YEAR: 2002

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 4

STATE: Virginia

COUNTY: Roanoke County

LOCATION DETAILS: [not for public display]

NEAREST TOWN: Salem, VA

NEAREST ROAD: Harborwood Road

OBSERVED: Hi,
I am relaying this story for my brother since I have access to the net and he does not, but I will relate the story to you just as he told it to me with his permission.

My name is [PB], I am 35 years old and live in Salem, VA in Roanoke County. My brother [RB] who actually had the sighting on April 4 of this year is 8 years younger.

I have several rental properties in this area and my brother is my repair person/handy man. One particular rental property is vacant and it happens to be directly in front of the house that I live in now. On Thursday April 4, 2002, my brother was painting the interior of this house. I work 2nd shift and usually get home around 11:30 each night. At 11:30 I noticed that my brother was still working on the house so I stopped to see how things were going. He was visibly shaken so I asked him if anything was wrong. He then told me that at aprox. 10:45pm that night, he took a break and went out to the front yard to smoke a cigarette. He heard a dog barking back in the woods, about a 100 yards away. A short time later my dog became extremely agitated, barking and growling. He was startled because he had never known my dog to behave in this manner. He then heard something large "crashing" through the trees, and what he saw, he just couldn't beleive. He said he saw a "very large creature" traveling at a high rate of speed and making a very loud "gutteral grunting noise" running much faster than a human could possibly run. He said he got a very good look at it before it crossed the road and went out of sight. It's arms were swinging down by it's sides. He said it was very broad and very tall but he could not tell me just how tall it was. He said that it was very hairy, and described the hair as "long and curly like a sheepdog". He said that it appeared to be a silver-gray color. (All the reports of bigfoot sightings I have ever read however seem to say that they are brown or black in color).

My brother said that he would be glad to speak to anyone who might be interested in hearing his story first hand. This is also not the first sighting in this area that I have heard about. I also have a good friend who tells me that he saw a "Bigfoot" while out scouting for deer in Ironto VA. in Montgomery county. Acording to my GPS, it is 9 miles from here as the crow flies.

I can honestly say that I absolutely beleive my brother's story and my friend's as well. Thank you very much for the great work and I look forward to hearing from you,
Sincerely,
[PB]

ALSO NOTICED: My brother and I went to the area that he saw it and tried to find tracks but the ground is very dry and we were unable to find anything.

OTHER WITNESSES: No other witnesses that I know of.

OTHER STORIES: I know of two other incidents that occured in Ironto VA, 9 miles from where this sighting occured. One of which I mentioned in the above story.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The sighting occured at aprox. 10:45 pm

ENVIRONMENT: The creature came down from behind my house and passed between my house and my nextdoor neighbors. It then crossed [the road] and went out of sight. There is a low fence across the road, and then a small creek but my brother did not see it after it crossed the road. There are many mountains around this area, including Poor Mt.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with PB this evening. He's the brother of the eyewitness, RB. I'll be speaking with RB soon.

The animal was about 50 yards away when he observed it, illuminated by one of the neighbor's flood lights as it ran by. It wasn't a silhouette the entire time. Its fur color is described as silver gray.

Both PB and RB had not seen or heard anything prior to this incident, at or near this location.

The area is loaded with deer. PB said large numbers of deer are seen almost every night. At this time of year does (female deer) are giving birth to fawns. Most deer kills found in the central and eastern states are young deer.

PB mentioned a cluster of incidents a few years back in a nearby community. There were apparently several sightings and encounters around the town of Ironto, VA. This was happening around the time hurricane Hugo blew through VA. During the 2-3 days of the hurricane lots of trees were blown down, and the bigfoots were moving around a lot more at night. Some were seen running around "frantically," coming close to homes, etc., during the storm.

Ironto, VA is in the "V" of the fork of the Roanoke River where the North Fork and the South Fork of the Roanoke converge. The incident occuring a few days ago (4/4/02) is about two miles from the Roanoke River, and downstream about nine miles from Ironto.