YEAR: 1974

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: King County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was between
Bothell and Woodinville Washington off East Riverside Drive

NEAREST TOWN: Woodinville

NEAREST ROAD: East Riverside Drive

OBSERVED: It happened so long ago it seems surreal to me but I saw bigfoot with my friend in 1974 in Woodinville Washington. I lived on a piece of property that had 4 houses on about 20 acres. I was 9 at the time and so was my friend. There were 8 to 9 ponds with a creek connecting them. They were small ponds average size probably 20 by 30 feet. There was a field on one side of the upper ponds and a hillside on the other with dense fir trees of various size. It was a fall day probably October and around 4pm and it was kind of dark and cloudy with a medium rain fall. From the start of one pond to the end of the last pond it was probably 150 to 200 yards. My house was about 100 to 150 yards from the sighting. My friend and I were catching crawdads in the ponds. We had probably been out there for a couple of hours when it happened. I was close to the ponds on the field side and my friend was behind me about 10 or 15 feet on the field side. I looked up the hillside 20 feet up and 40 to 50 yards away where I saw a creature 8 feet tall walking upright at a angle going up the hillside. The hillside was about 125 feet tall. It was big I yelled at my friend, it turned and looked at us. My friend did not know what I was yelling about. I started to run towards my house. I ran right by my friend yelling. He then saw it and started running behind me. I was terribly scared as was my friend. I only saw it for about 5 or 10 seconds but I know what I saw. It was big and walking upright. It looked like the bigfoot from the patterson-gimlin film honestly. I recall it being black or dark brown with short to medium hair. I talked to my friend a couple of years ago and we talked about the incident and he agreed with me about what happened. I had not talked to him for 20 years plus about it. We live in different places now and alot has changed but we know what we both saw and with out a doubt it was a bigfoot.

OTHER WITNESSES: me and my friend we were catching crawdads in the ponds

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 4pm rainy dark and cloudy

ENVIRONMENT: big fir trees a small creek, many ponds and open field, a large hillside

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Dave Illig:

I spoke with the witness “Dave” about his encounter and was surprised to sense an intense feeling of urgency from him despite how long ago this happened.

Dave stated that at no time did they feel intimidated by the creature that did not approach them, rather they were just surprised to see such a thing so close to them.

My impression of the witness was that he is truthful and sincere in his account of what happened that day.

About BFRO Investigator Dave Illig:

• Dave Illig is a Project Manager for a major aerospace corporation.
• He has attended several BFRO and private expeditions in the US and Canada.
• Is an avid outdoorsman, who is skilled in all-weather camping.
• He is also certified in Swift Water Rescue Operations.
• Target research area: Western Cascades

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