YEAR: 1996

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Howard County

LOCATION DETAILS: My home is about 150 yds off the north service road to Interstate 20, and is about 5 miles east of the nearest town. This area has a lot of undeveloped land and several stocktanks for water, as well as a diversified animal base (I am a hunter and fisherman and can fish in two small lakes within 9 miles of my house as well as lots of areas for hunting that holds more wildlife than thought to be in West Texas).

NEAREST TOWN: Big Spring Texas

NEAREST ROAD: Interstate 20

OBSERVED: About 12:30 to 1:00am my wife and I was awakened by our neighbors dogs barking. At first we thought that maybe a skunk was in the area as we had the windows open and we smelled something that was rank. Our bedroom windows were open due to our AC unit not working. After about five minutes of this the dogs quit barking, and I decided to get up and use the rest room.

Upon returning to the bedroom my wife asked me to get her a glass of ice water. I went down the hall into the dining room and turned to go into the kitchen when I noticed that a large head was looking in the kitchen window and was now looking at me. The distance from the hallway to kitchen window is about 20 feet.

I have a "Streetlight type" security light in my backyard and it was on so I was able to see the creature clearly. The head was conical in shape and covered in a dark brown almost blackish hair about 4-5 inches in length. The face itself was basically hairless around the nose, cheeks and only a small amount of hair around the upper mouth. The jaw line was very powerful and large in shape much like the jaw line of a gorilla but more human like then a gorilla. The creature had a large prominant eyebrow ridge that was covered with smaller length of hair. The skin color was a dark gray almost blackish in color. The thing I remember most though was the eyes. The eyes were yellowish in color with large black iris's with no white that I could see. The color reminds me most of all like the eyes of a cat in color.

I stood still and looked at the creature which was looking at me for about 30 seconds before I realized that the eyes and head was in the top section of the window and that I could not see the shoulders as they were outside of the window frame. But the head was large and muscular as was the neck and chest area that was visible to me. I would say that from my impression of this creature had to be at least 450 to 500 lbs in weight. This weight approximation is due to the overall impression of size and bulk of the creature I could see. I should note that the window is 26" in length and I never did see below mid stomach area which was slightly large but not fat looking.

I then became frightened when I realized that this creature was very powerful and a lot bigger then me. I'm 6 foot, 4 inches and about 250 lbs and in very good health and considered somewhat a large and strongly built man in the upper body. But I realized that this creature would make me look like a child if I was standing next to it. And if it wanted it could easily do bodily harm to me or anyone.

I turned and ran into the bedroom closet and grabbed my SKS, then went to where I kept my ammo for the rifle. My wife realized that I was scared and asked what was wrong. She stated that I was white as a sheet as I was shaking from being so scared that I could not load the rifle. This I was trying to do in the light from the bathroom and I definitely did not want to turn on any more light until I had the rifle loaded, and ready.

I finally got some rounds onto the bed for the rifle. and I told her that something was staring at me from the kitchen window and it was huge as I tried to load the SKS. I finally put all ten bullets into the rifle before I went back into the dining room. I am still not sure that one, two or even three rounds even the hard hitting power from a military round such as a 7.62mm round of a SKS would stop it easily, short of a head shot.

While I was loading the rifle we heard a loud weird howling sound come from the backyard which finally got me moving as I thought it would be coming in the house next.

When I got back into the dining room I turned on all the lights both inside the house and the porch lights before I went outside. I will say that I WAS definitely intending to SHOOT the damn thing and deal with the problems from doing so later. It scared the hell out of me and I was afraid for my family. I have spent six years in the US Army, was in Special Forces and I am a combat veteran, (Panama and Gulf War). When I went outside I could not see it anywhere around, so it had probably ran off by that time except that I had a feeling that I was being watched from the open field behind my house. I finally went back into the house and explained to my wife what I had seen. After about five minutes from the time I went back into the house my neighbors dogs started barking again. Which made me a lot more nervous and edgy at first until my wife said that they stopped barking while it was outback. Anyway I spent a long night waiting for it to return but it never did.

The next day I went outside to see if I could find any sign of the creature. I found that part of my barbed wire fence on the back of my property was pulled down about a foot in a place that might have been a scuff mark in the ground where it might have stepped as it went over the fence but nothing definite that would have stood up to any sort of official investigation. The fence height is five feet along that fence line.

By then I realized that I had seen a bigfoot, sasquatch or what ever you want to call it. And should I ever see one again in my backyard I will try to shoot it as I did not feel safe then and I do not want one of them to get near my wife or kids.

Some measurements on the window and back of house: I have measured the window in the kitchen and it is 32 inches wide and the top of the window is over eight feet off the ground outside, as the house is higher then the surrounding ground in the backyard. So if the creature was looking in at the top plane of glass in the kitchen window it was at least 8' 6" in height and had a shoulder width of at least 36" and more like 44" by the width of shoulders that I could see and the extrapolation of the part of the shoulders I could not see. The weight I listed earlier is due to the fact that a creature that tall and broad and the depth it had to have since it seemed so powerful; must be at least the weight I listed as 450 to 500 pounds.

I have not seen anything since that time and have taken a lot of kidding from my family and close friends that I or my wife have told this to but I still stand by what I saw that night and will do so until my dying day. AS I know what I saw and heard that night.

ALSO NOTICED: Neighbor who raised his goats lost several over the years to unknown means I mean the goats just disappear. Not killed by bobcat or dogs. I know as I have helped him look for his lost goats

OTHER WITNESSES: Actually seeing the creature - just me. However my wife did smell the same rank odor as me.

OTHER STORIES: Have heard from others in the area that several oilfield workers and truckers have had experiences with large men just walking in front of their trucks while driving along FM 821 late at night and a few oldtimers in the area telling tales of someone/something throwing rocks and sticks at them while working on the oil field equipment. The area that this is supposed to occur in is only 5 miles from my house and easily traveled thru without having to expose oneself to any civilization other then the occasional house or back roads.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 12:30 - 1:00 am, security light.

ENVIRONMENT: Terrain = Location is near the Edwards Plateau on what is called the caprock. Flora = Mesquite, Live oak, Several thickets in area as well as lots of scrub brush. Fauna = lots of wildlife (Deer, Feral Hogs, Pronghorn Antelope, Javalina, Turkey as well as goats, & cows aplenty on the ranches in the area.) To give you an idea on the remoteness of my home from the nearest city. I once had to kill a bobcat that was in the front yard of my house. This was done in the middle of the day and that is not normal for a bobcat to be near humans in daytime.

Follow-up investigation report:

I interviewed the witness extensively and there are no additional details to add.

The area is possibly a travel route, since it is in close proximity to the Colorado River, and seems to be along a general game trail. Further, the area may be in a west-to-east travel corridor for the creatures, possibly from New Mexico into Texas. There have been other West Texas sightings, albeit sporadic, along the Colorado River and/or its adjoining lakes or tributaries.