YEAR: 1988 or 89

SEASON: Fall

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Coke County

LOCATION DETAILS: Near E.V. Spence Reservoir.

NEAREST TOWN: Silver

OBSERVED: I arrived at site during fall thunderstorm and after it passed around 9 pm, set up to fish under bridge as the water was running and the catfish had swam upstream from Spence to feed. Observed one identifiable humanoid track (fresh) in river mud under bridge and several large smears along rivers side in 20 ft radius. Around 10 pm., from across the river, we heard 2 LOUD roars, that ended in a scream, grunt cough? This was unnerving, as we had fished this area several times times in the past and even though at times felt nervous in the area, maybe spooked?, nothing like this before. After the screams we heard a heavy moment in the thick mesquite in the area the roars came from, then a heavy thudding sound. Nothing more occurred for 1hr, until my fishing buddy said in a low voice that someone had just threw a rock at him, at that moment a large rock hit the dirt between us with a lot of velocity, I yelled to cut it out, and another roar answered me, this time there was no doubt it was time to leave. We gathered our gear as fast as possible and left for the truck parked up on the road above us, as we were walking up the concrete to the bridge, we both heard a heavy splashing and something running in the river below, {river at this time around 5 ft. deep due to run off} and a grunting noise. When we got to the truck we both saw river mud spattered all over the windshield, side and grill, and it had the most foul odor I've ever smelt, like the smell of lake mud when the lake turns over in the fall. I've never been spooked like that before or since. Also I've never returned to that spot because it scared me. Problem is, it's some great fishing! Locals in the area at times had told us to stay away from under this bridge, but never gave explanation. The store in the town of Silver (pop. 10, at the time was the areas meeting place. For what is worth, there's the info. hope it can be of assistance to you guys.

ALSO NOTICED: One humanoid print, clearly defined and wide at the toes (# of toes 4) narrow at heel. Other smears in the area but too muddy to tell about. Heavy roar, and horrible scream, heavy thudding sound, animal crossing river in our direction as we were leaving.

OTHER WITNESSES: My friend.

OTHER STORIES: Yes I know a man who saw a "skunkeape" at least on 3 different occasions, but will not talk about it much. Ivie Reservoir is located in Concho, Coke and Runnels Counties, 26 miles south of Ballinger, Texas.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Beginning 10 pm until little after 2 am. 12 hrs after fall thunderstorm, extremely humid, warm, full-moon after storm passed.

ENVIRONMENT: Thick mesquite, scrub oak, cactus and rocky. Entirely ranches at the time, closest house 5 miles away.

Follow-up investigation report:

I met with the witness for several hours. The witness is an avid fisherman, hunter, and outdoorsman. He grew up on a West Texas ranch. He is familiar enough with the outdoors to identify known animals or animal behavior. His experience began when he and a friend went fishing under the Colorado river bridge on FM 2059 just above E. V. Spence reservoir. It had been raining for several days and the river was up. During this time the catfish swim upstream from the lake and the fishing is usually good at this location during this time. The witness and friend were fishing on the north bank underneath the bridge to the east side. They had noticed where something had fallen down the bank. There were several non descript tracks and one four toed human like track that was approximately 14" long. He drew me a diagram of the print. It was narrow at the heel and more triangular in shape that the northwest type of print. They continued on and set up to fish. While fishing, the witness's friend whispered, "someone just threw a rock at me." Just then another rock hit between both of them and came from across the river. The witness yelled out, "cut it out." This was answered by a scream that the witness said was very loud. He said it was so loud you could actually feel the scream rattle inside your body. They heard the scream again and gathered their equipment and headed to the truck. Once they reached the truck, there was what the witness assumed to be river mud splattered on the truck. He said that it smelled awful with a strong stench of fish in it. After thinking about it for a while, the witness said that it did not smell like ordinary mud and wondered if it was feces. The debris on the truck washed off in the rain on the way home and he was unable to inspect it further.

Once they reached the truck they heard something plodding in the river. They then heard a thudding sound coming from under the bridge which was described as the sound of someone hitting something on the ground or stomping their foot. It was a dull sound. Immediately, they heard the same type of sound coming from the dark on the passenger side of the truck. They then got in the truck and sped away. The witness said that his friend completely cut off all contact with him after that and he has not seen him since that day.

The witness is still visibly shaken from this incident even though it has been some years since it happened. He has never been back to the location and has no desire to return. It is my opinion that the witness is being truthful about this encounter. Another observation is that this is in the Colorado River corridor that feeds through the hill country to other lakes where sightings have been reported. In order from Lake Spence, the Colorado flows through the following major hill country lakes: Ivie, Buchannon, Inks, LBJ, Travis, and Lake Austin.

The Site: It is very secluded and located in an area full of hills and canyons. The scrub brush is thick and could conceal BF. The Colorado River has many clear running shallows in this part of the country with lots of aquatic life which could provide food. There is also an abundance of deer and some pronghorn antelope in the area. Like most of west Texas, BF would have to depend on animal life for food sources more than plant life. The site feeds into Spence reservoir just a few miles downstream. This is close to Howard County (Big Spring) and Garden City where there have been sightings reported in the past. It is roughly the same distance to the Tom Green County sightings. I did not see any evidence of recent activity.

At Lake Ivie, there is a restricted area where there are pits dug to dump the fish entrails from the fish cleaning stations. This area is accessible only to the Parks and Wildlife personnel and registered guides for the lake to dump their offal. The area is surrounded by buzzards, raccoons, and all sorts of wildlife that can be seen in the daytime on a regular basis. One of the guides known to the witness claims to have observed a four foot tall "skunk ape" at the site when he went to dump one day. The witness thinks that he can at least get me and maybe someone else into the site sometime and will work on the guide to make this happen.

He also elaborated on an area of a ranch near Lake Ivie where the rancher avoids because of "bigfoot". Supposedly, a tall deer fence was installed in the area and was damaged by BF because of a regular trail. The witness was told that the fence was never repaired so the BF would not be upset again. This is adjacent to a county road. I will look into this on another trip out west.

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