YEAR: 1986-1987

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 28th?

STATE: Pennsylvania

COUNTY: Potter County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was about 3 miles south on 872 from route 6. Just as 872 starts as a long hill ,there is a dirt road that leads off to the left.Right were the dirt road meets the hyway climb that hill to the top..that is were the event occured.

NEAREST TOWN: Coudesport,Sweden valley

NEAREST ROAD: 872

OBSERVED: My incident occurred on the second day of deer season 1986 or 87. I was hunting alone in the afternoon and the woods were quiet. It was the second day of antlered deer season and I was surprised I didn't hear any shooting. I was near the top of a ravine/bowl and standing on the ground next to a tree where I could survey the valley and sides of the ravine.At about 3.00 to 3.30 pm I just got an odd feeling that something was wrong...really wrong. I had hunted and hiked in the woods for the past 10 years all the time and never felt that way. I have even done a lot of night hunting and was lost in the woods one night..I still never felt that way.

Before long I heard what I assumed were a couple of hunters talking to each other loudly.But what they said made no sense.It sounded like the japanese language played backwards.The hunters were moving uphill and covered a distance of about 200 yards in 12-15 seconds!!!There was a foot of snow on the ground and the hill had about a 30 degree grade.(I did the math..its about 45 mph)!I was puzzled and just figured my mind was playing tricks on me.Then I heard loud limbs breaking and expected to see deer run ahead of the "hunters" so I got ready.After about 5 minutes a movement out of the corner of my left eye got my attention.There was a lone pine tree swaying like it was in a hurricane.The top of the tree was moving severely to the left and right about 40 degrees!Something was standing under the tree which appearred to be moving it.It was about 7 feet tall and I saw it for about 5 seconds.Its "arm"? came down and it took a step forward.It then moved a couple steps and was behind a group of trees.I would say the color of the hair was medium brown with a slightly lighter area.When it stepped behind the trees it never came out the other side.Keep in mind these trees were spaced about a foot apart and were maybe 8 inches in diameter.The odd thing was you could not see any hair between the trees or movement even through my scope.I was about 70 yards from the thing and couldn't understand where it went.I knew it would have left tracks but something overwealming told me to stay away.I had what others have described as a sense of "doom" which is a good description.That was it.No smell or other events.I never knew what to think of what happened and stopped hunting after that.Since then I found this site and that memory came rushing back after reading a number of the stories.I did not get a good look at the "thing" but it was not anything I had ever seen in the woods.

ALSO NOTICED: Prior to that my brother reported that he heard some screams in the woods and someting followed him late one night when he was walking home up that dirt road.At the time I didn't think much of it.

OTHER WITNESSES: No.

OTHER STORIES: Only what is already on this site.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: about 3.00-3.30pm

ENVIRONMENT: Mixed hardwoods.Some pine and hemlock.The area had been logged off shortly before then so most the timber was younger growth.There was about a foot of snow on the ground.the temperature was in the twenties.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

I spoke to the witness over the phone. He described the creature that he saw through the scope of his gun from 70” away to be approximately seven and a half-foot tall and bulky, perhaps weighing about 400lbs. He described the general shape of the creature to be the same shape as the Patterson Creature. He is adamant that it was not a bear, and that it stood on two legs the whole time. He states that it was covered in dark brown hair and that he could make out a patch of tan somewhere on the body. The only part of the body that he saw clearly was the arm, as the rest of the creature was partially blocked.
-The tree that the creature was swaying was approximately 30’ tall and about 6’ in diameter. And the degree of swaying was such that it whipped back and forth enough to dislodge snow and needles from the top of the tree.
-During the encounter he was still trying to rationalize in his mind what he was seeing. He could not explain the sense of ‘foreboding and dread’ he had been feeling the whole time, nor could he understand how something could have moved so quickly up a steep ravine that was covered in a foot of snow. And when he finally saw what was whipping the tree back and forth, he stated that what he was seeing should have been a deer, or something familiar, that he could wrap his mind around. Not a large, bipedal figure that was covered in hair.
-He still cannot figure out how the creature disappeared so quickly and so completely while he was watching it. He thought of going to the area by the tree to look for tracks, or other evidence, but the feeling of dread was so strong that he decided against it.
-I found this witness to be honest, forthright and sincere. I believe that what he heard and saw could not be explained by anything but a bigfoot. The vocalizations he described as sounding like a Japanese language spoken backwards may have been bigfoot language, often referred to as "samurai chatter".

About BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

Cathy has been a nurse for over 27 years and currently works in a busy ICU. An amateur naturalist, Cathy has been intrigued by the bigfoot phenomenon from an early age.
Attended the following expeditions:
- The 2006 Florida Expedition
- The 2007 North Carolina Expedition
- The 2008 South Florida Expedition
- The 2008 North Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Central Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Utah Expedition
- The 2010 TN Survey Expedition
- The 2011 East Texas Expedition
-The 2012 North FL Expedition
-The 2013 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition
For more information, please see the Florida BFRO