YEAR: 1973

SEASON: Winter

STATE: Mississippi

COUNTY: Amite County

LOCATION DETAILS: All encounters occured in Amite County, Mississippi, in a wooded area about one mile south of Hwy. 23. This area, known as East Fork Community is about 15 miles west of McCombe, MS

OBSERVED: Unfourtunately, I have no video or audio, only personnel observation. The first encounter did not involve a sighting. As a young boy, I was out on the front porch with my mother, father, uncle, and grandfather. At around 9:00 pm, we all heard a sound that was not unlike a shrill human scream. Untill that night, I did not know what it meant to have your hair stand on end. A somewhat large dog that we had outside barked, cried, and ran away in apparrent terror. The only thing we found the next day was a single partial footprint.

The next encounter happened when my cousin and I were in the woods fishing at a pond on our grandfathers property. We first noted a very strong odor that we took to be a skunk. We then heard a sound like a scream, a few grunts, then nothing. Before the next encounter, there were some unusual incidents that deserve mentioning. First was the finding of dead livestock, mainly pigs. They almost always had been found with their liver and heart removed. I never saw this myself, only heard the stories. I did see on at least two ocassions all of the fruit eaten off of trees on the property. In both cases, all of the fruit was removed from the trees, and the pits on the ground around the tree. We laughed about the belly ache something would have from eating an entire tree of green pears.

Later, as a teenager, I was alone in the woods. I had the distinct feeling I was being watched. I crossed a barbwire fence near the road, crossed the road and entered the woods there. When I returned to the road a short time later, 20-30 minutes, I saw that the fence I had earlier crossed, had been partially knocked down. Upon approaching the damaged fence, I noticed several "large" footprints. They appeared human in every respect except for their size. Even then, I wore a size 12D boot, the prints were at least two to three inches longer and maybe two inches wider than my boot. The tracks led first to the road, then back into the woods.

Maybe a year later, a friend and I were in the woods. He was from New Orleans, LA, and knew nothing of the past encounters. While near a creek bottom, he suddenly froze and ask me what was watching us. I stood near him and saw what I first thought was a bear about 25 yards away. It was in a squating position. It then stood upright. It was, I'm sure, seven to eight feet tall. The creature was covered with very dark brown hair over it's entire body, with the exception of it's face. It stood upright like a man, not stooped like a bear. As we departed the area, we watched it follow us. The creature had a long stride and it's arms swung as it walked. It followed us to the edge of the wood line. The only sounds it made were whistling noises.

My next and last encounter did not occur until I was in the army. A co-worker and I went to the old house to do some shooting. We arrived late that night. As we sat outside talking, we saw a large man shaped creature walk accross the road about 125 yards away. It walked into the woods and disappeared. It did not seem to notice us.

ALSO NOTICED: We found small trees knocked down in the woods. The trees were apparently then laid accross each other.

OTHER WITNESSES: In all cases, we were either at the house or in the woods nearby, either hunting or fishing in one instance.

OTHER STORIES: There was a news story I heard that stated there were footprint cast taken near McCombe in Pike County, just a few miles away. The person interviewed also had an audio recording of the creature.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The first incident occured in about 1973 during the fall. It was about 9:00pm. The weather was clear and moderatly cool. The second incident occured in the late summer/early fall of 1975. Time was about 4:00pm. The weather was, as I recall, partly cloudy and warm. The fruit tree incidents happened near the same time frame as above. The footprint incident occured in the fall/winter of 1977/78. The weather was clear and cool. Time of day was late afternoon. The sighting happened in the fall/winter of 1978/79. Again, the weather was clear and cool. Time of day was late morning, near noon. The last sighting occured in the winter of 1988. The weather was quite cool with a light fog in low areas. It was at least 10:00 pm, possibly a little later.

ENVIRONMENT: The area is a rural wooded area with farms nearby. There are nearby creeks and low lying swampy areas. The terrain consist of low rolling hills. The nearest creek with a name is Hominy Creek. The East fork of the Amite River is within a few miles.