YEAR: 2014

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: July 11th

STATE: Missouri

COUNTY: Clinton County

LOCATION DETAILS: I could provide the approximate location again but there are no real distinguishing landmarks which make this area of the roadway stand out from the rest of the surroundings.

NEAREST TOWN: Plattsburg

NEAREST ROAD: US 33

OBSERVED: As I was traveling South Bound on US 33 approximately 5 miles from US 116 near Plattsburg MO on Friday July 11th 2014 at 11:48 pm, I witnessed a sizable creature cross the roadway from West to East jump the fence in pass into the corn. I was nearing the rounding of a sharp curve in the road which features a gully that empties into a creek, that then empties into an outer portion of the Little Platte River. The area is a mixture of farmland, which is primarily corn or soybean ground, some cow pastures and a mixture of trees, gully's, and waterways which flow into the river. As I entered the curve my eyes caught a a large shadow as it crossed the road 50 yards in front of me. My initial reaction to this was oh a deer, there are probably more so I hit the brakes a slowed slightly. In the time it took me to blink my eyes and reopen them the shadow had passed completely across the roadway and was at the edge of the ditch, as the distance between us closed and more of the light from the headlights illuminated the shadow. I was able to get a better view of what I was dealing with. What I had thought was a deer was in fact much larger, and upright. As the light caught the side of the creature it made an extremely agile motion which consisted of two steps from the edge of the ditch to the fence line. In the same motion the creature placed its left hand on the top wire of the fence, jumped and cleared the fence with both feet and disappeared into the corn.

Description:

Height: 7' to 7 1/2' it was very tall
Width: Unknown, my view was a complete side profile view
Depth: 24"-30" easy maybe more
Hair: shaggy light red/brown. The hair length on the body, at least the portions I was able to see varied, some portions were longer others shorter. Reminds me of how the hair is on my Golden Retriever in a way.
The creature was very stout and the weight had to have been 350-400 lbs. possibly more.

I did not get a view of the creature's head or face at all, the face was a complete shadow the entire time and even with the light from the headlights there was no eye glow.

The feet and legs were all but blocked from view as well either from the lack of light or from the vegetation once it was in the ditch.

The portion I got the best view of was the left arm as it braced the top wire of the fence and made its jump over. The arm was very large and hair covered, the hair appeared to be longer above the elbow than it was below, with the hair on the hand being the shortest.

ALSO NOTICED: I would like to express how quick this creature was and how fast all of this took place. We are talking maybe 10-15 seconds start to finish of this sighting total, and an impressive distance covered in that time. If someone had told me how quick these creatures were relative to their size, I never would have believed them. The athletic ability is insane. I have played back the events of my sighting in my head again and again since it happened to try to make sense of what I had seen or try to make any other scenario seem be plausible with any other known creature in the area and none of them fit. I was a complete non-believer before my sighting, as I could not imagine in 2014 in a well populated albeit rural area a creature of this size could remain undetected. I would like to have not seen what I did, I was entirely happy with my entire previous 29 year premise that I knew what was out there and how to deal with it all much easier to continue believing. Seeing this makes me wonder what else is out there we don't know about or have not yet found.

OTHER WITNESSES: My wife was behind me in another vehicle but did not see the creature.

OTHER STORIES: I have heard stories of sightings East of here at Watkins Mill near the lake there. I have also heard about sightings to the South West of here on the outer edges of Kansas City on a small lake and wildlife refuge, but no direct sightings in this area. I however am fairly new to the area having lived here for about 6 months.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 11:48 PM. Nearly fully moon, Full moon on the 12th of this month. S/SE light wind. Around 80 degrees, the night was fairly clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Low corn ground near a curve in the roadway which is the start of a large gully that flows into the river.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Brian R. Woods:

The witness and I have communicated back and forth via email and a phone call, and he provided some additional details about the bipedal animal that he witnessed crossing Missouri Highway 33. He wrote:

"What I saw most clearly was the hand, most specifically the fingers, grab the top wire of the fence. Then in a singular motion the creature jumped over the fence with both feet together. The fence is a little over 30" tall in this area. Someone very athletic could possibly perform such a move, but near Plattsburg, Missouri at this time of night in the dark I would have to say it would be extremely unlikely for it to have been a person. Not to mention the fact that the speed at which it was performed was unbelievable, and its size prevents me from believing it would be human."

It's important to also document that the witness has returned to the area of his primary sighting several times since, and has walked the area, including a nearby Conservation area and along the Little Platte River. While walking with his dogs during the week of Thanksgiving 2014, the witness reports that he had a SECOND sighting of an upright, hairy creature. Here's what he wrote:

"My second sighting coming in November of 2014 Thanksgiving week when I followed the river to the North. Weather was nice, it was one of the days when it was in the high 50's, clear and sunny with a light breeze. As the dogs and I followed the river to the North I did a couple knocks on some trees, I don't know that I expected to hear a response, or why I actually even did it, but at any rate I didn't get a response, but I believe that by doing that what happened next happened in part because of it. Shortly there after another 50 yards up the river, the dogs were about 40-50 feet in front of me, when all of the sudden they stopped to sniff the air. The hair on my lab's back stood straight up and she became very tense looking toward the bank of the river and barking and growling. My Golden retriever began barking hysterically. About 30 seconds later we heard a huge crashing sound moving through the trees, the dogs went even more crazy and took off down the river. Approximately 75-100 yards up the river I saw a large dark figure come flying out of the trees, jump from the bank into the river, cross the river, then jump and climb up the bank and crash through the trees on the other side. The only reason I was even able to call the dogs back was because the bank was so steep they couldn't make it up it in that spot. It was crazy."

The witness admits to being a "non-believer" before these incidents, and has spent considerable time revisiting the area and trying to wrap his head around what he has seen and experienced. He also provided a description of the second animal he saw, noting that its appearance was different than the first one.

"At the distance and the speed this creature moved I was unable to see any real details of any kind other than the fact that it was large, moved upright and was covered in hair. The creature's back was to us for the entirety of the time that it was visible. It came out of the trees closer to us and ended up moving a little further away from us as it crossed before it got up the bank and moved away again through the trees. It was not as large as the creature from the first sighting, both in body mass and height, but I would still say that I believe it to be an adult. I could not find any prints after the sighting after spending about an hour looking. There were just some slide and scrape marks in the bank of the river where it moved up out of the river. Sadly there was nothing that photographed well enough to make a difference or would be worthwhile as evidence. I was way too shocked to even think of taking a cell phone picture and more worried about what would happen to my dogs if they actually got close to it to be thinking straight. It all happened so fast it was really hard to process. You really don't even have time to be scared."

I found the witness to be very consistent and credible with his accounts of his experiences. I recently visited the nearby Conservation area and drove this segment of Highway 33. The area is ripe with forested area, rivers, meandering creeks, and many remote miles of pasture and farms. I witnessed a large group of deer run across the highway slightly to the south of his first sighting, heading toward a treeline for cover. The terrain is very similar to an area to the SE in Jackson County, Missouri, where other reports of possible sasquatch have been submitted to the BFRO. I am looking forward to spending more time in this area, especially as the seasons change.

About BFRO Investigator Brian R. Woods:

Brian is a former Emergency Medical Technician, as well as an outdoor enthusiast, and proud Scouting father. He's been a lifelong resident of the Midwest, surrounded by many miles of Missouri forests, waterways, and wildlife.