YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: Between the 1-10

STATE: North Carolina

COUNTY: Haywood County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was within Big Creek Campground which is part of the Great Smoky National Park. Big Creek Campground is not far from exit 451 on I-40 in NC.

NEAREST TOWN: Cosby

NEAREST ROAD: Mt. Sterling Road

OBSERVED: A friend and I were camping in the Big Creek Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park right on the Tennessee and North Carolina border.

It was dark. We just finished cleaning up after dinner and were walking to the restroom to get ready for bed. We heard crashing and the excited snorting sound deer make when startled. We had flashlights with us and shined them on some deer that were looking toward the forest. There was a trail which went up the side of the mountain in the direction the deer were staring. They turned their attention toward us for a second but then continued looking toward the trail.

They ran a few feet and made some noise and stopped again to stare in the same direction. We figured a bobcat, coyote or something scared them.

Eventually the deer slowly calmed down and crept back to where they were originally browsing. This all lasted about 5 minutes.

We were walking back to the camp when out of the dark (in the direction the deer were looking) came a long call. It echoed through the woods. We thought it sounded like a primate - some kind of monkey or ape.

Eventually I stumbled on your website and read how you use gibbon calls to attract sasquatches. I then got curious and started checking out different animal calls. The call of a gibbon is exactly the sound we heard that night.

I wish at the time we had thought it could be Bigfoot, but we didn't, so we never took off into the night to look or it or look for prints.

The noise wasn't a recording. It wasn't any animal I have ever heard before and it sounded exactly like a gibbon.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2, me and my friend

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was dark, about 9-10 pm. At this time of year, the evening temps ranged in the 30's to 40's.

ENVIRONMENT: Dense forested mountains with a fast flowing mountain stream.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Rex B.:

The witness stated he was quite surprised by the actions of the deer. The witness and his friend had startled the deer on the way to their camping site and shone lights on them. However, the deer only glanced at them and seemed more concerned with the woods behind them. He stated that the deer remained wary and agitated for nearly 5 minutes, during the time he and his friend observed the deer. The witness and his friend heard the vocalization once they began to walk away and the deer walked back into the woods.

He stated that while it sounded like the gibbon call on the BFRO site (and other recordings he found on the Internet), it also sounded like it had more "weight or body" behind it, definitely bigger than a gibbon.

The witness added that he is a naturalist and spends much of his time in the woods, but he has NEVER heard anything like this call. He is comfortable with identifying many of the animals you would expect in the woods, such as owls, coyotes, deer and so on, but this had him baffled.

About BFRO Investigator Rex B.:

Rex B. is an industrial psychologist in Charlotte NC. He will be attending the January 2006 Florida expedition.