YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

STATE: New Jersey

COUNTY: Burlington County

LOCATION DETAILS: Take US 195 and get off the exit for route 130 south toward bordentown. At the light for Groville Rd you make a left. Go down until you come to Hogback rd. Make a right. The road will go straight for a while. Where it bends around to the left that is the approximate location where we saw it. If you come to the youth correctional center you passed the site.

NEAREST TOWN: Bordentown Nj

NEAREST ROAD: Hogback Rd

OBSERVED: In the fall of 2003 my husband and I were living in Bordentown NJ. We were on our way home from Yardville NJ, driving down Hogback Rd heading towards Ward Ave. This road is located in Crosswicks NJ.

As we came around a bend in the road we noticed what seemed to be a primate looking creature running across the road. It was upright but crouched over useing it's arms to propel itself across the road. This was no oversized monkey. It was dark, but it looked to be a dark brown color, and the body covered in a thick shaggy looking coat. It was roughly 5 foot in height hunched over. It's startling feature was it's broadness. We only saw a side and back view, so we could not make out any frontal features.

As we passed the point were we saw it crossing the road, we looked in both directions of where it had ran to, and from where it had come. Looking in the direction of where it had come we saw a dog standing at the edge of the property barking. There was no sign of the creature in the direction it ran.

My husband and I saw the same thing, both being startled and trying to think of logical possibilities. Trying to think of logical explainations, and none could be thought of.

OTHER WITNESSES: just my husband and I.

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Being that this was 2 and half years ago, we do not remember the exact time. However it was roughly between 11:30pm and 1:00am. It was a very clear night and the moon was bright, between the moon light and car lights we could see very well.

ENVIRONMENT: the road is rural dotted by houses here and there but in spots is very wooded. If you come to open fields it passed where we spotted the creature. It ran from in front of a house that has several trees in front of it. It disappered into thick brush across the street.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake (PhD):

On 10-3-05, I spoke briefly with the witness who filed the report and then more extensively with the witness’ husband who also witnessed the sighting. The couple has since moved from the area to another state. Both individuals were articulate and recounted the incidence with good detail.

The couple was returning to their home from a late-night movie around 12:30 AM. As the car moved through a right curve in the road, a bipedal figure emerged from the left-hand side of the road approximately 25 yards in front of the car. The animal traversed the road in 4 quick strides, moving in a slightly hunched position with the arms at its side. The ‘gorilla-like’ creature was described as being relatively short with a very broad back and arms that appeared longer than human arms. The weight was estimated at approximately 250-300 lbs. The sighting lasted 4-5 seconds. The couple slowed the car down to approximately 15 mph as they passed the point where the animal entered the bushes and looked, but did not see the figure or any movement.

The animal appeared to be headed in a westerly direction toward Rt. 130. The sighting occurred in the extreme northeastern part of Burlington County, about ½ mile from the Mercer County border. Crosswicks Creek is located nearby which forms the Burlington-Mercer County border and flows in a westerly direction into the Delaware River located approximately 5 miles away. To the southeast of the sighting is a large contiguous tract of undeveloped land that eventually joins with the Fort Dix Military Reservation approximately 15 miles away.

Fort Dix is located in the northernmost part of a region known as the Pinelands or Pine Barrens, which is the largest tract of open land on the entire Mid-Atlantic Coast. The Pine Barrens has abundant small game and wildlife, and consists of forests of pine, oak and cedar with abundant shallow aquifers that feed area hardwoods, swamps, bogs and marshes. Adjacent to Fort Dix to the southeast is Lebanon State Forest where an incident has been previously reported (Report 1429).

About BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake (PhD):

D. Brake holds a PhD in Immunology and attended the Maine 2008 expedition.