YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 2nd

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Liberty County

LOCATION DETAILS: 20 or 25 minutes outside of Cleveland Texas on State Highway 105. Approaching the Trinity River Bridge crossings. We were headed east on the highway at the time.

NEAREST TOWN: Cleveland, Texas

NEAREST ROAD: We were on State Highway 105.

OBSERVED: In January of this year (04) my girlfriend and I were on our way to visit family in Kountz, Texas. We share an apartment in a suburb of Houston. The quickest route to my mom and stepdad's house is through Cleveland, Texas and take 105 from there to almost Kountz. [At] approximately midnight, we left from Kingwood and traveled through Cleveland onto 105.

We had been on 105 about 20 minutes (about 45 minutes from Kingwood) we were approaching the Trinity River bottom when I noticed something in the center of the road. My girlfriend was dozing beside me and I yelled thinking we were about to be in an accident. She sat up and screamed that we were about to hit 'him'. I locked the brakes of her truck up and when I did whatever it was stood up in the road and started to 'run' to our right towards the woods.

My girlfriend, started to open her door and I grabbed her to stop her. She yelled that it was a 'bigfoot'. I had heard of them, I mean who hasn't, but to be honest until that very moment, I would never have believed that they existed. By the time I looked up from her the creature was standing on the side of the road watching us. When she opened her door the creature made like a squalling sound and turned into the woods.

I think it was around 7 feet tall. I am not too sure I do know it was quite a bit taller then myself. It was black in color but it had what looked like mud on its legs and arms. The fur or hair was long. It was on my girlfriend's side of the truck about 10 feet away and she said its hands were long and the thumbs were 'not right'. I am not too sure what she meant other then they looked longer I think, too be honest not too sure how to describe that.

Where the thing was squatting in the road was a doe that had been hit by a car. I am not sure if it was looking or feeding on the doe but it had been moved by it. You could see where the creature had shifted the animal on the road or at least it looked like that when I got out to look. I have read on here, when I decided to post the incident. that there was an 'oder' a lot of times. When we got out I really could not remember an oder or anything else that smelled strange.

I am not too sure of what else to tell about what we saw.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing that I have not already told.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2 witnesses. Me and my girlfriend. I was driving and my girlfriend was lying back in the seat dozing.

OTHER STORIES: Not that I am aware of.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was about 1:30 in the morning. It was fair and chilly. I think there had been a shower earlier in the day because the road was damp. There was lighting from my headlights and from the running lights on her truck.

ENVIRONMENT: The area is heavily forested with a large number of deer and other wild game in the area. It is near the Trinity River and that area of the river is very heavily fished almost all year round. There is an area where kids and adults go to 'park and play' on the river.

Follow-up investigation report:

I interviewed the male witness 6 April 2004; I spoke with the female witness or “girlfriend” 4 May 2004. Both witnesses corroborated the initial report and added a few, heretofore undisclosed details. While I found both of the witnesses’ testimonies of the event compelling, I found the female’s account particularly so.

The female remembered awakening from a state of light sleep. Her boyfriend suddenly stopped the vehicle with an animal standing directly in front of them at a distance of approximately twenty feet. The animal was facing away until it turned clockwise to peer at them. The male witness recalled seeing the animal stand up from a squatting position; the female’s first memory was of their vehicle quickly coming to a stop with the animal in front of them. In an instant, the animal quickly stood up and turned to look at them, though it did not turn completely around. Though their memory of facial details was scant, both witnesses remember watching the animal turn to quickly look at them before hastily retreating across the road to the right. The girlfriend opened her door and the creature disappeared into the sanctuary of the rich forest of the Trinity River bottoms. The entire incident lasted perhaps twenty to thirty seconds; the amount of time of the actual, visual identification was probably less than ten seconds.

I asked the female witness why she exited the vehicle upon seeing a large, unknown animal that was possibly feeding. She had no explanation for her behavior other than to say that the act was certainly out of character for her, and admitted that normally she is “scared of the closet monster.” The witness further admitted that she was indeed scared when she got out of the car, and her boyfriend attempted to prevent her from getting out, but she went despite his admonitions and her trepidation. She told me that she "just wanted to see it," and perhaps get a better look at the creature. Both witnesses eventually got out of the vehicle and had the “feeling” that they were being watched (this is a common thread of many reports just prior to or after a sighting). Before returning to the vehicle, the male witness pulled the carcass off the road. Upon entering the vehicle, the girlfriend exclaimed, “Oh my God! It was a bigfoot!! Oh my God, it was a bigfoot…..”

Both witnesses have told few about the encounter, for fear of ridicule. The female witness confided in her mother, but was greeted with derision, as her mother tried to convince her that what she saw was “probably a coyote.” About which, the witness remarked, “I’m sorry, but coyotes don’t stand up and walk off on two legs.” Indeed.

The female witness was quite concerned that I would consider her to be “nuts.” She seemed quite relieved when I told her that there are other sightings in the immediate and surrounding vicinity. She said, “Thank you, thank you,” as if she and her boyfriend had been vindicated upon hearing that there are other people out there who have reported seeing something similar to what she and her boyfriend saw that morning in East Texas.

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