YEAR: 2000

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: October

DATE: 15, 28

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Marion County

NEAREST TOWN: Summerfield

NEAREST ROAD: SE 145 St. and 301

OBSERVED: A couple weeks ago we all heard it and it sent my then 10 year old son running into the house, still light out but getting dark. It was still pretty far away. Three Sundays ago (10/15/00) the dog kept going off, starting around midnight till 2:30am, my husband,C., went out several times with the rifle but never heard or saw anything. At 2:50am the dog went ballistic and C. told me it was my turn. When I opened the front door you could he it over the dog barking. It was all the way back into my property behind the horse lounge ring at the back of the property line.
It continued to sound off as my husband was loading the other rifle for me and then it sounded like it killed something, this was awful. When we got outside, we stood behind the truck about 50 yards from where the noises were coming from. Then it stopped but heard no movement in the woods, the dog continued this entire time sounding off. After about 5 minutes of silence, my husband shot off a round into the ground and could hear it break branches as it moved behind that old parts truck in the woods. Then he let off another round and it went farther in the woods and that was it. I called Fish & Game and went through the same old BS I did a couple of years ago. I went to K-Mart and bought a GE auto voice recorder and we started setting it out at night. We got it on tape that same week, we never heard it from inside the house but were able to hear the dog barking. I have let several people listen to it and no one can ID it. Again, this is not like anything that I heard prior or like on those tapes.
Last night (10/28/00) we had a party after my art show, two of the people who previously heard the tape were there. We had a fire going for a bar-b-que and we were all pretty loud. At around 10:00pm you could hear it over all the noise in the same general area. They ALL HEARD IT. Except two women that went to get Lotto's at the store. Three male friends and one of their girlfriends were over by the lounge ring where they had parked their car. When we ran over to them, the one guy who had previously heard the tape said "what the #@!% was that?" We heard it moving in the woods and we ran in the house for the recorder and the rifles. Total Chaos!! There were no kids present at this time only adults. We listen to it WALK in the woods and you could hear it breaking branches as it moved. One guy said "Its big whatever it is" And another turned to me and said "it sounds as though it's walking on two feet". We never mentioned that from the first experience, but we heard it and it did sound as thought it was two footed.
C. went back into the house to get the flashlight and he and R. went into the woods, whatever it was stayed at least 100-200 feet away from them. The whole time R. (ex-law enforcement officer & paramedic) could hear it breaking the branches as it moved through the woods as he guided my husband in the general direction it was moving in, (My husband can't hear certain tones from a far distance) never saw or heard it again. We also had a Realtor friend, D., and some good ole boys. A good mix of people and no one could ID the sounds, only that whatever it is has an attitude and is big. The comment was made by more then two people that it sounded as thought it was on two legs. Could not find any tracks, deep layer of oak leaves.

OTHER WITNESSES: 12

OTHER STORIES: About a month ago a neighbor lost 8 goats and another neighbor lost one. A friends, friend had her cat killed, all mangled up. This thing is not afraid of fire or humans, it was too close. Lots of shotguns going off at night between midnight and 4am.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: between 10 pm and 3 am

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded

Follow-up investigation report:

Primary BFRO Investigator--Dave Sidoti

I received many E-mails from Mrs. C on 10/29-11/2/00 of this incident. The husband and wife have had a few encounters with this creature in the past and Mrs. C said that her husband had seen one back in the late 70's in south Miami. The last report they had was in 1996 & 99 and those reports are on the BFRO's data base.
I went out to investigate today (11/3/00) and walked the area with Mrs. C. They had this get-together bar-b-que and there were 12 people at this, including Mr. & Mrs. C. All adults no kids. Adults range from 30's to 40's. I talked to D. which is one of the witnesses that was at the bar-b-que. D. is a realtor in the area. I asked her to tell me what she heard that night and she said "I had never heard anything like it before. It was loud and insane. It sounded like it was walking on two feet and it was heavy."
As I looked around, the area has a lot of oak tress with 4-5"of brush. They could hear the sounds of foot steps very well because of the oak leaves and dead branches laying around in the woods. (As I walked around I found it hard to keep going in my sneakers because of the stickers grabbing my shoelaces, so when I got a chance to get back to my truck I changed into by work boots.) The sounds started around 10:00pm. Mrs. C then had gotten the tape recorder and got some sounds that it was making. I listen to the sounds that she had recorded and there does seem to be something in the back-ground making a loud scream or screeching sound. But all the witnesses agreed that the tape doesn't compare to the actual sound, as if you were right there listening to it. It was hard to make out over the dogs barking on the tape. Mrs. C said she would give me a copy of the tapes that she has of it.
We walked the area where she found what looked to be a foot print, and I took pictures of this print. They seemed small compared to what everyone said that they heard walking in the woods. I was comparing the print (which looks like a small child's foot but couldn't see any toes. The print was about 6-7 inches long and about 1 1/2" deep but inconclusive as to a foot print.) to what everyone said about the sound. They said the sound was like someone heavy walking on two feet. So this print and the heaviness of the sound don't match.
Next, I found a tall young tree that looked to be pulled down and made to stay and another tree that was laid flat (all still had green leaves on them) as to look like a covering or nest. About 2-3' in front of this is what I found to be a stick formation. At first I thought the sticks had fallen like that, but as I looked closer they looked to be put like that on purpose. As we walked where she said they heard it walking away to the south of them, I found a tree that was still green and broke about 4' off the ground and twisted. Mrs. C told me her and D. found another tree like that and took pictures of it but the one I found was a different one then they had found.
Mrs. C called another witness up at work (C.) to have him tell me what he heard that night. C. told me that what he heard "was something walking in the woods on two feet but heavy like. Also sounded like it was killing something by the sound it made. Something strong and heavy walking through the woods".