and one coonhound out to relieve their bladders. This morning, being rather cool, I didn't stay out with the dogs, but went back into the house. My daughter was visiting and was still asleep. The dogs began barking. In an effort to quiet the dogs, I stepped out onto the porch. The chihuahua, min-pin and sheltie/rat terrier were in a small pen, the coonhound on a tether. The coonhound, instead of going to the end of her tether, was only about 1/4 of the way extended. The small dogs were penned, but were all looking southward, toward the woods. The dogs had a strange bark, not like seeing a person on the road, or a deer - those barks are familiar. The only way I can describe the barking is that it was rather whiney. I looked in the direction the dogs were watching and was shocked to see a large form. The young growth of pine trees were about 3 to 4 foot tall. This form appeared to be twice the height of the pine trees. The form was bulky, no neck and blended in with the dappling of the larger trees. I kept looking and questioning myself, and realized I truly was seeing something unusual. I pounded on the side of the house, awakening my daughter to also witness this incident. The large form did not turn right or left, but seemed to be moving slowly, but steadily backwards into the cover of the woods. By the time my daughter got outside, the creature had blended into the woods.
Additional observations:
I still shake when I recollect the incident. If anyone is willing, I will direct them to the area where the form was seen, which is within sight of my front porch. I have never been scared to go outdoors during the night until now. I dread coming home after dark, even with the front porch light on.
Investigator's Observations
Investigator(s): Ken Stewart and John Morley
This investigation was conducted as a result of multiple incidents that allegedly occurred in Wood County, east of Mineola, the week of Sunday, 2 March 2008.
John Morley, NAWAC Regional Director, and I (Ken Stewart, NAWAC investigator), each had detailed phone conversations with the witness on 5 March. On 6 March, the witness told me that she heard an unusual vocalization the previous night. On 7 March, the witness unexpectedly called both Morley and me, telling us that her youngest daughter had just seen a bigfoot. Because of the additional reported incident, the investigation team was expanded to include Daryl Colyer and Chris Buntenbah.
The witness first moved to her home about eleven years ago, moved away six years later, but then moved back into the house in late 2007. She seemed knowledgeable about local wildlife and told us that she is an experienced hunter. She also owns a coon hound. She has two daughters, the oldest of whom was staying temporarily at the home at the time of the occurrence. The youngest daughter, who reported the subsequent incident, lives nearby.
The residence is situated in what appears as prime wildlife habitat. The home is located on a hill that is within one mile of bottom land on three sides of the property. The sighting location is about 100 to 125 feet higher than the creeks that run through the bottom land. We found abundant signs of wildlife including tracks of deer, large feral hogs, bobcats, coyotes, raccoon, opossum and skunk. We also noted highly-traversed animal trails and apparent wildlife bedding areas near the sighting location. In addition, the primary claimant stated she saw a cougar and two cubs several years ago near her property.
As described in the initial report, on the morning of the first reported incident, the observer had put her dogs outside. She was in the house and noticed that her dogs were barking in a peculiar manner, as though highly agitated, especially the coon hound. When the witness stepped out to determine what the source of the agitation was, she saw that the coonhound was only about one-quarter of the way out on the leash, rather than being at the end of the leash. The dogs seemed confused and/or frightened. This event allegedly occurred between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M.
The witness stated that while standing on the porch, she looked in the direction that the dogs were directing their barking and at that time saw a large figure standing behind a growth of young pine trees that were approximately three to five feet tall. The witness was adamant that the subject was a bigfoot. Behind the subject stood a large section of mature pine trees that we later estimated to be between 30 ? 50 years old.
The witness stated that she could only see the portion of the body above the waist. The witness noted that immediately after she spotted it, the subject began moving backward into the shade of the mature pines at an extremely slow and smooth pace.
The witness recalled that she banged her hand against the wall of the house to wake her oldest daughter who was sleeping in the next room. By the time the daughter managed to look out the window and make it outside, the subject had blended into the shadows of the mature pines. As a result the daughter did not see anything. The daughter did recall how the dogs were agitated and barking; and her mother was extremely anxious and frightened. The witness said that she maintained visual contact with the subject, watching it slowly back into the much darker shadows of the mature pines, until it took a side step, breaking visual contact. The witness estimated that the length of the visual contact was approximately 20 seconds.
Five days after the initial reported sighting, on 7 March, the homeowner's youngest daughter was visiting the home. The daughter told us she originally had been very skeptical of her mother?s sighting and joked about it in a good natured manner.
At 8:00 P.M., the daughter decided to leave. The home has a long driveway that runs in front of the pine saplings where the mother?s visual incident was said to have occurred. The daughter got into her car and drove down the driveway. She recalled that at the end of the driveway, her headlight beams illuminated what she first thought to be a large tree in the midst of the saplings; she remembered however, that the stump began gently swaying back and forth. The daughter turned on her high beams and at that time saw what she described as "the lion's head from the Wizard of Oz."
She immediately called her mother on her cell phone and backed up her car, trying to reposition her headlights so she could better see the subject. She briefly took her eyes off the form while shifting into reverse, and permanently lost sight of it. The daughter estimated that the incident lasted about five seconds.
After the mother received the cell phone call from her youngest daughter, the older sister ran out in the yard with a flashlight in an attempt to see the figure and to protect her younger sister; however, she was unable to locate it.
The witness stated that she did not see the subject's torso or shoulders; she was only able to see a head. She described the face as being earthy brown. She stated there appeared to be a tuft of hair on the nose, but no hair on the cheeks. The head hair appeared to be a marbled color of black and dark brown.
The young woman remembered that after the sighting, she was afraid to get out of her car or leave. She was basically frozen and extremely frightened. After her sister and mother came out to console her, she finally left. The mother and older daughter corroborated the young witness?s reportedly heightened state of anxiety.
We arrived at the site on the morning of Saturday, 8 March. We immediately began interviewing the observers and assessing the area. We determined that the first visual encounter allegedly occurred at a distance of roughly 85 yards. With the witness standing on her front porch, and with an investigator standing at the sighting location with a pre-marked pole, we were able to determine, based on the witness?s recollection, that the subject was approximately eight feet tall.
The witness disclosed that she could clearly see that the subject was covered in hair, and that the length of the hair on its body was six to eight inches. The hair on its head was slightly shorter at approximately four to six inches. She estimated the shoulders as being between three to three and one-half feet wide. She described the hair color as looking calico; a mixture of charcoal, gray and brown. The overall appearance of the hair was unkempt.
As is typical of the ground surrounding a growth of young pine trees in East Texas, the sighting area was covered with a thick and heavy layer of dead grass; and the surrounding floor of the mature pines had a thick layer of pine straw and leaves. We performed a detailed search for trace evidence and after quite some time found a fresh impression on a small gopher mound within the pine saplings that exhibited clear digital impressions. Upon examination, it appeared that the impression represented a knuckled imprint of a large hand, approximately six and one-half inches in width. A cast was made which verified that there were 5 digits in the print. The print appeared to have been made within the last 24 hours as the area had received rain and snow on Friday morning. It was possible that the print correlated with the younger sister's visual incident.
Surrounding the pine sapling area, we placed three camera traps, baiting them with fruit. The camera traps will be monitored over the next six months.
On an additional note, three nights after the initial incident, on 5 March at 11:00 P.M., the witness reportedly heard dogs barking and coyotes howling. She stepped outside and heard very peculiar howl, lasting 10-15 seconds. She described the sound as being similar to an air raid siren, with methodical, even undulations. During the vocalization, the nearby dogs and coyotes responded with their own howls. After the coyote howls ended, the peculiar vocalization was repeated two more times, with a lapse of 30 to 60 seconds between each of the three unknown howls.
Two weeks after the first incident, I traveled to the witness's home to further discuss the events with the witnesses. Upon arriving, the primary observer stated that something had "slammed against the side of the house" the previous night at approximately 2:20 A.M. She said that she was partially awake at the time because she had heard her coonhound's nails clicking on the floor, moving about the den erratically. She could not remember the dog growling before the sound. She described the abrupt noise as sounding like a large animal, a cow or horse, had slammed into the side of the house.
Outside the house, I found that the short fencing around the witness's flowerbed had been uprooted and was in disarray. The affected section was over six feet long. I tried to recreate the sound by slamming my hand against the side of the house; but the witness emphatically stated that it was not a slapping sound and was simply a much bigger, louder sound. She stated that she first thought the foundation of her house had slipped. She also stated that the windows had rattled. Immediately after the sound, she claimed, her dog knocked down the "kitty gate" used to keep him in the den and ran down the hallway towards the spare bedroom barking in an assertive manner. No tracks were found in the flowerbed, but the bed was untended and the soil was very hard. I also examined the recently painted home for evidence of scrapes or damage. At the location of the reported slam, I noted that there were gaps between the framing and the nail heads. In other locations though, there was a paint seal between the nail heads and the wood. In subsequent conversations with the homeowner, she stated that she has heard knocking sounds in the forest on several occasions.
On 15 April, the primary witness notified John Morley that she saw something large in a tree just off her property to the west. She gave no details other than it was large and in the trees for a few seconds. When she got her binoculars and attempted to establish visual contact through the binoculars, the dark and large form was not there.
During our investigation, we found that the older daughter claimed to have seen a bigfoot in June 2000 while walking in the bottomland 650 yards west of the home with a friend.
Coincidently, the oldest daughter had been warned by an elderly neighbor in early 2000 to be careful hiking in the woods, as the neighbor claimed to have seen a suspicious looking hunter dressed all in black walking around the woods.
In addition, the primary witness stated that a neighbor who is now deceased claimed that he had seen a bigfoot cross a nearby road sometime before 1997. The neighbor had claimed that what he saw took one step into the shallow ditch and then leaped over the barb wired fence. He alleged that the hair-covered subject was eight to nine feet tall with large legs.
Investigator Conclusions: After multiple, in-depth interviews with each witness, we believe that the observers have no doubts at all that they visually encountered an unknown species falling within the descriptive parameters of the sasquatch. After considerable onsite analysis, misidentification was easy enough to rule out relative to the primary witness?s account. The subject reportedly towered over the small pine saplings. The physical and behavioral descriptors given by the witness do not fall within the constraints of known fauna. Another alternative, a human in a costume, seems extremely unlikely for the same reasons; the subject, if the witness?s recollection is accurate, would have required stilts or a ladder for almost all humans. Such height extenders would have precluded the sort of smooth movement noted by the primary witness. Humans, while remaining hidden, placing a costume on a board and elevating it above the saplings so as to be detected visually also seems a highly unlikely scenario. The two witnesses clearly recalled the abnormal and anxious behavior of their dogs. The dogs? barking was described by both as being highly unusual and even more agitated than when a strange human or animal approaches the house. There is also the additional data of subsequent possible encounters (vocalizations, slamming noise and possible additional visual encounter by youngest daughter), which seem to favor the elimination of any elaborate hoax being perpetrated on the three remotely-placed female witnesses.
The subsequent visual incident involving the youngest daughter at night at the limits of her headlights, however, was in our opinion, less clear and therefore consideration of the possibility of misidentification must be tendered. The discovery of the impression, which did indicate five (perhaps knuckled) digits, however, does lend to the possibility of a legitimate visual encounter by the daughter.
We believe the witnesses? emotions, among them stress, fear and anxiety, and often exhibited during interviews, were acutely representative of actual and understandable reactions to sightings of something for which the witnesses could not account; it is our assessment that the witnesses were truthful.
The area has been added as an area of interest to the NAWAC ongoing camera trap project, Operation Forest Vigil. As such, we will continue to monitor the four camera traps already placed there over the remainder of the year and will update this report with addenda of any pertinent data as needed.
This investigation was conducted as a result of multiple incidents that allegedly occurred in Wood County, east of Mineola, the week of Sunday, 2 March 2008.
John Morley, NAWAC Regional Director, and I (Ken Stewart, NAWAC investigator), each had detailed phone conversations with the witness on 5 March. On 6 March, the witness told me that she heard an unusual vocalization the previous night. On 7 March, the witness unexpectedly called both Morley and me, telling us that her youngest daughter had just seen a bigfoot. Because of the additional reported incident, the investigation team was expanded to include Daryl Colyer and Chris Buntenbah.
The witness first moved to her home about eleven years ago, moved away six years later, but then moved back into the house in late 2007. She seemed knowledgeable about local wildlife and told us that she is an experienced hunter. She also owns a coon hound. She has two daughters, the oldest of whom was staying temporarily at the home at the time of the occurrence. The youngest daughter, who reported the subsequent incident, lives nearby.
The residence is situated in what appears as prime wildlife habitat. The home is located on a hill that is within one mile of bottom land on three sides of the property. The sighting location is about 100 to 125 feet higher than the creeks that run through the bottom land. We found abundant signs of wildlife including tracks of deer, large feral hogs, bobcats, coyotes, raccoon, opossum and skunk. We also noted highly-traversed animal trails and apparent wildlife bedding areas near the sighting location. In addition, the primary claimant stated she saw a cougar and two cubs several years ago near her property.
As described in the initial report, on the morning of the first reported incident, the observer had put her dogs outside. She was in the house and noticed that her dogs were barking in a peculiar manner, as though highly agitated, especially the coon hound. When the witness stepped out to determine what the source of the agitation was, she saw that the coonhound was only about one-quarter of the way out on the leash, rather than being at the end of the leash. The dogs seemed confused and/or frightened. This event allegedly occurred between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M.
The witness stated that while standing on the porch, she looked in the direction that the dogs were directing their barking and at that time saw a large figure standing behind a growth of young pine trees that were approximately three to five feet tall. The witness was adamant that the subject was a bigfoot. Behind the subject stood a large section of mature pine trees that we later estimated to be between 30 ? 50 years old.
The witness stated that she could only see the portion of the body above the waist. The witness noted that immediately after she spotted it, the subject began moving backward into the shade of the mature pines at an extremely slow and smooth pace.
The witness recalled that she banged her hand against the wall of the house to wake her oldest daughter who was sleeping in the next room. By the time the daughter managed to look out the window and make it outside, the subject had blended into the shadows of the mature pines. As a result the daughter did not see anything. The daughter did recall how the dogs were agitated and barking; and her mother was extremely anxious and frightened. The witness said that she maintained visual contact with the subject, watching it slowly back into the much darker shadows of the mature pines, until it took a side step, breaking visual contact. The witness estimated that the length of the visual contact was approximately 20 seconds.
Five days after the initial reported sighting, on 7 March, the homeowner's youngest daughter was visiting the home. The daughter told us she originally had been very skeptical of her mother?s sighting and joked about it in a good natured manner.
At 8:00 P.M., the daughter decided to leave. The home has a long driveway that runs in front of the pine saplings where the mother?s visual incident was said to have occurred. The daughter got into her car and drove down the driveway. She recalled that at the end of the driveway, her headlight beams illuminated what she first thought to be a large tree in the midst of the saplings; she remembered however, that the stump began gently swaying back and forth. The daughter turned on her high beams and at that time saw what she described as "the lion's head from the Wizard of Oz."
She immediately called her mother on her cell phone and backed up her car, trying to reposition her headlights so she could better see the subject. She briefly took her eyes off the form while shifting into reverse, and permanently lost sight of it. The daughter estimated that the incident lasted about five seconds.
After the mother received the cell phone call from her youngest daughter, the older sister ran out in the yard with a flashlight in an attempt to see the figure and to protect her younger sister; however, she was unable to locate it.
The witness stated that she did not see the subject's torso or shoulders; she was only able to see a head. She described the face as being earthy brown. She stated there appeared to be a tuft of hair on the nose, but no hair on the cheeks. The head hair appeared to be a marbled color of black and dark brown.
The young woman remembered that after the sighting, she was afraid to get out of her car or leave. She was basically frozen and extremely frightened. After her sister and mother came out to console her, she finally left. The mother and older daughter corroborated the young witness?s reportedly heightened state of anxiety.
We arrived at the site on the morning of Saturday, 8 March. We immediately began interviewing the observers and assessing the area. We determined that the first visual encounter allegedly occurred at a distance of roughly 85 yards. With the witness standing on her front porch, and with an investigator standing at the sighting location with a pre-marked pole, we were able to determine, based on the witness?s recollection, that the subject was approximately eight feet tall.
The witness disclosed that she could clearly see that the subject was covered in hair, and that the length of the hair on its body was six to eight inches. The hair on its head was slightly shorter at approximately four to six inches. She estimated the shoulders as being between three to three and one-half feet wide. She described the hair color as looking calico; a mixture of charcoal, gray and brown. The overall appearance of the hair was unkempt.
As is typical of the ground surrounding a growth of young pine trees in East Texas, the sighting area was covered with a thick and heavy layer of dead grass; and the surrounding floor of the mature pines had a thick layer of pine straw and leaves. We performed a detailed search for trace evidence and after quite some time found a fresh impression on a small gopher mound within the pine saplings that exhibited clear digital impressions. Upon examination, it appeared that the impression represented a knuckled imprint of a large hand, approximately six and one-half inches in width. A cast was made which verified that there were 5 digits in the print. The print appeared to have been made within the last 24 hours as the area had received rain and snow on Friday morning. It was possible that the print correlated with the younger sister's visual incident.
Surrounding the pine sapling area, we placed three camera traps, baiting them with fruit. The camera traps will be monitored over the next six months.
On an additional note, three nights after the initial incident, on 5 March at 11:00 P.M., the witness reportedly heard dogs barking and coyotes howling. She stepped outside and heard very peculiar howl, lasting 10-15 seconds. She described the sound as being similar to an air raid siren, with methodical, even undulations. During the vocalization, the nearby dogs and coyotes responded with their own howls. After the coyote howls ended, the peculiar vocalization was repeated two more times, with a lapse of 30 to 60 seconds between each of the three unknown howls.
Two weeks after the first incident, I traveled to the witness's home to further discuss the events with the witnesses. Upon arriving, the primary observer stated that something had "slammed against the side of the house" the previous night at approximately 2:20 A.M. She said that she was partially awake at the time because she had heard her coonhound's nails clicking on the floor, moving about the den erratically. She could not remember the dog growling before the sound. She described the abrupt noise as sounding like a large animal, a cow or horse, had slammed into the side of the house.
Outside the house, I found that the short fencing around the witness's flowerbed had been uprooted and was in disarray. The affected section was over six feet long. I tried to recreate the sound by slamming my hand against the side of the house; but the witness emphatically stated that it was not a slapping sound and was simply a much bigger, louder sound. She stated that she first thought the foundation of her house had slipped. She also stated that the windows had rattled. Immediately after the sound, she claimed, her dog knocked down the "kitty gate" used to keep him in the den and ran down the hallway towards the spare bedroom barking in an assertive manner. No tracks were found in the flowerbed, but the bed was untended and the soil was very hard. I also examined the recently painted home for evidence of scrapes or damage. At the location of the reported slam, I noted that there were gaps between the framing and the nail heads. In other locations though, there was a paint seal between the nail heads and the wood. In subsequent conversations with the homeowner, she stated that she has heard knocking sounds in the forest on several occasions.
On 15 April, the primary witness notified John Morley that she saw something large in a tree just off her property to the west. She gave no details other than it was large and in the trees for a few seconds. When she got her binoculars and attempted to establish visual contact through the binoculars, the dark and large form was not there.
During our investigation, we found that the older daughter claimed to have seen a bigfoot in June 2000 while walking in the bottomland 650 yards west of the home with a friend.
Coincidently, the oldest daughter had been warned by an elderly neighbor in early 2000 to be careful hiking in the woods, as the neighbor claimed to have seen a suspicious looking hunter dressed all in black walking around the woods.
In addition, the primary witness stated that a neighbor who is now deceased claimed that he had seen a bigfoot cross a nearby road sometime before 1997. The neighbor had claimed that what he saw took one step into the shallow ditch and then leaped over the barb wired fence. He alleged that the hair-covered subject was eight to nine feet tall with large legs.
Investigator Conclusions: After multiple, in-depth interviews with each witness, we believe that the observers have no doubts at all that they visually encountered an unknown species falling within the descriptive parameters of the sasquatch. After considerable onsite analysis, misidentification was easy enough to rule out relative to the primary witness?s account. The subject reportedly towered over the small pine saplings. The physical and behavioral descriptors given by the witness do not fall within the constraints of known fauna. Another alternative, a human in a costume, seems extremely unlikely for the same reasons; the subject, if the witness?s recollection is accurate, would have required stilts or a ladder for almost all humans. Such height extenders would have precluded the sort of smooth movement noted by the primary witness. Humans, while remaining hidden, placing a costume on a board and elevating it above the saplings so as to be detected visually also seems a highly unlikely scenario. The two witnesses clearly recalled the abnormal and anxious behavior of their dogs. The dogs? barking was described by both as being highly unusual and even more agitated than when a strange human or animal approaches the house. There is also the additional data of subsequent possible encounters (vocalizations, slamming noise and possible additional visual encounter by youngest daughter), which seem to favor the elimination of any elaborate hoax being perpetrated on the three remotely-placed female witnesses.
The subsequent visual incident involving the youngest daughter at night at the limits of her headlights, however, was in our opinion, less clear and therefore consideration of the possibility of misidentification must be tendered. The discovery of the impression, which did indicate five (perhaps knuckled) digits, however, does lend to the possibility of a legitimate visual encounter by the daughter.
We believe the witnesses? emotions, among them stress, fear and anxiety, and often exhibited during interviews, were acutely representative of actual and understandable reactions to sightings of something for which the witnesses could not account; it is our assessment that the witnesses were truthful.
The area has been added as an area of interest to the NAWAC ongoing camera trap project, Operation Forest Vigil. As such, we will continue to monitor the four camera traps already placed there over the remainder of the year and will update this report with addenda of any pertinent data as needed.
Photos
