YEAR: 2010

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 1st week .

STATE: Michigan

COUNTY: Benzie County

LOCATION DETAILS: Was at Loon Lake. Which the Platt River runs through it. Dumps out into Lake Michigan. It is surrounded by thick dense forest. Only a public access for boats. The entire shore line is forest. Its all part of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes national lake shore.

NEAREST TOWN: Honor Michigan

NEAREST ROAD: M-22

OBSERVED: It was too dark for visual. We had rocks thrown at our boat from shore. Shore is all forest and swamp. Man can not access it . It ran away from us after we started the boat to get the hell out of there. Incident #2. 2 miles farther down road. Looking at stars 2 am. Tree violently shaking then snapped in two. Growling. No sign of bear in the area. #3 2011. Turkey hunting. 10 miles north of the other 2 incidents. Off M-22. Bass Otter Lake. Started raining. Air was clean. Crisp. When it started raining. The stench in air was worse than a bear. Cannot describe it other than bad body order coupled with feces and rotting meat all balled up into 1 bad funk. At the time all wildlife and woods were unbelievably silent. Heard snapping sticks and someone walking. But it was not on 4 legs. Could tell by the sound. I got freaked out like I was being watched. Got the hell out of there. Have not been back since. Won't go back unless I'm armed.

ALSO NOTICED: Rocks were thrown at the boat the closer we got to shore line. Approx 5oo ft from shore. 1st we thought it was a big fish jumping. Then a second splash 30 sec later. We thought it could be a gar pike splashing its tail. 3 splashes landed 2 ft away from boat. It was no fish. Big rocks hit the water. Makes a very distinctive sound. We freaked out and got the heck out. But not before we heard big splashing steps running away from us on shoreline. It was not 4 legs or it would have been multiple splashes at once. It was 2 legs running. When it got faint we were in the center of the lake. We thought it was safe. We both looked at each other. We knew it wasn't human. An there's no way anyone could of been pranking. Its not accessible for any man to be on that side of the lake.

OTHER WITNESSES: 1 my brother. He was setting down the trolling motor on front of the boat.

OTHER STORIES: My brothers had an incident back in June. Same year. Platt River on M22, 2 miles from Loon Lake. They went down star gazing with charts. The river dumps into Lake Michigan. Its pitch black. No lights. Darker than dark. While they were looking for stars they noticed behind them. Less than 200 ft. Loud shaking of a tree. Tree was bending back and forth violently. Then I heard it snap. And a growl. They jumped in the truck and took off. Came back in the morning to notice tree snapped in half. Small birch tree. Its a public park. With picnic grounds and dumpsters. No bear sign in the area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About 1:30 in morning. No moon. Absolute pitch black. Nothing but stars and milky way.

ENVIRONMENT: Surrounded by pine forest half way around the lake. Back side of lake is marsh, thick swamp.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kim Fleming:

I talked with Mr. G for quite a while as he recounted several strange incidents that occurred over a two-year period. He is an avid outdoors man and he is very familiar with the types of animals he might encounter in the wild.

He described the fishing incident that occurred on Loon Lake across from the boat ramp. Although they didn't see anything because it was so dark, they experienced several large rocks hitting the water, one near their boat. It was enough to make them cautious and then they heard something running away on two feet, sloshing through the water.

Mr. G also shared a story about his brother who was star gazing in the area with his family when they heard and saw a tree shaking violently, then they heard a snap and a growl. When his brother and family investigated the area the next morning, they found a small tree snapped in two. The diameter of the tree was estimated to be about four to five inches. This incident occurred in August 2012 at the end of Lake Michigan Drive near the Platte River Campground.

Another incident that Mr. G described was when he was turkey hunting between Otter Lake and Bass Lake, north of the Platte River State campground, not far from Riverside Canoe rentals. There was a lot of wildlife activity until he smelled a horrendous odor. The woods suddenly became quiet and he felt like he was being watched. He got out of the area and said he doesn't plan on going back.

Mr. G also shared an incident where his wife heard something walking along the fence line where horses were corralled about 2:00 am while they were camping at Sleepy Bear campground. He said the horses started acting up and ran for the barn. She then heard something walking, then a heavy grunt and growl. This campground is in the same area.

This area supports a diverse wildlife population including bear, cougar and deer. The area is filled with swamps and marshes and it is difficult to traverse much of the area.

About BFRO Investigator Kim Fleming:

Kim is a high school science teacher and uses Bigfoot research techniques to teach about scientific method. She has been interested in researching Bigfoot since 2008 and her husband experienced a sighting in Florida in 1976. Her interests include hiking, being outdoors, birding and working with young adults. Kim attended the 2012 and 2013 Michigan UP expedition and has done research in northern Michigan.