YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 29

STATE: Nebraska

COUNTY: Dawes County

NEAREST TOWN: Chadron

NEAREST ROAD: Nebraska 385

OBSERVED: [Editors note regarding classification of this report: This report is Class B for two reasons: 1) It was not written by the actual witness, and 2) the figure was distant -- 300-400 yards.]

I am writing this on behalf of my father-in-law. On October 29, 2006 he, his wife, and a friend were hiking on the lookout trail in Chadron State Park. Walking east, they came to a place where the trail takes a sharp turn to the south. As they rounded the turn, my father-in-law’s friend looked towards the north and noticed someone, or something, standing on top of a limestone ridge about 300 to 400 yards away. He stopped my father-in-law (my mother-in-law was walking a bit ahead of the two of them) and pointed the figure out to him. Even from that distance, they could tell that there were some unusual features about the figure. It was unusually tall and covered from head to toe in black fur. They watched it for five minutes as it stood on the ridge and swayed back and forth before it casually walked behind a limestone outcrop and disappeared into the pine forest.

They have no idea what this creature is that they witnessed. The only reasonable explanation we could come up with is that since it is so close to Halloween, someone was running around in the forest in a gorilla costume. But the area is extremely remote (a combination of national forest land and Nebraska state park land) and this explanation, though plausible, is highly unlikely.

ALSO NOTICED: NA

OTHER WITNESSES: Only two; the third person kept walking on the trail and did not see it.

OTHER STORIES: There has been many recent reported sightings on the Pine Ridge Ogallal Sioux reservation forty miles north of Chadron.

ENVIRONMENT: Part of the pine ridge area of western Nebraska. National forest and state park land; densely wooded with deep canyons and limestone cliffs.

Follow-up investigation report:

I reviewed the circumstances which led to the submission of this report with the initial submitter. He reiterated the details of the conversation he shared with the witnesses upon their return and their conclusion that they had possibly or probably witnessed a bigfoot. He then obtained permission from his father-in-law to personally discuss his observations with me also.

The witness is a local college professor. He and his friend observed the figure at a distance he estimated to be almost a quarter-mile away and on a prominent ridge. He assumed it possible that the figure did not see them because it did not appear to be paying particular attention to their location which was in the pines and in shadows. At first, they thought it may have been a very large person in a heavy jacket but quickly decided that was unlikely given the very warm temperature of about seventy degrees for this late October mid-afternoon. It was uniformly black in coloration from head to toe and a glossy sheen reflection was occasionally visible.The figure was only on two legs the entire time they observed it as they watched for three to five minutes before it moved off and out of sight behind the ridge. Upon further consideration, the witness also thought it noteworthy that a nearby windmill provided a reliable source of water.

David Petti