YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: late August

STATE: Maine

COUNTY: York County

LOCATION DETAILS: Campsite on the bank of the Saco river, downstream from Steep Falls (six foot falls) bordered by woods, a small beach, a cow field, and crossed by Rt 11 bridge.

NEAREST TOWN: Steep Falls

NEAREST ROAD: Rt 11, off of Rt 113

OBSERVED: Two freinds and myself were camping in a small open area on the bank of the Saco river in late summer. We had all gotten up early and were just hanging out around the site, fly casting, etc. We all seemed to feel a little restless and decided to go for a walk down the snowmobile trail that ran through the woods, roughly parallel to the river. The path wound around through the trees out toward a point of land that jutted out into the river and crossed through a large open field. We'd been walking for about ten minutes and were in an area that was fairly densely wooded and with lots of scrub bushes when suddenly, off to the right, we heard an enormous crashing through the trees. When I turned, I caught a flash of bright orange-red moving through the trees, very quickly, then total silence. We all stood looking into the trees, trying to figure out what had made all that noise. I stood on tiptoe to peer down into the brush, as the ground beside the trail was a goo

d three feet lower than the level of the path. We couldn't see anything, and my two companions hadn't seen the flash of orange-red whipping through the trees. Eventually, we continued on, but the mood was strange. I felt like we were being watched, and since a truck had pulled up to our tent in the night and shone it's high beams on it, I felt uneasy that someone have returned to our site in our absence. A little while down the trail, another five minutes or so, a couple of kids on dirt bikes approached and passed us, heading toward the campsite. One of them had on a white helmet that had an orange pinstripe on the side, and I rationalized that that must be the orange I'd seen, although it was tiny and I hadn't seen any white or heard a dirt bike previously. It was just all I could come up with to explain the crashing and the flash of color. A little bit after this, Janice decided to go back to the camp, feeling uneasy about our gear being left unattended. Jim and I co

ntinued on the path, and I felt increasingly uneasy. When we crossed the open field, I felt like the hair on the back of my neck must be standing up, and wanted very badly to be anywhere but there. It seemed irrational, though, and I told myself I was being stupid. I was extremely relieved when the path petered out at the end of the point and we turned around to go back. Nothing more happened on the return trip, except the constant creepy feeling. Well, this incident stayed in my conciousness, and I thought about it frequently, curious at the strong reaction I'd had and the strange crashing that I didn't really believe had anything to do with the kids on dirtbikes. I found this site about six months later and was fascinated, reading all the reports I could, and at some point was discussing the Bigfoot idea with a co-worker who related to me an incident she'd had. She lived about twenty minutes from the campsite I'd been at, and it dawned on me that a lot of the reports

I'd read sounded a lot like my "incident". I got Janice and Jim to return to the campsite the next spring, May or June, of 1999, and had a look around. I now recognized the environment as being very similar to those in a lot of the sightings reports- a water source, lots of berry bushes, dense undergrowth, etc. We got to the area of the path where the incident occured, and I felt a kind of shiver- the land beside the path was about three feet lower than the path, yet the flash of orange-red I'd seen was at my eye level (I'm 5'7"). That's when I stopped trying to convince myself that the dirt biker's helmet was what I saw- he was just a kid, twelve or so, and small. Further investigation showed that the area just before that point in the path sported a swampy vernal pool recessed several feet lower than the surrounding ground. All of this plus the creepy feeling of being watched wouldn't have been quite enough to convince me that I may have almost seen a Bigfoot, but the i

ncident related to me by my co-worker living close the that area did. I haven't seen any other sighting reports for this area, but believe it may be an active spot. I don't know if this helps, but there it is.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing specific, but we all reported feeling, at various points of our trip, extremely uneasy or creeped out without knowing why. I for one personally felt that I didn't ever want to go back there. Though I have in the day, I wouldn't ever camp there again.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three witnesses including myself heard the crashing noises. Two of us felt uneasy. I was the only one who actually saw the flash of orange-red. All three of us were walking along the snowmobile trail just enjoying being out on a nice day after a night of camping.

OTHER STORIES: My co-worker Tanya, mentioned above, lives in Limington, about twenty minutes west of Steep Falls, and had an encounter outside of her home, probably around the same time. She and her mother and sister were standing on the front lawn of her house, about twenty feet from the road and about ten feet from a rock wall to the left the separated her property from thick woods immediately on the other side. It was slightly foggy, and the three women were looking at the lights on a water tower or similar structure in the distance at about a 15 degree angle to the left(I visited the area and she showed me where it happened). As they looked, a large, silvery upright biped figure crossed the road to their left and disappeared into the woods without a sound. They looked at each other and asked "What was that?". Tanya said it just zipped across the road, was slightly hunched over and had a pointed head. They returned to the backyard where the men were, and upon tellin

g them about what they'd seen were told it was probably a deer, despite the fact that deer hooves clack on pavement and this figure had made no sound. Tanya said that she feel like she was being watched from the woods after this. She's actually had a lot of interesting occurances at this house, including a howl/scream that she described to me without my ever having mentioned the recordings I'd heard on the Web of "Bigfoot" sounds. Some time later I played them for her and she said they gave her chills, they were so much like what she'd heard. She's also had something thudding against the side of her small house with such force that it's knocked items off of shelves and found her dogs gnawing on a gignatic bone with some flesh still on it, which was gone that evening when she went to find it. Other than that, I don't know of anything else happening in this area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Late morning, clear and sunny, 75 degrees F, good light

ENVIRONMENT: This is a rural area; primarily pine, oak and maple with a lot of low lying brush (witch hazel, blackberry and raspberry bushes)along a medium size river, lots of snowmobile trails. The area of the actual incident includes a low, swampy area bordered by thick brush.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator John Perry:

During my conversation with the witness, she added the following details:

The animal was approximately 30 ft. away when it went crashing away through the dense vegetation in a "swampy, marshy area". The orange-red color was similar to that of a red fox. After further describing the terrain, the animal's height was estimated between 7-8 feet tall. She only caught a brief glimpse, a "vertical flash of something moving" and she estimated that she viewed a 4-ft. portion of the total animal. All three campers reported the feeling of being watched afterwards.

The coworker/friend made subsequent trips to the area the following year and found the bodies of both a deer and a dog near the area of the encounter; however, the exact timeframe and further details of these observations are unclear at this time.

This investigation is currently ongoing as I am in the process of trying to contact the coworker.

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