YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

STATE: New Jersey

COUNTY: Burlington County

LOCATION DETAILS: Edited out at the request of the witness.

NEAREST TOWN: Pemberton Borough

NEAREST ROAD: Fort Dix Road

OBSERVED: Me, my cousin Kevin and my three friends Timmy, Tyler, and Steve were walking round in the woods maybe a mile from my house in October or November of 2007. We always used to go out in the woods and do dumb stuff like spy on the construction workers that worked at a nearby construction(1/2 mile away) site. We always knew that there was something fishy going on in those woods, but when something freaky happened we never stuck round to find out what. So we are about to enter the woods from a field and I start smelling this foul stench. I don't say anything at first because I didn't think I had to. I didn't think anything of it, until I was taking a leak facing the woods, when about 20 feet down the tree line where my friends were, the brush started shaking violently, no one said anything, we just pointed our flashlights and I pointed my camera, but it was too far away at night to catch anything (if the night-vision on the camera was working I could have had something on video, but oh well). My friend said he saw a broad pair of shoulders move right through the brush. We quickly decided it was a deer w/barely any further speculation. On our way through the valley, my friend (Timmy) noticed something run down the hill we were on, but it wasn't clear enough to determine what it was. We got across the creek and a big tree that fell over was moved a good 10 feet from its previous position, and me and my cousin are pretty strong guys and we couldn't move it at all. So naturally we were baffled. On our way out of the valley when we heard something moving in the brush next to us, so we all shined our flashlights at the bushes. My cousin and my friends Timmy and Tyler claim to have seen a pair of shoulders, when the lights where shined. I didn't have a good angle, but I did see it as it crouched and shimmied its way through really thick brush. My 6'4 310 pound cousin was so scared, that he trucked right through some water to get out of there, we were all scared.

ALSO NOTICED: Smelled kinda bad the whole time we were in the woods.

OTHER WITNESSES: My cousin Kevin, my friends Tyler, Tim, & Steve

OTHER STORIES: Me, and my two brothers Rea and Phil, were walking round the muddy field next to the incident site and saw a lot of big footprints, bare foot prints, like a guy w/pretty big feet was walking round the perimeter of the woods. A year and a half so earlier in the same wooded area on the creek bed a couple of my friends claim to have seen a human-like thing kneeling next to the creek, perhaps getting a drink of water, when we noticed it it seemed to look up a little not all the way and shimmy into the brush behind it.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: around 10pm

ENVIRONMENT: Semi-dense forest near a housing development being built.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Eric Spinner:

I spoke to the witness by phone and he was able to recall the events of 2007 to me as stated in the report above, and also provided more details pertaining to some of the circumstances.

Kyle (witness) had heard something splash in the creek before they came to the log they used to cross the marshy area. I asked him about the smell that was present, and he told me that it was a musky/ mothball type of scent, not the usual wet dog smell we hear reported so often. He said it was a very strong smell, but not enough to cause gagging.

Timmy reported seeing something moving through the brush, and it appeared to be light in color (grayish). He was also the individual who spotted something coming down the hillside. He was not able to get a good visual on it however. At the end of the encounter as the four were exiting the woods, they again heard movement in the brush, and turned to shine their flashlights at the source. Kyle had been looking through the viewfinder of his camera up to this point so his eyes were not adjusted to the dark when he turned to look, but he told me that he saw a terrified look on the face of his cousin “Big Kev” and that was when Kevin tore out of the woods, quickly followed by the rest.

The four young men spoke about the incident at a later date, and came to the conclusion that what they had experienced could not have been attributed to any known local species of animal. They then determined that it could have been quite possibly a Bigfoot. The other three individuals encouraged Kyle to report the events to the BFRO’s website, which he did soon afterward.

Regarding other stories:
With regards to the incident at the construction site where they reported finding a lot of big bare footprints – the tracks indicated that something had paced back and forth by the mound of dirt, as if it were checking out the workers - then they headed back towards the tree line and over a metal wire construction fence. The top strand of wire was twisted and broken where it crossed over, which to me would indicate an enormous amount of strength. Also the stride was reported to be longer than his cousin's, but the size of the tracks were not much larger than an average human footprint. This event occurred in the spring of 2007.

With regards to seeing the human-like thing kneeling next to the creek, perhaps getting a drink of water – he added that it may have been washing its hands. It was also reported to me that the creature was darker in appearance than the one possibly viewed in the fall encounter. This event occurred in the summer time.

I also visited the encounter location on the morning of January 26th, 2009. The following observations were made.

The encounter took place in a creek bed ravine bordered on one side by farm fields, and new construction housing development on the other. At the time of the encounter, there weren’t any finished homes, but now there are quite a few that are occupied. Construction is ongoing at the present time.

I entered the ravine near where the initial brush shaking had occurred, and walked over rough frozen ground to the creek. The water was flowing well, and there was evidence of either past flooding or tidal activity. This may explain the lack of any further supporting evidence being found in the way of tracks, tree structures, or bedding areas. I came across raccoon tracks, and evidence of beavers building a dam. I used the dam to cross over the creek to the other side. I climbed the hill to check out the construction area. I followed a game trail over to where I found a construction fence that the witness had reported to me had been broken by where the tracks (that had been found in the second related experience) crossed back over into the woods. I photographed the fence, and the surrounding area. I then walked back into the woods, and found some possible tree signs (arches and teepees), which I photographed as well. I then walked over to the ridge, and came across the internal organs of an animal. I have been told that hunters will leave the guts of an animal they have killed lying in the woods. I photographed them anyhow, and then found a second pile about 15 feet away. I then crossed over the creek a second time via a large downed tree. I hiked back out alongside of the creek, and came upon the remains of a wild turkey. Then I climbed back up the side of the ravine, and walked along the tree line bordering the fields. There were numerous walnuts on the ground as well. I then came across the remains of a rabbit in the field, and was able to confirm that the field was used for growing soybeans.

There were no smells or sounds encountered while I was there, and nothing else relevant was observed besides the flora and fauna of the terrain.

After having spoken at length with the witness and upon surveying the location, I feel these individuals did indeed experience something out of the ordinary. The area suggests that there is sufficient food source to sustain a large animal, fresh water, and sufficient vegetation to provide ample coverage. This particular tract of land connects to other parcels, which eventually leads all the way to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Where there have been numerous unexplainable events reported over the past 100 years. Therefore I feel this is a solid Class B encounter report.

About BFRO Investigator Eric Spinner:

Eric Spinner is the owner of a health food store in Medford, NJ - a town that borders the Pine Barrens. He is a Certified Nutritional Consultant, and a Shiatsu Practitioner. Eric has attended the 2008 NW Pennsylvania Expedition, the 2009 Sunshine Coast BC Canada Expedition, the 2016 & 2020 So NY Expeditions, and 2021 & 2022 PA Expeditions. He also organized the 2023 PA East Expedition. Eric has been an investigator for the BFRO since 2009 and has been organizing New Jersey Expeditions since 2014. He makes numerous solo excursions into the NJ Pine Barrens, and Pennsylvania, and has done investigations in Missouri and Florida. He was most recently involved in the production of the South Jersey Sasquatch episode of Finding Bigfoot and was one of the witnesses featured during the Town Hall meeting.
Eric is cofounder of NASBRO, and host of Squatch Talks Podcast.