Geographical Index > United States > Arkansas > Polk County > Report # 5607
(Class A)
Submitted by witness on Thursday, January 9, 2003.
Driver narrowly misses creature darting across mountainous stretch of highway
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YEAR: 1998
SEASON: Summer STATE: Arkansas COUNTY: Polk County LOCATION DETAILS: on the highway 59/270 approximately 15 to 20 miles west of mena, arkansas between mena and heavner oklahoma...this area is commonly called page oklahoma although there is no town or community there. NEAREST TOWN: mena arkansas NEAREST ROAD: hwy 59/270 OBSERVED: the summer of 1998 i was driving between heavner oklahome and mena, arkansas ..approximately 2 am ..i popped over a hill and a tall lanky hairy figure..apporximately 7 to 9 ft.ran across the highway in front of my vehicle..it was very clear in my headlights..very long arms and legs..slender with long hair on upper and lower parts of its body..i am absolutely sure it was not a bear and it was too tall and fast to be a human... ALSO NOTICED: this happened fast and i was going around 60 mph..i did not quite believe myself when it happened so i did not go back. after a few miles i realized that i had seen something different OTHER WITNESSES: no other visual witnesses..my sons were in a truck approximately i/8 mile ahead of me and i called them on the cb and told them what i saw and naturally they laughed at me OTHER STORIES: no...i have told friends about this but when one of these friends told me to watch the tv special about bigfoot i did so and have talked two people from mena who were on the tv program TIME AND CONDITIONS: approximately 2 am weather clear..my headlights were on bright iam not sure if i was overthe arkansas stateline very close to the arkansas/oklahoma border ENVIRONMENT: forest..bottom of rich mountain...wooded area on both sides...railroad runs along side of road..no houses or structures in close proximity
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jim Sorrell:
I met with the witness, who will be referred to as “B” for the purpose of this report, in Mena on May 21, 2003, and had a very good and informative visit. Some details regarding his story and the follow-up investigation are as follows:
B got a good look at the subject in his headlights, but it was a quick look since he was driving about 65 mph. B said it darted quickly across the road when he was within about 50 feet of it. He surprised it when he topped a knoll about 300 yards behind the vehicle in front of him. B estimated that this creature was about 8 feet tall and stated that it did not have a particularly heavy build, but was "lanky" with very long arms (down to almost its knees). It had large hands and its face also had a fair amount of hair (or fur?). The color was dark grayish and the hair was thicker from the torso upward than below. It had quite long legs and "sprinted" across the road from south to north, taking very long strides.
B could not pinpoint the exact knoll he crested when he encountered the creature. The highway (State 270) runs east to west and is in the Ouachita National Forest. The undergrowth is thick. We returned to the area and pinned down that the sighting occurred between mile markers #2 and #9. Mile marker #0 is at the Oklahoma/Arkansas state line. This places the sighting in the extreme northwest corner of Polk County, Arkansas. My GPS coordinates averaged 34 degrees, 41 minutes and 37 seconds North and 94 degrees, 22 minutes and 12 seconds West for the location that B could best decide on for his sighting.
B's theory is that this thing was off the side of the road, in the brush, and when the first vehicle passed over the hill (the witness’s son), this “thing” ran across the road without knowing that there was a second vehicle (the witness) coming along. B's son did not see anything. B said that if he had been 3 car lengths ahead of himself, he would have hit the creature.
B told me that he later talked to another man who lives in the general area of Mena. This man told him that he had a close encounter with one of these creatures a few years ago and they had a "stare-down" of about a 50-foot distance. He believes the man was out hunting at the time. The creature then slowly rambled off into the brush. B is trying to look up this man's name and relay it to me, but at the time of this posting the contact information had not yet been obtained.
In my opinion the witness is genuine. He appears to be steady as a rock and doesn't particularly seek any recognition. I spent several hours with him and he is as straight and down to earth as you could hope for. He is convinced this could not be a hoax. The time of night, the location, what he saw in his headlights at 50 feet, and the circumstances (no one dressed in a costume is going to dash in front of a 1 1/2 ton truck going 65 mph and appear to be 8 feet tall), support the fact that this was for real. Of note: There are no houses within several miles of this stretch of road.
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