YEAR: 1981

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Arkansas

COUNTY: Madison County

LOCATION DETAILS: Top of ridge some three miles or so from highway 412

NEAREST TOWN: Huntsville, AR

NEAREST ROAD: 412

OBSERVED: I believe this incident occurred in the summer of 1981, when I was sixteen. I was out of school at the time, and my best friend and I were out partaking in one of our favorite pastimes: spelunking of the amatueur sort. Our particular goal that day was the finding of a cave called Turner's Cave, one we'd heard about from my parents who said it had been a designated government fallout shelter. We knew of one that might qualify, as it had a large entrance and such, but it didn't seem large enough for a fallout shelter to us. We explored it once more (we'd been in it before), and then decided to move on down the creekbed and try to find another that might be it.

The creekbed was dry, so the walking was easy. About a quarter-mile or so downstream from the cave's entrance, we happened upon an old logging road and decided to check out the other side of the ridge, as this side wasn't looking promising. We followed the logging road, which ascended the ridge at an angle, until we reached the top. At the top, the woods ended at a fenceline which bordered open pasture. It was about noon by then, maybe early afternoon, and we decided to sit down and take a break, as it was hot. So we crossed the fence and sat down on the grass of the pasture.

We had been sitting thus for probably five or ten minutes when I realized I was hearing something in the woods behind me. Growing up in the country, I was used to hearing animals in the leaves of the forest floor, but I think what made me actually pay attention to this one was that I realized that it wasn't moving in a way I was used to hearing. I looked at my friend, who seemed to realize this at about the same time, and I said, "That's not a squirrel (which is what I had thought it to be at first)."

We both rose and turned when suddenly my friend grabbed me and yelled "Look at that!" I followed his direction and could distinctly see the arm and leg of something tall and hairy standing behind a tree. We both froze in place, too afraid to do anything much. My friend wanted to run, but I warned him not to. Eventually, the manimal seemed to just disappear with hardly a sound.

Much subdued, we decided to leave and followed the old logging road back out of the area, and my friend told me that he saw a track in the sand at the edge of the creekbed. He also had a better view than I did and said he could see the face and body.

ALSO NOTICED: The thing seemed to disappear silently. We both got the feeling it didn't like us there, as if it were being very territorial.

OTHER WITNESSES: My best friend

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Approximately early afternoon on a bright summer's day

ENVIRONMENT: Woods and pasture

Follow-up investigation report:

I will refer to the witness as G.
He stated as they were resting in the pasture, they heard noises as of something moving through the trees close to where they had just crossed the fence. At first he thought it may be squirrels, but after a moment the noises sounded more like something large moving through the trees near them. G and his friend stood up and turned to try to see what was making the noise. As G was scanning the tree line, his friend grabbed his arm and exclaimed, "Look at that!" G stated that no more than 40 feet away, he could see a very large, hair-covered arm and leg of something standing behind a tree. He also stated he felt suddenly as if they shouldn't be there and they should leave. His friend was standing in a different position and got a much better look at the animal than G did.

G's friend wanted to start running, but G said he was afraid if they ran it may chase them so he told his friend not to run. G stated he glanced back over and couldn't see it anymore. He heard no noise of its departure.

Both of them were very scared at this point and quickly and quietly started walking back to the logging road and then to where they had left their bikes near a creek bed. When they arrived back to where their bikes were, G's friend said he saw what looked like a track in the sand next to the creek when they had crossed it. G never saw a track and stated they had calmed down a little, but were probably still in a state of shock. He doesn't know if it was a track or not his friend saw. G also stated as they were leaving, they both glanced back towards the trees and thought they saw something standing there watching them in the shadows of the trees. However, G also again stated he couldn't be sure as they were still both pretty nervous and just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He said it could have just been a shadow or tree.

G described the arms and legs of this creature as, "large and brownish-gray. The color was almost the same as the color of the tree bark and it blended in very well." The hair was described as more than 3" long with darker roots and lighter towards the ends.
G stated he lost touch with his friend a long time ago, but recalls his friend telling him the thing must have been around 7 feet tall and had a "scary, human-like face." G stated that based on the size of the leg and arm he saw, 7 feet wouldn't surprise him.

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