YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: December

DATE: 01

STATE: Arkansas

COUNTY: Yell County

LOCATION DETAILS: The location is down south of Belleville. Its mostly farmlands till you hit the slough and the river. The area where it happened is rather swampy and borders fields. The only tree lines are along the water sources. There the bushes are very thick.

NEAREST TOWN: Belleville

NEAREST ROAD: Horseshoe Lake Road

OBSERVED: We had begun fishing along a slough a few weeks ago.and we had been catching some good fish along it so we descided to clear out our own spot for camping sessions along its bank. The strange things started happening about maybe a week ago now...We were night fishing along the bank when my friend Jacob spied something across the lake looking at us. I pulled the jeep up and shinned the headlights across the lake and he caught a glint of amber like eyes staring at us. He and Jonathon our other friend said the thing was massive. Saying it could have went eight to nine feet tall easily. It was haunched over in a set of dead grass that stood pretty high. It also had brown wavy furr but other than that I never got a look at it as it apparently fled before I could lay eyes on it. Now just last Friday we all descided to go camping and ignored the previous encounter from that night...We set up late in the evening with the cloudy skys rolling in. It rained on us a little bit but we ignored the bad weather and even grilled some burgers over our open pit fire. Me and Jonathon eventually left Jacob alone while we went out and cut some more wood. After we left my dog who is actually a small dog became real anxious according to Jacob. It would bark and howl towards the woods surronding us...then whimper and whine to my friend...Jacob said he felt like he was being watched but didnt wish to ruin our camping trip. He also smelled an oder because the wind just happened to shift for a moment..He says the oder was like a very smell gym rat after a hard work out...but perhaps magnified by ten. We returned shortly after and eventually I took Jacob home because of his uneasyness. Jonathon and I stayed till about 1 Am when the encounter actually happened. We never saw anything though...Jonathon had been sawing down a small tree for more firewood when a loud whooping/moaning sound echoed just thirty feet behind us. The sound was unrecognizeable as any animal we had ever heard and we have both spent many hours in the woods hunting. He and I debated the sound on the other side of the fire nearest to the water when it came again this time much louder and deeper...sounded even closer. I told him it was time to leave as the hair on the back of our necks stood up. I pulled my dog out of the tent...The dog is usually very hyper and happy but on this night he cowered and refused to leave the santuary of the tent. Once out of the jeep he acted very quiet and sat in the backseat unmoving. I was so afraid by this point I clambered into the passanger seat instead of going around to the drivers side where the sound was heard...We took off and left all of our camping gear...The bad feelings we had seemed to disappear once we had left the area. We came back the next day with our camp in good order still but my tent which had been zipped up at the time was open..I looked for any sort of sign but could not see anything other than the burger patties were missing. Also an old hoe we used to shovel up leaves was half way burnt...It had broken on us that night but we moved it well away from the fire..It was found near the fire and partly burnt. We also found what looked like a foot print near the area of the sound but we could not really identify it...It was bigger than my foot though and I wear size 13s.

ALSO NOTICED: A strange oder was encounterd that smelled like a sweaty person. There were also huge splashes on the oppositte side of us just before the encounter...They sounded like huge rocks being tossed into the water

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes. THree of us me my friends Jacob and Jonathon

OTHER STORIES: Yes but the other incident occured north of Belleville near Spring Lake. My dad and his girlfriend had several strange happenings such as their dog getting anxious and rather nervous...My dads girlfriend actually saw something peering down from the road at them..She thought it was a man in a hood but then realized there were glowing red like eyes on this supposed man. They packed up and left a few moments later after the dog took off after it and returned with its tail between its legs.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It took place at around one in the morning. The weather was cloudy with light rain occuring around the early part of the night. Otherwise it was cold.

ENVIRONMENT: The environment is mostly farmlands boardering the sloughs..Inside the tree lines near the sloughs its swampy in appearance and dense... The main road to take out ot this location is perhaps a mile or so. The Petite Jean river also runs south of the slough.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Ron Boles:

I talked to Richard and Jacob via phone 12-6-07 Thurs. afternoon. I then talked to Jonathan later that evening.

The first encounter and sighting was made Wed.11-21-07 the day before Thanksgiving. This was made by Jacob and Jonathon, right at dusk approx. 5:30 pm. They described a large creature with long matted hair with red-brown color. They only saw the lower to upper torso and long muscular arms hanging past the waist close to the knees, as it was turning away toward the brush. Then they saw the amber-red eye shine as it was further in the brush.

The 2nd encounter was little over a week later, 11-30-07, while Richard was taking Jacob home around 10 pm, Jonathon was at the campsite alone and could hear something walking around the camp but not too close to be seen. Later around 1am Richard was fishing and heard the water splash near him like something was being thrown. Jonathon was cutting up wood at the same time. I asked Jonathon if he was sawing or or cutting the wood with his hatchet. He said he was using the hatchet when the vocals began. Next day the tent was open the hamburger patties were gone and the sleeping bags was rummaged through.

About BFRO Investigator Ron Boles:

BFRO Investigator for the Ozarks
Attended and organized numerous BFRO Expeditions starting in 2007. In the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Ron is an avid student of the outdoors, ecology, folklore and regional history.

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