YEAR: 1980

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

STATE: Arkansas

COUNTY: Baxter County

LOCATION DETAILS: I was only 13 at the time and didnt pay much attention to the roads. The dirt road came down around a hill and leveled off along the east bank of the river. The other side of the river was inaccessible due to a very steep bluff. The bottom of the bluff was exposed rock with a slight outcropping from erosion. About 50 feet up the bluff vegitation began with ever increasing pine trees and vegetation that continued at least another 200 plus yards to the top. This part of the river was on a long gradual bend that obstructed lengthy views along the river in either direction. I have fished the river many times as an adult but have yet to find the exact spot.

NEAREST TOWN: Bull Shoals or Norfolk

NEAREST ROAD: unknown

OBSERVED: When I was about 13 years old I went trout fishing with my mother and aunt on the White river in Arkansas. We were staying at a motel in BullShoals. One morning we drove to a remote area of the river to fish via an unkown dirt road. We stopped to fish a bend of the river. On the opposite side of the river(west), was a tall stone bluff with a slight over crop from erosion. On the east side was flatter land with 12 to 20 foot thin scrub trees about 20 to 30 feet from the water, as the river was low. While my mother and aunt where fishing off the bank, I decided to try my luck further up river, about 300 yards away and just out of sight with my mother. While I was fishing along the bank I began to hear rustling sounds in the trees and shrubs behind me. I looked in the direction of the noise and could see the tops of the these thin trees moving as if something were walking through them and pushing them to the side, but due to the thickness of the vegetation I could not see what was actually moving the trees. I stood and observed this activity for 2 or 3 minutes. I began hearing grunting type sounds that were very deep and substantial sounding. These sounds were similar but different than grunt sounds a bull would make. The movement of the trees began to appear as if something were shaking the trees at this point instead of moving through them. It appeared that whatever was making the noises was only about 10 feet inside the brush yet I could not see what it was. Feeling nervous, I decided I should return to my mothers side and began walking back towards my mother. As I did, whatever was in the brush moved with me step for step. As I walked the movement in the trees seemed more forceful with the sounds of large branches breaking as it moved. When I got within sight of my mother (about 50 yards), all activity stopped. I informed my mother there was something in the brush following me, but she shrugged it off. Within a few minutes we decided to leave as we werent catching any fish.

ALSO NOTICED: Movement of trees and vegitation, unusual grunting type sounds. Most of the trees were about 2-3 inches in diameter but swaying and shaking as if something large were moving through them and pushing them to the side. There were smells of something dead, I believe, but since this was an exposed river bed it did not seem that unusual or overbearing.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was the only witness to the activity

OTHER STORIES: There are BFRO reports in the Norfolk area

TIME AND CONDITIONS: around 10 am, bright sunny day

ENVIRONMENT: It was the river with exposed river bed due to low water flows. Smaller more accesible hills on the east side. Mountain ridge on the opposite side with an outcropping of exposed rock. The eastside had thin trees, thick brush and cane like vegetation. The river bed was all gravel and stone.

Follow-up investigation report:

Spoke to the witness on 1-28-2005.
He had gone fishing on the White River with his mother and aunt in the morning (he estimates 10 AM as it was just starting to get really warm outside) in a remote area near Norfork . They weren’t having any luck and he wandered up the river around a bend and out of sight of his mother and aunt to see if he’d have better luck fishing. Soon afterwards he described hearing very deep grunts, snorts and heavy breathing sounds coming from some thick vegetation approximately 20 feet behind him. He said at the time he was 13 years old and the thought of a Bigfoot never crossed his mind. He thought it was probably a deer or a cow and didn’t feel overly concerned. He could see branches moving and shaking in the vegetation, but was never able to see what was there. He described the grunting sounds as “whoooooomp” and said they sounded very deep mixed with snort-type sounds and a heavy breathing as from a large animal. He listened and watched for a few minutes trying to see if he could make anything out in the vegetation and finally decided he should head back to where his mother and aunt were. As he was walking back whatever had been in the vegetation began following him at which point he started feeling nervous. He felt like he was being watched. He describes the area he was walking next to as very dense with very thick scrub brush with dense cane-like trees that were about 15 feet tall, 2 – 3 inches in diameter and very sparse with few branches. He said it sounded like it was very close and he should have been able to see it, but wasn’t able to. He could see the trees moving as whatever was paralleling him seemed to be pushing through the trees and said it looked like it was grabbing the trees and holding them aside as it pushed through. He continued to hear occasional “whooooomps” and grunts and stated it didn’t sound the way a hoofed animal would walk on four legs, but more like it had two legs and was loudly breaking and snapping branches as it walked. He stopped on two occasions trying to see what it was at which point whatever it was stopped as well. As he approached the area where his mother and aunt were and gained sight of them, the sounds stopped completely in an area where the thick scrub brush and trees came to an end near a clearing. He told his mother he was being followed by something and she seemed to shrug it off and they prepared to leave. He said he watched the area intently where the sounds had stopped at as they prepared to leave but never saw anything. He has been fishing in this area several times now that he’s an adult, but been unable to find the location where this occurred to him as a child. He continues to look, however.