YEAR: 1997

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Cass County

LOCATION DETAILS: 10 miles out of Atlanta, 2 to 3 miles back in the woods, off the east side of highway 77.

NEAREST TOWN: Atlanta, Texas, Queen City, Texas

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 77

OBSERVED: Myself and three friends of mine experienced something that to this day we cannot explain.

We where camping in the woods near my house after a day of playing paintball capture the flag. Me and my friend Justin were one team and the other was Greg and Jason . Me and Justin had been sleeping at our camp when I heard a sound. I looked up to see if it was Jason and Greg come to get us. When I looked I saw a figure leaning out of the tree line. It was maybe 100 yards away. After that the crashing noises got louder. Me and Justin got scared and went to find Jason and Greg. When we found them they said that they had herd it to. At light we headed back to our camp. As we were getting our stuff we heard a scream. It sounded like OOORREEEE! We ran all the way home and have not been back.

ALSO NOTICED: The odds thing was the scream we did not notice much more besides maybe some smashed limbs but no foot prints that we could see.

OTHER WITNESSES: Four in all/playing paint ball that day then sleeping when it had happened/no drug or alcohol use acoured

OTHER STORIES: A local boy Keith had been hunting all day with his dad. He was in his stand on his dad deer lease. His dad went back to the truck along with some other relatives and waited on him. It was starting to get dark so his dad went to find him and when he did he was white as a sheet. He had to climb up and get him out of the stand. He only said that he had seen something come out of the woods on four legs. Stop sniff the air and look up at him and then stand on two legs and stare at his. He Said that then it dropped back to four and ran away.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was a mooonlit night about 2 or 3 in the morning and it had been hot and dry.

ENVIRONMENT: A mix of hardwood and pine with an small clearing cuting in to it.There are also some thick pine forst neer by and I mean thick. Also some swampy land near by.

Follow-up investigation report:

I interviewed the witness, John on Thursday, May 25, 2000, over the phone regarding his 1997 sighting in Cass County, Texas. The following are comments and observations from that interview that augment his written report:

1. The cry they heard was unlike anything John had heard before or since, including panther cries, which are heard periodically. It was both deep and high-pitched, and wavered in its tone.

2. They observed "smashed limbs". These were both branches on larger trees and smaller trees broken off at the 5-8 foot level. Some of these smaller trees were ripped from the ground.These were observed in several locations during the day before the sighting in the area surrounding their campsite.

3. The behavior of the subject creature around their camp was that of a sequence of noises - crashing movement to subtle movement in an encircling pattern around the camp.

4. The creature observed was tall, but specific details couldn't be seen. It just watched the witnesses for a short period, but did not make any other visible movements. When it leaned out and then moved back, it moved similar to the way a man would move, not bear-like. The distance may also have been shorter than the 100 yards in his report, but facial and body details were not fully visible.

5. I asked him about unusual wildlife or climatic conditions at the time of the 1997 sighting. He indicated it was very dry. In fact, that year marked the beginning of drought and drought-like conditions for much of north and east Texas that continue today. Also, at the time of his sighting, a lot of the smaller wildlife was not visible in those woods where the sighting took place. He had and has hunted the area and thought that unusual.

6. He remarked that as he had submitted his sighting, his wife told him about a sighting she and her mother had a number of years ago. In that event, the two women saw both an adult and a juvenile "bigfoot" cross the field and road in front of them. The creatures stopped briefly to look at the women, then moved into the woods. The witness' wife's mother said those were the "wild people". He also mentioned that he has heard numerous reports of such creatures being seen near Douglassville (those residents refer to the creature sometimes as the "Woolly Booger") - 10 miles from this sighting area. As a additional point, this area of his sighting is in the extreme northeast Texas area, 30 miles from both Texarkana and from Fouke, Arkansas. This area has been a location of such sightings for years.