YEAR: 2008

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 21, 22

STATE: Kentucky

COUNTY: Powell County

LOCATION DETAILS: I'm not sure which county we were in, we were far out in Red River Gorge camping alongside a creek. We followed a gravel road quite a ways down before stopping to camp.

NEAREST TOWN: Slade

NEAREST ROAD: Bluegrass Mountain Pkwy and 77

OBSERVED: In the evening, my boyfriend and I along with a friend were camping out in Red River Gorge in Kentucky. We got set up, and were sitting outside the tent while it got dark. There were no campfires allowed in the area we were in, so it got dark fairly quick. At around 7pm, a really loud howling sound began not too far away from where we were camped. It sounded like a primate, hooting and howling out in the mountain. It lasted about 10 or 15 seconds, and then stopped. After about midnight, when we were in our tents and trying to go to sleep, twigs and branches were snapping around our tent. Things were being moved, thrown around. My boyfriend got up and loaded his rifle, and lay back down. Whatever it was went away for a little bit. At around 3 in the morning, another ear-piercing scream not ten feet away from our campsite echoed off the trees. We stayed awake after that, and something pulled the tent stake out of the ground on our friends tent a little while later. We got out and looked around, but couldnt see much because it stayed in the treeline. It felt like there were more than one, because it kept hitting sticks against the trees and breaking branches. After the sun came up, whatever it was went away.

ALSO NOTICED: I found strange tracks at the creek and took pictures, though I have yet to get them developed. Also it seemed like there were more than one, with considerable amounts of branches torn off trees all around us.

OTHER WITNESSES: Myself, my boyfriend, and his friend. We were all camping in the same area.

OTHER STORIES: No.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: From 9:00 at night on Tuesday night to 6 or 7 in the morning.

ENVIRONMENT: There were a very large cluster of trees in the area we were in, and a creek not 30 feet away. No people around for a good distance.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Harold Benny:

I spoke with two of the witnesses and found them both credible. They were able to add the following information to their commentary:
1.) The loud howling did not begin until after they beat
on a tree with a machete.
2.) They were able to see what appeared to be white
eyeshine in the tree line.
3.) The eyeshine was later measured at over seven feet
against a known tree.
4.) There was a very pungent odor present that smelled
as if the animal had rolled in garbage.
5.) After daylight they were able to see a dark figure
moving in the tree line about twenty yards away.
6.) Several deep footprints were found near the creek.

About BFRO Investigator Harold Benny:

Harold Benny holds two degrees in Zoology and was a Biology teacher for several years. He participated in the following BFRO expeditions: Michigan UP 07, Arkansas I 07, Arkansas II (Oklahoma) 07, N. Florida 08, Missouri 08, Tennessee 09, and Ohio 09. Harold has organized several private Illinois expeditions and in 2006 recieved the IDNR Volunteer Of The Year Award as part of the Montgomery Co. Hunter Education group.