YEAR: 2000

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 21

STATE: Virginia

COUNTY: Chesapeake City County

LOCATION DETAILS: The location was on Bunch Walnut Road, on the North side of the Northwest River about 1/4 of a mile away from the river.

NEAREST TOWN: Chesapeake

NEAREST ROAD: Bunch Walnut Road

OBSERVED: After finally getting my twelve campers to sleep I left them with my co-counselor and took the short walk to the showers. The time was 11:00 pm and everyone was asleep or at least in their cabins. It took me 3 minutes to walk to the showers and on the way I didn't notice anything unusual. After my shower I stepped outside at approximately 11:25 to walk around to the other side of the building. At this point I recall the sounds of the forest being stilled or a little subdued. I also noticed that there were no sounds of the junior staff coming from the bunk house or pool as was usual that time of night, but it didn't make much of an impression on me as I entered the other side of the building and grabbed my laundry basket.

Coming back outside and rounding the building I heard something that stopped me in my tracks. It seemed to be coming from a wooded area west of the bunk house and my initial thought was that it was junior staff playing around, laughing, and yelling. But the sound seemed to be coming from one individual and was carrying very far. It was a really loud howling changing into a type of whining bark and then ending almost like a hoot. It was a sound that puzzled me because I am knowledgable in the sounds of wildlife and had never heard anything like it. I also knew somehow that it was impossible for a human to make that sound, yet it sounded eerily human.

Since I only heard it once I sucked it up and started walking out of the circle of light streaming from the shower building and towards the girl's cabins. Of course my cabin was the last one on the end and of course most people had forgot to turn on their porch lights. None of this bothered me though until I heard the noise again. It was a little closer and louder and it frightened me that it wasn't just a one time thing as it immediately "called" again after the second time. I wasn't afraid I was going to get attacked or anything but it would be nice to be indoors so I started walking faster.

The sound was repeating itself again and it sounded as if whatever was making it was getting still closer and paralleling my path. I finally decided to break into a run and quickly reached my cabin, entering it. The time that had elapsed from when I first heard the "call" til when I entered my cabin was probably a minute and a half since I ran some of the way back to my cabin. I also didn't hear anything else after I got inside but that may be due to the fact that I put on my discman to calm my nerves. Also, the number of "calls" I heard in the elapsed time were about seven, some flowing into each other near the end.

The next day I told the camp director and a few other counselors what had happened but they brushed it off as being a turkey or a dog and even though I didn't know what it was, I knew it wasn't one of these two. Being a prankster and practical hoaxster wasn't on my side because many thought I was joking. When I wouldn't relent with my story I was poked fun at and so I think anyone else that may have heard anything may have been discouraged from saying anything.

I didn't make this report sooner because I didn't discover the website until a few months ago and I have been searching the internet for sound clips of wild animals to maybe rule out or make a possible connection with what I heard. Everything I listened to was worlds away from what I heard, except for sound clips of supposed Sasquatch that were available on this site and some others.

ALSO NOTICED: I could find no prints or any signs whatsoever upon exploring the area the next morning.

OTHER WITNESSES: There were unfortunately, no other witnesses.

OTHER STORIES: A friend of mine who was previously skeptical about what I had heard, spent some winter months as Ranch caretaker. During this time the Ranch was empty except for him and a friend who had come to visit him and all was blanketed under snow. He told me that the one evening when his friend visited him they went out and were hiding from each other and kidding around when he heard a frightning sound coming from the woods behind him that sounded exactly as I had described what I had heard. Thinking it was his friend he called to him and his friend stepped out of the bushes infront of him with a frightened look on his face saying it wasn't him. Also their are many strange stories of things being disturbed and such during the winter months but they may have been concocted for scaring the campers.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The incident occured a little past 11:30pm. It was completely dark with only one electric light. It was a cool humid night, an estimated 75 degrees.

ENVIRONMENT: The sound was coming from the forest to the north of the Ranch, the area we would take the campers to hike, where there was nothing man made for about a few miles North and West of the Ranch area. In the immediate area I recall there being an old trail and delapidated bridge over a canal some say was constructed under the direction of George Washington. The area was thickly wooded and to the East a 1/4 of a mile was the Ranch bunk house, ropes course, and stables. South about a 1/4 of a mile of the area were the boy's cabins, the lodge, the nurses cabin, and the girl's cabins.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Ron B.:

Brooke is a credible witness. She is in college studying Graphic arts. She is an outdoors person and a fan of wildlife. She related the incident without fail to me, and remembered the details very well.

The Dismal Swamp area is full of wildlife, and has a history of sasquatch reports. Brooke's incident follows known sasquatch behavior.