YEAR: 1969

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: around 20th

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Palo Pinto County

LOCATION DETAILS: Only accessable by water (Brazos River).

NEAREST TOWN: Mineral Wells

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 4

OBSERVED: It was 1969, and I was at summer camp at age 14. I was one of about 20 campers and two counselors that went on a 3 day, 2 night canoe/camping trip down the Brazos River.

We put in just below the dam at Possum Kingdom Lake. The first night we camped near and before the Highway 4 bridge. We set up our tents on a section of open, flat grass next to the river. There was a 30' cliff that was set back from the river around 30 yards, and that ran in both directions for quite a ways.

As we were setting up camp and securing the canoes for the night, several campers noticed some type of unknown animal peering down on us from the cliff, only a glimpse of the head was ever seen, and was in a different location each time. No one was really concerned or thought much about it.

The night was uneventful, and we all slept well. The next morning we were up eating breakfast, and loading the canoes. As I came back for another load, my tent/canoe buddy said he had seen the animal - asked if he knew what it was, and said it was a fox.

I had found a way to get up the cliff face, and we were on top in no time. As we made the last push to the top, we could hear something running off through the woods. We immediately gave chase, and I was in the lead. There were some very large boulders scattered about, and I ran around one of the larger ones. As I came flying around the edge of this boulder, I ran smack into a rather large tree, which knocked me back flat on my rump. I was crumpled at the base of this tree and dazed. When my eyes focused again, I noticed the tree had hair. I looked up, it screamed, I peed in my pants (literally), my friend screamed, I screamed, it screamed again, and all of this in quick but distorted time. We ran fast, and right off the edge of the cliff, forgot it was there. We were in a blind panic.

At the time, no one around there had even heard of a bigfoot, so it was hard to explain. We said it was a giant gorila, but that didn't go over too well at all with anybody, including all the other campers and counselors who heard the screams, and witnessed our fall, from grace as it turned out - they thought we were crazy and made the whole thing up. Also, why fake something and risk death? I only say that because the fall we took over that cliff shoulda killed or seriously injuried us. We were VERY lucky in that we landed in the only spot that offered survival. In retrospect, the creature was not aggressive, and must have been very curiuos about us.

ALSO NOTICED: The creature had apparently been curious about us since the day before. It must have been hanging around, because it's head was seen at least 3 or 4 times from different locations the day before.

OTHER WITNESSES: Two visual, including myself - both 14 year old campers, and around 18 other campers and two counselors heard the commotion.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, approximate location of the 'Hugo's Monster' legend, and the 'Brazos Ape Man'.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Approximately 8:30AM, clear warm typical Texas summer morning.

ENVIRONMENT: Texas Cyder/Oak forest, mostly covered, average thirty foot canopy, amd minimal undergrowth. This part of Texas has large rolling hills.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kristine W.:

I have spoken with the witness many times. Some notes to add to the observation:

When he ran into the animal he was looking straight ahead, and he was seeing the animal from the waist down.

The hair was very dark - almost black.

When the animal screamed, it was very loud. He said he could feel the vibration from the scream.

About BFRO Investigator Kristine W.:

• Bachelors of Science Degree in Botany -- University of Washington.
• BFRO Curator of Report Information for Washington State
• Attended all of the public BFRO Expeditions in the American Pacific Northwest
• Organized numerous smaller non-public expeditions in Washington State