YEAR: 1988

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 9th

STATE: Arkansas

COUNTY: Sebastian County

NEAREST TOWN: Huntington

OBSERVED: I was visiting some friends in Huntington Arkansas in the summer of 1988. We all decided to go to a local lake for some bass fishing. They had warned me that there were tons of water moccasins and to be VERY careful where I stepped. I was moving along the bank fishing and I was paying a whole bunch of attention to where I was placing my feet when all of a sudden there was a commotion in the woods about fifteen feet to the right of me. When I turned and looked I could see a very large creature, about 7 to 8 feet tall with very broad shoulders, and could hear a sort of "whoooop whoooop" noise. Thinking it was one of my companions trying to scare me I moved toward it. At that time it grabbed the tree trunk next to it and just twisted it off, and kind of slapped the ground with it, and made a very low guttural growl. At that point I was more scared than I have ever been in my life. It was really intimidating because its muscles were flexed, and its head was tilted down and it was staring right at me. My Dad had taught me about encounters with bears and what to do. My instinct was to run, but my Dad always taught me that an animal will chase you if you run. I just dropped my pole and looked down at the ground and slowly backed away. The animal followed me a short way and just turned and walked into the woods. When I got back to where my friends were I told them happened and they just laughed at, and made fun of me. I have never been back to that part of the country and now live in the desert where there are few trees.

ALSO NOTICED: I saw a large gorilla-like animal standing with its knees bent and legs slightly bowed outward. Its face was very long with a very pronounced lower lip, almost like the orangutan that Clint Eastwood had as a side-kick. Its nose was something like a gorilla, but more pronounced, kinda pushed up. Its chin was VERY long compared to its face. It had a Jay Leno chin. It had very dark brown ape-like eyes. It had reddish-brown hair, just like a gorilla only longer. It was not thick hair, actually very pretty hair, like an Irish Setter. There was no smell, but the wind was blowing away from me, towards the animal. I noticed that it touched the ground with the knuckles of the left hand as it moved toward me after it twisted off the tree. Since them I have seen chimpanzees act in a similar manner on Discovery Channel when threatened. I also seem to remember that its feet were different from ours, not like a monkey, but not exactly like a human, either. As it growled at me its mouth made an "O" shape. At that point I lowered my head and backed away very slowly. One thing that I remember was that as it walked away it kept its knees bent and took very long strides. It walked with its arms to its sides. I would have to say that it looked like a female, since it had what looked like large floppy breasts. Once it turned away, it was very concentrated on a particular bushy spot, where it paused, hunched down then quickly stood up and briskly walked away. The only thing I could figure was that it either had food or young, but I didn't see either since by that time it was about 75 feet from me among the trees.

OTHER WITNESSES: [No other witnesses.]

OTHER STORIES: I never went back to that spot. I will never return there again. I still dream about it, and it scares me just the same as when it happened.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around noon.

ENVIRONMENT: Lake surrounded by small willow-type trees.

Follow-up investigation report:

This report was originally submitted to the Texas Bigfoot Research Center.

I spoke with the witness on 21 April 2004. I found his testimony compelling and credible. The witness has never lived in Arkansas and has no memory of the name of the lake or of any roads that were taken to get to the lake.

According to his testimony, in 1988 while visiting friends in Sebastian County, Arkansas, the witness had an extraordinary encounter with an unknown, bipedal, apelike creature that stood approximately seven feet in height. It was not until later that the witness considered the animal to be a Bigfoot.

In questioning the witness, I was able to gather the following additional information about his close encounter. As the witness tried to fish, he began to hear noises emanating from the woods only feet from him. He described the sounds as reminiscent of "cattle going through the woods." He looked to see a figure exiting the woods and immediately considered it to be human. It took him only a second or two to discern that the being was not human, and was unlike anything he had ever seen.

The animal "stood straight up and grabbed a small tree" (approximately two inches in diameter), twisted it, and snapped it off "like it was a twig" in the presence of the witness. The witness stood "in awe." The creature then began to "slap the ground" with the tree. The witness explained that the animal then began to vocalize, "WHOOOP!!! WHOOOOOP!! WHOOOOOOP!!" The animal's eyes were "wide open" and "big." The witness said the creature looked "very scared" or concerned. The witness felt that the animal could have killed him easily. "Had it been a lion, I would be dead now," the witness stated. The creature "put its head down and bared its teeth" while "grumbling or growling" at the witness.

After a few seconds of witnessing this, the terrified, shocked witness began to move down the bank away from the creature. At that time, the animal took a few steps forward and then turned back toward the woods. It appeared to pause briefly and "pick something up" before disappearing into the woods. As the witness continued to flee back to his friends, he said he heard nothing else but had a feeling of "being watched."

Visibly shaken and disturbed, upon locating his friends, the witness told them of his encounter. His friends did not take him seriously. The group left the area, and the witness said he has never had a desire to return.

The witness described the creature as "clearly female" with "big breasts." "Long, pretty hair" of a "reddish brown" or "reddish-golden" color covered most of its body. The hair was long on its head and shoulders, but shorter on the rest of the body. The creature seemed to have no neck and had a "rounded head." The witness said the animal's teeth reminded him of "horse teeth." The arms and hands were long. The facial skin "appeared brown" and the skin on its hands was "dark brown."

Overall, the incident lasted a minute at the very most (encompassing the first noises of crashing through the woods).

In my investigations, I have interviewed many witnesses who perceived that they were victims of "intimidation behavior," by unseen and unknown tormentors. Usually in reports involving intimidation behavior, the animals remain just out of sight and resort to various noise-making actions in order to intimidate and frighten. Screams, whoops, growls, rock-throwing, stick-wielding, etc. are all common threads in reports of intimidation behavior. In my opinion, this report is significant in that the witness actually, visually identified the Bigfoot while it attempted to intimidate him.

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