YEAR: 1975

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

STATE: Mississippi

COUNTY: Lauderdale County

LOCATION DETAILS: ALL I CAN RECALL WAS A TWO LANE HIGHWAY THAT WENT SOUHTWEST OUT OF MERIDIAN AND THEN A DIRT ROAD TO THE EAST.

NEAREST TOWN: MERIDIAN

NEAREST ROAD: 11?

OBSERVED: AS A TEENAGER IN YORK AL. WE WOULD DRIVE TO MERIDAIN MS. THE NEAREST LARGE TOWN, AND CRUISE FOR ENTERTAINMENT. ONE EVENING IN AUGUST MYSELF AND TWO FREINDS DECIDED TO DRIVE DOWN A HIGHWAY THAT WENT SOUTHWEST OUT OF MERIDIAN, I CANT RECALL HOW FAR DOWN THIS HIGHWAY WE WENT, BUT WE TURNED OFF ON A DIRT ROAD THAT WENT EAST. ON THIS ROAD WE STOPPED TO ANSWER THE CALL OF NATURE. ONE GOT OUT ON THE DRIVERS SIDE AND THE OTHER FRIEND AND I GOT OUT ON THE PASSENGER SIDE. IN THE HIGH BEAMS AHEAD OF US WE COULD SEE A ONE LANE BRIDGE. THERE WAS A LARGE OAK TREE ACROSS THE DITCH FROM US ON THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE CAR. WHILE WE WERE STANDING OUTSIDE OF THE CAR TALKING A LOUD NOISE STARTED COMING FROM UP IN THE TREE, IT SOUNDING LIKE A GRUNT AND GROWL COMBINED, THE NOISE WAS REPEATED SEVERAL TIMES AND ONE OF THE TREE LIMBS STARTED THRASHING UP AND DOWN. OUR EYES HAD NOT ADJUSTED TO THE DARKNESS AND WE COULD NOT SEE WHAT WAS MAKING THE NOISE. AS WE WERE LOOKING WE MADE OUT SOMETHING LARGE JUMP OUT OF THE TREE, LANDING IN THE DITCH AND START RUNNING DOWN THE DITCH, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE THIS HAD US PRETTY SHOOK UP ALREADY, BUT THAT WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE FEELING WE HAD WHEN THE ANIMAL RAN INTO THE AREA AHEAD OF THE CAR THAT WAS ILLUMINATED BY THE HEADLIGHTS ON BRIGHT. THE ANIMAL WAS RUNNING ON TWO LEGS, IT WAS COVERED IN GRAYISH BLACK HAIR, IT WAS EXTREMELY WELL MUSCLED, WE COULD SEE THE MUSCLES RIPPLING AS IT RAN, THE DITCH IT WAS RUNNING IN WAS TWO AND HALF TO THREE FEET DEEP AND MY EYES WERE LEVEL WITH THE BACK OF ITS HEAD. I AM SIX FEET TALL SO I ESTIMATE THE ANIMAL AT EIGHT AND HALF TO NINE FEET TALL. THE BACK OF ITS HEAD WAS SHAPED LIKE A TEAR DROP THAT IS FLAT ON TOP. WE COULD NOT TELL THE LENGTH OF ITS ARMS AS THE WERE BENT AT THE ELBOW AS IT RAN, BUT THE ELBOWS WERE PUMPING BACK AND FORTH AS IT RAN. WHEN IT REACHED THE BRIDGE IT JUMPED DOWN THE BANK IN ONE BOUND AND WAS OUT OF SIGHT BUT WE COULD HERE ITS FOOT STEPS GOING SOUTH FOR SEVERAL SECONDS. WE WERE SO SCARED WE JUMPED IN THE CAR, TURNED AROUND AND GOT OUT OF THERE AS FAST AS WE COULD GO. IT WAS MONTHS BEFORE I WORKED UP THE COURAGE TO GO BACK IN THE DAY LIGHT AND BY THEN ANY SIGN IT WOULD HAVE LEFT WAS LONG GONE. I HAVE BEEN AN AVID HUNTER AND OUTDOORSMAN SINCE THE AGE OF EIGHT AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN AN ANIMAL LIKE THAT BEFORE OR SINCE.

ALSO NOTICED: NOTHING I CAN RECALL.

OTHER WITNESSES: THREE, WE WERE JUST RIDING AROUND.

OTHER STORIES: WHEN I MENTIONED IT TO A GIRL I KNEW FROM MERIDIAN SHE SAID SOME FRIENDS OF HERS CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN A "MONSTER" ON A DIRT ROAD IN THAT AREA. ALSO, I NOW LIVE IN NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO AND HAVE TWO FRIENDS HERE WHO HAVE HAD SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA, ONE OF THEM IS A SHERIFFS DEPUTY WHO WAS ON DUTY AT THE TIME.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: APPROXIMATELY 10:00PM. IT WAS A CLEAR WARM NIGHT, I DONT RECALL A MOON THAT NIGHT.

ENVIRONMENT: PINE/HARDWOOD FOREST, THERE WAS A CREEK WITH A ONE LANE BRIDGE.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Vince Lauria:

I talked to the witness by phone for 21 minutes on August 27, 2002. He is a straight shooting, up front and intelligent person working in a technical field, and very credible. He said only one of the other two witnesses would ever talk about the experience again. He said the animal was huge, and must have been an older individual (gray hair interspersed with dark hair).

He sent me this e-mail after, at my request, attempting to better remember the sighting location:

Mr. Lauria,

I've done some research this week on the location of my encounter with the animal. The only paper maps I have are atlas's and didnt have sufficient detail.

Using the internet, the only place that matches my memory of our location would be south on Hwy 11 out of Meridian, then east on what the map shows as Bronson Road. The sighting occurred where Bronson Road crosses Okatibee
Creek.

After all these years this road is probably paved and in the middle of a housing development, but based on the current map of the area I found on the web, this is the only spot that matches.

Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

About BFRO Investigator Vince Lauria:

Vince has a BS in Inter-Cultural Communication (sociology, art, writing) and has been a licensed private investigator. He is also an accomplished photographer and artist in acrylic, charcoal and pastel portraiture. He has had a life-long interest in wildlife and the cutting edge of human knowledge of our world. Born in 1941, Vince is "circling the drain" but hanging in there.