YEAR: 1975

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: October, 1975

STATE: Minnesota

COUNTY: Houston County

LOCATION DETAILS: Near Yucatan Township

NEAREST TOWN: Houston, MN

NEAREST ROAD: County Highway 13

OBSERVED: It was late October 1975. I was coon hunting on a beautiful, still, and moonlit night. I was walking along a picked corn strip at the wood line, along the top of a ridge. My two coon dogs were hunting out ahead. I heard my old dog bark a few times, then come running by me with her tail tucked under. The other dog was young, but not afraid of anything. Where the old dog came out of the woods, he went in. With a loud, savage bark and growl, he came out also and stayed by me, leaning against my leg growling and quivering. It was then that I heard a very low, moaning-type sound which was very audible. I shined my light down into the woods, but could not see anything as the land dropped off rather steeply into a large wooded ditch, maybe 200 feet deep. It was then that I heard what is best described as a large rock being thrown and bounced into a brush pile. I hollered, "whose there"! Then it sounded like someone hitting a hardwood tree with a club, twice. I then backed up myself, with my dog still looking down hill growling and never leaving my side. I could hear whatever it was moving down the steep hillside in the leaves and up the other side. That definitely ended my hunt as the dogs would not hunt there anymore.

About two weeks later, after our deer season hunt was over, I saw a friend of mine and asked how his deer hunting went. He hunted on the very same land I was on. Usually his party killed many deer. However, he said something was really strange as they never saw any deer at all. Also, the property owner's cattle would not leave the farm buildings.

I have always remembered this experience. While watching television at a friend's house, I watched your show. When you mentioned the "hitting tree sounds" it rang a bell in "this old man's head." Could it have been a Big Foot or not? I don't know, but I just had to write about my mystery.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Clear night with moon -- wind was still.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Mary H:

I spoke with the witness by telephone on June 10. He was very eager to discuss his encounter. He said, “It left me with a lot of thoughts in my head.” He also commented that the experience, “Really sort of shocked me.”

On a clear and moonlit October evening in 1975, the witness was coon hunting with his two dogs around 9:30 pm. The area is very hilly with dense woods and is about a mile from the South Fork River. The witness reported that there was no sound around him which he thought was odd. Suddenly both of his dogs began to act very strange. His older dog had an unusual bark and when she came out of the woods, her tail was tucked under. The younger dog had his hair raised, went to the woods, growled and returned to the witness. The dog would not leave the witness after that. The witness heard crashing sounds in the woods and a low, moaning vocalization. He yelled “Who’s down there? What’s going on?” He then heard a sound like someone hitting a fence post. He said that whatever was moving around in the woods sounded like a human moving, bipedal in nature.

Deer season opened about a week later. A friend of the witness hunted the same area where the witness had his encounter. The friend commented that he did not see any deer in the area and that the cattle on a nearby farm would not leave the barn area. Immediately after the deer season ended, the witness was in the area and noticed that there were very few deer tracks that year.

In 1959, when the witness was a teenager, he was duck hunting with a friend on the Mississippi River, between Lansing, Iowa and New Albon, Iowa. The witness went to retrieve the ducks that they had shot and noticed large barefoot tracks. He thought it was unusual that someone would be walking around barefoot in the area but didn’t think anything more of the prints at the time.

I believe this witness is very credible. He has been an avid outdoorsman and hunter his entire life. He was born and raised in northern Iowa. He has lived in the Houston, Minnesota area since 1966.

About BFRO Investigator Mary H:

Mary has always believed in the possibility of Sasquatch and became convinced while attending the 2013 Missouri Expedition. She applies her research training, critical thinking skills, and observational skills from her public health degree, technical writing career, and work as a psychiatric nurse. She also loves being outdoors and is an avid runner, hiker, and cyclist.

Mary attended the 2013 Missouri Expedition and the 2014 Iowa Expedition.