YEAR: 1996

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: October 19, 1996

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Nacogdoches County

LOCATION DETAILS: Take Hwy103E from Lufkin approximately 24 miles from the Lufkin loop.

NEAREST TOWN: Etoile

NEAREST ROAD: HWY 103E

OBSERVED: Me and my wife set out to go on an overnight camping trip in the country. I go hiking and camping fairly often and my wife sometimes accompanies me on my outings. This time we went about 30 miles southeast from where we live, in Nacogdoches to some remote family-owned land. Our land is on a small blacktop county road and few people live there. Only one neighbor lives close by, an old woman across the road. The road parallels Sam Rayburn reservoir for several miles and is a short distance from it at this point. It was late afternoon when we arrived there. Wildlife are plentiful in this area, with deer, bobcat, hogs, etc. and since I occasionally would hunt deer there, I put out some corn for them to get ready for season and then we set up our camp. We have a small storage building that family and friends use to sleep in on our hunting and camping outings. After we were set up for the night, I started a fire about five yards away from the building to roast hot dogs on. It was beginning to get dark at this time. We have a camcorder that we always take on our trips and I filmed the outing. I remembered that as it had gotten dark, dogs could be heard across the nearby road, barking like crazy. Up to this point I filmed everything, but since I was getting hungry, I stopped to make me some supper. My wife was sitting down on a makeshift chair and I was at the fire. Suddenly, a loud howl, or hoot came from a nearby creekbottom, a distance of about 70 yards. The sound is best described as a "WOO-WAAH" sound. It was very loud and sounded almost baboon-like, but also much like a human's vocal chords. We were both shocked by the piercing sound, but before we could react, whatever it was came to within approximately 8 yards and screamed again. My wife jumped from her chair sideways and ran to the shed spraining her ankle in the process. I didn't know what the sounds were, but I am sure they were NOT deer, hogs or hoot owls, or anything else that I have EVER heard. I could not be sure if it was not some prankster, although someone would risk getting shot coming to a person's camp at night like that. I ran to the shed to get my pistol which I always carry on our outings, all the while the "animal" screamed the same sound in rapid succession, about 7 times in all.The sound emanated from behind a pile of tree limbs placed there on previous outings. I went to the edge of our camp and shined my flashlight into and around the pile and held my pistol ready, but no more sounds were heard. I couldn't see any eyes shining in my flashlight beam either. Even though we were a little unnerved by the event, I planned to go ahead and make our beds for the night, but my wife's ankle was beginning to swell and she was in pain, so we packed our things and went back home. I have gone back a few times since then, but have not noticed anything strange. So if it wasn't a bigfoot, fine I just don't really know what it was. All the experienced outdoorsmen I have talked to about the sounds say they have never heard anything like them either.

ALSO NOTICED: Dogs from across the road were barking like crazy for about an hour up to the time sounds were heard. The dog barking was in the direction that the hollering sounds began from.

OTHER WITNESSES: Me and my wife were the only ones involved. We were cooking hot dogs on an open fire.

OTHER STORIES: No other stories come to mind in this area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was around 7 o'clock and it was clear and cool.

ENVIRONMENT: The area is typical of East Texas, with dense forests and creekbottoms. Sam Rayburn Reservoir is within walking distance through the forest from the site. A small pond is on our land as well. The screams or hollers came from behind the dam of the pond where runoff flows through a creekbottom. The terrain is somewhat hilly in this area. There is a mixture of pine and hardwood forests on our property. Some areas surrounding this land have been partially clearcut in recent years.

Follow-up investigation report:

I interviewed both witnesses, albeit at separate times, about the experience they had while camping on a remote piece of family-owned land situated in close proximity to Etoile, Texas. The following report is an amalgam of both interviews.

Both witnesses were eager to discuss the incident, but wanted to ensure anonymity. Initially, the witnesses reported the incident as happening in October 1998, but after reviewing the film shot on camcorder, they stated that the date was in fact, October 19, 1996.

The witnesses are unsure to this day what it was that they heard that night, but they remain quite certain that it was unlike anything they had heard prior to the event, and they have not heard anything quite like it since. Both witnesses stated that the closest thing they have heard since is a recorded bigfoot vocalization on the internet. Although neither of the witnesses could identify the sounds with certainty, they obviously believed there could be a link to bigfoot, hence the filing of the report with the BFRO.

In narrating the events to me, both witnesses told of the activities in which they engaged prior to the strange vocalizations. As they had stated in the initial report, the witnesses told me that they heard “some dogs off in the distance going crazy.” I asked what they meant by “going crazy.” The witnesses stated that the dogs seemed to have quite an agitated bark, as though they were quite alarmed. I asked the husband if the dogs could possibly have been coon hounds on a hunt, and he stated that they were definitely not coon hounds. He stated further that it was obvious to him that the dogs were alarmed.

As the witnesses began to prepare food, the mysterious vocalizations began. The husband told me that the sounds lasted “from 15 to 20 seconds” and then totally ceased. The wife was so disturbed by the noises that she sprung up from her seating area and injured her ankle in the process. She was startled to the point that she felt the need to retreat into the asylum of the small storage building or “shed” as she called it. The husband, upon hearing the sounds, immediately sought a firearm and flashlight. The husband shone the light into the completely darkened, wooded area that surrounded their campsite. He could see no signs of anything, nor could he hear anything except the relentless, faint barking of the dogs in the distance. Not even the slightest snap of a twig could be heard.

The two decided to leave the area after hearing the unsettling vocalizations and realizing that the wife’s ankle was quite possibly sprained. The wife remarked that she has not returned to the site since, nor will she ever go back in the future.

I asked both witnesses about various possibilities regarding the origin of the sounds. Both were quick to dismiss animals such as deer, coyotes, wild or domesticated dogs, wild or feral hogs, bobcats, wolves, panthers, owls, or any other birds. Both witnesses classified the sounds as being somewhat “human sounding” but yet “similar to a primate”. The witnesses had a feeling that the message being conveyed in the vocalizations was that the unknown perpetrator wanted their food. The husband mimicked the sounds for me. The first part of the sound as he replicated it was a low tone “woooooooo” in his natural voice. The second part of the tone was a much higher tone “waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh” in a falsetto voice. “Wooooo-waaaaahhhhhh.”

The witnesses tended to dismiss the possibility of a human making the noises, although the husband said he could not be 100% certain that the sounds were not produced by a human. However, the odds of another human in the same remote, wooded area on private land in the pitch of total darkness, at the same time as the witnesses, with a willingness or recklessness to risk being shot is highly improbable, though remotely possible in the most extreme manner imaginable. Also there is the question of whether a human could have produced the sounds in the first place. Although tenuously human-like in quality, the volume of the sounds was such that human origin would seem to be precluded. Further, the amount of ground that was covered during the vocalization period along with stealthy, inaudible movement indicated a non-human origin. The witnesses indicated that there could have been more than one source of the sounds. This would account for the seemingly impossible high rate of speed needed to originate the sounds from the various locations.

In summation, I am convinced that the witnesses absolutely heard something highly anomalous that night for which they were not prepared. However, with no other signs of bigfoot activity in the area, it is difficult to make the link. That being said, it is equally difficult to make the link to any other species of animal or a human. The witnesses felt confident in stating that the only other sound that comes close to what they heard is a recording of a bigfoot vocalization on the internet.

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