YEAR: 2010

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 7

STATE: Montana

COUNTY: Lewis And Clark County

LOCATION DETAILS: (Please do not post the directions to our home on the web.)

NEAREST TOWN: North of Helena, Montana

OBSERVED: The other morning I was letting our dogs out to go to the bathroom. It was quite early in the morning and the sun was just coming over the mountain. I opened the back door and let the dogs do their morning business. About 50 feet from our back door was a large hairy man like being. The dogs saw it as well and came running back into the house. I stood still on the stairs watching it. I think I was in shock by what I saw. The animal then turned and looked right at me and let out this scream/holler. It was the most frightening thing I have ever encountered. The yell struck every nerve in my body. I was so scared that it instantly made me cry. I felt like I was getting this fight or flight response. Never have I been this scared in the woods. We get to see many different animals here in Montana but nothing like this.
The animal was about 7-8 feet tall, and had brownish black hair covering its body. The hair was probably about 4-6 inches long. I would guess that it had to weigh 500+ pounds.
When it let out that yell/scream at me. I got the feeling that it was angry that I saw it. The face was like that of an ape but with very human features.
I stood frozen to the stairs as it moved off down the hill. The experience probably lasted only a couple of minutes. It walked on two legs and was no bear!
Never have I been so scared by something in the woods that I have cried. I have come face to face with bear and elk and mountain lion. I was scared in those situations too, but not like this. When it let out that yell/scream was what really touched a fear in me.
I dont know that I am able to do justice to be able to tell you the way I felt at that moment.

ALSO NOTICED: As it turned and when it walked away. I could see the muscles moving under the hair. It was well developed. I also think it might have been a girl, because of the pecs or breasts on the chest. The face did not have hair on it and was blackish brown skin. It also had very human qualities to its face. It seemed very well developed.

OTHER WITNESSES: My partner heard the yell/scream from bed. He just rolled over and went back to sleep, because we hear it so much up here.

OTHER STORIES: A few weeks ago a friend of ours was staying at our home. He was sleeping out on the couch in the living room. The windows were open because it was a warm night. He got to hear it yell/scream as well. It scared him so bad that he slept with a loaded gun by his side for the rest of evening. He left early the next morning.

We have been hearing this thing up here for years. We have been laughing and joking that it is a bigfoot. Never did I think I was going to hear and SEE one so close. I know it was no bear, but a bigfoot. I am as sure of this as I am my own name. We get to hear it on a pretty regular basis. We have lived over here for about 6 years and have been hearing it all this time. We just never really knew what it was?

Also- when this thing is in our area. Our dogs will not go outside. They have chased bear off the property, treed a mountain lion. But what ever this is? It scares the heck out of them.

Also- the local native americans have talked about this thing for years. They call it Windago, and when in the woods won't let their children go out at night.

A couple last remarks. There have been a couple nights where we have had small rocks thrown on our tin roof of our home. We also get to hear what sounds like a small tree or log or limb being hit against another tree. ( I might add that the dogs will not go out during these times either. Whatever it is, it has scared them enough at one time or another for them not want to go near it.)

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was very early morning like I said earlier. The sun was just coming over the mountain. The sun was hitting the hair on the animal and gave it a brownish black look to it. The weather was pretty clear and cool. Typical early fall morning.

ENVIRONMENT: It was standing up by our well head in the back yard. Just beyond our boat. The trees are a red pine and spruce. We are on a mountain side with shale and dirt as a base with wild grass and shrubs.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jim H:

After speaking to the witness on the phone, I decided to make a trip out to Montana to see the location first hand. We left Minnesota on 9/24/10, and arrived in Helena by the afternoon of 9/25/10. After setting up camp at a local campground we contacted the witness and asked if it was ok to come up to their home before the sun set. He said he would be home and come on over. We met the family and were told a little about the history of activity in the area.

The witness and his family, as well as friends, have heard different vocalizations pretty consistently over the years. They really had never known what made those sounds but always joked that they were their Bigfoot, as they have lived in the Montana outdoors for years and have a very good knowledge of the wildlife in the area. They have encountered just about all of the animals that live there during their regular hiking trips to explore the numerous caves and lava tubes in the area. The vocalizations they have heard varied from long deep howls, to chatter described as having an oriental accent. Many times they would also hear what sounded like chopping of wood sounds at the same time. But they never really gave it a lot of attention as they just figured it was something they had just not witnessed in person.

They told us of a couple of previous encounters of which the first happened in the fall of 2007. One of the witness’ sons, who has a slight mental disability, had placed some food out on the open porch to see if he could lure in some UFO’s, as he and his friends had been talking about them. So he placed some bacon, granola, and other things in the cats bowl and placed it in the front corner of the railings. He then waited inside a large picture window on their couch. Sometime during the night he had awoke to some noise on the porch. He stood up and started to walk to the window when he seen something crouched down, back facing the window, over the cats dish. It apparently heard him or sensed him because it turned around, stood up, took one step toward the window, and raised one hand (as an “Indian does when they say How”). The son got scared and ran to his parents' room and woke one parent, who ran down the hall to the front of the house. As they got to the front of the house it jumped over the railing to the ground. It happened so quick that the parent did not get a good look at what it was. But the son described it as being around 6 ½ to 7 feet tall, lanky build, with long arms, a head appear to be sitting on its shoulders. He did describe the face as having big eyes, a protruding brow ridge, flattened nose with large nostrils. His parents were not so convinced and dismissed the occurrence as just part of his imagination, even though one of them seen something. I might add that the front porch had no steps on it at the time and that the floor of the porch is approximately 5 ½ to 6 feet from the ground in the middle. Add the 3 feet of the railing that this creature had jumped over when it fled makes for an 8 ½ to 9 foot jump. Considering the hard packed ground in the area, that is a feat for anyone or thing.

The second encounter happened with the same son in August of 2009. He was going to cut some fire wood which they used to supplement their heating in the winter from the “beetle kill” trees on their property. He took their wood truck and drove about a hundred yards downhill from their driveway to the area. He turned off the truck, took out the chainsaw, started it and got ready to start cutting wood. When he turned he states that a large dark hairy “man” stood up from the bushes and looked at him. He describes it as being around 8 feet tall and looking a lot like a silverback gorilla but standing upright, with a somewhat pointed head, and almost a human face. He got scared and dropped the chainsaw, and drove back up to the house and told his parents. They of course did not believe him. They felt that he had seen a bear or something until one of them had the final sighting of their own. This brings us to the sighting which occurred on September 7, 2010.

On that morning the witness states it started out as normal, by letting the dogs out to do their business. They own three dogs and each morning they need to be let out. Being that they did not have front steps they use the side door, which has 3 steps to the ground. The witness opened the door and let all three dogs out who immediately turned around and headed back into the house. The witness thought this was very weird as they have never done that before. So he decided to step out on the top step and see what the problem was. As he did, he noticed a large 7 foot tall creature walking downhill from his right to left at a range (measured in person) of 76 feet. The morning was bright, and the sun was shining directly on it, so he got an excellent view. As he noticed it, it apparently realized he was there and turned to face him standing on the steps. As it faced him it let out a loud scream, which seemed to go right through him (also heard by the other parent who was still in bed). When the scream happened the witness broke down and began to cry uncontrollably. He said that it was like all of his pent up emotions were released all at once. As they were standing there looking at each other (him crying) he was able to get a very good look at it as it was standing with the sun shining on it. The witness described the color as being black or dark brown with a red tint from the sunlight with dark colored skin. The hair was around 4 to 5 inches in length and was not matted or meshed up. He said that when it turned to look at him it had to turn its body towards him as well. He described the face as having very humanlike qualities, but yet different. The eyes were dark, and slightly larger them you would think for a human of the same size. A slightly protruding brow ridge. The nose was kind of flattened with nostrils opening forward. The mouth was what appeared to be of normal size with wispy hair between the nose and mouth. As the creature stood looking at him he said he also noticed that its arms were longer, coming down nearly to its knees, and it had hands which seemed large. He also stated that he believes it was a female because it had what he says were definitely breasts. The creature’s body was described as being very bulky but not fat, guessed weight of around 500#. After a few minutes of standing looking at each other (witness crying) the creature changed its expression as if to question what was wrong with the witness, then turned and continued downhill in the direction it was heading originally. When it gave the quizzical look to the witness it seemed to have a definite intelligence about it. As it had turned and continued on its way the witness said the he was impressed by the muscular build that was visible through the hair. He stated you could see all of the separate muscles flex as it walked away. One other interesting note was that as it walked away the witness remarked that he noticed the soles of the feet as it picked them up and stepped forward and thought to himself “that’s why they call them Bigfoot”. The area of the sighting was clear of any obstructions and slightly uphill from where the witness was standing. So he got a very good look at it. The witness was very insistent that the sighting lasted “minutes” not seconds.

During our weeklong visit to the area I had setup 6 trail cams, and a small tent with an audio recorder in it around the property. Unfortunately I was unable to obtain anything definitive. The area is very remote, with roads that are in poor repair, which keeps traffic to a minimum. The terrain is very steep, with mixed red pine and spruce growth. The ground is very rocky, covered in pine needles. It is occupied by a large number of deer, elk, many smaller animals, and birds. There are also a couple of spring fed creeks that wind downhill past their home.

On day two, I was taken to a small ridge high above his home so I could see the lay of the land. While up there we did some call blasting using the Sierra sounds. After a few series of blasts we had a return Whoop from across the “valley”. It was a single very clear whoop. I asked The witness what was over there and he stated that there were lots of caves that he had never went into. Also it is all private property.

We were introduced to a neighbor who owns a cabin uphill from the witness who one night had the moon blocked from coming in her bathroom window. I went to her cabin and found that there were no trees close enough to have blocked the moon. Nor would a normal height person be capable of blocking the moon from entering the window. It would have to have been at least 7 ½ feet tall and right beside the cabin wall to have blocked the moon. The cabin owner stated she woke up to use the bathroom and noticed that something was standing outside the window swaying back and forth blocking the light from entering. She described it as being human in form, and was too scared to investigate further. She also said she has many times heard different vocalizations that she described as being almost apelike. She appeared to be very sincere and creditable. She is a gulf war veteran and has not been known to get nervous easily. She hikes all over the mountainside and has encountered most of the animals that live there.

One other interesting note was that there is a cabin near the witness’ home that had the exterior door busted in. The witness said that he thought it was caused by kids from town. But when I inspected it there was no evidence of forced entry or prying of any kind. Nor was the door dented or scratched. The door appeared to have been pushed with great force inward as the jamb and frame was split in many areas. The cabin itself is unfinished and had evidence of being occupied by “pac rats”, a potential food source.

There are numerous caves and lava tubes in the area which we were hoping to explore but we ran out of time.

The area warrants a much longer and better investigation, as it is no doubt a perfect area for a family of Sasquatch to live. They have everything they need from water, shelter, food, to lack of human pressure or hunting. Most of the land is private and little if any hunting takes place here.

The witness and his family are very real and sincere people, I truly believe they are being honest and truthful in everything they have reported. They are not looking to have their names or location published as they would like to remain anonymous. They value their privacy. I think they have been fortunate enough to have had not only one of the best encounters, but also multiple encounters. I am planning on making more trips to the area to investigate more thoroughly.

UPDATE: I have spoken to the witness a number of times since being at his home and they continue to have vocalizations, and knocking around their property. But to date have not had any more visual encounters. Also when I was there I had placed candy bars and a peanut butter jar (cover on, peanut butter smeared on the outside) out for bait. Sometime after leaving the witness had checked the peanut butter jar, the cover had been taken off and the peanut butter was gone. He refilled the jar, replaced the cover and again the peanut butter was gone. This has happened a number of times.

Below are sketches created with the witness by BFRO investigator Sybilla Irwin, along with an actual photo of the sighting location.

About BFRO Investigator Jim H:

A business owner for 20+ years, he has been researching the subject of bigfoot ever since his son had a daylight sighting in 1994. An avid hunter, spending most of his life in the woods of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, having seen and heard every animal native to this area. Active member of hunting and shooting clubs. He also has a background and interest in biology.

He attended the 2008 Minnesota (private) expedition, the 2009 Wisconsin expedition, 2009 Minnesota expedition, 2010 Minnesota Mini Excursion, 2010 Minnesota Mini Expedition, Minnesota Expedition 2011. As well as many field investigations (on site). Have personally seen three BF. Two daytime and one nighttime through a thermal.