YEAR: 1970

SEASON: Summer

DATE: 7/15/1970

STATE: Maryland

COUNTY: Washington County

LOCATION DETAILS: The area is about six miles west of Hagerstown, MD in Washington Co. MD. If you take I-70 west from Hagerstown, MD and get off at the Route 63 exit, you then travel north on Route 63 to US Route 40 and travel west until you get to Cedar Ridge Road which will be on your left. You take Cedar Ridge Road and about a mile back you take a left onto Kemps Mill Road. The woods is on your right.

NEAREST TOWN: Williamsport

NEAREST ROAD: Kemps Mill Road

OBSERVED: In the Summer of 1970, I was taking my pony and dog for a walk in the thickly wooded area where my parents had just built a new house. It was at that time a very isolated area. We had apparently disturbed the wildlife in the area as we were always seeing very large black snakes and other wildlife near the house. I was not prepared, however, for the creature I encountered in the woods behind our home. I looked up on the thickly wooded hill and saw a huge creature that resembled a gorilla or a bear. It was dark in color and appeared to be hairy. It was on the other side of an old fence from me. I was very frightened. I fled the area immediately. I wish I could describe this creature better. I really don't think it was a bear. Bears are not usually sighted in our area and this creature was really big and it startled me because of it's size. I don't frighten easily and was accustomed to living in the country with wild animals. The one thing that does amaze m e when I look back on this incident is that my dog and pony had no reaction to this creature. It makes me wonder if they had become accustomed to it coming around when we weren't outside. I never saw it again but a couple of years later my mother saw something from her kitchen window that looked to her somewhat like a bear but she wasn't sure as she was not close enough to it to see features. It was on all fours and it got into the nearby stream and walked around the bend and out of sight. The area where we had these sightings was in Washington Co. MD. We live near a stream and a thickly wooded area. The stream feeds into the Conococheague Creek which then feeds into the Potomac River a few miles from our home. My parents have lived there for 30 years now and there have been no sightings of any creatures such as the ones we observed in the early 1970's. However, we were the first to really disturb that woods and the area is now much more developed.

OTHER WITNESSES: There was only myself as witness. I was only 14 years old at the time. I was taking my pony and dog for a walk.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was cloudy and very warm.

ENVIRONMENT: This area is a thickly wooded area. There is a stream that flows through the area and it feeds into the Conococheague Creek about two miles from where the sighting occurred. The area is very hilly but not mountainous even though there are mountains about 10 miles west of the area near Clear Spring, MD. One strange thing about this area is that it is where a line runs that divides the limestone ground from shale ground and it is right on our property and just a maybe 150 feet from the sighting. The shale ground was covered with cedar trees while the limestone ground is covered by Oak and Sycamores for the most part. The area is near Cedar Ridge Road and along that road there are lots of huge limestones that are visible in the fields and many big sinkholes. There have been stories that these sinkholes are above caves that run from the Potomac River back under this area. The Potomac River is close to the area and the Conococheague Creek feeds into the Potoma c at Williamsport, MD which is about 4 miles from the sighting.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Ron B.:

The witness stated that, the animal was approx. 8 feet tall, standing erect (on two legs), and approx. 50 feet away.
The witness could not recall any facial detail, as she was very shocked/surprised at this encounter.

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