YEAR: 1983

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Rusk County

NEAREST TOWN: Overton

NEAREST ROAD: highway 259 south

OBSERVED: I was about 5 years old at the time. It was summer and the door was left open and the screen door closed. My grandfather had been in a wreck and his head had been in traction. He was laying on the couch fold out bed asleep. My grandmother and mother were in the other room with a friend playing a game of cards and I was playing with toys and watching The Price is Right (didn't have any choice - too small to change the channel) on tv. When I looked toward the door there was a 4 foot thing covered in a ruddy reddish brown fur. He was wide across the shoulders, sort of flat face watching me play with my toys. I walked up the the screen and we watched each other for a while. Its eyes almost like it was curious me like I was of it. I walked into the other room and to get my grandmother to show her this thing at the front door. But when she came it was gone. I never felt afraid of it nor did it act aggressive just curious about me or my toys. They pretty much discounted it as a child trying to get attention but to this day I can still see it in my mind every detail. And the following morning I took the toy outside and left it for the furry being. Never saw that toy again. Years later after I had gotten older I looked into native america lore and looked at information on sasquatches and put together I had seen a child. After listening to Coast to Coast I decided it was time to say something that I wasn't alone in seeing something like this.

OTHER WITNESSES: none

TIME AND CONDITIONS: night warm

ENVIRONMENT: Piney woods dence forest area, low population area, creek bottoms

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke to the witness via telephone regarding the experience he had as a child back in 1983 at his grandmother's home.

The witness remembers the experience vividly and was quite open and candid during the interview. The witness described the event as happening while he was playing with toy cars on the floor of his grandmother's living room. His grandfather, the victim of a very recent automobile accident, was sleeping on the sofa. The front door was open and the witness could see onto the front porch and into the front yard through the screen door.

As dusk fell, the witness saw standing just on the other side of the screen door on the front porch, a curious creature that resembled "a small ape - stocky but bipedal," with "reddish-brown hair." Thinking back, the witness reckoned that the height of the creature was "no more than three or four feet." The creature stood there watching the witness as he played with his toy cars. The witness did not remember being cognizant of anything relating to gender, but did remember that the creature's face seemed "like an ape," and that it had "expressive eyes." He went on to say, "As far as I could tell, it was a kid."

After a few seconds had passed, the witness stood up and walked over to the screen door. He now stood within an arm's length from the animal. The creature seemed to be more curious about the car that the witness held in his hand than with anything else. The witness remembered no discernible odor, except perhaps a subtle, "animal smell" (much like a dog or cat) and he had no memory of notable, pervasive feelings during the experience other than curiosity.

After a few seconds of studying the creature through the screen door (the whole encounter lasting perhaps 30 seconds), the witness ran into the kitchen with the hope of bringing his grandmother into the living room. When the witness returned to the living room with his grandmother, the creature had departed. The witness's grandmother did not believe him about the animal and admonished him not to "tell stories." He tried to convince her of what he had seen, while grandfather slept deeply on the sofa, but grandmother would not be taken in by the boy's tale.

The next day, having a feeling of generosity and wanting to share his toys, the witness took the toy car with which he played when he first encountered the creature, and left it in the yard - as a gift and gesture of friendship. He never saw the little toy again, and felt sure that the "small bigfoot" absconded with it. The witness went on to say that he has no memory of tracks or any other physical evidence and that he was simply too young to have thought of such things.

While I found the witness to be frank, open and honest, I asked him how he would respond to those who will read his report with a very cynical eye. The witness thought for a moment and replied, "Whether or not anyone believes me is a choice that they have to make, but I know what I saw. I know what I experienced and it was very real. Bigfoot is real - I've seen one firsthand."

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