YEAR: 1996

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Massachusetts

COUNTY: Essex County

LOCATION DETAILS: We were on a big hill where we could see a big power line field runway downhill to route 133, but somewhere in the forest between the Rowley plaza on Newburyport Turnpike and Christopher road

NEAREST TOWN: Rowley

NEAREST ROAD: Route 133

OBSERVED: Hi, my name is xxxxxx, I grew up in Rowley, MA.. a small old farming town established in 1639.. when I was 10, I'm now 27, my friend an I were attempting to find a way through the woods from his home street to a plaza containing a dunkin donuts for the fun of it. like I said, I grew up in the woods and this is only a distance of about a half of a mile. We started out heading in the direction we thought was good and after a while we heard a noise in the distance.. at this point we were pretty deep into just new England forest when we heard something. in the distance.. (far enough to be a hard definite sighting but close enough to be odd as hell to this day) so we looked obviously and in the middle of the woods.. randomly.. were three.. THREE, tanned brown.. (not brown black, or brown brown, but brown tan) upright creatures, running through the woods together. AS IF THEY WERE TRAVELING!!!! they were close and tight and jogging along on the hill we were on about 400 yards away.. we just watched speechless and then decided it was time to give up on finding our way and head back. I don't know if he told anyone ever, but we lost touch over the years, but that sighting will forever connect us.. I just thought anyone who follows bigfoot should know about this.. these 3 creatures were tanned and brown, upright, jogging in a line, and fully unclothed.. I've seen one other unexplained sighting, but this one was absolutely dumbfounded.. I don't know if anyone has ever seen multiple bigfoots traveling together but I have.

ALSO NOTICED: We heard a noise, I don't remember what it was, but we both looked and saw, and then were scared off of our mission enough to go home right away.

OTHER WITNESSES: myself and an adolescent friend

OTHER STORIES: No. never. No one would believe us or does believe us.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Beginning of the afternoon, summer, warm but not scorching (relative to new England temps)

ENVIRONMENT: New England forest, on a hill, the sighting came from us being lower on the hill than the pack of 3 tanned brown upright creatures jogging along together.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jeff Sheppard:

I had the opportunity to speak with this young man on the evening of 9/1/15. We spoke for approximately 45 minutes recounting the details of his experience as a youth in 1996.

The young man (who is now 29 years old) and a childhood friend were looking for something to do on a summers afternoon. School had recently let out for the year and they were between 4th and 5th grade. A friend told them of a trail that led through woods from the witness' friends' house to a Dunkin Donuts about a half mile away as the crow flies.

While searching for the trail the young man and his friend wandered through the woods trying to find their way to the coffee shop plaza. Not being able to find the trail they found themselves bushwhacking through the New England woods of both conifers and deciduous trees.

Finding themselves in a valley, the boys heard a noise above them (possible whoop) on a ridge where they saw three creatures jogging together in a line. They appeared to be approximately 200-400 yards away and moving at a moderate speed away from the boys.

All three figures were a tan color and were "not huge 8' tall creatures" as seen on shows on TV. They were taller than 6' with a rugged, but not really "jacked", body shape.

The creatures were not wearing any clothing and were covered in fur. Due to the lapse in time the young man could not recall the length of the fur but was really keen on their unusual color. Their encounter lasted for approximately 20 seconds. He described their reaction as a "Holy Crap!!" kind of reaction.

He stated that he could not see any one creature better than the other, and that due to the distance could not make out any facial features or ears. Due to the lapse of time he also said he could not remember if they were more man-like or ape-like. But they were jogging, evenly spaced, one behind the other.

Once the creatures left their sight the boys became afraid and returned to his friends' house as quick as they could. The boys told his friend's mother but the witness could not remember her reaction as it was so long ago.

The young man is an avid outdoorsman who is a landscape contractor. He does not wear any type of corrective lenses and has very good eye sight. He still works in the area of his sighting.

He stated that his sighting "has forever changed his life". He has talked about the sighting with others but many do not believe what he saw. He may have been young but he knows he did not see hunters or deer on that day. The figures he saw were bi-pedal, unclothed, covered in fur and were all the size of a very large man.

He contacted the BFRO as all the sightings he has seen on TV shows only had people who had seen a single creature. He felt it important to share his multiple creature sighting as he felt it was significant.

This investigator knows of a Class A sighting (unreported to the BFRO) within a 1/2 mile of this sighting in 2015 by a reputable local citizen. He has also heard stories from locals of other sightings in the general area. The power lines that run through this region allow easy access to and from the area.

A phone call to the witness' childhood friend has not been returned.

When asked if he had ever seen anything similar before or after the incident the young man seemed excited to remember seeing a tannish brown figure covered in fur swimming in the Exeter River in NH when he was younger camping with his parents. He said he can still point out the campsite they were at. He stated this encounter deeply disturbed him as he could not identify (or wrap his head around) the large creature with the brown fur and arms swimming in the river. It was not a beaver or any other mammal that should have been in that river.

About BFRO Investigator Jeff Sheppard:

Jeff is a Middle School Technology/Engineering teacher from MA. He loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking and camping with his wife and dogs any chance he gets. He has had a fascination with all things that fall into the cryptozoology category since a young age.