YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 10

STATE: New Jersey

COUNTY: Sussex County

NEAREST TOWN: Northwood Andover Hopatcong

NEAREST ROAD: Maxim Dr.

OBSERVED: My friend and I wanted to go fishing at bear pond so we left my house at about 6 pm. We went topwater fishing because of the approaching sunset. We went in a canoe and fished along the edge of the entire pond. It started to get too dark to cast accurately considering all of the trees along the edge overhang the water. We decided to start heading to the docking area to go home. By now it was completely dark and there are no houses in the back part of the pond just woods and rivers and some preety steep hills that go on forever.We were at a complete stop in the canoe between the mainland and an island when all of a sudden we both heard a loud scream comming from the mainland up on a hill. It sounded like a mix between a young girl screaming and a weard bird like sound.We both looked at each other and said "What the hell was that".Again it happened and again. Just as the sound stopped something started to RUN in the mainland woods about 50 yards from us.The sound was very loud like crashing and running.

Something was watching us very quietly because we had passed that area along the edge of the water about 20 minutes earlier. Anyway, this thing was definitely on two legs running towards the screaming sound on the hill. It must have ran 100 feet in 7 seconds. I must tell you that there was a new moon that night so it was pitch black out. When the thing was running it broke sticks and branches and was very loud almost running urgently and clumsily. At that point it stopped completely by the screaming sound we heard seconds ago. My friend and I both sat there stunned in the canoe; our eyes looking toward the direction of where the running stopped. We sat there for almost an hour listening but we only heard small twigs breaking nothing else. We eventually left but we both know what it was.

We are both in our mid 20's and are avid outdoorsman and know that whatever we heard was not a bear or deer.

ALSO NOTICED: A couple of years before I was walking to the pond at night with my friend and we stopped in the middle of the path to smoke a cigarette when we heard a thumping sound 40 feet in the woods followed by a grunting elepant type sound.The thumping sound was so intense that the ground beneath us shook. It did the sound 2 more times before we got out of there like a bat out of hell.The grunting sound was very intimidating. Also I went to the same spot where we heard the running a few weeks later and went hiking. I found some intersting piles of rocks and there were what looked like branches lined up and stacked against trees making almost like a makeshift shelter or like a crappy made tee-pee without the cloth outside.

OTHER WITNESSES: There was one witness with me and we both heard the same thing. We were just fishing and taking in the scenery.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: This occured about 8 or 9.It was pitch black out.The weather was warm and the sky was clear.

ENVIRONMENT: The terrain is a thick forest with hills that can reach elevations of several hundred feet with rivers and swamps and hiking trails.One could easily hike for miles without seeing a single cabin or house.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the person that submitted this report over the phone on 8/20/2006. I also visited the location where the screams were heard with both witnesses on 9/17/2006. I found both these individuals to be credible.

Both are avid outdoorsmen and know their wildlife well and the sounds they can produce. They had the strong impression that the screams were from a young animal. This was followed by a larger adult crashing through the woods toward the source of the screams.

The area in which the vocalizations were heard is mixed hard wood and coniferous forest with multiple rock outcrops and caves. There was an abundance of berry shrubs and a lake stocked with fish. About two miles from the location is a cornfield, which bordered the forest.

The witness and his friend were in an inlet close to shore when the screams were heard. He stated to me he could not see the moon due to the tree line and hills. When he mentions, “pitch black out”, he is referring to the inlet and woodland interior. He was not absolutely sure what phase the moon was in. His guess was a new moon.

There are only a few "known" wild species in North America that can make powerful screams (not howls) which might be mistaken for sasquatch screams: coyotes, barred owls, red foxes, bobcats and mountain lions.

The screams of sasquatches often have a quality about them that suggests a large lung capacity and a cadence, which sounds strangely ape-like. Outdoorsmen that are familiar with coyotes, barred owls, foxes, bobcats, etc., immediately hear the difference and pay attention, as they did in this case.

• Explanation of the report classification system
• Submit a report for the sightings database
• Please send any comments or inquiries to ContactUs@BFRO.net