Media Article # 75

Saturday, August 27, 1977

By Jim Etter
Oklahoman and Times

A report Big Foot is in this area is a tall tale, authorities said Friday.

A 15-year-old youth who earlier this month told officials he was attacked by a nine-foot-tall, hairy creature with "glowing red eyes" admitted his story was a hoax, Adair County Civil Defense Director Tobe O'Neal said.

O'Neal said the youth said he made up the story of the attack. O'Neal said other reported sightings of the creature were apparently "just something somebody thought they saw" and a hair on the youth's shirt after the reported attack probably came from a mule's tail.

"He said he just made it up when he was with his friends, and probably after the sheriff and others began investigating, he was kind of afraid to go back on it," O'Neal said. No disciplinary action is planned for the youth, he said.

O'Neal said the youth, Brian Jones of rural Stilwell said the story was a fib after he failed to pass a polygraph test in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

"We just wanted to investigate this whole thing and get it all settled and before we continued we wanted to know whether he was telling the truth," O'Neal said.

The youth's story on Aug. 5, led to investigtion by O'Neal, the Adair County Sheriff's office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Sasquatch Investigation of Mid-America, a group which hunts the legendary creature also known as Big Foot. The case gained national attention.

An OSBI laboratory test of the hair found on Jone's shirt indicated it could have come from a bear.

However, O'Neal said there are some mules at the rural home where the story first began and "it could be the hair was from the tail of one of those mules."

Neither the youth, nor an adult neighbor who had told authorities they saw the creature's red eyes, Robert Ritchie, could be contacted Friday for comment.

Bob Stamps, Midwest City, director of the Sasquatch Investigation group who led an expedition into the hilly, wooded area of eastern Oklahoma soon after the report, said Friday's hoax report deosn't deter his research into Big Foot.

He said he is currently planning an investigation in nearby states where incidents have been reported that indicate Sasquatch creatures have been there.

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