YEAR: 2000

SEASON: Fall

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Cass County

LOCATION DETAILS: 33°00'36.8"N 94°26’28.7"W
33.010211, -94.441309
or 86-945 FM 130, Linden, TX 75563 (google maps).

NEAREST TOWN: Linden

NEAREST ROAD: HWY 130 - HWY 130

OBSERVED: My name is Rooster, obviously my nickname. I am currently on Active Duty Army for 20+ years now. I have been contemplating for the last several years on whether I should write to you all or not. I started watching your show by sheer coincidence around 2016 or so. Your show was the 1st time I heard of Bigfoot actually being discussed widely. It is something I never grew up hearing or talking about.
I saw a couple of y'alls episodes where y’all did expeditions in East Texas. I grew up in North East Texas in a town called Linden, not far from an area you all visited in Tyler. So that is what made me think, well maybe you should write, and tell them your story. I just think you all need to go to this town and have a town hall like you do on the show and ask people there, what’s going on. I do not know if you will find anyone that has stories, but if I saw something, I am sure someone else who has been in this area for years, has to have seen or heard things.

My story happened in 2000, about 20 years ago. It was me, my mom, and my father out fishing in a small wash on the side of the road. So I was living here in Oklahoma and talking to my mom. She said they found a new fishing hole off the side of the road, where they had been catching a lot of fish. I know the area, so I was pessimistic. I drove down one weekend to visit; go check out this fishing hole, and low and behold, there was good fishing there. So, I go down and fish with my mom and dad, in the wash several more times. This one particular time is when the sighting happened. We were all fishing this wash for several hours and the sun started to set. It was just getting dusk when me and my mom, now on the opposite side of the road from my dad, began to hear footsteps in the water. THIS HOW THE CONVERSATION GOES:
MOM: Do you hear that?
ME: Yes
MOM: What is that?
ME: Must be a deer.
MOM: No, it sounds like its walking.
ME: Yes, a deer walking through the water, you can hear its steps.
MOM: No, it sounds like it's walking on two feet, cause a deer has four legs and you’ll be able to hear them.
ME: I don’t know, sounds like a deer to me.
MOM: Listen closely; whatever it is is walking on two legs coming this way.
So, at this point, I am unsure of what I am hearing now. I am now leaning towards hearing the footsteps of a person and not a deer. We listen for several more minutes as whatever this was was getting closer and more distinct. As we look up the wash is when we see this thing casually walking down the wash. At this point, I am convinced now it is a person.
MOM: Look at that thing. What is that?
ME: Got to be a hunter.
MOM: Walking in the river?
ME: Well, might be someone around here trying to scare us because they don’t want us fishing here.
So the entire time we are having this discussion, this thing is still walking towards us. As it is in front of us head-on, you can see it is massive. I am still thinking that it is a guy in a Gilley hunting suit. Then I immediately think to myself, well how deep is this water here? How soft is the bottom, it's like a marsh, because this thing, this guy is walking smoothly enough to throw water effortlessly. Again, It was dusk at this point, this thing was literally 20 ft, in front of us in the wide open. Since it was dusk, just past sunset, where you still have that moment of visibility, you can see how big it was. There was a piece of fencing there and some stumps in its way, so it turned to our left and walked up the hill. At this point we yelled to our dad, "Let's get the hell out of here." He was confused at what we were screaming about, so we chucked everything in the car and left. I do not remember talking about it much besides what the hell was that. After we got home I never talked to my mom or dad about it. I end up coming back to Oklahoma after the weekend was over. None of us ever talked about it again after that moment. Not sure why to me it was like a distant memory that quickly. I was unsure of what the hell just happened anyway, so I never thought about looking into it any further. I believe people are seeing what they claim, but it is so incomprehensible at the moment you are witnessing it, that your brain is not comprehending, that’s what I felt like. For me, it was like my brain was stuck in the middle of understanding what I am seeing and not understanding.

My mom passed away the next year in 2001. I never got to ask her what her thoughts were about that day. Not until I started seeing y'alls show that I was able to think well hmm, maybe this what it was. I still struggle with understanding what I saw because your show actually makes me doubt myself. My story does not seem to fit into what Matt, Cliff, and Bobo say is what seems to be normal Bigfoot behavior to me.

I doubt myself because:
I never smelled a foul odor. It never made a noise; like it didn’t see us standing right in front of it. If it saw us, it did not run, it did not hide.

So, it was not until 19 years later after watching y'alls show did I decide to get on the computer here and look at the terrain in the area. I had no clue there was a lake there at all.

I am not saying I saw a Bigfoot. I do not know what the hell I saw. All I know is I am 6’1”. I was standing on the road and the water line was like 3-4 foot below the road. This thing was about eye level if not taller and twice as wide as I was at the time. Just massive. I could not make out any details besides how big it was. I grew up in these woods, fishing, hunting, whatever. I never heard of talk about anything like this nor have I seen anything like this. This area is not known for bears, I do not think. I never saw one, but if a bear can walk on two legs thru a creek and turn and walk up the embankment on two legs, then I saw a bear.

I never thought about even sharing my story with y'all until I saw episodes where y’all were close to the town I grew up in. I did try telling some people about my experience, and they just laugh and make jokes, even my sisters. I just stopped trying to tell them, even though they still live in that area.

Thank you,
Rooster

ALSO NOTICED: Walking through the marsh, Wide open view, did not seem to see us,

OTHER WITNESSES: 2, mom died months after

OTHER STORIES: No, never heard of stories

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Dusk, right after sunset

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest, lakes, ponds and marsh

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Gary Christensen:

I spoke with the witness by phone. His description of the terrain matches what I could see on Google Earth. The water described was an inlet creek coming from the east that passed under a rural road and emptied into a large farm pond west of the north/south oriented road. The pond was obscured from view by trees and terrain. The creature came from the southeast to witness’s right and was heard but not seen for 4 to 5 minutes, being obscured by trees. It was about 40 feet away when it cleared the trees and came into view.

Even though it approached within 20 feet, it never reacted to presence of the witnesses in any way. He estimates that it was in view for 2 to 3 minutes before disappearing in the woods on the other side of the creek. Due to the light conditions and shock of his sighting, the witness could not provide other details other than its massive size and that it appeared to have a round head with no visible neck. He said that the creature was in water about mid-calf deep, the water was 3 to 4 feet below his feet on the road, and that its head was level with his head as he stood looking at it.

I found the witness to be very sincere, consistent, and credible in describing his encounter. At the time of his sighting, he had no familiarity with Bigfoot and could not wrap his mind around what he had seen. After that night, he never spoke with his mother about what they had seen. It was only after watching an episode of “Finding Bigfoot” that he began to realize what he may have experienced.

About BFRO Investigator Gary Christensen:

Gary is a retired USAF pilot, a Vietnam veteran with 312 combat missions in the B-52. He also retired from American Airlines in 2008 after 18 years service as a flight training manager. A graduate of USAF ground and sea survival schools, Gary is an avid bird hunter and fisherman. He has been following the bigfoot phenomenon since the 1950's.

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