YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Winter

STATE: Arizona

COUNTY: Maricopa County

LOCATION DETAILS: At the cotton fields and the golf course on Baseline and 59 Ave,

NEAREST TOWN: Phoenix / Laveen

NEAREST ROAD: Baseline Rd.

OBSERVED:
OBSERVED: About 1998, I don't remember the month, but it was cool and at night. I'd written the incident down, but I can't find it right now. Anyway, we were driving on Baseline Rd., between 51 Ave. & 67 Ave. going west. Myself, my wife, and nephew, saw maybe two cars swerve around in the road ahead. As we approached, I slowed down, and then a creature stepped across half the road in front of us and into and across a small canal and onto a golf course. By then I had turned my scout around deciding to use 51 Ave. instead of using 67 Ave. I asked every one what they saw and their response was, bigfoot, except for my wife who just wanted out of the area. As far as the description, it was big and tall with dark matted stringy hair. I could not see its face very well, because I was too busy turning the scout around. The creature didn't seem to care if we were there, it just stepped across the road ignoring the cars. There is very little traffic in this area at night.

ALSO NOTICED: None that I know of.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three of us riding in my scout.

OTHER STORIES: I have grown up in this general area, and have roamed the island mountains and the dessert areas, including the remote areas of the Gila River Indian Reservation. I have been told about the unusual creature, with different names, but have the same ape like form. My friends on the Reservation have called me out in the middle of the night, concerning these creatures. It would be much easier to talk to someone directly about these incidents.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was about 8pm, and a cool night. Creature was observed in the headlights of our scout.

ENVIRONMENT: This is a rural area with island desert mountains and an Indian Reservation to the southwest. Also, the Salt River is to the north, and the city of Phoenix is to the east.
There was a Golf course on one corner and the rest is cotton fields and citrus groves.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

I had an interesting talk with Mike U., who is a first generation American, about he and his wife's short encounter with a bigfoot creature in the winter of 1998 which was just on the out skirts of Phoenix. I asked Mike if he thought the creature could have been a person dressed up in a costume? His first response was, "I knew it had to be a bigfoot creature when I first seen it and so did my wife, besides, this is Arizona and everybody around here carries a gun and nobody is that stupid because they could very well have been shot".
The area that Mike and his wife, Ladonna observed this creature is very close to the intersection of the Salt and the Gila Rivers, just north of the Gila Indian reservation.

I asked mike the following questions:

1. Where did this incident occur? "It was located on the southwest side of Phoenix, Arizona".
2. What date did this take place? "I did not remember exactly, but it was cold".
3. What time of year was it? "It was winter".
4. Do you remember the month? "No!"
5. Was it day or night? "It was dark, just after sunset, maybe around 8 p.m".
6. Describe the area in which this incident occurred. "There was a Golf course on one corner and the rest is cotton fields and citrus groves".
7. Where about in Phoenix did this happen? "It was close to the intersection of 51Ave., and Baseline Rd".
8. Near what area? "The area is called the Laveen area, which is south and west of Phoenix".
9. What distance would you estimate you were from this thing when you saw it? "It was maybe 50 to 100 feet in front of us".
10. What was your first reaction? "I got the chills, because I knew what it was".
11. What was it doing? "Walking across the road". Mike remembered the creature making one very large step when it crossed over a two lane paved road, and it then continued on, crossing over a canal and onto a golf course.
12. Were you alone when you first saw this? "No, there were three of us, myself, my wife, and my nephew".
13. What's is his/her name? "Wife's name is Ladonna, and my nephew's name is Matt".
14. Did it stand and walk on two legs? "Yes, as it walked across the road, it seemed like it only took one very large step to get across, and it continued walking as it crossed into the canal".
15. Did you see it go down on all fours? "No"!
16. Was it covered in hair? "Yes, all matted and nasty looking, like it rolled in something. To me it looked like what you might see on a homeless person's beard".
17. What color was it? "It was dark grayish to a dark brownish in color".
18. How tall would you estimate this thing to have been? "It was well over six feet tall, maybe as tall as seven feet".
19. What would you estimate its weight to have been? "Only guessing, it weighed some where between 500 to 600 lbs".
20. Did you see any facial features? "No, we only observed the right side of it".
21. Could you describe them? "We only observed the right side of the creature as it walked across the road".
22. Could you describe the arms? "The one arm that we saw was very hairy and the hand was down by the knee. The arm seemed longer than you would expect".
23. Could you tell if it was a male or a female? "No"!
24. About how long did you see it? "Less than ten seconds".
25. Did it ever make any noise? "No, vehicle was too noisy to hear anything on the outside".
26. Did it ever make any animal sounds from its mouth? "Nothing that we could hear".
27. Did it see you? "I didn't think so, but it had to know we were there, because of the vehicle lights".
28. Did you smell anything? "No"!
29. Did you check for footprints? "No"! "We never went back, but we do drive by that area and it still bothers my wife".
30. Did you report what you saw? (IE) Parents or any agency? "Yes, I told my parents and some of my very close friends that live on the reservation".
31. What was their response? "My parents were not surprised, and my friends on the reservation, whom I can trust to talk about such situations, because they already know about existence of these creatures. The people on the reservation have their own name for it, and they call it Hoofer".
32. In your own words describe what happened. "Mike U. stated that he and his wife and nephew were driving down Baseline Rd. when we observed several vehicles swerving to avoid hitting something in or close to the side of the road". Mike stated, "they continued on and that’s when this creature, walked across the road in front of him, within view of their headlights". Mike said, "he knew what it was, and that’s when he got that cold chill that shook his body". Also, Mike said,"at that same instant, my wife got hysterical, and she made me turn the vehicle around and take a different route down 51Ave". "When I turned my vehicle around the creature was right in front of us". "After I had turned on 51Ave., I asked my family the question, just what had we seen"? Mike said, "his wife was still very shook up, but his nephew Matt said it was a bigfoot".

In Summary:
My conversation with Mike U. was candid and he seemed very sincere. I believe that Mike and his family saw a bigfoot creature on that cold night in Arizona.