YEAR: 1978

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 6 or 7th

STATE: Missouri

COUNTY: Stone County

NEAREST TOWN: Cape Fair

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 173

OBSERVED: It was July, 1978. My family had just moved from Illinois to Cape Fair, Missouri a few weeks before. Our parents went back to Illinois for a funeral and my sisters (ages 16 & 14) and I (12 years old at the time) were there alone. It was late at night around 11 or midnight when we all were startled by our dogs barking and growling on the porch. Normally the dogs would go down to the driveway if they heard something. This time they stayed on the porch looking towards the front yard barking and growling like I have never heard them do before. What scared us was that the dogs were scared to go down off the porch. We turned all the lights off in the house and looked out the front windows and door to see if we could see headlights or something outside. There was a flood light at the corner of the driveway that cast a light on the front yard. The front yard was all uphill with a 5 ft barbed wire fence separating our yard from the pasture. The front yard had huge black walnut trees spaced about 30-50 feet apart scattered around. I was looking out the front window and saw a large figure standing partially behind a walnut tree. I stared at it a few moments to focus in the dim light to see what it was. I thought it was maybe a drunk camper who was lost. You could walk down our back yard to the lake, so I thought maybe someone was looking for a way to the lake through our yard. People would camp and fish very close by, so we thought somebody was lost. All around our house it was dense forest and there was only one other house on our 1/2 mile road, so we were very isolated. My 16 yers old sister went to calm the dogs down. The 14 year old and I were stioll looking out front. Then after a few moments the figure dashed to the next tree about 50 feet away in about 3 or 4 strides. I kept looking and before I could ask my 14 yr old sister if she saw that- she ran to the back porch to help my 16 yr old sister with the dogs. By this time the dogs were freaking out. Then I looked back to the front yard where I saw it go to another tree, then another tree-zigzagging its way up the hill towards the pasture. Then to my amazement it cleared the barbed wire fence in one stride and was gone into the night. My sisters were tending to the dogs so they didn't see all of what I saw. My 14 year old sister said she saw something by the tree-but she never said anything more than that. I don't know if they were trying to keep me from getting scared, but I think she saw it too. I told my parents about it when they got home. They just blew it off to a city kid seeing "something" in the country night. While I lived there until 1984, I had heard stories of the "Ozark Mountain Monster" but thought it was just folklore. I did have several conversations with oldtimers from the area and heard stories of bigfoot sightings over the years, but never had the courage to "go public". I am 37 now and do still believe to this day I saw a bigfoot. I still get chills when I think about it and am having chills while I am typing this right now. Too spooky!

ALSO NOTICED: I never heard anythig except the dogs barking and growling. We were inside so that's all I could hear.
I went up there the next morning and found nothing-I didn't know what I was looking for then anyway-but nothing was out of the ordinary

OTHER WITNESSES: Maybe one other-we were all watching TV

OTHER STORIES: I heard someone saw something strange making a fuss in the creek near a bridge up hwy 76 just outside Cape Fair about 10 miles or so. It is a popular swimming and fishing spot. It supposedly happened in the early 1960's. An old man was fishing around dusk and heard splashng in the creek towards the bridge. He started walking towards the sound then saw something splashing crouched down in the middle of the creek. He got closer, and then he tripped and almost fell. He startled what ever was in the creek and it was gone by the time he regained his balance and looked back towards the bridge. He left right after that. This was one of the stories I heard while I still lived there.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 11pm-12 midnight
Dim light from flood light-moonlight too
Clear night-mid 70's probably

ENVIRONMENT: At that time, lots of dense wooded area. Steep bluffs on one side of the creek, pastures and dense wooded areas all around. Lots of places to hide and not be found. Not as many houses as there is now.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness by phone. She was very impressed by the immense size of the animal, being at least seven feet tall and very bulky. The walnut trees being huge gave her a reference point to the size. The animal was not slowed down by the five foot fence.

After twenty-six years she still spoke about the fear she and her young sisters felt during the brief sighting.

About BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Stan Courtney has a special interest in wildlife audio recording. He has attended numerous BFRO Expeditions. See Stan's blog StanCourtney.com for recordings he has collected over the years.

Stan Courtney can be reached at illinois@bfro.net