YEAR: 1994

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 06/15/94

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Suwannee County

NEAREST TOWN: Wellborn

NEAREST ROAD: 98th Terrace

OBSERVED: A friend and I were fishing for catfish in a creek at night (unsure of the time). One of us had brought along a flashlight and a pellet gun for snakes (the flashlight later ran out of power). We had been fishing for a little while, even after the flashlight had died, by watching the tips of our rods for movement. We were talking about something, when my friend Daniel heard something, and asked me "Did you hear that?" I said, "Hear what?" (I thought he was joking & trying to scare me) He responded, "Listen, there it is again". At that moment we were both quiet for about 3 to 5 seconds. I then heard something moving off towards the northwest (I would guess about 100 feet). We couldn't see anything because of the density of the woods around us. Initially I thought that it was problably a cousin that had walked back to where we were, but realistically I was attempting to rationalize the situation. It was walking towards us, slowly, but fast enough that it made no break in the sound produced as it walked through the leaves. I said,"Hey, who's there? (at a moderate level of voice because we had been whispering before) As soon as I spoke, the thing stopped (you could hear it stop walking as it reacted to my voice). I then thought, maybe it's an armadillo, just as my friend asked, "What the hell is that?" I responded, "I don't know!" Before I was through saying the word "know", this thing bolted towards us, and it sounded like it was running as fast as an average man could run through the woods. We both freaked out and screamed as this thing ran towards us, now realizing that this wasn't an armadillo. When this thing got about 20 feet from us, a surprising thing happened; the things split (there were two of them). One ran past me towards the southeast, and the other one ran off towards the southwest (you couldn't see crap, but you could tell that they were big and massive by the sounds they made when they hit the water, splashing as they ran, hearing them leave the water and then breaking fallen tree limbs and stuff as they continued running [deer don't do this]. We both stood there in fear and disbelief, listening to them until they were about 150 yards away, before we ourselves started running in the opposite direction. With no bears in the area (especially ones that are bipedal), there was only one explanation for what was out there with us that night.

OTHER WITNESSES: One witness involved.

OTHER STORIES: Negative.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Problably after midnight
Lighting-poor to almost fair while looking up towards the moon, and very poor looking through the woods.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator David Wright:

This witness was interviewed on 05/04/07 by telephone. He stated that he was 19-20 years old at the time of the experience. He has lost contact with the other witness, who was therefore unavailable.

His account was expressed as follows, with additional information from the original report;

-The incident happened at about 02:00-03:00
-They heard noise in the brush, thinking it was an armadillo
-They consciously tried to rationalize, and discussed what
they were hearing
-The witness reported bipedal foot falls approaching, until he
exclaimed, "Hey! Who's there!?"
-He expressed both of them being significantly alarmed
-At this point, the foot falls stopped for 5-10 seconds
-This was followed by heavy running noise coming toward
them, as though the animal(s) was "dashing" toward them.
-At a distance of about 25-30 yards, the heavy foot falls split (there were 2 individuals), one passing to their SE and one to their SW. They both screamed in fright.
-10-15 yards behind them, the creatures hit the water,
running through the narrow but 5'-6' deep creek.
-On the other side, they heard the sound of "something of substantial mass" crashing through the brush and trees, also hearing what he described as "intentional-sounding" breaking and twisting off of big limbs from trees, as though whatever it was, was trying to make as much noise as possible.
-There were no vocalizations whatsoever.
-They immediately left the area, leaving all their fishing gear.
-He stated that it was definitely not deer, and that there had never been bears reported in the area.
-They returned the next day for their gear, and saw nothing, but didn't want to stick around to investigate further. They were pretty shaken up.

I found this witness to be credible. The heavy, bipedal-sounding footfalls, and the brush thrashing, and large branch snapping in particular, are the strongest clues suggesting a bigfoot encounter.

About BFRO Investigator David Wright:

• Certified Florida Master Naturalist (U. of Florida)
  
• Visual Tracker, Level 1
• Teaches Biology, A.P. Biology, Ecology, and Environmental Science at a rural high school SE of Jacksonville
• See local TV interview with D. Wright
• Participated in the 2007 Private Florida Expedition [Click the video link on that page.], the 2007 South Carolina Expedition, the 2008 South Florida Expedition and assisted with the organization of the 2008 North Florida Expedition. Assisted with the organization of the 2009 Central Florida Expedition.