YEAR: 1973

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: unknown

STATE: Minnesota

COUNTY: St. Louis County

LOCATION DETAILS: All that I remember now was that it was about 5 miles or so northwest of the Mouth of Big Sucker River on the North Shore of Lake Superior. An unmarked logging trail off a secondary road that I can't remember. I know the general area but not the specific road. I lived in the area close by for about one and a hlf years while I was station at Duluth Air Base [NORAD Regional Control Center, SAGE] from 1970-72. I was born and raised in rural Coleraine-Bovey area in Itasca county and I consider myself a very stable and reliable witness. I had a Top-Secret clearance.

NEAREST TOWN: Two Harbors

NEAREST ROAD: US Highway 61 north

OBSERVED: My friend and I traveled on an old logging trail about 2 miles in my pickup in a heavily forested area about 20 miles northeast of Duluth, Mn. Close to the mouth of the Big Sucker river. I had to stop the truck as we approached a very old bridge that had been washed out years before. We were deep into the woods at this point. The nearest house was probably 4 miles away, close to highway 61. I had never been this far on this trail by truck, however, I have hunted grouse in this area on foot before, sometimes walking for hours. We got out of the truck and walked over to the small broken down bridge and looked around, no way to get across so we started talking and etc. All of a sudden we heard a series of screams and howls in the area across the bridge from us. "It" was getting closer and louder. Being a woodsman, I checked the wind and observed that the wind was blowing our scent toward the screaming and howling entity. We could hear crashing and breaking of large branches together with the terrible screams and decided that it had zeroed in on us and that we had better get the hell out of there, fast! The hairs on my arms stood up and my adreniline kicked in. Both of us ran to the truck and locked the doors. I rolled down my window on the driver's side as I was turning the truck around and I could still hear the thing coming closer. I could not see too far into the thick brush but I knew that it was close. We finally got the truck turned around on the narrow one-lane road and fled. My friend was so afraid that she didn't want to ever talk about it again.
I am a native of Northern Minnesota and I have hunted, fished, and hiked many areas up there and I have never heard anything like that before. I was also trained as a big game guide in Montana and no animal fits this description that I know of. I now live in Auburn, Washington and still do some exploring up in the mountains near Greenwater. I am armed when I venture up into the hills now, not only with a pistol but with my camera. Another thing that I might mention is that I recently heard a recording of Bigfoot on the radio one night that made me get goose bumps all over again. That recording brought back the memories of my experience as it was EXACTLY what I heard so long ago in northern Minnesota.

ALSO NOTICED: No other sounds were heard, animal, bird or people.

OTHER WITNESSES: My friend at that time. I no longer know of her whereabouts. We were enjoying each others company, if you get my drift. I often thought about the "scent" aspect as we were not talking very loud at the time this thing started coming toward us. We were parked in this position on the road for about 20 minutes before we heard it.

OTHER STORIES: I wasn't living in the area long enough to inquire.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: one hour before sunset. Weather was warm with a 5 mph wind. Long shadows and absence of color in the forest. Leaves still on the underbrush and trees.

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy forested, lots of brush, tag-alders, small creeks, poplar trees, ash trees, birch and other hardwoods, relatively high ground. No habitations for miles.

Follow-up investigation report:

Talked with man by phone. Seemed very truthful. Following romantic encounter, howling screams by obviously big animal began and quickly grew nearer as if to purposefully intimidate couple. Frightened, the two drove away in haste. Man said breeze was blowing toward the screaming sounds so he thought the creature might have scented them.

Man grew up in area, hunted since a young boy, and his father was a trapper. Sound he heard fit no animal he knew. Sound did match recorded bigfoot "scream" he'd hear on the Art Bell show and also on the BFRO web site.

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