YEAR: 1989

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Harrison County

NEAREST TOWN: Karnack

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 43

OBSERVED: In 1988 my wife, fiancée at the time, and I were visiting my grandmother who was in her mid eighties at that time. She was living on some property that has been owned by my family for over half a century. She had spent a good portion of her life on this property. It was dusk and we were about to leave so we decided to sit on her porch before leaving. After sitting on the porch and talking for a while we heard a loud AHHHHHHHWW! It was coming from just inside the woods behind her house. I’m pretty familiar with animal sounds, but couldn’t identify this sound. I figured that since my grandmother lived there most of her life she would know what it was. I asked her about the sound and she said that she didn’t know, but she said that she takes all her scraps and garbage to the edge of the woods every evening and lately she had the feeling that she was being watched. She also told me she had started carrying a garden hoe when she went out there.

In December of 1989 my friend and I went hunting on my family's property near Caddo Lake. It was about two hours before dawn and we settled into our deer stands. My deer stand was on the edge of a pipeline clearing. My friend’s stand was in a thinly wooded area overlooking a small clearing about a quarter mile away from mine. I sat in my stand freezing my butt off. I didn’t hear or see anything for almost an hour in the freezing temperatures. There was a full moon that night and it was pretty easy to see in the cleared areas. About an hour before the sun started to rise, I noticed something coming out of the woods. It began to walk down the opposite side of the pipeline clearing, towards me. It stayed in the shadows along the side of the wooded area it had exited. It was walking on two legs. At first I thought it maybe a hunter, but I looked hard to see if he had a gun and didn’t see one. This was private property a mile off the nearest road and I didn’t see a gun! It was also deer season, dark outside, and the woods are thick with trees, vines, and briars. This thing had just walked out of woods that are hard for me to walk through during the daytime without getting cutup from the briars. I couldn’t imagine any person strolling through these woods at night during deer season. At first it was probably 75 yards away but it was getting closer. I thought maybe I’m seeing things, but I decided to click the safety off on my gun just in case. Immediately after I had clicked off the safety, this thing heard it; it was barely audible to myself. I could tell it had turned my direction, because its shoulders were now turned towards me. Without missing a step it was now walking backwards while looking at me. After about four steps backwards, it quickly spun around and I couldn’t count the steps after that, it took a few more steps and quickly exited the pipeline. It entered the woods at a different location from where it had exited.

I still couldn’t believe what I had seen, but I kept watching where it entered the woods in case it came back out. I noticed one large tree a few yards back in the wooded area that was higher than the other smaller trees around. This tree began to shake violently. After that I was done hunting, but was too scared to exit my stand. I was certain that it had to be Bigfoot. Every noise I heard after that spooked me. I stayed in my tree-stand until my friend came and got me after the sun came up. I told him what I had seen. I don’t know if he believed me but we went to look for tracks. We didn’t find any tracks but we saw a well-worn trail on the ground where it had exited the woods. I couldn’t enter this trail because the trees and briars were real thick. It looked as if small animals could only use this trail, as it was low to the ground. There was a freshly beaten path where it had reentered the woods. I was able to enter the where it had reentered. I noticed an old plastic pail hanging about five or six feet up on the tree that had been shook. I have no idea why this pail was there. Nothing was in it but pine straw. The woods were too thick from that point on and didn’t see where it could have gone from that point.

ALSO NOTICED: Description - at least six foot. It was hard to judge because my deer stand was about six to seven foot high with a chair in the stand, and I was sitting higher than it stood. What I saw was at least six-foot tall, barrel-chested, and walked stooped over. There was a footprint in some soft soil.

OTHER STORIES: My father and his brothers and sisters where born on this land. He had told me about several encounters he had as a small boy in the 1940’s and 50’s. He only told me about his encounters one time and I could never get him to retell them again. He said as a small boy he would look out his window at night and see something walking between his family’s barn and their pond. He also told me that he and a friend were followed out of the woods once and never saw what was following them. It would stop when they stopped and run when they would run. I don’t know all the details of his other stories, but he told me that his other family members have had encounters also. From what he told me some of them were pretty close encounters with Bigfoot.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1st 5:30 pm and clear. 2nd 2 hours before sunrise, cold & clear.

ENVIRONMENT: ENVIRONMENT: Wooded, there were fairly good size private gardens with fruits and vegetables.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness by phone 2/26/04. We talked almost two hours and I was impressed with his attention to detail, honesty and forthright answers to my questions. He is woods-wise and has been a hunter most of his life. He is a very credible witness.

Location: Approximately 5 miles south of Karnack, Texas off Hwy 43. There is a creek flowing about 1/4 mile south of sighting location. The creek flows into Big Cypress Bayou just before it enters Caddo Lake. Both events he reports happened on the same property.

First Event: The long vocalization the he and his fiancée heard was about twice as long in duration as the normal panther scream that one occasionally hears around that location. No one living there knew for sure what made the noise. I was impressed that the grandmother carried a garden hoe for protection. That reminded me of my grandmother back in the 50's. She also took a garden hoe for protection from everything from snakes to stray dogs & to irate bulls. Those old gals could do a lot of damage with a garden hoe.

Second Event: The witness had been in his deer-hunting stand for approximately an hour, still before sunup but had full moon for illumination. He first thought it was a person since it was walking on two legs. It was walking towards him up the pipeline clearing. As it got nearer, it took on the shape of an animal but not too clear as the only light was the moon. As it closed the distance to about 50 yards, he became concerned and flipped the safety off on his rifle. As he flipped the safety off, the animal heard it, immediately turned slightly to face him and quickly walked backwards for about four steps and quickly turned around and disappeared into the woods. The woods were thick underbrush with mostly young trees about 15 feet tall. One tree was larger at about 20 feet tall and it began to shake violently for about 3 to 4 seconds, then all was quiet. After sunup and when his hunting partner came up, they investigated the area of entering the woods to the tree that had so violently shook. They could find no prints to identify the animal and only small animal trails in the underbrush.

The Animal: It was too dark to make out facial features. It was just a large bulky body walking on two feet. It made no noise. It gave off no odor that could be detected from the 50-yard range.

Conclusion: I found it interesting that it could hear so well, react so quickly, take the steps backward to the game trail and disappear quickly into the underbrush. I believe these creatures drop to all fours and knuckle walk through the underbrush and game trails that we humans cannot walk through. I feel the violent tree shaking was just a warning to keep away, (it worked). Combine this with the ongoing events of the family who were on this land since the early 1900's and the close proximity of other sightings (within 6 miles) of several other Harrison County sightings. I am sure that he witnessed a Bigfoot.