YEAR: 1970

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: unkown

STATE: Arkansas

COUNTY: Madison County

LOCATION DETAILS: Turn right off Hwy 74 at Draketown, AR, and go about 3-4 miles to Georgetown. You will be coming around a curve down a hill and across a creek to the old store. The hill on the left side of the road is where we saw it.

NEAREST TOWN: Huntsville, Arkansas

NEAREST ROAD: Can't remember the number, but I can look it up.

OBSERVED: My brother Mark and I were riding in the back of my Dad's green '69 Ford pickup in the early summer of 1970 just outside of Georgetown, Arkansas. My Dad was driving, my grandpa was in the passenger's seat, and my brother Larry was sitting between them. Mark was 9 1/2 at the time and I had just turned 11. As we made the right turn on the new highway from Georgtown to Draketown, I saw something 30 to 40 yards up the hill from the road. At first, it was so tall that I thought it was the stump of a tree that had been struck by lighting, but as we passed it accelerating up the hill, it began to move. In three steps, it was to the ditch at the side of the road, and then it took one long step across the ditch into the middle of the two lane highway. It turned its whole body to look at us going up the hill. Mark remembers a grayish splotch of fur on the chest, but otherwise, the fur was dark brown in color, longish but not dangling, and it had red eyes.

We recently discussed this incident with my dad in Springdale, AR, and he remembered Elmer Drake in the '40's telling people around that area that he had seen what he thought was a "gorilla" that had escaped from a zoo or a circus. Well, all I can say is that it wasn't a gorilla!

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2, me and my brother Mark. Riding in the back of my dad's pickup.

OTHER STORIES: Dad was telling us about Elmer Drake, Till Counts, and his grandson Randy told us about seeing a creature of the same sort later on after we got to know him better.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Early morning (8-9:00), clear weather, sunny.

ENVIRONMENT: Low brush, hillside.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke to the witness on 1-23-05 whom I will refer to as J. J stated that he and his brother were riding in the back of his father’s pickup truck with his father, older brother and grandfather sitting in the cab of the vehicle. They were driving on an old dirt road and had slowed down to approximately 25 – 30 mph to make a turn. J and his brother in the back of the pick-up with him noticed what looked to be an odd tall looking tree stump on the hillside about 30–40 yards away. As they watched, this “tree stump” began walking towards the direction of their truck at which point he and his brother screamed. He said his father, grandfather, and older brother in the cab of the truck either didn’t hear them or may have thought they were playing around and paid them no heed. The animal took several steps at which point it took one large step across a ditch adjacent to the road which the witness estimates to have been 6–8 feet wide. It took one more step and was standing in the middle of the road. The animal then stopped, turning its whole body to look at them as they were driving away and were beginning to drive over a hill. J stated both he and his brother got a good look at the animal and estimates it to have been approximately 20 yards away at its closest point as it descended the hill and stepped over the ditch. He estimates the whole sighting lasted perhaps 20 seconds.

J described the animal as having dark, grayish like, coarse hair that was similar to the color of oak tree bark. There was more reddish hair on the front of the animal with a patch of whitish-gray on its chest. Hair was estimated to be 5–6” long. The face was described as flat with heavy a brow bridge somewhat similar to a gorilla’s, yet not the same. The nose didn’t look human and he never saw any ears.