YEAR: 2022

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

STATE: Alaska

COUNTY: Valdez-Chitina-Whittier County

LOCATION DETAILS: [Investigator (MM) notes:

Richardson Highway north of Copper Center. Crossing point is just north of guardrails for where Yetna Creek passes under the highway.

GPS coordinates: 61.968017, -145.342695

NEAREST TOWN: Glenn Allen

OBSERVED: This past spring at approximately mile 106 Richardson Hwy, traveling to Princess Hotel for breakfast on a Sunday morning, about 1/4 before the right turn to Princess Hotel a very Large 2 legged CRITTER ran across the road in front of me and my wife. In 3 steps on a dead run was into the ditch and into the timber. Wish the snow would have been on the ground, but ditches weren't mowed yet. No visible tracks just brush pushed down.

Never seen anything afterwards till late summer in August, watching TV late evening I started hearing noises and thought my surround sound was on, muted the tv, randomly heard it, sounds like a wood knock, and frequently I went outside and it was coming from behind the house. I live at mile 109 Richardson, and no neighbors in that direction for quite aways. It kinda freaked me after. I knew what it was but after that I haven't heard anything since. I always carry a sidearm when cutting firewood or just out riding. I truly believe we have a Bigfoot in our area

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing else

OTHER WITNESSES: My wife

OTHER STORIES: Afterwards I spoke with friends about it at work, Copper Center is close and they have seen large tracks in the area they couldn't figure out what they were large barefoot priints

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Approximately 830am

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy timber, Copper River and Tazlina River and lots of drainage in area

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with witness George Gillman at length. Originally from Iowa, he lived year-round in Alaska for 30 years. Now he spends his winters in the lower 48.

The sighting happened in late May 2022 in bright sunshine. There was no snow on the ground. He and his wife were driving south on Richardson Highway from Glenn Allen, roughly 65 miles northeast of Valdez Alaska. He mentions in his report that they were on their way to eat breakfast at the "Princess Hotel."

The full name of the place is the "Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge" in Copper Center.

The street view image below shows the crossing spot from the same angle and rough distance as the witnesses. The sasquatch was less than a quarter mile away. It crossed the highway just before the guard rails begin where Yetna Creek passes underneath.

I thought it was oddly coincidental that he has also heard wood knocks behind his home at night, until he mentioned that he lives about three miles from the location of his visual sighting.

You will notice from the aerial images that there are almost no people living near Richardson Highway 3 miles or so north of Copper Center. As he said, he has "a place from away from neighbors and back in the timber."

Yetna Creek runs nearby.

If you zoom in on this highway image below you will see a small verticle red mark (I made) where the figure crossed the highway, just before the guardrails visible on the sides of the highway. It crossed from left to right.





Both the witness and his wife say the figure was upright and furry. Dark fur, mabye with auburn tips. The arms and legs were generally like a human, as opposed to like a four-legged creature walking on two legs.

He said they knew it was not a human because of its size. It crossed the highway in just a few steps. He said no human could get across the highway that quickly with only a few steps. It had to be enormous.

I asked George about the deer population in that area. He said he has almost never seen a deer around there in 30 years. He sees a lot of moose though but they don't run in herds like deer.

I asked him to compare the abundance of moose in that area (based on their visibility from the roads and highway) compared to the abundance of deer in Iowa. He said there's no comparison -- many, many more deer in Iowa than moose in that part of Alaska.

He said there are more deer to the south near the coast around Valdez Alaska (where temps will be more moderate in Winter).

I explained that a sasquatch would need an abundant, reliable protein source in that Copper Center area. He mentions the fish wheels on the Copper River nearby. He said they catch copious amount of salmon -- different species in different runs through spring and summer.




Look up videos on YouTube to see how these contraptions harness the river current to catch salmon.

He mentioned that most of the people setting up the big fish wheels along that part of the Copper River are natives from the nearby village. He said there might be as many as a few dozen fish wheels scattered along the riverbank for a few miles in each direction ... beginning in late May (coincidentally). The fish wheels are not permanent fixtures. The wheels are removed from the river after the fish runs are finished for the year.

He also mentioned that he heard that the fish wheel people say that something comes at night to take fish out of their holding pens if some fish are left in there. The natives don't think it's a bear. He said they would know if it was a bear doing it (probably because they would SEE bears doing it ...). It would not be a mystery to the natives if the fish thief is a bear. They don't think it is a person doing it either.

Why are they so sure it is not a person taking the fish?

Natives in villages in Alaska may be poor but they don't steal food from other tribal members. They would not steal salmon during the salmon runs because there is such a glut of fish in the village. Every tribal member can get fish for free just by asking. Never a need to steal fish from a fish wheel in the middle of the night.

I'm guessing that none of the natives has ever tried to attach a trail camera to their fish wheel to see what comes around at night. It wouild be a good use of trail cameras. The small box shape of a trail camera would blend in perfectly with the structure of the fish wheel. By contrast, a trail camera looks very out of place when strapped to a tree trunk if it is not cleverly camouflaged.

The sasquatch George and wife saw near Copper Center may be down around the coast near Valdez in winter, where there will be a supply of deer. There may be many sasquatches that spend the winter in the Valdez-Cordova zone near the coast, then push up into the interior in Spring when there will be a lot of salmon running, and the salmon are often conveniently accessible in the holding pens of fish wheels along that river at night.

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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