YEAR: 2013

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: February

DATE: 24

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Volusia County

LOCATION DETAILS: I-4 to Lake Helen exit 118...five minutes due east

NEAREST TOWN: Lake Helen

NEAREST ROAD: Lake Helen-Osteen Rd.

OBSERVED: I live in Lake Helen, Florida and we have had several incidents that I didn't put together until I ran across the story of the Cassadaga sightings. My daughter and I share our home with 2 golden retrievers and it's not uncommon for my female to not want to go outside to do her nightly business for no apparent reason. Now, maybe there is. My daughter and I were in my bedroom around 9pm one night, when something slapped the side of the house so hard it shook. We looked around outside, from inside and saw nothing. 3 days later at around 3 in the morning, my daughter in her bedroom (directly above my bedroom, sharing the outside wall) woke up to a loud, house shaking slam followed by a loud growl. Her feet hit the floor upstairs at the same time mine hit downstairs...We assumed a bear, but never could figure out why a bear would hit the house and how it could hit hard enough to shake the house, waking us both up.

ALSO NOTICED: Off and on my daughter and I have observed fowl odors close to the home and not known why as well as hearing strange noises...lots of times we've been awoke during the night at the same time and neither have known why or what caused us to wake up.

OTHER WITNESSES: My daughter and myself.

OTHER STORIES: There were reports in the Cassadaga area, which is a community within Lake Helen, where this happened and within walking distance of each other.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: I don't recall the weather conditions, but it was pitch black dark both times. First time around 9pm and the second around 3am.

ENVIRONMENT: My property is primarily cleared, but surrounded by woods. Rural

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

The witness and her daughter live in Lake Helen, an area that has a rich history of sasquatch activity. There was so much activity in the 70’s that the town now refers to the creature as the Mole Man.

The witness is aware of the Mole Man stories, but hasn’t put much faith in them until recently. On the night of February 24, 2013 around 9 PM, the witness and her daughter were getting ready for bed. Both were in the bathroom talking when something hit the side of the house. It was so loud and powerful, the wood frame house shook. Thinking someone might be trying to break in, they turned on all the outside lights, looked through the windows and saw nothing but called the police. The police looked around outside with flashlights and didn’t find anything.

A few nights later, at about 3 AM they were both awakened by another house shaking slam to the house, followed by a loud, deep, growl.

In both cases, the house slam came from the same area – just under the master bedroom window.

I spoke with the witness and then visited her property shortly after the incidents. The property is about a half mile from the 1970’s Mole Man orange grove reports. It is just over a mile away from the Mole Man reports from the summer of 2012. See report #36112. The property is heavily wooded as is the whole area. A power line road runs along the backside of her property. She has a compost pile that she adds leftover food to, and several berry trees. And has never had anything like this happen in the many years she has lived there.

On location, outside the bedroom we discovered that several branches from the landscaping were broken and the grass was mashed down indicating something had been behind it. The entrance to the basement is just to the side and beneath the master bedroom. Next to the basement entrance is the banister and steps that go up to an outside porch. When we tried to recreate the sound and shake on the house, the closest we came to recreating the sounds was produced by slamming the basement door. The door is always locked so we know the door wasn’t slammed, but banging hard on the bulkhead of the door made a similar noise. Further inspection showed that something heavy climbed on the porch railing, then pushed off it, breaking it and landing on the roof, see photos:





The witness knows that the railing wasn’t broken prior to the events.

On the night of the first incident they were talking and had the TV on. Standing outside by the bedroom one can hear the interior sounds. We know sasquatches are very curious of women and children; it is very plausible to say one could have been standing outside listening.

After trying to recreate the sound and noting the outside damage to the rail, it is clear that something climbed the railing, and pitched off of it to get on the roof. The pitch of the roof is very high. I think something literally jumped from the rail to the roof, breaking the rail as it pushed off so it landed harder than anticipated (which was the shaking slam), and it then gave an angry growl because it landed so hard. We also noted the soffit trim was bent, when there is no reason for the damage.

There have been bears in the area before, but none that have banged the house, and black bears do not growl.

Further investigation revealed some interesting stories from the neighbors that could be considered more Mole Man activity. One neighbor could have sworn that a tall homeless person slept on her porch from time to time as big indentations were seen on the chaise lounge. No one ever saw a homeless person in the vicinity, nor was any trash or evidence found of a homeless person living in the area. Also, another neighbor’s dog was attacked in the very early morning by something that practically ripped out its intestines. The veterinarian who operated on the dog could not explain what attacked it. The doctor said it did not look as if it was an alligator, panther, bear or hit by a car. The dog survived and will not go outside by itself anymore.

In April, the witness called me again and reported another visit. While watching a violent movie with surround sound, a scream was heard over the sound. Whatever screamed was again near the master bedroom. She is confident that it was not a coyote.

The witness contacted me once again recently to update recent activity on her property. This is the first report of the "Mole Man" in a few months. During the month of October 2013 several things occurred. Her teenaged daughter was in the car around 8 PM. Having recently pulled in for the night, she was looking through the back of the car for a CD. As she was doing so the car was violently shaken by something unseen. She could tell the car was pushed down from the front end of the car. She quickly ran inside without hearing or seeing anything.

Two nights later while the family watched TV, the back door was shaken and banged on. The owner grabbed a gun and as the girls moved toward the back door the front door handle was suddenly raddled and banged on. The dog which is very protective and normally barks did not react.

Since the last incident they have been hearing strange unidentifiable noises from the woods and their dog acts strangely when the sounds are heard. The owner reports that she has had a large amount of deer on the property until recently. I advised her to stop adding food to their compose pile and to walk together when they go outside until their "Mole Man" moves on or calms down. Because of all this recent activity, Investigator Staten visited the home and met with the witnesses, the following are his notes:

- Deep powerful howl from the front of her house while the front and back doors were wide open (yes, the witness likes to keep them open in the evening when the weather is nice). Uncertain source, but very loud.
- Witness’ daughter having her parked car shaken back and forth, just outside the house, while she was in it playing with the new CD player (this gave me the creeps).
- Horrible stench outside the house for 2 days, and for the first time ever her golden retriever refused to go outside without the witness, even during the day.

About BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

Re Monteith has had a life-long interest in Bigfoot and has an extensive background in outdoor land and ocean survival as well as mountaineering. She has tran-sailed the Atlantic, backpacked in remote places throughout the world and has climbed three of the seven summits. She studied International Relations at Florida International University, and is a Financial and Real Estate Consultant. She has participated in many private expeditions as well as the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 BFRO North Florida Expeditions and the 2013 BFRO UP Michigan & Alabama Expedition. She also organized Florida's 2017 Town Hall Meeting. She was an Executive Producer of the documentary film, "Skunk Ape Lives" and featured as a Crypto Expert on The Science Channel's television show, Strange Evidence for seasons 2 - 5.