YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 27

STATE: West Virginia

COUNTY: Mineral County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was in front of a business selling storage buildings.

NEAREST TOWN: Burlington, WV

NEAREST ROAD: US 50

OBSERVED: It was Thanksgiving night of 2003 at around 11:30pm. I had taken a friend of mine home and was driving back on route 50 near Burlington, WV (that's in Mineral Co.) I came around a turn and slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting what I thought might be a very large dog.

I barely missed hitting it and as soon as I stopped I realized that this was definitely not a dog. It was too big. It was on the right side of the road, crossing to the left. It was black and walking on all fours, its front legs were longer than the back legs. I was petrified. I had no idea what it was.

When it got to the left side of the road it turned and looked at me, its eyes were glowing orange in my headlight. I couldn't even scream. I had chills all over and tears were rolling out of my eyes. I sped home which was about 4 miles away and ran into my house. I was hysterical and crying and I woke up my mother and told her about it. She believed me.

Other people didn't believe me and I was made fun of. I referred to it as a "black demon" basically because I didn't know what it was. I can't drive by that place in the dark to this day without thinking of that creature and praying that I never see it again and if I do that someone will be with me. Seeing a picture of the Jacob's Creature on MSNBC tonight prompted me to check out your website. It looks exactly like what I saw that night

OTHER WITNESSES: No witnesses to this incident, just me. I was driving my friend home and returning to my house after Thanksgiving dinner.

OTHER STORIES: My cousin was talking to my mother one day about her and her husband seeing a strange creature at the bridge beside the Burlington Fire Hall. My mother told her that I had saw something that scared me. She described what she saw as looking like a cross between a monkey and a kangaroo. I'm not sure if she'd want to talk about the incident as it scared her. She didn't tell a lot of people for fear that she would be made fun of.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was a clear night, but very cold. It was around 11:30pm.

ENVIRONMENT: One the right side of the road there are storage building and on the left is the family's home. But not far behind all of that on both side are woods and mountains. It's not far from Mill Creek.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stephen Willis:

The witness described the creature as looking like an ape with human facial features. She added the animal was between 5-6 feet tall while waking on all fours. It never stood on two legs while she was present. She described it as powerfully built and covered in black hair.

The face reflecting orange eyes in her car headlights terrified the witness. Passing by the sighing location to this day makes her nervous. Her description of its facial expression was, “It was an animal, but it looked like it had intelligence behind its eyes".

She reflected that she has seen most of the animals in West Virginia at one time or another. Last month she saw a wildcat, bear, deer and most of the smaller animals. This one was definitely not anything previously seen.

About BFRO Investigator Stephen Willis:

Grew up in central West Virginia. Retired from the US Army in 2003. Small manufacturing business owner. Lived for almost 7 years in Germany and 1.5 years in the Mideast.