YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 18

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Hood County

NEAREST TOWN: Lipan

OBSERVED: I was asleep on the couch and we have around 7 dogs. They started running around the house frantically barking and carrying on. We recently had a small fire that cleared out the back part of the woods back there and more and more people keep moving to this area. So I figured it was an animal or coyote or something they were chasing. I run a small security perimeter every night or so. There's always been a rumor of a panther up here, so I carry a weapon with me, not to mention snakes. I have never seen the panther but I have many times come up on something I assumed was the panther story but I never thought about a big foot theory till this morning. My wife woke up and made me go look. So I loaded my rifle and headed out on my security sweep. I first hit the road about 200-300m from the house, small dirt road. I don't use a flashlight, I can see fairly well at night. I have a brindle boxer who was freaking out sniffing the ground every 4-5 steps and just real jumpy, usually he just marks it and goes away. I saw no signs of the other dogs, when something jolted passed me out of the bushes almost knocking the boxer over, he ran the other direction. It scared the crap outta me and I got off 3 shots but missed it because my rifle jammed up with two shells in the chamber. I thought whatever it was I scared off, and used my pocket knife to release the two jammed shells. So I walked about 350m to my shop to grab some more ammo. I felt like the hairs on my neck were standing up. I loaded my rifle up and opened the door to my shop. Instantly I noticed this, pardon the expression, but this stout crap/wet grass odor really thick in the air. Not more than 5 minutes had passed and I felt like I was being watched again. I snuck around to my parent's house about 200m from my shop and climbed on the roof to get a better look. I was up high so could see lots more from there. We have a school bus on the property that we use for storage. It's about 350m NW of my location and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I thought I saw a large thin shadow go past the bus. I figured it was my brindle boxer's shadow because there's a light on the shop. My house porch light creates a lighted area near there. But then it stop and looked right at me on my perch. I had it open sights but thought it was my dog with just a shadow. Then outta nowhere behind me the neighbor's dog started going crazy. I turned for two secs and the shadow was gone. My dog was behind me, not in front. I sat up there for another 10 minutes trying to find out what the neighbor's dogs were barking at. They were howling, growling, weirdest sounds too. They have a hound dog but it did not sound like that. It was really hard to describe the sound, almost like a howl but a growl at the same time. Very distinctive and then it all just stopped, a dead silence. I turned back to the bus area kinda just looking in the general area, trying to figure out what I saw, if it was just my imagination. Then I saw it again, plain as day. It was squatting down like it was hiding. It looked at me again and then ran around the side of the bus, it was as tall as the bus but skinny, but it was dark so not sure. I instantly jumped off the house and ran over there. The closer I got the more slower I went. Rifle held in a firing position as I crept around the bus. My heart pounded and when I got around the bus, nothing but the open area of where the fire had been. I am always suspicious of the land across the hwy, they have a fence around the property that is almost 9-10 ft high. They have many Exotic animals over there. A huge manmade water source. I think its a wildlife preserve or something, but nothing like this ever happened till it showed up. After this I am convinced it's not a panther. I have been running security every night or so. Bigfoot no idea, I am unsure what I saw, but it was intelligent. No matter what I think, I am absolutely sure, I was not the one hunting it. I don't think its intentions were harmful, it probably could have got to me at anytime. And I am not that easy to catch. It came back to the same place 3 times in one night even after I shot at it. I'm not sure but it's braver than me. Not the first time, just the first time I have seen it in the open. It seemed to me like it was testing defenses, probing to a point. It is either fast or there is more than one, because our homesteads are half a mile from each other. The neighbors and their dogs flipped out last night as well. I just know what I saw and it was not a coyote, wild pig or a panther.

ALSO NOTICED: It was tall - 8ft-10ft, thin not like what you see in the Bigfoot pictures, but was darker in proportion, looked like a blur of darkness almost like a fuzzy line. I checked for tracks in the morning but nothing. It's been kinda dry around here lately no signs that I can see that it even happened. Starting to think I dreamed it. I am sure I did not though because my kids said they heard me shoot 3 times this morning. There was a howl/growl but not at me, at the dogs. It seemed to only do it towards the dogs, but just was aware I was there. Almost like it wanted it to be known it was there, but not like it wanted to attack me. I am sure if it wanted to attack it could have at anytime. It was very fast, but always kept a safe distance. There was a strong smell of fresh animal crap/mixed with wet grass. Almost smelled like just before a rain but with an odor of "What did I just step in?" At least that's what I did when I smelled it, checked my feet to see what I stepped in. But it was just thick in the air.

OTHER WITNESSES: No other witnesses.

OTHER STORIES: First incident happened two months ago, when I came across something digging in the ground under a tree not more than 150ft from my shop around 2:30 in the morning. I went on patrol, dogs freaked out. I got a really bad feeling so I went and got another guy to help me hunt what it was, and when I turned around to go get him something hauled butt down the road and jumped into the woods disappearing. That's when my parents first told me of the panther stories. But I still think it was too big to be a panther, the only reason I figured they were right was because it moved so fast. But the thing last night moved just as quick, when it wanted too. It was almost like it wanted me to see it, I really did feel like it knew where I was the whole time.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 3:30-4:00 am. Dark, cool & no wind.

ENVIRONMENT: Rocky terrain, wooded. A few places have Horses but nothing I would call Agricultural except across the hwy.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness. The encounter occurred between 3:30 and 4:00 am. Prior to this incident, there had been a few other interesting incidents. One was the incident where something had been digging in the ground. Another happened approximately 2 weeks prior to the one today. While the witness was in his shop one night, something came by and hit the side of the building very hard. By the time the witness could get outside, there was nothing there that he could see. He said that it was harder than something just running into the side of the building, he felt it was deliberate.

The witness lives on a piece of land 50 acres in size. There are 4 trailers there, 2 of them occupied. Other than himself, his parents live there as well. There are 2 campers there also, one of them occupied. The portion of the land they live on is approximately 10 acres, with the rest of the property fenced off.

The witness was woken up by the sounds of dogs barking. He went out to investigate and only saw 1 of his dogs. As he was walking back to his trailer, something ran past him, knocking him and his dog over. He shot three times as he was falling to the ground, once into the ground and the other two times in the direction of whatever had knocked him down. He got up, went to his shop to un-jam his gun (.22 rifle). After getting more ammo, he left his shop and was hit by an overpowering odor. He described it as a combination of animal feces and wet grass.

He decided to climb up on top of his parent's carport to better survey the area. He noticed a large shadow next to a school bus that is on the property. He at first thought that it was the shadow of one of his dogs. While he was watching it, it turned to look towards him and he noticed that it was a dark figure. It was as tall as the door on the bus. He felt that it was looking directly at him. When it turned in his direction, the whole upper turned, as it it didn't have a neck.

He then heard strange vocalizations coming from his right, the figure was to his left. He looked in the direction of the sounds. It sounded like "a whole pack of dogs, but it stopped all together." When he turned back towards the bus, he didn't see the figure. He looked closer and noticed that it was no longer standing, it was squatting down on its haunches. It then got up, turned about face and ran off around the bus. He said that it moved very fast. The witness got down and went to where it had went around the bus. He did not see anything there. The barb wired fence was still moving as if something had crossed over it. The total time that he had a visual was no more than 25 seconds. He never heard any noise coming from the figure.

Another investigator went to the scene. He talked to the witness at length about the encounter. He also searched for any evidence of an animal's presence. He did find some wild plum trees in the area that the creature ran off to. He measured the height of the bus and the door was 7 foot tall. The investigator's opinion was that the witness either saw one of these creatures, or a very tall man.

TBRC Investigator

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