YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 11

STATE: Tennessee

COUNTY: Sevier County

LOCATION DETAILS: Can only say that it was in the Bluff Mountain area between Townsend and Pigeon Forge, as sounds are difficult to pinpoint.

NEAREST TOWN: Pigeon Forge

NEAREST ROAD: Between Black Bear Lane and the Parkway

OBSERVED: My husband and i were staying in a mountain cabin in the Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee this past week, and heard what we believe was the "call" of a sasquatch. it was around 8:30-9:00 pm (EDT) on Tuesday, April 11, 2006. we were sitting on the back porch relaxing, and enjoying the quietitude of the evening. the air was somewhat smokey, although clearing, as there had been some sort of fire/brush burn-off on another, near-by mountain, and the wind was blowing the smoke in our direction (mild breeze to the SSE). it was not quite totally dark yet, but was past "dusk", and the moon was visible, though hazy, in sky. the frogs were croaking, the birds were quiet, the squirrels were down for the night....no vehicles or people within earshot, we seemed to be the only cabin inhabited at that time---the weekenders had left, and no one had arrived to take their places yet. anyway, all of a sudden, we heard this sound that i can only explain as a cross between a howl and a yell. it was a vocalization without any real structure (no "words" or progression of sounds that could be construed as any sort of "language"). it was definitely a mammal, and just as definitely not any canine, feline, bear, raccoon, or any other sort of animal one would expect to hear in the woods. also obviously not any sort of livestock. the sound seemed like it must have come from an animal at least man-sized/bear-sized, and sounded like an animal "calling", rather than making a warning sound or an identifying sound. it carried what seemed to be a long way--sounded as if it came from the SSE, at least from the other side of the mountain next to us......would place it in the mountainy areas just west of Pigeon Forge, around the Walden's Creek area. the calling went on for 2-3 minutes. it was a long, drawn-out sound, both nasal and "from the chest" (don't know how to describe that). if a human made the sound, it would definitely have to be a male, as it was too deep for a female human to do. it would also have to be a person with a great deal of lung capacity, as each call went on for 10-15 seconds, and as noted before, came from a distance of at least a couple of miles. the sound itself, best as i can describe would be vocalized thusly: "hhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnuh". and would go from a higher (baritone) note down to a deeper note at the end. anyway, this went on for a few minutes, then all was quiet again (except for the "normal" woodsy noises). there was no other recurrance that night or any other night that we heard, and we never saw anything. we did, however hear some other noises which may or may not apply---a short time after the calls (15 minutes, or so), we heard what sounded like something either throwing or pushing some VERY large rocks onto other rocks (heard rocks crashing onto each other). This came from the same general direction, although seemed closer to us (on "our" side of the mountain). This went on for a good 10 minutes, or so, then things got quiet again, and stayed quiet for the rest of the night. The next night, there were some sounds like large fallen trees were "thumping" around in the woods, but there were other people in the area by then, too, so that could have been some idiots trying to go hiking at night and/or fooling around in the woods.

FYI: my husband and i both have a good deal of knowledge of the sorts of wildlife found in the woods and mountains, as we both spent much of our childhoods in such places, and learned first-hand the calls and vocalizations of such animals. this did not sound like anything either of has heard---including anything i've heard on any wildlife show on tv. ; ) it did, however, sound a lot like some of the purported sasquatch/bigfoot vocalizations i've heard on some websites i've checked out.

ALSO NOTICED: See full report

OTHER WITNESSES: 2 witnesses, just sitting on the back porch doing nothing.

OTHER STORIES: nope

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Upper 50s (F); 8:30-9 pm EDT; not quite fully night, but past dusk; near-full rising moon, about 1/4 up from the horizon; air hazy/smokey, but clearing; dry, although had rained fairly well 2-3 days before

ENVIRONMENT: mountainous, mixed woods

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

I spoke with the witness for approximately thirty-five minutes about her experience and she impressed me as having a fairly decent knowledge of wildlife and their normal sounds.

She and her husband were staying near Pigeon Forge at a cabin, which was located about half-way up Bluff Mountain. She mentioned that plants known as May Apples were just coming up. (They produce fruit that’s about the size of a plum that’s greenish in color.) As she was sitting with her husband on the back porch of their cabin, they suddenly heard an “odd sound” that was coming from the east-southeast of their location towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She said the howls sounded like they were coming from “the other side of the mountain, just there to the south of us”. She went on to elaborate that the howling sounded "really angry, almost like a person that was enraged”. Howling was heard by the witness and her husband on the night of April 11th, only. Even though they were out other nights as well, but not as long as they were the night of the 11th when they heard the howls, they never heard any additional howls on subsequent evenings.

The witness admitted she was unsure as to how far the sound from the howls could have been traveling. She mentioned that she used to live about five miles from a zoo and she was aware that when she was within one mile of the zoo, “if the air was right, you could hear the lions”. Using this as a reference, she estimates the howls were at least one mile away. Both the witness and her husband heard the howls and she said the whole episode lasted maybe five to eight minutes from the first howl to the last howl. She said the howls sounded very much like the “2004 Mississippi Howl”, except that the sound was “deeper than on the Mississippi tape”. By the third or fourth howl she said the “hackles were raised on my neck”. I asked her if she heard any dogs responding to the howls and she said she didn’t. She said that each howl would last for approximately ten and fifteen seconds.

Twenty to thirty minutes after the last howl the witness said that she heard what sounded like “really big rocks” falling down the mountainside. She said it was definitely not a rock slide, but rather one large rock at a time falling and striking other rocks as it fell, almost as if something was pushing them down the side of the mountain. She said there would be a “minute or two” of silence before the next rock would fall down the mountain side. She said the rocks sounded much closer than the howls did. She said the sound appeared to be coming from the upper part of the mountain that “was facing us to the south”. The howls seemed to be coming from “the other side of the mountain” and the rock noises seemed to be coming from the side of the mountain that was facing them.

She also heard a sound that she called “tree thumping” the following night (April 12). When I made a mention of sasquatches wood knocking and attempted to describe wood knocks to her, the witness said that she felt like it wasn't a wood knock, but rather something picking up and then dropping large logs to the ground. She compared the sound to a backhoe that has a chain around a downed tree, and then lifts the tree up only to have it fall. As it falls, the “thud” that it makes when it hits the ground reminded her of the sound she heard she called “tree thumping”. The "tree thumping" started around 8:30 and 8:45.

The witness said this experience turned her husband into a believer from a skeptic. He now believes in Bigfoot.

She also mentioned that the road near the cabin was being widened and there were numerous construction projects going on in the area. I traveled to the area approximately six weeks after her experience and found there was a great deal of construction taking place on the road leading to her cabin, as well as in the surrounding areas.

The cabin in which the witness stayed is located just under five miles in a direct line to the north-northwestern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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.