YEAR: 1967/1993

SEASON: Winter

DATE: January 1967 and September 1993

STATE: Kentucky

COUNTY: Pike County

LOCATION DETAILS: My parents live in Pike County, KY close to the West Virginia border (Tug River).

NEAREST TOWN: Ransom, KY

NEAREST ROAD: KY1056

OBSERVED: I have two experiences about 30 years apart at the same location - my parents home in Pike County, Kentucky - that I have always wanted to talk about. The first occurred around 1966 or 1967. It was sometime during the winter months, I'm not sure exactly now. We awoke one morning to a pretty good snow fall, 4-6 inches or so. The unusual part was a huge number of large humanlike tracks behind our house in the snow coming from the hillside to our back yard right up to the house. I remember my Mom and Dad talking about the tracks and showing them to me and my younger brother and Mom being afraid to let us go out and play in the snow for a long time after that. We couldn't understand why or how a person could be out on that hillside in a snowstorm in the middle of the night. The hill is very steep in that area and it's not easy to climb under the best conditions. Yet, these tracks led right down the hillside to our house very visible as far as we could see up the hill.

The second event occurred in the very same location in the early to mid 90's. I was home for a weekend visit in the late summer or early fall. It was a beautiful, warm evening about 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. and I was outside visiting with my Dad. I was sitting in a swing beside the porch and Dad was sitting in a chair on the porch. Suddenly, I stopped the swing because I could hear footsteps coming towards us from way up on the hill. These sounded like a large human walking down the hill, not like a deer or any other 4 legged animal - very steady paced and coming straight down the hill. The footsteps continued to get closer and louder until whatever it was got down to the treeline, where it stopped. I think it either could see us or hear us by then and it stopped at that point. I could hear it shuffle around for a few seconds, then it turned around and walked back up the hill exactly as it had come down. I never saw any type of light, such as a flashlight nor heard any voice or other sound that indicated a human presence. Like I said earlier, this hillside is VERY steep and is difficult to climb under any conditions. Yet whatever this was climbed straight back up that hillside in the pitch dark without stopping to rest or change directions. I could hear the same steady bipedal sounding footsteps in the leaves until they went out of earshot. My dad, about 70 at the time, never heard anything. I grew up there and I don't know of any human being who could climb that hill in the dark without stopping at all.

ALSO NOTICED: My sister also had a similar occurance sitting on the porch one night and hearing similar noises on the same hillside.

OTHER WITNESSES: The first time, my father, mother, brother, uncle and probably several other people that my dad showed the tracks to. The second tiem just me and my father.

OTHER STORIES: I have heard of several supposed sightings and occurances in the area over the years but none that ever received any real investigation that I know of.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The first was during the winter after an overnight snow storm and the second was either in late summer or early fall.

ENVIRONMENT: Very steep hillside with thick timber directly behind the house with 2 small creeks which intersect at the front of my parents' property. There are serveral other houses along the road but they are pretty widely spaced out.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jack Smarr:

Followed up with witness on 10/19/2011. The witness has two experiences at the same location almost thirty years apart. The first incident happened when he was 6 or 7 years old. He remembers that his family woke one morning to 4 to 6 inches of snow and that there were a number of unusually large tracks coming down the mountain and wandering into his back yard. The witness stated that the tracks did not go beyond the back of the house. The tracks led up to the back bathroom window and the kitchen window like something was looking into his house. His mother would not let the children play outside in the snow for a long time after that. There were no photos taken of the tracks. The area is rugged and full of mountains. The family had a garden on an elevated level area behind the house. Beyond the garden, the hill behind his house is at least a sixty degree slope. The witness stated that no people would ever decide to walk up or down the mountain and this is why the story is so odd. The mountain is to the South of the house. There are no houses or roads on the mountain. The second incident happened in 1993 or 1994 when the witness was back home visiting his parents. He stated that he was on the side porch with his father around 10:30 or 11pm in late summer or early fall. Suddenly, he heard crunching and cracking coming down the steep mountain behind his house. The witness is a hunter and knows the sounds of game animals. He states that the gait sounded like a large human was steadily walking down the mountain and stopped at the tree line just above the garden. The witness states that the outside light was on, but he could not see who or what was making the noise. He further stated that when the sounds of walking stopped, it sounded like it was shuffling around in the same place for a few seconds before shuffling through the leaves and heading back up the steep hillside. The witness states that his sister had a similar experience, although he could not provide details. The area to the north is now being mined as a mountain top removal project and that he cannot personally relate any recent activity in the area. Because of the tracks coming down a steep mountain after a snowfall, as well as the night incident of something walking to his tree line and returning up the steep mountain in the dark without the aid of a flashlight, this incident is classified as a type B.

About BFRO Investigator Jack Smarr:

Jack Smarr is retired military and worked primarily in Field Artillery, Armored Cavalry and Armor units. He participated in TN 09,10,11,WV 2012 expeditions; and helped organize KY 2013 expedition. He organized the 2014 KY Daniel Boone Expedition, the 2015 Central Kentucky Expedition, the 2016 Carter Caves State Park Expedition, Northeastern Kentucky 2017, Kentucky 2018 and has conducted private expeditions in Eastern Kentucky and Southern Ohio.