YEAR: 2005

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: UNKNOWN

STATE: Virginia

COUNTY: Stafford County

LOCATION DETAILS: This incident occurred on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, in a restricted military training area near the MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) training town.

The patrol originated from the MOUT town at approximately:

38.575569, -77.533174

This is the location where we initially experienced the compass disorientation anomaly while attempting to navigate out of the area at night.

After realizing we had somehow looped back to our starting area, we cut a new azimuth and moved toward a different pickup location. The encounter with the creature occurred approximately 15 to 20 minutes later in a wooded area near:

38.587020, -77.530447

The actual sighting location would be within approximately 200 yards of this second coordinate, in dense woods.

Both locations are inside a controlled military training area with restricted access -- not open to the public. You may not go there without official permission and escort. I am providing these coordinates for research and documentation purposes.

NEAREST TOWN: Quantico, VA

NEAREST ROAD: Dirt road - 200 YDs - Highway - Miles

OBSERVED: In the summer of 2005, I was stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, working as part of the opposing force (OPFOR) for The Basic School / Infantry Officers Course (I was there over three years). During one of the multi-week field training exercises in the MOUT town training area, myself and two other Marines were instructed to leave the town at night and move on foot through the woods to link up with a vehicle at a designated pickup point approximately 500 to 700 meters away.

The area was considered an “active” training area, with students operating and using blank ammunition. Because of this, we were moving quietly with flashlights off. There was little to no moonlight, and none of us had night vision devices. All three of us were non-commissioned officers with several years of training and experience, and we had operated in these woods many times before.

We cut an azimuth on our compasses and began moving in what should have been a nearly straight line toward the pickup point. After walking for what felt like an unusually long time, we reached a clearing and found ourselves at a road. To our surprise, we realized we were back near the same area we had originally departed from. All three compasses had indicated we were moving correctly, yet we had somehow looped back to our starting point. This was disorienting and unsettling.

We decided to cut a new azimuth to a different reference point and then adjust course toward a different pickup spot further down the road.

Approximately 15 to 20 minutes into this second movement, we heard a loud sound to our left, like a tree cracking or falling. Concerned about the possibility of a falling tree, we turned on our flashlights and looked in that direction.

We observed two trees next to each other bending toward one another. When we looked up, approximately 20 to 30 feet above the ground, we saw a large, hairy creature with its back facing us. The creature appeared to be pulling the two trees together. The hair was a brown or reddish-brown color. I could not determine whether it had climbed the tree or was already in it, but it was clearly manipulating both trees with great strength. These are not small trees.

The creature was large, approximately 8+ feet in height with a large body, far larger than a person, and its proportions and movement did not resemble a human. At that moment, I froze. I was the third person in our file. The Marine in front of me immediately started running. The second Marine shouted something and also started running.

I turned my flashlight off because we were still in the training area and began running after them. As we ran, we heard a very heavy thud, and then fast-moving pursuit behind us. There were loud crashing and breaking sounds, like something large moving rapidly through dense brush. This continued for approximately 20 to 30 seconds.

At that point, I yelled for the Marine in front to turn on his light so we could move as fast as possible without falling. We turned our lights on and ran at full speed in the general direction of where we believed the road and pickup point were, no longer using our compasses.

After approximately five minutes of running, we reached the vehicle. We jumped in and urgently told the driver to leave immediately.

What we saw was not a black bear or any known animal in the area. Black bears in Quantico are relatively small. That would not explain the size and the way the creature was holding onto the trees with long arms, and the strength required to bend the trees together, and the speed and power of the movement we heard pursuing us through dense forest. This figure did not resemble a person in any way. I do not believe a human could have been in that position or moved that way.

The distance from us to the creature when we observed it was approximately 20 yards.

This event has stayed with me for 20 years. I have never encountered anything before or since that explains what we saw that night.

ALSO NOTICED: Just the compass issue as previously stated.

OTHER WITNESSES: There were three witnesses total, including myself. All three of us were U.S. Marines serving as non-commissioned officers at the time.

Just prior to the incident, we were moving on foot at night through a wooded training area on Marine Corps Base Quantico after being instructed to depart the MOUT town and relocate to another position for a follow-on training event the next day. We were navigating using compasses, moving quietly and without flashlights due to the presence of students conducting training operations in the area using blank ammunition.

We had just corrected our route after experiencing an unexplained navigation anomaly and were approximately 15 to 20 minutes into our movement when the incident occurred.

OTHER STORIES: I have not.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The incident occurred at night, during the late evening hours. I do not remember the exact time, but it was fully dark. There was little to no moonlight, and visibility was very poor. We did not have night vision devices and were moving through the woods with our flashlights turned off most of the time to avoid detection during the training exercise.

The weather was clear but humid. There was no rain, fog, or significant wind. The conditions were typical for a summer night in Virginia warm, humid, and still. The darkness was the most notable environmental factor, as the forest canopy and lack of moonlight made it extremely difficult to see without artificial light.

ENVIRONMENT: The incident occurred in a dense wooded training area on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. The terrain consisted of mixed pine forest with heavy undergrowth, including ferns, shrubs, and thick vegetation at ground level, which significantly limited visibility and made movement difficult off established paths.

To the east and northeast of our position, the terrain rose gradually into a low hill or incline, but there were no mountains or steep ridgelines in the immediate area. The forest canopy was fairly closed, contributing to very low light levels at night.

There were no obvious man-made structures in the immediate vicinity of the encounter location, as we were moving away from the MOUT town and deeper into the training area. I do not recall seeing a creek, stream, or other water source nearby, though it is possible one existed somewhere in the broader area outside our immediate line of sight.

The overall environment was typical of a dense Virginia pine forest training area with thick undergrowth and limited visibility, especially at night.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with this former Marine, Andrew Bird, at length. He is credible, and he was not the only one who observed this figure that night. Two other marines were with him and saw the same thing.

This old Class A sighting report is paricularly important for two reasons: The behavior and the location.

Behavior: There are perhaps a dozen credible reports or stories (especially multi-witness reports) of a full grown bigfoot up in a tree. The more typical reports and annecdotal info (2nd hand stories) of bigfoots in trees involve bigfoots that are small (i.e. very young) or no larger than a human. It is not common to hear about large bigfoots high up in trees. It is common, however, to hear about the violent shaking of tall trees, which would be much easier to do if a large bigfoot was up in a tree positioned the way this bigfoot was seen by these marines.

I asked questions to clarify exactly what this marine saw and did not see. This large bigfoot was up in the air 20-30 feet off the ground BETWEEN trees that were 4-5 feet apart. Because of the obstructed view through the trees, the marines could only see it from the waist up. In other words, they could NOT see if the feet were perched on a lateral branch. They saw the back of it, with big arms spread apart, each arm partly wrapped around a tree trunk. With this grip it had leverage to pull the trees together with enough force to make them creak and crack. It was this sound that first alerted the marines to its presence, and triggered them to shine their flashlights up into the trees.

The closest comparison, with respect to the shape and color of what he saw pulling these tall trees together that night, is "like a huge orangutan" from behind.

________________________________


The other remarkable element of this story regards the location. I was particularly keen to find out if this witness was aware of the other sighting that happened in 1994 on Quantico.

He really, truly, honestly, had not seen nor heard about that other report prior to me bringing it to his attention. I had to direct his attention to the list of reports in the BFRO database in Prince William County, Virginia. I told him to click the 1994 report from Quantico then scroll down to see the maps. He was sincerely amazed with surprise when he realized that encounter nine (9) years before (also involving marines on night excersizes), was only 2 miles away from his 2005 encounter.

After the phone call with this witness I did more digging on a third report from Quantico listed for this county -- the 1957 report.

For years it was unclear to us where exactly this 1957 incident occurred on Quantico Marine Base. The only location reference was "Camp Goetche" but the witness was not sure of the name.

There is not, nor was there ever, a place on Quantico called Camp Goetche. The AI Chat system "Perplexity" helped me figure out the mystery. "Camp Goetche" was likely a mispronunciation of "Camp Goettge". In 1957 there was a place on Quantico called "Camp Goettge". The AI system was able to figure out the coordinates for where Camp Goettge was. Those coordinates (38.5743° N, 77.5553° W) show a location that is EVEN CLOSER to the 2005 sighting location that the 1994 sighting location !! ALL THREE REPORTS -- 1957, 1994, and 2005 -- occurred within the same two miles radius.

Why would bigfoots be on Quantico?

The deer herds are plentiful on Quantico. Military vehicle collisions with deer are not uncommon. Hunting is very restricted so Quantico is a defacto wildlife sanctuary, certainly large and plentiful enough to support a hidden family of bigfoots that will only be spotted every few years or so.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net