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YEAR: 2012
SEASON: Summer
MONTH: June
DATE: 12
STATE: Florida
COUNTY: Bradford County
LOCATION DETAILS: Headed east from Gainesville on SR-16 between Starke and Camp Blanding.
NEAREST TOWN: Starke, FL/ Camp Blanding
NEAREST ROAD: SR-16
OBSERVED: My Fiance had an accident at work last summer where he received burns on his hand and I had to take him to the burn center in Gainesville at Shands. I was driving home with him in the car and he was asleep from the painkillers he was on due to his burns. I had my highbeams on and was going ~45mph down SR-16 eastbound near Starke/Camp Blanding. A creature ran across the road on all fours or heavily crouched over. It did not have a tail and in the high beams it looked blueish-grey. Its rear end was pushed up high from the ground, about 4 feet or so, but when it got to the other side of the road it stood up and ran on two legs. I noticed its face was very flat, with no snout or jawline, but with hair all around it. It happened very fast, but I am sure it wasn't a bear because I couldn't see a snout, and I'm sure it was not a panther because there was not a tail. Once it stood up it looked to be about 6 foot tall. Once it crossed the road it kept on running into the woods and never slowed down. While it was running on the asphalt it looked like a lemur running on all fours, once it hit the grass it stood up and continued running bipedally without skipping a beat and made maybe three steps until it was in the woods. I turned to my Fiance and asked "did you see that?" but he was unconscious. I didn't mention it earlier because I never really thought twice about it, but my fiance and i were watching TV and it was a bigfoot documentary, i asked him if he remembered the event, and he said no, but then told me to go ahead and report it to the BFRO.
ALSO NOTICED: Just the face, it was very flat, I could tell it glanced towards the car, the eyes seemed large, but the flatness of the face struck me as well as the fact that the face was very pale compared to the rest of the body.
OTHER WITNESSES: My Fiance was in the car, but he was sleeping.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: about 430 am
ENVIRONMENT: on the road, but solid woods on either side of the road.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Karen Nolan:
I interviewed the witness by telephone and found her to be very credible and forthcoming with details.
The area of the sighting is in a rural area on State Road 16 to the east of the intersection of State Road 16 and State Road 21. To the south is the Belmore State Forest and Wildlife Management Area (8,737 acres), 26,000 acres of managed pine timberland lie to the north. West of the area is Camp Blanding, Florida National Guard Training Facility and Wildlife Management Area (56,197 acres). The small community of Penney Farms is located to the east. These areas are largely pine timberland, bay swamp areas and bottomland forests. There are several lakes and Ates Creek, a tributary of Black Creek, runs through the area. There is abundant wildlife including whitetailed deer, gopher tortoises, squirrels, turkeys, alligators and black bears.
There have been many BFRO reports from this general area. Report #27145 and Report #28355 dated November and December 2009 are from Camp Blanding. Report #3112 , dated November 2011, is from a location on the Black Creek not far from the sighting. There are several other published reports in close proximity that date back to 1986.
The night was clear, she was driving with the car's high beam headlights on when she first saw the figure cross the road from an estimated 200 ft. away. It appeared to be on all fours or very bent over. When it reached the edge of the road it stood, continued bipedally, and entered the treeline. When the figure was crossing the road it reminded her of a lemur, a small primate that moves on four legs with its hindquarters in the air.
When the figure reached the edge of the road and stood erect it turned to look towards the car. The witness stated she saw a flat face with no snout. The face was pale in color compared to the rest of the body. The eyes appeared to be larger and set farther apart than a human's eyes. The figure was approximately 6 feet tall with long arms. The hands appeared to extend well below the hips. The body was covered in long hair that was bluish-grey in color. The hair reminded the witness of a horse's mane.
The witness has since done some research and compares the figure she saw with the Jacobs Creature. The Jacobs Creature is a supposed juvenile Bigfoot whose image was captured by a game cam in Pennsylvania on September 16, 2007, click on the above link for the BFRO article regarding these photos.
About BFRO Investigator Karen Nolan:
Karen Nolan is married with three children. She works in a local hospital as an X-Ray Technologist and she and her family own a military surplus store. Karen and her husband take extended motorcycle trips each summer camping at National and State Parks along the way. She has attended the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Florida and 2013 Alabama Expeditions as well as several private expeditions. Please follow us on the Florida BFRO website.