YEAR: 2000

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 8/22/2000 & 8/24/00

STATE: Louisiana

COUNTY: Rapides Parish

LOCATION DETAILS: On file with BFRO

NEAREST TOWN: Pineville

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 28

OBSERVED: Encounters told to me by Logger Earl Whitstine.
Sighting one occurred on Tuesday August 22, 2000 around 1300hrs. Mr. Whitstine stated he was operating his cutter, which resembles a skidder in that the only difference basically is one has huge shear type cutters and the other has a holder. Whitstine was approaching some fallen trees when he saw what appeared at the time to be the rear end of a horse. Thinking this was a nearby resident's horse, he rattled the cutters in an attempt to scare it away, but as he rattled the cutters the object turned and stood up. It was at this time he realized that he was not looking at a horse but a large bipedal creature. He noticed that it was covered from head to toe in thick, long, jet black hair. The hair around the face was also long and he couldn't make out any facial features. The creature turned and began to head for a nearby logging road that ran parallel to Flaggon creek. Whitstine then began to follow in the cutter, and as he got nearer to the creature it turned and jumped into the creek (bayou) and began to try to swim to the other side. Whitstine stated it looked like it couldn't swim very well as it "kept bobbing up and down trying to keep its head out of the water, but would occasionally go underwater." After reaching the other side, the creature stopped and looked back then fled into the adjoining woods. Whitstine called his boss who thought he was joking and brushed it off. Whitstine also told fellow loggers who also poked fun at him. Whitstine stated that he got as close as maybe twenty feet.

Encounter number two occurred on Thursday August 24, 2000 around 0700-0730hrs while surveying a property line with another logger. As they walked the line they came upon the creature again alongside a drying bayou (Boggy Bayou). They came within eighty feet (measured during the investigation) of the creature as it stood looking at them from beside a large bush. He yelled out to it "Hey, what are you doing?" The creature then fled north away from Whitstine and the other logger. Whitstine then called his boss and the property owner. The land owner notified Wildlife and Fisheries, the Rapides Parish Sheriffs Office, along with the local paper and tv station. The paper had the owner contact the BFRO.

ALSO NOTICED: none

OTHER WITNESSES: first sighting 1, second sighting 2

OTHER STORIES: Sighting around the week of July 4, 2000. Fisherman sees a large, smelly, bipedal creature carrying a hog less than a quarter mile from August sightings.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: First sighting very sunny & second sighting ,sunrise with some light fog. Temperatures that week were in the mid to high 90s.Very Humid

ENVIRONMENT: Bayou, and swamp with pines and hardwood trees.

Topozone map of general area

Follow-up investigation report:

I was contacted around 1330hrs by the landowner who said she had sixteen tracks in the mud of a possible Bigfoot that a logger had seen, as well as some hair. I advised her to cover the tracks with something to protect them from being damaged in the possible rain that was forecast for that day. I arrived around 1530hrs that afternoon and began investigating the site. The Rapides Sheriffs Department and the Wildlife and Fisheries had already been there. The RPSO had already taken a track cast of track number seven(right). What I found were sixteen tracks that traveled forty-seven feet southeast. I casted tracks number four (left), number thirteen (right), and number fourteen (left). I also received black hairs from a log the creature had been next to. I returned on Friday the 25th around 0800hrs and continued my investigation. I measured the distance from the first track to the last track again. I also measured the distance between each track. I found between track number eight and track number nine a distance of seven feet. There was hard ground between these tracks. I also made a detailed drawing of the area showing all measurements and directions of travel. I noticed that in a couple of the tracks it appeared the creature had used its toes to push off in the mud. I interviewed both witnesses several times and found no deviation from the original telling. Several photographs were made of the area as well as of the casts and hair samples. The hair was sent out to be analyzed by the BFRO and was determined to be bovine(livestock) hairs, which are not uncommon in the area. The tracks measured 14.5 inches in length, heel width was four inches, and the ball of the foot was seven inches wide. The tracks also had only four toes. The tracks were a maximum of two inches deep into the muddy areas. The measured stride from left heel to right heel was three feet five inches, and the left heel to left heel measurement was six feet six inches. Further investigations have been made and are ongoing.

Related Media Articles:

• Have you seen Bigfoot? (8/25/2000; The Town Talk (Alexandria - Pineville, Louisiana))