YEAR: 1982 or 1983

SEASON: Winter

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Hendry County

LOCATION DETAILS: off hwy 27 west to CR833 about 7 miles to entrance to Montura Estates. Enter and go to Hacienda Ave. Turn Right this should be south. Along this road is were we saw it enter and walk to Hunting Club Ave.

NEAREST TOWN: Clewiston

NEAREST ROAD: CR833

OBSERVED: My husband and I were returning home from the store. We were in no hurry so we took the long way around. We liked to see if any new homes were going in. Montura Estates at that time was very scarcely populated. It is a very large area and then what people that lived there were widely scattered. Very heavy pine woods, palmettos and cypress swamps.

It had been raining earlier and still was drizzling off and on. I saw a person come up out of the woods further up the road and start walking in same direction we were traveling. I remember thinking who would be out walking on a day like that. We were traveling very slow. This person then crossed road in front of us and still continued traveling same way. As we got to where we had to turn we slowed up even more. That's when I realized that this person was still heading south on Hacienda. He had crossed over Hunting Club Ave that we were turning on. That is when I really looked at this person for there was nothing out that way at all then. I then saw that there was hair blowing on its legs, long hair. I then realized that it had hair all over its body. It was black or very dark. Its hair on its head was long and seemed angled to its shoulders. Its arms were held close to its sides. Very big, over 6 ft. tall. 300lbs or more. The trees were very tall and even the palmettos were very thick and tall so I`m not sure how tall.

By this time we had come to a complete stop and it was out of sight as we were in the middle of our turn and the trees blocked our view. I turned to my husband. We hadn`t said a word till then. He said was that what I thought it was? I said I think so. We backed up but It was gone. We looked down Hacienda all the way to the end and back. We traveled down Appaloosa Ave. We looked for a while but never saw it again.

When we returned home we told our children but then we said our eyes must have been playing tricks on us as it couldn`t have been what we thought we saw it must have been a tree along the road. My husband told his aunt and uncle and they looked at us like we were crazy, so again my husband said it was a tree. He never talked about it again. I never told anyone either.

Id like to add that when I realized what I was looking at that I was 100-150 feet away. I think it must have heard us when my husband stopped car as the brakes squealed a little.

OTHER WITNESSES: two

OTHER STORIES: We lived in Montura Estates for 17 years and we had a couple odd things happen. One was when my daughter and I returned home from church and I`d misplaced my key. We were standing outside on the porch waiting for my husband and son to come home when we heard an awful scream coming out of the reserve. We lived right next to the Reserve. I owned peacocks so I know what they sound like. Some people say they sound like a person screaming. I always liked them and their call never bothered me. This was something I`d never heard and it scared us both. We ran to the car and locked the doors and waited. My husband said it was probably a panther. I never heard one so I don`t know.

Also a friends brother-in-law came down and stayed in a mobile home that their family owned. It stood empty most of the time. He left very suddenly and I asked my friend what happened. She said he saw something come across the field in front of the mobile and look him in the eyes. He said something big and black. She said that he was seeing things. She said he drank heavy and he was seeing things that weren`t there. She said that all the black bear were hunted out and that there wasn`t any around the area anymore. Her and her family were big into hunting then. My daughter bought that mobile and land after she got married. She asked me one day what I thought he saw. I told her probably a big black dog or maybe a panther. She said go out and look in the window. I did and I had to stand on my toes to see over the sill. I then realized what my daughter thought it was. She thought it was what her dad and I`d seen several years earlier.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: late afternoon 3#0 -4 o`clock .It had been raining and was over cast but could see for a long distance

ENVIRONMENT: Pine trees ,palmettos and cypress swampys here and there.Very heavy woods back then.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator David Wright:

This witness was interviewed for over 30 minutes on 8/26/2007 via telephone.

She stated that they were in the back of a new housing development, just getting out of the house for a drive, and were driving very slowly down an undeveloped dirt road near the Devil's Gardens area. She said that she and her husband saw something come out of the woods and onto the road and was walking away from them in the same direction, along the road, far ahead of their position. At first she thought it was someone on horseback or on a bike, because it appeared to be quite tall. Also, she thought it would have to be someone on a bike or horseback if at all, because it was so far away from habitation and the weather was inclement; rainy and windy.

They continued moving slowly in their car, looking at new roads under development, but kept an eye on the subject intermittently, as they grew closer, growing more curious of it and paying more attention as they went.

As they approached to within about 100-150 feet, she realized that she could identify 4"-6" hair blowing sideways off its legs, and then she noticed the same with its arms, and finally its head, coming to the realization that it was hairy all over. Her husband braked the vehicle, which was only traveling around 5 mph and the brakes squeaked, causing the animal to startle, and it turned at an angle away from them and with 2-3 strides, it was in the palmettos and pines and out of sight. They had a brief discussion concerning the probable identity of the creature, coming to the same conclusion together. They continued to traverse the cross roads of the area in hopes of seeing it again, but were unsuccessful. They did not think to look for footprints.

This is a summary of the physical description of the creature. It was 6-7 feet tall, covered with black hair of 4-6 inches in length, and when asked the approximate weight, the witness replied, "BIG! Very Big!" It was described as having shoulders considerably broader than a big man, and was very muscular. The witness described actually seeing flexing of the underlying musculature as she watched in the final minute of her observation as it walked. The legs were described as stocky, though in proportion to the rest of the body as a human, while the arms were described as being longer, just above the knee in length. The hair on its head whisped onto its shoulders, resulting in no visible neck. No ears were visible. No facial features were observed.

Concerning its gait, it was described as slow and deliberate, "It walked like a man" but somewhat hunched forward, as one would against the wind. Interestingly, the witness stated that the arms did not swing in human-like fashion as it walked, but remained more hanging straight down.

About BFRO Investigator David Wright:

• Certified Florida Master Naturalist (U. of Florida)
  
• Visual Tracker, Level 1
• Teaches Biology, A.P. Biology, Ecology, and Environmental Science at a rural high school SE of Jacksonville
• See local TV interview with D. Wright
• Participated in the 2007 Private Florida Expedition [Click the video link on that page.], the 2007 South Carolina Expedition, the 2008 South Florida Expedition and assisted with the organization of the 2008 North Florida Expedition. Assisted with the organization of the 2009 Central Florida Expedition.

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