YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 15

STATE: Mississippi

COUNTY: Clarke County

LOCATION DETAILS: The location of this incident was on Interstate 59 between Enterprise and Meridian

NEAREST TOWN: Enterprise/Meridian

NEAREST ROAD: Interstate 59

OBSERVED: What was seen was a Hairy Animal on two feet running towards us on a wet rainy night...It was late one night about 3:00am... I was driving from Houston Texas from a job interview, I had been driving all night long, and My Mom was with me because she decided to go, and we were almost home when it began raining. I'd say we had about 20 more miles to Meridian, somewhere between Enterprise and Meridian on Interstate 59..I was going about 55mph because of the rain. I noticed a large figure to the left of the Jeep running towards us. I looked at my Mom and asked her if she had seen what I seen, and she said yes. I asked her to describe what she had seen and she said that she had seen a large hairy man, or something running at us. We both came to the conclusion that it had to be a bigfoot. I hunt alot, and I have never seen anything like this in my life. I believe that what we witnessed that night was truly bigfoot... This creature looked to be about 8 ft tall... Scared the Hell out of us.I don't know what else it could have been if not a bigfoot.

OTHER WITNESSES: My mom is a witness to the incident. She saw what I saw..

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Time of Incident was around 3:00am

ENVIRONMENT: Interstate

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator John G. Callender:

I spoke with the witness regarding his experience and can add the following details to this report:

The area on Interstate 59/20 where the animal crossed the road was in an open area with a median and not a lot of trees. The witness told me there were lots of “rolling hills” in the area.

The witness stated it was raining very hard at the time of the incident - a hard, steady rain, rather than precipitation associated with thunderstorm activity. I asked if there was any lightning that night and the witness stated he did not observe lightning before or after the encounter.

From what he saw of the animal, it was completely covered in hair. He said the hair was brown in color and a fairly uniform 3 to 4 inches in length. The animal appeared “ape-like,” except the witness wasn’t able to discern any of its facial features. The witness stated it was almost as if the animal “didn’t have a face.” I asked if he could see its eyes and he emphasized that he was unable to discern any facial features. However, he was positive the animal’s hair was brown in color, despite the fact the entire encounter only lasted 3 to 5 seconds. The witness added the hair almost had a “shiny” appearance because it was wet.

At the closest point of the encounter the animal was within 3 feet of his car and the witness had to slow down and swerve to the right to avoid hitting it. The animal crossed from his left to right (it came from the west side of Interstate 59/20 and was traveling towards the East).

The witness stated in his report that it was "running towards us," but when I spoke with him he said it appeared to be walking rather than running as it crossed the interstate. He said the animal never tried to stop and he thinks it never saw his jeep or even realized he was there until just before the witness nearly hit it. Even though the witness nearly hit the animal, it continued crossing the road and never slowed down or stopped.

I am very familiar with the area of Interstate 59/20 where this incident occurred. The area is fairly remote and there are large areas of thick piney woods, with patchy areas that have been clear cut and occasional fields. There are also quite a few rolling hills in this area. It would be possible for an animal to cross the road in the manner the witness described and neither see nor be seen by people in a car, until just prior to impact. This is especially true if there was heavy rain as the witness experienced the night of his encounter.

Please note there are two other reported sightings in Lauderdale County, which is next to Clarke County where this incident occurred. Refer to the links below for additional information on other sightings in the general area.

Report #1342

Report #4681

About BFRO Investigator John G. Callender:

John Callender hails from Mississippi where he received a BA degree in Accounting from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). He spent 26 years in the Seattle area flying for a major airline before retiring and relocating to Middle Tennessee in 2017. John quickly found that he missed flying and he’s now on his second career as a pilot for a major airline. He has done extensive field work in the Pacific Northwest, as well as Mississippi and he has attended the following expeditions: WA - Oly Pen (Aug. '04); New Mexico (Jicarilla Apache SEP '04); WA - Oly Pen (October '04); CA - Redwoods (May '05); WA -Oly Pen -3, (AUG '05 ); WA Cascades Expedition (AUG '06); Central Oregon Expedition (JUNE '07), BC, Vancouver Island Expedition (SEPT 2007), WA Cascades Expedition (June '09), 2009 Washington Olympic Peninsula Expedition.