YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 29

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Liberty County

NEAREST TOWN: Cleveland, Texas

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 105

OBSERVED: My wife and I were crossing the Trinity River on Highway 105 just before sunset on May 29, 2004 after having been to a Cardinals-Astros baseball game. The west bank of the Trinity was a long sand bar, and there were a few people (ten - fifteen) spread out along the sandbar doing various things. There were a few kids and a dad camping, two guys sitting on a tailgate, there was a couple farther down fishing, and there was another truck backed up to the sandbar with its stereo playing. My wife and and I drove down to the sandbar, had to engage the four-wheel drive to avoid getting stuck and turned around to go back to the highway (Hwy 105). We got back out on the highway and my wife asked me to drive on across the bridge to the other side. I did so. My wife saw what she called "a waterfall" off the left side of the bridge (actually it was just water running over rocks in a small creek off the Trinity). We turned off on a dirt road just past the bridge, drove over a small wooden bridge over my wife's "waterfall" and came to a gate that was locked with two padlocks. Keep in mind that the area is very heavily wooded, swampy and marshy in areas and highly inhospitable, once you step foot into the woods.

At the gate, we got out of my truck. We climbed the gate just to look around the area. We could hear the music and the kids playing across the river (probably 1/4 of a mile back across the bridge). On the other side of the gate, the road turned into a two-track trail. There had been vehicles down there probably within the last month. We walked down the trail. The sun was setting and it was starting to get dark. This was very impromptu and we had not planned for this jaunt at all. My wife had heels on! I walked on ahead, probably thirty feet ahead of my wife. There was a sign that indicated that the area was a private hunting club area. We were very quiet and made very little sound. It was then that I saw it - about forty yards down the trail, where the trail turned sharply to the left. "It" leapt across the trail much like a long-jumper, landed on the right side of the trail and leapt again into the woods - quickly, quietly, in the blink of an eye. It was a rusty-red color, about six feet tall, and was extremely, extremely fast. In an instant, my mind tried to ascertain what it was I saw. I kept telling myself, "No way. No way." But - my data banks could not process it or link it to any other creature that I had ever seen. I saw no face, and do not remember seeing arms or feet - but I did see an upright something about six feet tall leap ten feet across the trail and spring into the woods. I turned to whisper loudly to my wife, "DID YOU SEE THAT!?" No. She was busy dealing with a slimey, slithery something that slithered across her foot. She was quite distraught, and her encounter happened at exactly the second that mine occurred. When she realized what had happened, she quickly jogged up to me and we jogged to spot of the crossing. When we arrived at the crossing area, we could hear the animal still running through the woods, sending birds to flight near its path. It was then that I smelled a musky smell, much like a horse actually. We looked for tracks of any nature and found absolutely nothing. The creature cleared the road and the road was the only place that tracks would have been made. We turned to look to the left, and there in the woods was a clump of uprooted trees with fresh sod still on the roots, as though they had recently been put there.

I am sorry, but I can't say with certainty that what I saw was a bigfoot, but I can say with certainty that what I saw was:

1. Rusty-red (orangutanish);
2. Approximately six feet in height;
3. Incredibly fast;
4. Appeared bipedal and upright;
5. Not a deer, coyote, cat, horse, human, fox, bear, wolf, hog, dog or any other indigenous animal that I have seen in Texas. (I was raised in the backwoods of East and Central Texas).

We had no cameras with us, but even if we had, the creature was way out of sight before I could have drawn any camera. And he was way too fast for any hope of pursuit.

We surmised that perhaps he had been watching the people across the river from a very safe and secure position - until he saw us coming up the road, at which time he fled in a panic. He probably saw us long before we saw him. When I first saw him, he was in mid-air leaping across the road. He touched down and sprung up and into the woods. We heard him for a few seconds after we arrived at the crossing area and then it went silent, save for the people noises from across the river. We thought that he may have stopped and surveilled us from a hidden position in the woods. We looked around for just a few minutes and had to return to the truck - it was getting dark in a hurry and we were largely unequipped.

ALSO NOTICED: I was struck by the speed more than anything else. Think in terms of cheetah. Envision in your mind, if you will, a cheetah in full sprint leaping from the woods on one side of a small, two-track trail, and landing just on the other side of the trail, only to bound again into the woods. Now, envision that this cheetah is upright and bipedal and roughly six feet tall, and is covered with rusty-red hair or fur. Get the picture? Faast.

OTHER WITNESSES: My wife and I. I saw it - we both heard it. And both witnesses saw the uprooted trees.

OTHER STORIES: Yes. BFRO and TBRC have a report from Liberty County. The sighting was in January 2004.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Dusk. Hot, humid, clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Trinity River bottom land. Piney woods, swampy, thick.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness on 6/03/2004.

The encounter took place at dusk on 5/29/2004. While it wasn't dark yet, it was a 3/4 moon that night.

This encounter took place within 3/4 of a mile from a previous
report from January of this year. The earlier report took place on the west side of the Trinity River, while this encounter took place on the east side of the river.

The terrain was swampy, with Bald & Black Cypress. The witness and his wife were walking on a 2-track trail, a trail with 2 tire track ruts. The witness noticed a reddish-copper colored upright form leap across the trail. When he first saw it, it was in mid-air. He saw it land at the edge of the trail and then take a 2nd jump into the woods. As the witness and his wife ran up to the location it entered the woods, they could hear it run 30 yards or so into the woods, disturbing some birds which took flight. They didn't hear anymore movement at that time. His wife commented that "it was probably watching us" at that point. The witness noticed a very strong, musky smell at the location where it entered the woods, although his wife did not notice the smell. He described it most closely as that of a horse.

He estimated the size of the creature as approximately 6 feet tall and weighing 200 pounds. The witness was struck with the speed of the creature. It moved so fast that it appeared as a reddish blur. No features or limbs could be made out, just that it appeared to be moving upright. He estimated that it was within 40 yards from him when it crossed the trail. He estimated that the time of the sighting was less than a second.

They then checked out the area from which it came, noticing some uprooted trees six to seven feet into the tree line. He said that it resembled the start of a lean-to like structure. They could see through the woods across the river at this point and see several of the people that were down on the river. He surmised that it had been there examining these people when he and his wife disturbed it. It ran away from the river and entered the deeper woods across the trail.

While the witness can't say with 100% certainty that what he saw was a Bigfoot, there are not many other possibilities.