YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 29

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Volusia County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was walking down the driving area of the beach southward toward the wildlife preserve...

NEAREST TOWN: New Smyrna Beach

OBSERVED: First of all, I am a 57 year old H.S. & College Psychology and Humanities teacher with a background in phenomenon reasearch. I have two Masters degrees and I have often been nicknamed the "resident sceptic" because I demand scientific principles in real time for all observable data. I despise hoaxes.

My wife and I were standing on a boardwalk on a bright, moonlit night around 11:30 p.m. I was looking north when I first saw it at about 100 yards. At first, I thought it was just a late night jogger. After it got about 50 yards closer I alerted my wife to "turn around" because I realized that this was not your "average jogger."
It walked with a smooth, long stride with arms swinging about two feet in front and back. It was a uniform, solid black or brown ("shadowy") in color; no light face, hands or shoes.

We watched it walk south right at the edge of the surf, southward until it disappeared down the beach. And I am quite sure that it saw us.

I thought about yelling or "encountering" it but that thought lasted just for two seconds. This thing was walking fast, with a deliberate stride and a slight forward stance. It was "on a mission, as it were.

There were no footprints because it was walking slightly into the water.

I KNOW what I saw; my wife and I were in complete agreement on all of the details.

I guess this is another incidence where I can only REPORT the data. There seems to no way to research it; unless someone else happened to see or confront it.

ALSO NOTICED: I did notice in the local paper an article about a lady who discovered a Black Bear on her Patio a few days before we arrived. I at-first wondered if it was the same bear, but quickly eliminated this possibility because of its quick, upright posture. I am an avid Hunter and Fisherman from Kentucky and have seen two Black Bears in the wild. This was no comnparison!

OTHER WITNESSES: one: my wife. She was reading books to our Grandchildren and asked her to step out onto the boardwalk with me while I smoked a Cigar.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: it was about 11:30 p.m. on a moonlit beech. "It" was walking between us and the Atlantic Ocean.

ENVIRONMENT: Atlantic Ocean beach resort area...walking toward the Wildlife preserve about one-half mile southward

Follow-up investigation report:

After talking to the submitter on the phone this evening, I found him to be accurate and straightforward in recounting this event.

The figure seen was between 6-7 feet in height by the submitters estimate.The stride and arm swing of the figure was described as longer than a persons, with a slightly hunched posture also noticed.

While the possibility remains, the submitter does not believe this was a person.