YEAR: 1988

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: November

STATE: Pennsylvania

COUNTY: Allegheny County

NEAREST TOWN: CLAIRTON

NEAREST ROAD: RAVENSBURG BLVD

OBSERVED: I RECENTLY READ A REPORT ON YOUR WEB SITE. THE REPORT WAS DATED 11/30/2009 OUT OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. I WAS ALSO SITTING IN A DEER STAND IN THE PITCH BLACK AND POURING RAIN THAT MORNING. I WAS IN FOREST COUNTY WHICH IS NORTH OF CAMBRIA COUNTY. AND AS I SAT THERE I COULDNT HELP BUT THINK ABOUT THE "BABY BIGFOOT PICS TAKEN FROM A TRAIL CAM IN FOREST COUNTY IN 2008" IT MADE ME FEEL A LITTLE UNEASY, BEACAUSE I BELIEVE THESE CREATURES EXIST AND I'LL TELL YOU WHY.

ONE MORNING IN LATE NOV.1988 I WENT DEER HUNTING NEAR MY HOME IN CLAIRTON. I DROVE DOWN RAVENSBURG BLVD. AND TURNED OFF TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD JUST BEFORE THE RAVENSBURG
BRIDGE AND DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO CLAIRTON PARK.

I DROVE ABOUT 100 YARDS DOWN A DIRT ROAD TO THE BASE OF A VERY STEP AND HEAVILY WOODED HILLSIDE.IT WAS APPROX. 05:30, IT WAS CLEAR AND VERY COLD, NEAR PITCH BLACK. I EXITED FROM MY VEHICLE. I OPEN THE REAR DOORS TO RETRIEVE MY GUN AND OTHER HUNTING EQUIPMENT.

AS I TURNED AROUND I HEARD A NOISE APPROX 20 YARDS IN FRONT ME AND TO MY RIGHT. THERE WAS A HEAVY THICKET THERE. ALL OF A SUDDEN I OBSERVED I VERY LARGE VERY BROAD HUMANOID SHAPE RISE UP FROM THE THICKET. THE MASSIVE SHAPE DARTED TO THE LEFT IT MADE UP THE STEEP HEAVILY WOODED HILL SIDE IN A FEW SECONDS AND WAS OUT OF SIGHT.

I WAS STUNNED,SHOCKED AND REALLY NOT SURE WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED. I WAITED FOR IT TO GET LIGHT BEFORE I ENTERED THE WOODS. I SAT IN MY DEER STAND FOR THE REST OF THE DAY WITHOUT INCIDENT.

I DONT USUALLY TELL THIS STORY BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK I'M JUST MESSING AROUND WITH THEM. MY WIFE DOESNT EVEN BELIEVE ME.

IVE HUNTED AND EXPLORED THESE WOODS SINCE I WAS 12 AND I HUNTED IN THIS SAME SPOT A FEW TIMES JUST LAST SEASON. IVE DONE SOME RESEARCH ON YOUR WEB SITE A SAW ANOTHER INCIDENT AROUND THE SAME TIME A FEW MILES FROM MY INCIDENT. WHEN A WAS A KID ME AND 3 FRIENDS WERE WALKING THROUGH THESE SAME WOODS WHEN SOMEONE STARED THROWING ROCK AT US FROM A NEARBY HILLSIDE. WE JUST FIGURED IT WAS OTHER KIDS SO WE THREW ROCKS BACK AND CURSED.

THESE ARE NOT BIG VAST WOODS THESE ARE LARGE PATCHES OF STEEP HILLS AND HEAVY THICKETS.
BUT I READ ABOUT OTHER LOCAL INCIDENTS ON YOUR WEB SITE.

ALSO NOTICED: NOTHING FOUND OR OBSERVED. WOODS WERE STRANGLY QUITE.

OTHER WITNESSES: NONE

OTHER STORIES: JUST WHAT I FOUND ON YOUR WEB SITE

TIME AND CONDITIONS: APPROX 05:30 HRS. COLD CLEAR BUT NEAR PITCH BLACK. HAD TURNED OFF THE VEHICLE AND HAD NOT YET BRAGGED OUT FLASHLIGHT

ENVIRONMENT: VERY STEEP HILLS, VERY NASTY TICKETS, RIDGE RUNS ABOVE PETERS CREEK.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

After speaking to this witness about this encounter I can add some details to his report.

On a cold, crisp morning, during the early dawn hours before the sun had come up, he was rummaging through his backseat to get out his gun before climbing a hill to his tree stand. Upon hearing a noise between 20-50 yards away, he turned and saw a ‘large, massive figure, about 6 to 6 ½ foot tall stand up from a thick stand of thickets.

He described the figure as being very tall, but not abnormally tall. Being that it was still very dark he could not make out any facial details or color. He could only see it in silhouette at that time and said that there were no light sources other than the background of the sky. He said that the dome light in his car was not on. At this point he could not be certain if it was a human or not.

Immediately after the figure stood up, it ran across a small clearing and scaled the hillside in just a few moments. The hillside went up approximately 70 yards at a 45-degree angle and it completed this route in mere seconds. It did make some noise as it ascended the hill in the way of breaking branches and twigs.

The witness told me that for him to climb that same ascent, he would have to pull himself up using trees to grasp onto and that it would take him at least 10 to 15 minutes to climb. When asked if it was possible that this figure was a known animal, he was adamant that it was not. “I know that it wasn’t a bear or a deer. At first I thought that it could have been a man, but no man could have climbed that hill so quickly. It just couldn’t have been a human.”

After seeing the creature scale that hill in just moments, he admitted that the episode gave him ‘chills’. He did, however, resume his hunt and scaled the same hill that the figure had just scaled. Once he got into his deer stand he did not see any animals and noticed that the woods were abnormally quiet. “I didn’t see any birds, squirrels or anything. It was oddly quiet.”

To this day he recalls that morning with mixed emotions. “I never felt like I was in any danger from the creature when I saw it. But I was chilled by the thought of it being so close to me. I still go hunting, but now I am always thinking about it, especially when I drive close to that area. And after I saw that creature I am uneasy about being in the woods after dark.”

He commented that the surrounding area is mostly rural and mixed with forests and farmlands. “I just couldn’t understand why a Bigfoot would be in this area”. After further investigation I found that there is an abundance of deer in the area as well as numerous wildlife corridors that connect to several vast parcels of unpopulated preserves. After reviewing the aerial map of this area it is conceivable that sasquatches might temporarily habituate this area in order to take advantage of the easily obtainable food sources such as the numerous deer population that lives there as well as the fields of crops that are grown nearby.

I found this witness to be both forthright and sincere in his description of his encounter. According to him the creature that he saw was within the dimensions of a human, although taller and more massive than most. But to scale a 45-degree hillside that is 70 yards high with little effort and within moments is far outside what a human could achieve.

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