Report # 78609(Class A) Submitted by witness Dennies C. on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.Three witnesses watch a "Winsted Wildman" two miles SW of Winsted(Show Printer-friendly Version)
OBSERVED: This took place around 1990, give or take a year or so.
My sister, my ex-girlfriend and I were out for a ride and stopped off at the dry dam on Sucker Brook Rd in Winsted CT.
I parked the car and we all got out and walked to the bridge over the road and looked down into the dry dam area. We were talking about nothing in particular that I can remember.
After a few minutes I seen down in the dry dam area something moving from under the bridge headed away from us (if my calculations are correct, it was moving in an easterly direction). It was probably about the size of a bear or a big NFL linebacker. I said "Look!" and pointed. It was moving pretty fast but gracefully among some big stones and brush. It looked like a big linebacker running fast, leaning forward, and it looked as if it had no head. The color was a dirty grey with some darker streaks.
I remember thinking that it may be headed up and around towards us, so we should probably get to the car. So we all got to the car quickly. All I remember from there is making sure it wasn’t headed towards us while driving away. I cannot remember what time of year this was, but I do remember there were leaves on the trees. Also, it was during the day, later in the day, when I normally went for rides.
ALSO NOTICED: Can't think of anything
OTHER WITNESSES: Yes, three counting myself
OTHER STORIES: There is another strange encounter that my wife and I experienced around 91-92 at a different location, but I can file this at a later time. This was at night when we saw 3 sets of orange eyes. At about 7-8 feet high. But for another time perhaps.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Mike Young:
This witness says all three saw the shoulders, flanks and back of a large mottled gray creature. The creature moved fast and moved in a bipedal motion. Head was not visible. Arms and legs were in the bushes.
No noises, sounds, or smells.
Creature was about 30-40 feet away below them on an old bridge over Sucker Brook in Winsted CT.
The "Winsted Wildman" has been occasionally spotted in the general area since 1895. Stories were reported in the NY Herald on August 25 1895. The Winsted Herald reported the same story in August 1895.
I spoke to the witness, both he, his wife and Mother saw the Wildman. They retreated to the car for safety. I found the witness to be straightforward and honest.
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Notes by BFRO Investigator Matt Moneymaker
A "Winsted Wildman" is a regional name for a bigfoot/sasquatch. It is not a new type of cryptid.
Investigator Mike Young found an interesting article about the Winsted Wildman story published on the web site for Trinity College in Hartford, CT.
The Trinity College article attempts to interpret the old articles about the Winsted Wildman flap. It obviously begins with the conclusion that there was never any such thing as the Winsted Wildman. It later suggests the story is a proven hoax because the first one to write about the local sightings in the area was a writer who wrote about all sorts of other fictional things -- Louis Stone. Therefore, goes the logic, the stories that were collected and documented by him must be fiction purely by association. There is no possibility he heard actual sighting stories in the area. Furthermore, any stories that were documented independently of Louis Stone must have been caused by the mass hysteria that Louis Stone created.
More modern reports of the same type of creatures in the same area should help shed a different light on what likely occurred around Winsted in 1895 and periodically thereafter.
Here is that Trinity College article about the Winsted Wildman story (presented as an example "Fake News"): Connecticut's Own Bigfoot: The Winsted Wild Man . ________________________________________________
The actionable aspect of this reports relates to the bridge mentioned in the report. Any time a bigfoot is seen near a rural bridge over a wooded gully ... that is an important location. The sheltered space under a bridge in this context has a much better than average potential for yielding photos of bigfoots with well concealed trail cameras, if they are deployed in advance of a ice storm (freezing rain) or major hail storm. Underneath a bridge is the next best thing to sheltering in a cave in those conditions. Several key observations over the years mention seeing bigfoots below bridges of this description, or near openings of large culverts, in severe hair or ice storm conditions.
Keep that in mind if you live around Winsted. This would be one place you might expect to encounter a Winsted Wildman in very bad weather. It's not a sure bet, but it's a much better than average bet.
Drone video of the location where this incident happened:
About BFRO Investigator Mike Young:
Mike Young is a BFRO investigator and has attended Bigfoot expeditions in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, and New Jersey. His BFRO investigations have been published in the Albany Times Union, the New York Post, and Fox News Channel.
A data and security specialist, Mike has a Business and Technology degree from Fordham University and a graduate degree in IT Management from the University of Virginia. He has given speeches on IT Security at the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland and Cybersecurity conferences in NYC, Ottawa Canada, and Silicon Valley California. He currently lives in Connecticut.
