YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 11/12/01

STATE: West Virginia

COUNTY: Ritchie County

LOCATION DETAILS: 24 miles east of Parkersburg

NEAREST TOWN: Cairo

NEAREST ROAD: Rt. 31

OBSERVED: There is a church where I attend services. We were practicing our Christmas play on the evening of November 12th 2001. It was about 8:45 p.m. when we finished practicing, when myself (age 17) and 3 other teenagers (15, 14, and 16) decided to go for a walk, while the adults stayed inside to talk.
My cousin ran ahead and hid behind a pine thicket. These pines are in someones yard, they are probably about 12 or
13 ft. tall, and they are all in a row and real close together. Myself and the other two decided to turn back and head toward the church, not realizing that my cousin was not with us. We were to the end of the pines and starting up the church driveway, when she came running out from behind the trees screaming at the top of her lungs and stating that she had seen something.
Just as I turned around, I saw a Very Tall and muscular looking figure walk out from the trees, and cross the road. It was about 7 to 7 1/2' Tall and slightly hunched over swinging it's arms well below it's thigh area, almost to the knees. It turned it's whole upper torso area and glanced at us while it was walking up the hillside. After we got into the car my cousin, still very petrified, stated that when she was behind the pine trees, something about 5 feet away from her pulled
back a branch on one of the trees as if to get a better look at her.
She stated that it's eyes were very far apart and sunk deep
into it's face. She said the hand was 3 times the size of my uncles hand,(he is a large man, and he is her step father). She said that the hand was covered on top with coarse looking hair and it had black fingernails. She said she didn't smell or hear anything. She said the reason was, that her face was so cold and her nose was plugged up and she couldn't have smelled nothing anyway. She said the creature was very tall about 7'-7 1/2' tall and very muscular. It's forehead was sloped and the top of its head looked like it had tufts of hair coming into a peak.

Note; (This is exactly the way she described it to my family and hers.)

OTHER WITNESSES: 4 teenagers practicing for Church Christmas Play

OTHER STORIES: One week prior to this my uncle went to the church on a Saturday evening, after dark, to check the mice traps inside the church.
My uncle stated just as he got to the door (note; the church sits on a little bank and right beside of it is nothing but thick wooded hillside) something screamed and growled at him. He said the hair on the back of his neck and on his arms stood up, and he ran to his pickup and got the Heck out of there!

My mother has a picture of a 17 inch track which looks like a barefoot human footprint she took in February of 2001.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 8:45 p.m.
Lighting Conditions: Fair
Weather Conditions: Cold

ENVIRONMENT: Gravel Road beside Private Home in Pine Thickets.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jim Osborne:

I spoke with the primary witness and although there were no further details about the sighting, there were more stories about incidents occurring in the area, including frequent vocalizations at night, the above mentioned tracks being found and photographed, and other families' problems with well built rabbit cages being torn apart.

I also spoke with the cousin and she related that there was a Dawn-to-Dusk light behind the creature that, while providing a lot of light for the area, mostly silhouetted it so that she really couldn't see features. It was crouched down, and she could see that it had brown hair.

Additional comments from main observer:
- Oval, kind of squared face with sloped forehead.
- Wisps of hair coming up into a peak on top of its head.
- No, or barely visible, neck.
- Orangish brown eyes, light reflected off them some when it looked in her direction.
- Eyes sunk deep into face with thick brow.
- Shoulder width estimated at 4.5 feet.
- Heavy, bulky thick muscular build.
- Long legged.
- Hands were at least three times the size of a large man's hands.
- Stubby fingers and blackish brown fingernails.
- The longest thickest hair was on top of its head.
- Hair estimated to be four inches long where it came to a peak.
- Hair stopped just above the forehead and no hair on face.
- Body hair was about two and a half inches long.
- No ears were seen.
- Skin coloration was almost black with a slight grayish/ brown
tint to it.
- Unable to see the sex of it.
- Nonaggressive and perhaps curious.
- It moved with a fast, quick pace, slightly hunched over with its arms well below its thigh area, almost to its knees.
- "When it turned to look at me, it moved its entire upper body as if it just couldn't turn its head. You might say it turned around completely to look at me."