YEAR: 1973-1975

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 13

STATE: Missouri

COUNTY: Cooper County

LOCATION DETAILS: This was my Uncle's home in Cotton, which is not far from Prairie Home. I do not have the exact address at this time but will have to contact relatives in Missouri to get it.

NEAREST TOWN: Cotton

NEAREST ROAD: Not sure at this moment.

OBSERVED: I'm submitting this because I just read a report from someone near Prairie Home in Missouri and wanted to share what happened to us.

My younger sister, my Mom and myself were visiting my Uncle and Aunt who lived on a farm near Prairie Home in Missouri. It was during June, sometime between 1973-1976. I only know the month for certain as we were on summer vacation and we always took it at the same time.

My Uncle had gone into town for a farm meeting so at the house was me, my sister, my Mom and two Aunts. It was around 10 pm at night. It was very hot and humid and all the doors and windows were open (My Uncle did not like air conditioning). My sister and I were getting ready for bed and the head of the bed was up against the window, which was open and had a sheer curtain hanging from it. My Mom and Aunts were in the living room watching T.V. which was right across from where we were sleeping.

The front door was open which faced the living room as were two very large picture windows also open. All of a sudden there was a loud screaming coming from outside it sounded like a woman/man/animal, certainly not human sounding, the noise made the hair on your arms stand up. The screaming was coming from up the hill from the house and you could hear it getting closer to the door of the house.

My Aunt being born on the farm was not at all scared and she came running into the bedroom grabbed her shotgun and was actually going to go outside and confront what ever it was. My Aunt told my Mom that she had never heard anything like that ever, and she was over 70 years old born and raised on the farm. My other Aunt and Mom started screaming for her not to go out and my Mom shut the front door and yelled for us to get up and come into the living room. As we were going into the living room the screaming at this point was coming from outside the front door. My Aunt screamed she was going to shoot what ever it was thru the front door.

It was then that the "thing" crossed over in front of the picture windows. What we saw was the shape/outline of a man about 7 foot tall or taller very large frame it appeared to be hunched over as it walked so as not to hit its head on the roof overhang maybe? It was dark outside and that is all we could see thru the sheer curtains that were hanging up.

The "thing" kept walking and began to beat on the house several times. My Aunt and Mom opened the front door as my Mom turned she saw the leg of the thing. She said it was a very hairy large mans leg.

My Aunt at first thought it was her Grandson playing a joke trying to scare us, until my Mom screamed and when that happened the thing screamed also. The thing went around the corner of the house and was gone.

When my Uncle and his grandson got home they went out looking for this thing but nothing was ever located. The smell it left behind was a burning skunk smell.

We have talked about this for many, many, years. My Mom when she recanted the story was always shook up over it. My Aunt (not the one who lived on the farm) would not talk about it.

I remember what happened that night very clearly and will never forget it or the sound it made. Am I a believer, heck yes!

ALSO NOTICED: This was a very rural area at the time. Not a lot of other homes on this land.

OTHER WITNESSES: My sister Cindy who was beside me the entire time, My Mom, and Aunts all in the living room watching T.V. with all the lights out.

OTHER STORIES: No, as we do not live in Missouri, nor did we at the time this occurred. We were not aware of "Big Foot" at the time.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Late in the Evening around 9-10 pm

ENVIRONMENT: Farm land, nearest house 1/4 mile away, dirt roads, woods, a creek running along the farm land about 1/4 mile away.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

I spoke with the witness, and her sister for nearly 2 hours. The reporting witness had just had surgery and was having trouble speaking. Her sister had stopped by to check on her and coincidentally we had already scheduled this call.

Both sisters were there on the night of the event, so I got a great deal of data between the both of them. As they spoke to each other, and then to me, they both remembered little things that one may have forgotten but the other remembered. A very enlightening conversation.

As stated they went to their Uncle and Aunt’s farm same time every year. This event happened sometime between 1973 & 1975. They went there many other times but this event was narrowed down to ’73 to ’75 because of the ages they were at the time. Her two uncles went to a farm meeting this night, as they did same time once a month regular as clockwork. The bedroom the sisters were in was right off the living room and they had a clear view of the living room. As noted, most all doors and all the windows were open. The inner front door was open, and the outer door, which was half metal and half screen was closed, but you still got the breeze coming in.

Out of nowhere came a very piercing scream, which they described as “a very loud baby in a tunnel”. It was not a sound they had ever heard before. Now the aunt who owned the home was born and raised on a farm, and she was described as “a 70 year old spitfire not afraid of anything, man nor beast”. They said the sound was coming from “up the hill” which was 50 yards from the front door of the home. Straight out the front door. As the sisters sat up in bed with their “hair standing up on their arms” their Aunt ran into the main bedroom and grabbed a shotgun. She was heading towards the front door “to go out and take care of business”. The screaming continued and was getting closer. The witnesses mom and other aunt were screaming at the aunt to stop and not go outside. By then the sisters were in the living room totally freaked, after their mom called for them to get in there with the rest of them. Their mom then slammed the front door before the aunt could get out the door.

At this point the screaming was coming just outside the door. The sound was rattling the whole house. The aunt then said “she was going to shoot who or what ever right through the door”. The creature then walked to the right and crossed right in front of the open picture window. Now there was a yard light up on a pole in the front yard, so the creature was back lit and they could clearly see through the sheer curtains, the “shape and outline of a huge man about 7ft. tall walking hunched over”. They later guessed it was walking hunched over so as not to bump it’s head on the eave of the home. (Though the original witness recalled it being “dark outside and we couldn’t see much”, the other sister remembered that the yard was back lit and she and her mom saw it more clearly).

Her mom and the Aunt then opened the front door and that is when they saw “the leg of the thing, a very hairy mans leg”. “It was walking away from them, screaming and beating on the house with it’s right arm”. When they saw it, they screamed, and it screamed back at them”. Same piercing scream. The creature walked around the corner of the house, heading towards the chicken coop. It slapped the house once more, screamed, and then was gone. The entire event lasted about 10 minutes. It screamed a total of 4 or 5 times. They felt like the creature was either “trying to get in the house or trying to get them out of the house”.

It was noted that the event did not begin until the 2 men left for the farm meeting. That left 5 women.

This had never happened before, nor since. They did note the “burning skunk smell”. The more unusual aspect of this (to me) was that when the men returned and they told them what happened, they said very little if anything. They didn’t seem surprised or upset. They just loaded up some large caliber rifles and headed out into the night. They were gone until the wee hours, since the farm was 1000 acres or more.

The sisters had no concept or knowledge of Sasquatch at the time.

About BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

Carter is originally from Texas & moved to Missouri in 1988. Professional drummer for 20 years. Improv & sketch comic and writer for 5 years. Lighting technician for major touring groups for several years. Experienced outdoorsman and was a trained investigator for MUFON. Studied Herpetology in college. Longtime special interest in Sasquatch long term habituation, burial research, infra sound, language & stick structures. He led three Missouri BFRO Public Expeditions:, 2012 & 2013 & 2014. Led public expedition for BFRO in Illinois in 2019.Participated in Iowa, 2012 Illinois. Michigan 2016. Private Expeditions: Illinois 2011, 2012, 2013. Missouri 2011, 2012 (3) 2013(2) 2014. Iowa 2012, 2014 & 2015. Consulted on two Animal Planet Finding Bigfoot TV shows. Expedition leader in Missouri 2013 (1) & 2014 (2) & Illinois Expedition 2019 (1). Led night ops on numerous BFRO expeditions. Hosted a public Town Hall meeting in Missouri in 2017.

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