YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: December

DATE: 4th

STATE: Idaho

COUNTY: Idaho County

NEAREST TOWN: Kamiah, Idaho

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 12

OBSERVED: On Tuesday (Dec. 4th, 2012) I woke up to my dogs alarm barking out in their outside kennel. I grabbed a large flashlight on my way to the back door. I was most worried about it being a skunk that was causing the dogs to bark, as I have noticed once in a great while, that I have caught the scent of a skunk early in the morning or in the middle of the night when I have stepped outside to quiet the dogs and I didn’t want to surprise one myself.

So, I cautiously and quietly opened the back door, scanned around the kennel for any smelly, black and white creatures lurking about when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. Something moved behind the fruit trees down by the junction of where our driveway and the road meet (about 50 ft. from the back door). The moon was half full, but the night was clear and the moon was giving off a lot of light. I stepped out to better see what the movement was from; expecting a dog, deer or person to come into view, but what I saw was quite different. Before I describe what I saw, let me just say that I have long taken the stand that there is no such thing as a Sasquatch and that if there were such a creature, we would have at least found some skeletal remains as proof.

I am going to only give a description of what I saw, but not an explanation, because I do not have one. I stood in shock after this occurred, my mind reeling, trying to find a reasonable, logical explanation, but I could not find one. I want to also point out that I was fully awake, having been up and awake the 15 minutes before this occurred. I have lived for decades in very rural areas next to large sections of DNR forest lands, I have seen my share of deer, bear, cougars, etc. in daytime and at night and that or a person is what I was expecting to see.

So, I saw some movement and stepped out to better see what it was that was causing the commotion and disturbing the dogs, both of whom were now quiet and hiding in their dog houses. The movement to my right stilled for just a moment (it stood behind a plum tree), partially hidden from my view. I turned on my flashlight and it then took off at breakneck speed up the road, running uphill. It covering ground way too fast and did so on two legs! It was very tall, but I could only see its profile, so I have no idea of how broad it was. What I could clearly see is that it ran upright, with long strides, swinging its arms and it looked to me like it was covered in shreds. It had a slightly pointed head, no neck and appeared light colored, almost silvery gray, but that could be from the moonlight, which was giving everything a kind of slivery sheen that night. It quickly glanced over its shoulder, but I couldn’t see any features other than noting that its head turned slightly, but it did not seem to slow down. Just where the road turns left, bearing around the corner, it made one great leap, planting one food on the pavement and clearing the grass/graveled side of the road, plus several feet of tall grass and smoothly plummeted out of sight down the steep embankment.

The next morning when I went to look for any clues were I saw it leave the road we found that the grass (just where it meets the pavement) was matted down and there was a large game trail type hole in the bramble, just over the embankment. Nothing else, no clear tracks, no strips of cloth or fur, no other clues…I am stumped. I had made up my mind to not even tell anyone, because it sounds so unbelievable and because even talking about it is kind of disturbing. I suspect I will never know for sure what it was, but I will surely take others stories with more serious consideration than I ever have before.

ALSO NOTICED: From the beginning of the month, we have been having deer frequenting the orchard area infront of our house. There is a lot of fruit still on the trees there and the weather has been getting colder. We are about at 1300 ft. elevation and are surrounded by higher hills.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just myself.

OTHER STORIES: I haven't heard of any other incidents, but we are located within the Nez Perce Indian's tribal lands and I have spoken with a number of the Nez Perce who have a rich history regarding Big Foot and of interactions, which they do not like to talk about to those outside the tribe.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 3:30 AM, the skies were clear and their was allot of moonlight.

ENVIRONMENT: South of the little town of Kamiah, Idaho we live in a house on the southern edge of a little development that was built in the middle of an old orchard on a western facing hill looking over the Clearwater River. To the south of us is more overgrown orchard, hills and pines.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

The witness lives in a small development near Kamiah, Idaho with her teenaged son. She trains rescue dogs and has several in kennels that are kenneled about 15 feet from the house.

On the night of December 4, 2012, the witness woke to her three dogs barking. She got up to quiet them as she did not want them disturbing the neighbors. When she opened the back door, she immediately smelled a very strong “skunky” smell. She assumed there was a skunk bothering the dogs. She was able to quiet the dogs, and noticed they kept looking toward the back of the house.

About 15 minutes later the dogs began barking again. She went outside again, noticed the smell was still there, but the dogs were now looking at the driveway. This time, she could not quiet them but suddenly they ran into their dog houses and stopped barking. She had never experienced this behavior with them. She got a flashlight to see if it was a skunk, deer, or elk that was bothering them. She saw movement near her apple and plum tree which is about 30 feet from the door, and shined it in that direction.

She describes what she saw, “At first I thought I was looking at a big person wearing shredded clothes. The shreds were not even – they were shaggy and silvery in color.” When it moved, she realized it was not a large person. It took two big steps, upright, that took it out of her beam of light. She then tried to follow it with the light as it ran with its arms swinging in a very fast but fluid movement up a small hill on the road, and with a leap it left the road into a briar that borders an old orchard. Before it made the leap, she could tell it turned its body to look at her over its shoulder.

Photo of the road it ran down:



Photo of the briar:



She never got a clear view of its face. She was only able to see it from the rear view and side view. Her older son is 6.5 feet tall and when she had him try to recreate the event; she was able to tell the creature was much bigger than him. She estimates it was no less than 7 1/2 feet tall. The body build was “substantial", it was by no means lean, nor overweight.

Photo of the tree it stood behind. Her younger son who stands 5'6'' is in the photo, behind the tree:



This is her younger son standing in front of the tree with his arm held up holding a ruler at 8 ft.:



Although she describes the hair as shaggy and unkempt, she claims it was about ½ the length of the ghillie suit her son owns. The moon out that night was a waning gibbous and had 71% illumination. She described the sasquatch as looking “silvery” in color which she thinks could have been attributed to the moon’s brightness. If the creature had been dark, even with the moon light, it would have appeared darker in color. I would conclude that this creature probably was lighter in color than darker.

With further investigation, I was able to discover that the development was once an orchard. Her property alone has six apple trees and six plum trees, and although it was winter, there was still a lot of fruit on the trees in the neighborhood. She smelled the “skunky” smell several days before her encounter, and attributed it to skunks. Earlier in the month, something had been getting into her trash, although there were no teeth marks in the bags. They had been pulled open, but a mess was not left behind. The skunky smell lingered, so she assumed it was skunks, although she had not seen one. At one time, she had to move the dog bowls into a more interior part of the kennel as she discovered the bowls had been turned over and the kibble spilled outside of the kennels. (The kennels are completely enclosed, but it would have been possible for something to reach inside to grab the food in the bowls.)

She has smelled that smell several times since, the last time being in February. Interestingly, around this time the deer, elk and other animals move up unto the mountains as the snow is melting.

Google earth image of the area:

About BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

Re Monteith has had a life-long interest in Bigfoot and has an extensive background in outdoor land and ocean survival as well as mountaineering. She has tran-sailed the Atlantic, backpacked in remote places throughout the world and has climbed three of the seven summits. She studied International Relations at Florida International University, and is a Financial and Real Estate Consultant. She has participated in many private expeditions as well as the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 BFRO North Florida Expeditions and the 2013 BFRO UP Michigan & Alabama Expedition. She also organized Florida's 2017 Town Hall Meeting. She was an Executive Producer of the documentary film, "Skunk Ape Lives" and featured as a Crypto Expert on The Science Channel's television show, Strange Evidence for seasons 2 - 5.

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