YEAR: 1978 - 1979

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: November

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Liberty County

LOCATION DETAILS: It has been twenty years since I have hunted there. All I can tell you is that it is northeast of Houston towards Beaumont,TX.

NEAREST TOWN: Tarkington, Tx

NEAREST ROAD: Don't Remember

OBSERVED: As a teenager from the early seventies up until 1980, I hunted this area. Numerous times I had mentioned a smell to a friend which I described as somewhere between a skunk and a wet dog. My friend acknowledged that he had smelled it several times himself. We blew it off as being some type of plant or weed, but as I began smelling it more often I could tell it was some type of animal as opposed to a plant or weed. I began thinking that it was probably ferral hogs. As I continued to get older and continued to squirrel hunt these same areas, I began to notice that every time I smelled this odor, there were no squirrels moving or any wildlife for that matter. I do not know exact dates or even the year in which these incidents occured, but it was in the mid to late seventies. I have been reluctant to tell anyone about these incidents.

1978: The first visual experience that I had came deep in the woods from the road. I had walked about a mile down in the woods where I came upon a pinoak flat.I could see all the way through the flat to the other side which was about 150-175 yards. On the other side of the flat was a stand of reset pine all about 15 ft. tall with high dead grass underneath. Immediately I noticed something laying under a pine tree across the flat. At first it looked like the area below the tree and the trunk of the tree had been burnt out. As I eased closer it began to look like a gorrila laying under the tree. I am a pretty stealthy person in the woods and I told myself I am seeing things, but I am going to try and get closer to this thing just to prove to myself I am not seeing this. As I moved within 100 yards or so, I could see that I was not crazy. It's head was moving and at this time I could tell it's color was gray with a black gorrila face. The adrenalin kicked in, I checked my gun, put some trees between myself and this thing and proceded to try and get closer, peering around the trees every few feet to see if it was still there. I got to within 50-75 yards and peered around the tree and it was gone.The floor of the pinoak flat was dry with a lot of crunchy leaves and twigs. I knew I was going to scare it off before I could get as close as I liked. After I noticed that it was gone I sat down in the flat for about an hour and did not see any wildlife at all. I then got up and went over to area where I had seen it and was hit with "that smell" and the grass was mashed down underneath the pine. At first I don't think that it knew I was there, because it was moving it's head and acting unconcerned. As I tried to sneek up on it though, It deffinately sensed my presents or heard me crunch a twig. I know it never visually made me out, because I kept trees between myself and it the whole time.

1979: It had rained sometime between 3am and when I had set out to go squirrel hunting. It was very foggy and misty on this morning and the woods were damp and very quiet. I came upon a large thicket and sat down against a tree at the edge of the thicket. I instantly started to smell something. As it got lighter, light enough to shoot, I could hear something in the thicket. Also I noticed there were no squirrels moving. I thought that there were some hogs in the thicket. I sat in this spot longer than I normally would sit somewhere without seeing anything, because of the sounds I heard coming from the thicket. About mid morning I was hearing something sniffing the air and making low, deep, grunting sounds. This was no hog! I decided to play a trick that I have used before on game in thickets and throw a two foot section of a dead limb over and beyond the sounds hoping to flush it out to my side. When I did this it made a deep and louder primate type grunt at me. The sniffing of the air also became more pronounced and no hog breathes like this. I then threw another stick into the thicket and received the same grunts and sniffing, only louder. About 20 min later I heard it moving through the thicket and then heard a huge, two legged splash into a body of water on the other side of the thicket, followed by grunts and heavy breathing. There is no doubt in my mind what I had encountered was a bigfoot in the thicket. Although I never saw him, this was something I had never experienced in the woods before. After the splash and the exit, I made my own hasty exit back to the road.

ALSO NOTICED: Mashed down Grass and "The Smell"

OTHER WITNESSES: No other witnesses.

OTHER STORIES: I am still, sort of in fear of ridicule....Thanks.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1978: The weather was clear, cool and sunny and between the hours of 2-4 pm.

1979: It was about mid-morning. Foggy, damp and misting rain.

ENVIRONMENT: Pinoak flat pretty deep in the woods surrounded on one side with reset pines which were surrounded by thick underbrush. Pine and hardwoods. Heavy thicket with lots of weeds, briars and blackberry vine. Sporadic low areas holding rain water.

Follow-up investigation report:

The witness told me of this incident in detail and he also told me of the two other incidents that I would classify as Class B. He wasn't exactly sure of the years until we talked at length about the incidents and he began to recall the approximate timeframes for the encounters; 1978 - 1979.

The witness described the animal that he encountered in 1978 as having "black, weathered skin." From what he could see, the face and head appeared to him to be very similar to a gorilla. In fact, during the encounter, for much of the time, he actually thought he was watching a gorilla that had been let loose or escaped into the East Texas woods. He said the prospect of encountering a gorilla in the wild actually frightened him quite a bit. It wasn't until several minutes of somewhat distant observation (perhaps fifty yards) had occurred did it occur to him that it wasn't a gorilla.

The witness said the animal was lying under the tree and propping itself up on its arm. It was moving its head around a little and appeared to be looking around at its surroundings. He could not see the eyes or mouth or nose, but he did say that from what he could tell, its face appeared to be similar to a gorilla. The animal's color was gray or charcoal, but the skin was decidedly black.

The witness told me of another possible visual that he had in 1979. Again while squirrel hunting, the witness saw what at first appeared to be spanish moss blowing in the breeze at about eight or nine feet up a tree trunk. He saw the movement peripherally, before turning to look directly. At that time, the witness believed that he was looking at a head peering from around the tree at a distance of perhaps fifty to sixty yards. The witness thought that "spanish moss" was hair. After a few seconds, the head and the hair or "spanish moss" was gone.

Liberty County is adjacent to Montgomery County, San Jacinto County and the Sam Houston National Forest, an area of study for the BFRO and TBRC.

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