YEAR: 2014

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 1

STATE: Missouri

COUNTY: Pulaski County

LOCATION DETAILS: Engineer trail, Fort Leonard Wood MO

NEAREST TOWN: St Roberts, MO

NEAREST ROAD: HWY 44

OBSERVED: I am a Soldier stationed at Fort Leonardwood, MO. Every morning we do physical exercises such as running. That morning we did a 3.8 mile run on the "Engineer Trail". The Engineer trail is a giant 3.8 mile track that has about 10 acres of land in the middle of the circle for land navigation exercises, and towards the back of the track opens up into a giant forest that feeds into Misty Mountain and the outer section of the post. That land behind the track is 100+ acres I'd say. On the morning of 1 October, 2014 around 0600- 0615, we (about 15 Soldiers) started our run individually, so we were spread out being some were faster than others. About midway through the track, we came across a barrier. A tree about 3-4 feet in diameter that looked to be healthy, not rotten, and relatively in good shape was laid across the track. We haven't had any crazy wind storms that could've knocked it over, but at any rate myself and other soldiers didn't think anything of it. As i continued on my run, I encountered another tree that was knocked over but it looked as if someone, maybe some soldiers, had drug it off the road. Same diameter as the other one, but almost as if someone didn't want us on the track. I continued on my run and about a mile and half I reached the the back side of the track where it meets the woods that go towards the eastern side of the border of post. That's when I started hearing a yell that kind of sounded like "whoops". It must've been around 200 feet away. I immediately stopped running and started listening. That's when I heard around 5 different "whoops". I say around 5 because each time I heard it, I had to change the position of my head each time I heard one. 3 were from inside the circle of the track, and about 2-4 were on the border of track on the backside. Being that I was out there alone, (I was in the lead of the pack of Soldiers) I didn't want to encounter what I was hearing I started running to get away from the back side of the track and back towards the civilization side with a quickness. I know what I heard immediately being that I google, youtube, and watch a lot of documentaries on bigfoot. The thing was when I got back to the start point, I didn't want to mention what I had heard in fear I might be made fun of or something. So when the rest of the group caught up and finished. They immediately started talking about the sounds. A few of them even mentioned "bigfoot calls", with a seriousness. Most people when they talk about bigfoot, you always get the guys who are sarcastic and snobby. Well this group of Soldiers we all agreed, there was a family of them out there talking to each other out there on the track. On top of that, I have encountered this odor before when me and my wife will go ride trails on the 4 wheeler, a musky odor. The entire run, all I could describe the odor as is like a musky/ sewage smell the entire route. We have ran that route several times, and normally all you smell are the trees and weeds around. This time it was completely odorless almost to a gagging kind of way. I wouldn't think twice about saying me and the soldiers I ran with that day encountered a family of sasquatches.

OTHER WITNESSES: 10-15 wasn't exactly sure how many exactly.

OTHER STORIES: Not specifically in this area, but however around 10-15 miles away in the Misty Mountain area, me and my wife swear we were being followed by one. We think that because we were being followed by a smell for at least a mile and a half. then when we drove back through there, the smell was gone. We have also seen large creatures from a distance, never confirmed, move through thick brushes. Every time I try and walk to the point where I seen it, it's gone.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 0600-0615 morning time, clear night (morning), dark with no illumination from the moon.

ENVIRONMENT: very "foresty", alot of rolling hills, mostly uninhabitated towards the back side of the track

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

Spoke with the witness. There were 12-15 other soldiers running. They ALL heard the same thing, calls, whoops, knocks, snaps. As he put it, they were "surrounded" and it felt as though they were being tracked and "passed off" to "sentries" monitoring their location as they maneuvered through the woods. When they returned to barracks, they all, to a man, agreed as to what they heard and sensed. They got online and googled BFRO and listened to the recordings. This first part of his report, with a dozen or more trained soldiers, leaves me impressed that they were experiencing what they said. There is the "fear" of peer pressure to ridicule those that say they saw or heard a Bigfoot, but this was such an overwhelming majority, that there was no doubt. Military service men and women usually make very good reliable witnesses, and this would not be an exception in my opinion.

On the part of his report where he and his wife have encountered "something with a garbage dump smell" tracking them, he stated he and his wife had seen a creature (large human-like form) in the 9-10 tall range. His estimate is from them seeing the creature plowing through the brush, and the clearest view he had was when the "creature" was about 100 meters from him, and it was down slope from him, but at eye level. He is 6ft 5in tall and he estimates the creature at 9-10 feet tall. There was never a clear, unobstructed view, but it was "unmistakable" that this was an upright bipedal creature of some type. Wife was in the background as we were speaking and she was substantiating all that he said.

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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