YEAR: 1987

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Tennessee

COUNTY: Dickson County

LOCATION DETAILS: About five miles north of Dickson between Sycamore Rd and Westfield Rd.

NEAREST TOWN: Dickson

NEAREST ROAD: Westfield Road

OBSERVED: I was out frog gigging. It was late I`d say around ten thirty at night. I was headed home. I remember it was really dark that night because there was no moon. To get home I had to walk along a ridge down a tractor path, the path went straight to our house. There was a gap at the edge of the woods line and I had cross a barbwire fence. As I neared this gap I was starteld by something getting up from the ground not 12 ft away from me. At first I thought it might be one of my grandpas cows, but cows don`t stand on two legs. It was black and tall maybe 7.5 to 8 ft tall. This encounter lasted maybe ten seconds max, I`ve hunted all my life and never seen anything like that. It scared the fool out of me, it stood up and looked at me and I just stood there and looked at it. Then it turned and took of down into the woods. It swung its arms like a man and I could hear wide bipedal steps. I never smelled it, and it never made a sound. All I could hear was it moveing very fast away from me. I run home as fast as I could scared to death. I told my mother what I had seen and she told me I was crazy. I never told anyone else what I saw that night but my wife and she believes me. I had herd weired screams at night and once during the day close to the house and it made the hair on my neck stand on end. But I haven`t heard anything there in a long long time. Could it have left? This all happen in '87.

ALSO NOTICED: The day before I heard a scream during the daytime close to the house, a couple of nights later during the night.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me, I was coming home from frog hunting.

OTHER STORIES: No, I never heard about anything like this around here ever.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 10:30 at night, hot and humid.

ENVIRONMENT: Ridgetop woods on the both sides of the ridge with pasture in middle, hardwoods, beech, oak, hickory, persimmon.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness by phone. The following details can be added to the report:


--Witness has hunted all of his life and has excellent night vision.
--The animal was very muscular with a shoulder width of approximately four feet.
--The witness estimated the animal's weight between 450 and 600 pounds.
--Animal did not appear to have any neck.
--Arms were long, hanging down below the knees.
--Witness was able to see the animal's white teeth.
--Witness felt that the animal was as afraid of him as he was of it.

About BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Stan Courtney has a special interest in wildlife audio recording. He has attended numerous BFRO Expeditions. See Stan's blog StanCourtney.com for recordings he has collected over the years.

Stan Courtney can be reached at illinois@bfro.net