YEAR: 2009

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 25

PROVINCE: Nova Scotia

COUNTRY: Canada

NEAREST TOWN: Mount Uniacke

NEAREST ROAD: HWY#1

OBSERVED: This is an incident where I didn’t actually see a Sasquatch, but experienced occurrences which I had come to know as being consistent with known Sasquatch behaviour.
I was walking on a nature trail through the woods behind the Uniacke Mansion Museum which went quite far back into the bush, probably over half a mile. I had my camera taking pictures of nature as I walked along the path, feeling pretty good, at one with nature while recording her beauty on camera. The trail was laid in a large loop leading quite deep into the woods before looping around and back toward the Uniacke House. I reached the furthest loop in the trail and was on the way back around the loop when I found a tall tree stump which I decided to stop and take pictures of because it seemed like an artsy subject. I lingered here for a while just shooting pictures and enjoying the surroundings.
Suddenly I heard what I could only describe as a violent swishing of small trees or tree branches back and forth – like SWISH-SWISH, SWISH-SWISH, SWISH-SWISH! Back and forth like only a pair of hands could grab branches and do this. It was loud enough to know that it was a large animal doing it. And, of course, it couldn’t have been a moose or even a bear, since bears can’t actually grasp anything, and it was followed by a very loud THUMP! like something stomping the ground with great force. A strong human could have been doing the tree swishing, but not the thump. The ground in the bush was soft and too difficult for anything but a large creature to make such an impact on the ground. It startled me when it happened the first time and I couldn’t figure out what it actually was or what was causing it. I peered into the trees trying to see where it was coming from and what was doing it. It seemed to be coming from about 50 or 60 feet in, but I could see nothing. The trees and bush were thick here and easily concealed whatever was causing the disturbance. After a couple of minutes it happened again – SWISH-SWISH, SWISH-SWISH, SWISH-SWISH! THUMP! And now, I’m thinking, ‘’This isn’t just the wind or any freak of nature occurrence! Something is definitely, deliberately doing it!’’ I started getting nervous at this point and beginning to suspect a Sasquatch. I peered even more sharply trying to find the source of the disturbance. It occurred again, this time a little louder than the previous times. I decided it was time to vacate the area and broke into a fast trot out of there. I was trying to be careful because the path and the terrain was very uneven and difficult to run on. I kept moving, looking back a couple of times, though afraid to, and seeing nothing. I kept moving, noticing that I had covered quite a lot of ground, perhaps 400 to 500 yards. Translating it to 1200 to 1500 hundred feet made it clear I had covered quite a distance. Then, about 80 feet behind me I heard a very loud THUMP! like something very large jumped through the air and stomped its feet into the ground as it landed. Knowing the distance I had covered made it very obvious that, considering the distance I’d covered, this occurred RIGHT BEHIND ME! This detail made it also frighteningly obvious, THIS THING WAS AFTER ME!! I suddenly felt panic and broke into a run – as fast as I could go on the uneven ground, terrified and afraid to look back fearing seeing the creature and getting overwhelmed with fear. I ran and ran. I listened for signs of pursuit, but heard nothing. I just kept running, for probably 10 minutes, thinking, ‘’How far is it to get back?!’’ I lost the path at one point and really went into a panic thinking the creature could catch me while trying to find my way! I looked frantically for the red triangles marking the path. I found the right way soon after and found after following the path a short distance, I was back at the mansion! I reasoned afterward that the creature knew how close I was, though I didn’t, and broke off pursuit. I never went back for a long time and when I did, I surely didn’t walk the whole trail!

OTHER WITNESSES: None

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 4:00 pm

ENVIRONMENT: Mostly evergreen forest with mixture of hardwood near Uniacke House Museum

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Robert Barhite:

On August 10, 2016 I discussed the incident with Brian, who is a very honest, credible witness. As Brian recounted, he was deep into the woods taking pictures and stopped near a tall stump when a nearby tree began violently shake back and forth, followed by very loud thumping on the ground. He observed the tree shaking, and stated that the ground mossy and somewhat soft. He wasn’t able to see what was shaking the shaking the tree due to the overgrowth, but he could see enough of the tree to realize that it would be significantly difficult for a person to shake it.

Brian stayed in the area, and within minutes the same behavior happened again, which startled him. The thumping appeared to be closer, and now he could hear movement nearby and from the same direction of the shaking and thumping. When the shaking and thumping was heard for a third time, Brian decided to leave the location as soon as possible.

On his way back to the Uniacke Mansion Museum the thumping followed him, moving through the overgrowth, and at one point there was a very loud and close enough thump to send Brian running back the rest of the way to the museum.

The behavior Brian experienced is consistent with the large body of evidence which has been gathered across North America. The tree shaking and thumping appear to be a type of harmless intimidation intended to make the victim of the behavior leave the area as rapidly as possible. Brian also appears to have been escorted out of the area, which is another behavior which has been commonly reported.

The location is very interesting. It’s about 40 kilometers from Halifax, near the center of the province. There is abundant water, and the area is forested with spruce, birch, hemlock, maples, read oak, and pines. Native mammals include moose, an increasing black bear population, white-tailed deer, marten, lynx, and bobcat. There have also been reports of cougars, and a hybrid “coywolf” a canid hybrid of coyotes and grey wolves. As of 2011, the human population density of Nova Scotia is 17.4 persons per square kilometer, with 65% of the population living in urban areas. There appears to be sufficient food, water, cover, and means of egress for an isolated population of Sasquatch to exist in the province.

About BFRO Investigator Robert Barhite:

A native of far northeast Iowa, Robert has always had an intense interest in Bigfoot and exploring the great outdoors.

His first expedition was the 2012 BFRO Iowa Hill Country Expedition He the 2013 Iowa Big River Expedition, 2013 Oregon Cascades Expedition, 2013 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition, 2014 and 2015 Wisconsin Expeditions, 2014 Iowa Expedition, and the 2015 Iowa Spring Expedition. Since 2012 Robert has participated in several private expeditions in Iowa and in Wisconsin. In addition to expeditions, he has conducted numerous solo research trips in Iowa and Wisconsin throughout 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. And for the last two years has been a guest lecturer at the request of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Robert led the 2016 Iowa Spring Expedition and is assisting with the 2016 Iowa Fall Expedition and is scouting locations across North America for 2017 expeditions, and continues to monitor activity in a long-term study location in the Midwest.

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