YEAR: 2021

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 20

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Volusia County

LOCATION DETAILS: Approximately at 29.166753, -81.298966.

It was just before the boat ramp entrance.

NEAREST TOWN: De Leon Springs

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 11

OBSERVED: July 20th 2021. I was coming home from work and was travelling south down highway 11 in DeLeon Springs FL. It was about 1am and was hot and humid night. Normally I don't take this road home, but I was curious if I could see any deer along Blackwelder road late at night, as I was interested in hunting at a property on that road.

I was in my pickup truck and it does have a bright light bar on it, so as I approached the wooded section of the road, I turned on the lightbar so I could see more of the side of the road, so I could tell if there were deer along the side of the road.

I was travelling at about 60 MPH. Right as I flipped on the lightbar, and it shone down the road, I noticed a large creature moving across the road on two legs. I was a good distance from it still. I gradually slowed down from surprise at seeing it. It cleared the road in about two steps and disappeared behind a group of trees close to the road.

Once I reached the point where I thought it crossed, I was going probably 30 miles per hour. It didn't seem to notice the guard rail at all, just went over it in stride it seemed. I could tell right where it crossed because there where big wet footprints on the road.

I went up to the boat ramp parking lot and turned around to see if I could go back and see it again. As spooked as I was, I wanted to see it again to confirm what I saw. I slowly went back, keeping my lightbar on. As I passed the area, I could see the place where I believe it went into the woods. There was an area where it looked disturbed at the tree line, like something had just walked into the woods there. There was no sign of the creature.

As I approached the footprints, I compared them to the stripes in the road. One footprint was on the dividing line down the middle. It appeared to be about 8 inches wide and maybe twice as long as it was wide. This observation was done while traveling maybe 10 mph so I could be wrong. It was much larger than a human print.

I was very spooked by the experience and it didn't even cross my mind to take a picture of the prints. This was the first time I saw such a creature so my mind was not thinking about documenting it!

Here is how I would describe what I saw. It was tall and had reddish brown hair, tending toward brown. The legs looked darker under the knee joints, looking back that was probably cause it was wet. The hair appeared to be long and shaggy.

As it crossed the road the arms swung slightly, especially when going over the guard rail. The creature never looked towards me, it was looking towards the other side of the road at the tree line.

If I had to guess, it was probably close to 7 or 8 feet tall. It was much taller than any living thing I had seen before. Its chest was large as well, almost like a body builder.

I only saw it for a couple seconds as it crossed the road so that is the best I can remember. I really wish I had my dash camera installed at that point. I quickly put one on a couple days after that! Hopefully I will see another one day.

ALSO NOTICED: Possible entry point into the woods. There was a disturbance of the wood line where it probably entered.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just myself.

OTHER STORIES: I have since heard people talk about it and say they had seen one at some point, but no solid evidence of them.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 1am. Very dark and the weather was calm. Humid and hot, typical Florida summer night.

ENVIRONMENT: Left side of the road is very close to the lake, with some shrubbery and trees. There is a guard rail on both sides of the road. The right side of the road has trees and dense undergrowth about 50' back from the side of the road.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with Nathan by phone. He is 27, married with one child. He is credible and confident that he saw something that could only have been a bigfoot, by process of elimination.

He lives in DeLeon Springs and hunts deer occasionally. He owns a Jeep with a very bright lightbar for off road use. He said without the illumination from the lightbar he probably would not have seen the figure crossing the highway roughly 1000 feet ahead.

He is certain about where it crossed the road (Highway 11) beause of the wet footprints at that spot.

If you Google the GPS coordinates he posted in the "Directions" field above, you will see the spot where it crossed the road. That spot is right next to where Lake Dias touches Highway 11. Highway 11 cuts through a large, wild oak forest with no homes in it. He frequently sees roadkill deer on the sides of the roads in that area.

Due to the wet footprints on the road coming from the direction of Lake Dias, it was Nathan's conclusion that the figure had been walking along the edge of the lake before it crossed the road there.

When temperatures are very hot, bigfoots are known to come to water (lake, creek, marsh, etc.) and partially submerge themselves to cool off, somewhere out of view of humans. They will do that if there are no caves or drainage tunnels nearby that will help them escape the heat.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net

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