YEAR: 1977

SEASON: Summer

DATE: 1977

STATE: New Jersey

COUNTY: Somerset County

LOCATION DETAILS: I AM WRITING TO YOU AT 1:30 AM. MY HUSBAND IS SLEEPING.HE COULD GIVE YOU EXACT LOCATIONS AS HE WAS THE DRIVER. I BELIEVE THE AREA WAS CALLED MENDEM/MENDAM...NEAR BERNARDSVILLE. SHOULD YOU NEED ADDITIONAL LOCATION INFO I WILL GLADLY HAVE MY HUSBAND PROVIDE IT FOR YOU.

NEAREST TOWN: MENDAM/BERNARDSVILLE?

NEAREST ROAD: I WOULD NEED TO ASK MY HUSBAND

OBSERVED: BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 1977,MY HUSBAND AND I WERE LEAVING HIS UNCLES HOME LATE AT NIGHT.WE WERE IN THE AREA OF MENDEM,N.J.(I BELIEVE THIS IS THE CORRECT SPELLING.)WE WERE ON A VERY REMOTE DIRT ROAD.WE HAD MADE THIS TRIP TO MY HUSBANDS UNCLE NUMEROUS TIMES AND I ALWAYS ASKED MY HUSBAND TO LEAVE THE INTERIOR LIGHT ON IN THE CAR,BECAUSE IT WAS THAT BLACK AND SOME HOW,I FELT SAFER.
THIS ONE NIGHT AS WE LEFT,WE SLOWLY WENT ALONG THIS REMOTE TRAIL SLOW AS USUAL WHEN SOME THING CAUGHT OUR EYE."IT" CAME FROM THE FRONT LEFT DRIVERS SIDE OF THE CAR,STOPPED DEAD CENTER IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR CAR WITH OUR HIGH BEAMS ON IT,AND THEN CONTINUED TO MOVE QUICKLY TO MY RIGHT INTO THE WOODS AGAIN.
THIS HAPPENED SO QUICKLY,BUT MY HUSBAND AND I STOPPED THE CAR ALITTLE FURTHER UP TO ASK EACH OTHER WHAT WE JUST SAW.JUST FOR YOUR INFO,I AM A BELIEVER,AND MY HUSBAND IS THE SKEPTIC IN THE FAMILY.HE SAID EXACTLY WHAT I HAD BEEN DESCRIBING TO MYSELF:
ABOUT 6 FEET TALL.HAIRY BROWN,WITH UNUSUALLY LONG ARMS THAT SEEM TO SWAY MORE LIKE AN APE.WHEN IT STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF OUR CAR,IT'S FACE LOOKED MORE APE/MONKEY LIKE THAN HUMAN HOWEVER FEATURES WERE THERE THAT MADE IT APPEAR HUMAN LIKE.IT RAN/WALKED QUICKER ONCE IT SAW US.
THIS HAPPENED SO MANY YEARS AGO,BUT IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY TO US. MY HUSBAND IS NOW A BELIEVER BECAUSE HE WITNESSED SOMETHING VERY STRANGE.MANY MANY YEARS LATER WHILE BROWSING THROUGH A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE,I SPOTTED A PHOTO OF SOME PRIMATES.ONE IN PARTICULAR WAS VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT WE SAW THAT NIGHT IN NEW JERSEY.
I AM NOT ONE TO WRITE IN,AND EVEN AFTER WE TOLD MY HUSBANDS UNCLE WHAT WE SAW THE FOLLOWING DAY,HE LAUGHED AND SAID IT WAS PROBABLY A BROWN BEAR.WE DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT BEAR,BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN A BEAR WITH ARMS THIS LONG SWINGING THEM SIDE TO SIDE. SO WHAT WAS IT?
MAYBE SOMEDAY WE WILL FIND OUT. I AM SHARING THIS EXPERIENCE WITH YOU BECAUSE WHAT WE SAW BACK IN 1977,WAS SIMILAR TO A "BIG FOOT" THAN ANY OTHER ANIMAL WE HAVE EVER SEEN,OR READ ABOUT.WE'RE OLD ENOUGH NOW TO TAKE A GOOD "RIBBING"FROM OUR FRIENDS,BUT IN 77,WE BASICALLY TOLD VERY FEW PEOPLE WHAT WE SAW THAT NIGHT.
THANK YOU.

ALSO NOTICED: NOTHING ELSE BUT THE FEELING I WANTED TO LEAVE FAST !

OTHER WITNESSES: TWO.ME AND MY HUSBAND. WE WERE AT MY HUSBANDS UNCLES HOME.MY HUSBAND HAS BUSINESS WITH HIM,AND THEY WERE GOING OVER SOME UPCOMING DEALS.WE HAD COFFEE AND CAKE,AND LEFT NEAR OR ABOUT 2 AM.

OTHER STORIES: NO WE HAD NOT IN THIS AREA,HOWEVER WE HEARD ABOUT THE JERSEY DEVIL IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: IT WAS ABOUT 2AM,AND IT WAS HUMID.THE ROAD WAS VERY DARK.WE NEEDED OUR HIGH BEAMS ON TO SEE IN FRONT OF US.

ENVIRONMENT: AGAIN..YOU'LL NEED TO GET FURTHER DETAILS FROM MY HUSBAND WHO IS SLEEPING RIGHT NOW. I CAN TELL YOU WE WERE SURROUNDED BY LOTS OF TREES(MORE THAN I HAD EVER SEEN GROWING UP IN S.I.,N.Y.) AND MORE THAN WHERE WE CURRENTLY LIVE. WE WERE NEAR MOUNTAINS.BUT NOT ON ONE.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with both witnesses separately, during a phone conversation on November 11, 2003 and found both to be very candid and credible. Both witnesses are sure the sighting occurred during the summer, however they were unsure whether it was '76, '77 or '78. He and she would have been around 26 and 21 years of age respectively, at the time of the sighting.

While driving along a secluded, dark road (through primarily deciduous woodland) between 1 and 2 AM, a bipedal creature suddenly entered the road from the left, basically walking out directly in front of the vehicle. The husband, who was driving, had to "slam" on the breaks to avoid hitting the creature at which time it stopped in front of the car (within arms length), turned its head (not body) and looked at the witnesses for a brief moment. There was no describable facial expression other than a "blank look". It then continued to cross the road and disappeared into the woods. Its gait was estimated to be two to three feet in length and natural/smooth/fluid-like. The arms were alternately swinging front to back and it seemed to be in no extreme hurry. It's estimated that the entire sighting lasted no more than 10 seconds.

The witnesses describe the creature as walking with a somewhat hunched/bent posture and it was around 6 feet tall in the hunched position. It was covered with straight, brown hair except for its face, which was a brownish colored "skin". The length of the hair was not uniform but generally appeared to be "collie like in length", and there was more hair on the arms and less around the face and head. It did not have a particularly large physique, weighing around 200-250lbs. However, the husband did state that it "could have kicked the crap out of me." Gender could not be determined.

The creature's head was described as "smaller at the top, and seemed to widen on the sides near the outer cheeks where the ears would be". No ears were observed. The face had a "human structure" with the cheekbones appearing prominently. The eyes appeared to be somewhat sunken and while there was no "eye shine" noticed they were described as "striking" and very "human-like". The lips were thin and the mouth relatively small. The nose was flat and the wife remembered that the nostrils were "wide". Both witnesses indicated the mouth was closed and thus no teeth were seen.

The arms hung to just above the knees and were described as "sinewy, not bulky; orangutan-like". The hands were somewhat hair covered, "pretty big" and "were not a paw". No fingernails could be seen and there were no claws. The legs were also said to be "sinewy but not bulky or skinny". The thigh/hip area appeared to be "meatier". Due to the closeness of the creature to the vehicle, the witnesses could not see below the upper calf and thus the feet were not observed.

When asked what their reaction was to the encounter, the wife said, "Scared out of my mind" and her husband described it as shocking, wondering, "What the hell was that?" Both are adamant that it was not a bear as it was "totally upright the entire time". I can attest that while the black bear population is currently approaching problematic levels in northern New Jersey, at the time of this encounter there were very few, if any, bears in this area.