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YEAR: 2001
SEASON: Fall
MONTH: November
DATE: Nov. 5, 2001
STATE: Colorado
COUNTY: Eagle County
LOCATION DETAILS: Sighting occurred off I-70 between Minturn and Edwards.
NEAREST TOWN: Eagle
NEAREST ROAD: I-70
OBSERVED: I lived in Colorado for 29 years. Eighteen of those I spent working at ski resorts. Over the years I've seen hundreds of deer and elk as well as dozens of bear, everything from cubs to large 400 pound males. In the last 4 years I've had 3 separate sightings of 4 creatures that I hesitate to identify.
My third sighting occured in November 2001 between Vail and Eagle. I was driving west on I-70 with my girlfriend who was sound asleep next to me. It was around 10 p.m., a day or two after the full moon. It began to snow very hard, almost whiteout conditions at times. Somewhere after Vail and before Eagle the snow stopped for a few minutes. Even though it was night, it was very bright out due to the large moon and all the fresh snow. As I rounded a long curve in the highway my headlights hit two figures walking in the middle of the Colorado River. My first thought was, "Oh no, these people have wrecked in the river and they're trying to cross back to the highway."
I started to pull my Jeep to the side of the road and when I got even with them I saw two fuzzy looking people with very long arms walking down river. I could only see them from the knees up but it was obvious they were human in shape, upright, with elbows and knees. I stopped the car pretty quickly just past them and put on my emergency flashers. There was no break in the snowbank on the side of the road so obviously there was no wreck. With my girlfriend still asleep, I got out and stood on the edge of the bank looking up river for the two figures. It was maybe 20 degrees out and when they didn't round the bend I figured I'd back the car up to them. As soon as I put my reverse lights on a semi-truck came around the corner and almost hit us, so I parked again and sat there for a couple of minutes. I had a camera with a flash. I figured I might get a picture since it was so bright out. But I couldn't bring myself to wake my girlfriend up to tell her I was going to run back up the highway to take a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Bigfoot and I wasn't about to leave her there sound asleep on the side of a snow covered highway. So when it began to snow again I put the car in gear and just drove home.
Of my three sightings I find the third one the most compelling. I suppose someone in costume could have fooled me on the first two sightings. However, someone in costume walking in the middle of the Eagle River at night probably wouldn't survive very long.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: Nov.-10 pm-break in snow-big moon out.
ENVIRONMENT: Forested, mountainous river valley.
A & G References: Colorado Atlas & Gazetteer, page 37, C-5
Follow-up investigation report:
The witness is 42 and has spent lots of time in the backcountry fishing and mountain biking.
"We'd got to a point where the Eagle River moves to the north side of the highway. It was a long sloping bend to the right. As I was coming down, I looked to the river and saw the outline of two figures. My first thought was that someone had a wreck; someone had driven in the river. I started hitting my brakes, pulled over and put my blinkers on. I looked right back at the things while I was slowing down and the one closest to me, the shortest one, turned and looked at me. It looked like the taller one was hanging onto the other one's arm.
"When it took a step, I saw knees and elbows on this guy. The one closest to me stopped and it looked like the bigger one was trying to move on. It looked like it was holding on to other's arm, like it gave a little tug. I wasn't going more than 15 mph. They were about 30 feet away with a snowbank between us. I think the only reason I saw knees on the big one was that he was taking a step right then.
"These were furry upright creatures. I saw arms, legs and elbows. No snouts, no round ears, nothing like a bear. Nothing like a man really. If two men were in there, they'd be risking their lives. They'd last just a few minutes in that river.
"These guys didn't look as thick as the first two sightings. My first thought was a male and a smaller female. Then I got to thinking it was a juvenile and an adult. The one closest to me looked like my size - 5'11. The other one was easily a foot taller. They didn't have the huge head I saw in second sighting. Their shoulders were not as thick as either of the first two sightings.
"My first vision was elbows and a human silhouette, and fuzzy, with light coming from behind them. Right when I got next to them -- I'm not a prejudiced person -- it looked like a hairy black man looking at me.
"The nose didn't have a ridge on it like a human does. The impression I got was two nostril holes and lips. There was possibly skin showing on the cheekbones and around the nose. It looked not like a beard but fur on the face. The eyes were pretty big. I was looking right at this sucker, he or she was looking right at me and we both knew we were looking at each other.
"I pulled to a stop as close as I could to the bank, then got out and ran up the bank. By the time I stopped I had passed them. I had a camera in the car, and I figured there's fresh snow everywhere: they're not going to run in the road, and they're not going to run up that hill. There was so much snow being dumped, I thought man, this is the only way to move right now.
"I waited 4-5 minutes, but they never came into sight.
"I don't think their necks are as flexible as ours are, because when these creatures looked at me, they rotated their upper torso, the way you or I might do if we had a neck injury.
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