YEAR: 1996

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Panola County

NEAREST TOWN: Gary

OBSERVED: I worked as a truck driver, I hauled crude oil and condensate off of oil leases to unload stations. I would start to work about dark and finish up right before daylight or sometimes a little earlier. I did this in Gregg, Rusk, Panola, Smith and surrounding counties. I don't remember the roads because we hauled so many different leases that my memory fails me. In the wee hours of a cool foggy morning in December I had loaded and was on my way out of the lease. We were required to open and shut the gate on these leases because of livestock and public safety. Our trailers had bright lights for seeing how to back up at night and I always turned them on when I closed gates. Just as I closed the gate and locked it, I saw something step out of the woods and onto the lease road. It paused a minute and continued on across the lease road. My blood ran cold and every hair on my body stood on end. It was only about 30 feet from me, I could see it's breath in the cold night air. If bigfoot exists, this is what I saw. It did not seem menacing. I ran for the truck and drove off, and never looked back. I have never told this to anyone, not even my wife.

ALSO NOTICED: About 7 feet tall brownish colored hair, not sure about texture of hair or length. Apelike face, walked upright, long strides.

OTHER WITNESSES: No other witnesses.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 2:00 am.

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded, lots of chicken farms.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with witness by phone August 20, 2003. Witness was quite open with his answers to my questions and did not try to embellish any of his answers and stories.

Witness was coming out of an oil well site in Panola county, on an unmarked unimproved oil well road and had just walked back to lock the property gate behind him. It was a cool foggy December night, he did not make a note of the exact time, just around 2:00 am. Site was just east of Lake Murvaul and west of Gary Texas. There are many oil well sites in this area and he does not remember which site.

As he locked the gate and by the light of his truck work lights, he saw a large man-like creature walk out from one side of the road that he just drove out from. With no noise, the creature stepped out from the brush on one side of the road, paused just a second to turn and look at him and continue on across the road disappearing into the woods. The creature made no aggressive movement or sound. The whole incident was totally silent.

The witness was alone, his blood ran cold, every hair on his body stood on end. He ran for his truck and drove off. The witness has never told anyone about this sighting, not even his wife.

Further description of creature: It was taller than the witness. The witness is 6 feet tall. It was covered completely in what looked to be medium brown hair. Hair on back of neck, chin, and upper shoulders was longer than hair on rest of the body which appeared to be rather short. There was no reflection of color from the eyes when it glanced at him. The body was very slender and head was basically round, not pointed like the bulk of bigfoot sightings. There was no noticeable odor. It walked on two legs, had a very long stride. Witness was approximately 30 feet from the creature and was viewed by the work flood lights mounted on rear bumper of his trailer. Those lights put out a wide beam for about 60 feet.

Lighting: The flood lights were mounted just below waist high on his trailer. The lights, being that low compared to his eyes, I feel that was why their was no eye reflection.

Conclusion: Witness is not sure what type of creature it was. Everything in his description points to bigfoot except the body being thin. Due to several other sightings in the area and witness's total honesty in description, I believe that it was a thin bigfoot.

TBRC Investigator

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