YEAR: 1997

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: August

DATE: 12/06/2006

STATE: Wisconsin

COUNTY: Trempealeau County

LOCATION DETAILS: Take Hwy.53 north out of Whittehall, to county road D north about 2 miles turn left toward the rod & gun club. go past the rod & gun. It happened on the road just before you turn the corner.

NEAREST TOWN: Whitehall

NEAREST ROAD: Road was off county D

OBSERVED: My experiece happened in the fall of 1998. I was driving on a back road between Whitehall and Strum,WI. in Trempealeau county, just past the Rod & Gun club. It was close to sunset getting near dusk, but still enough light to see around the pond and edges near the woods. The teraine is very wooded and there are very sharp corners so you have to really slow down. I always see wildlife on this road, so I drive very causiously. As I approched the sharp corner my head lights locked onto a pair of eyes in the tree about 10 feet off the road, directly in front of me. I thought it must be an owl. At about 20 feet from the corner a body started to drop down form the tree branch that the eyes were attached to. I could not believe what I was viewing. The creature looked like a child covered in hair. A height of 4-4.5 feet long. It dropped, hit the ground in a crouched position, did not full stand, but turned and ran up a revine. It took about 30 seconds for the whole thing to happen. But is something that is burned in to my mind forever. To this day I truely know I saw a child bigfoot. The face was covered in hair as was the body. The color was kind of a reddish brown.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me.

OTHER STORIES: My Brother a some friend came face to face with a bigfoot by Durand WI the same year.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Sun was setting. near dusk.not dark
around 5:30. dry conditions, clear sky

ENVIRONMENT: Lots of trees, low land a little swampy looking but does have a ridge that runs up toward a large hill.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Paul Schnabel:

Talked to the witness by phone on 03/17/2007. Because the vehicle windows were closed she detected no smell nor heard any sounds during the encounter.

The height of the animal was approximately 4 to 5 feet tall and the body, including the face, was covered with reddish brown hair.

After jumping down from the tree the animal ran directly away on two legs. The witness was too shaken to stop and look for tracks or sign.

About BFRO Investigator Paul Schnabel:

Paul Schnabel is a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and an EMT for the area search and rescue.

Paul attended the BFRO's 2006 Wisconsin, 2007 and 2008 Michigan U.P. expeditions and the 2008 Minnesota private expedition