YEAR: 1977

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: September

STATE: Missouri

COUNTY: Lawrence County

LOCATION DETAILS: The one I saw was right at Hwy. 174 and Hwy. N outside Mt. Vernon, MO. Coming from I-44 you go towards Chesapeak and Republic on 174 about maybe a little less than 2 miles to N Hwy. and there is a convenient store on the corner that didn't use to be there.

NEAREST TOWN: Mt. Vernon

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy. 174

OBSERVED: It was in 1977 and it was late summer or early fall. I was about 6 or 7 years old and my younger sister and I were looking out our living room window and saw a big hairy ape-like creature walking upright. It walked across our yard and into the woods. It looked like it came across the road from the angle it was walking but we didn't see it cross. We didn't see until it was almost to the side of the house, it was only about 100 feet away from us and we got a good look at it. I still live in the same house where this happened. It was dusk but still bright enough outside to see well. It looked right at us and of course it scared us at the time. We told our mom but she didn't believe us, but to calm us she told us to hide in the bathroom. So we did. It's hair was a dark redish brown but the red tint could of been from the sun going down. It was about 6'6" or so, tall, stocky, broad shouldered, hairy, and naked. It was not human, it had way too much hair for that.

Most people in the area do not act too surprised when sasquatch are mentioned. I hope you can prove their existance for good but I hope that they don't get harmed in the prossess. They don't seem to harm anyone or anything and it would be a shame to harm them. You never hear of anyone human or animal being attacked by them so why should we attack them? I say take pics and film and sound but don't cage, cut, inject, tourcher, or harm them in any way. Leave them in peace and let them live like they are use to.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing odd I can remember.

OTHER WITNESSES: The one I saw was with my sister. She still remembers it also. We were playing and were looking out the window and saw something move and I think I noticed it first and pointed it out to her. We watched for a minute while it looked at us and kept walking towards the woods. We called to mom to come look but it was gone by the time she got to the window and she didnt believe us.

OTHER STORIES: I worked in a bar for a while and I overheard a lot of conversations about seeing them. Usually by men in their 20's to 40's who hunt or spend time in the woods hunting or gathering mushrooms.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was just before dark and the sun was going down but it was still light enough to see well. The weather was clear and warm.

ENVIRONMENT: The one I saw was in my yard and there are a lot of woods mostly oak and hickory trees. A lot of creeks are all over area with no mountians but a lot of hills and some flatland too.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness via telephone and the following details can be added to the report.

The animal the witnesses observed walking across the yard was bipedal and approximately 6 1/2 feet tall. The speed of its walk appeared to be casual and not hurried. While it was crossing the yard, it looked toward the witnesses and they felt that it knew of their presence. It then continued between the house and convenience store toward the road. The witness stated that the hair appeared brown on the animal, but the hair that was hanging down along the arms and the outline of the body appeared reddish in the setting sun.

The witness added that many stories of sightings occur in this region. When the subject of bigfoot/sasquatch comes up in conversation, no one seems too surprised and freely talks about the subject.