YEAR: 1978-80

SEASON: Fall

STATE: Pennsylvania

COUNTY: Washington County

NEAREST TOWN: Prosperity

NEAREST ROAD: Pie Ridge Rd.

OBSERVED: I HAVE AN AUDIO TAPE OF THIS EVENT, IT HAS NEVER BEEN HEARD BY ANYONE OTHER THAN A FEW NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS AROUND THE TIME THIS HAPPENED. It was a fall evening, I was doing homework at our trailer, which was 1/2 mile from where my dad was building our house. He would get home from work around 4:00 and work out there till 10. One evening he came flying out the road in his truck and pulled in the driveway, then ran to the trailer asking my mom for the tape recorder. I was curious and asked him what was going on, he said that there was something in the valley fighting with a dog. So I grabbed my coat and wanted to go see, he let me go with him, but told me to stay in the truck, I didn't listen and tried to follow him. So he told me to stand by the cows feed trough, which was near the house at top of field. He grabbed a wooden club and put the tape recorder in his shirt pocket and started walking down the hill towards the noise. I remember that when this creature growled, it shook the ground where I was standing, about 200 yards away. I was scared, and even more scared for my dad, who was now about half way to it. Another weird thing was that the 6 head of cattle we had were standing head to head in a circle at the edge of the woods. It took my dad about 5 minutes to get to the woods, where this creature was fighting a dog, you can hear the leaves crunching under every step he took. But when he got nearer it was too dark in the wooded valley for him to see the creature. So he returned back up the hill. The entire time that the recorder was on, you can hear this earth moving growl along with a dog fighting with it. Oddly, our neighbors dog (HENRY), who came around a lot, was never seen or heard from again. My dad wouldn't let me go near that valley for a while, but eventually I was allowed to go down there. And when I did, I looked around the area I heard the battle, and found a bunch of deer hair and bones scattered around a 20 foot area, But no (HENRY). Back when this happened I was about 8-10 years old, and didn't think of looking for hair samples or DNA, or even footprints. Looking back, I wish I would have thought of all that stuff. But I do still have the tape recording, I really want someone from the BFRO to take this tape and get it transferred to digital. Everyone of our neighbors listened to this tape, and no one can say what it is for sure. I told my cousin about this event a few weeks after it happened, and her eyes got big and told me that one of her friends and her mom seen some big creature walking through a field below their house. The thing that made me wonder if it was the same creature is that her friend lived no more than 4-5 miles from me. This Event happened in Washington county, Pennsylvania On our 10 acre farm in Morris Twp. around 1978-1980

ALSO NOTICED: The creature was fighting with our neighbors dog, no one ever seen or heard from the dog again, and he came around a lot before this happened. Also, once I was allowed to go down to the valley, I moved some leaves around the area where I thought the battle took place, and found deer hair and bones scattered around a 20' area. I was too young to think about footprints or hair samples.

OTHER WITNESSES: My father and I

OTHER STORIES: I heard of a sighting no more than 4-5 miles away from my incident. a lady and her daughter seen a large, hairy creature pass below their home, walking thru a field.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Just before dusk, but even darker in the woods.

ENVIRONMENT: A wooded valley below a field, where a small creek runs thru the valley.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Tom F:

I followed up with both Dan, who was a child at the time, and his father. It should be noted that Dan's father, the gentleman who recorded this incident with the tape recorder, passed away not long after our initial meeting.

Dan was just a child when this event occurred, but his recollection of it is distinctive (as is often the case after a frightening or traumatic event). The scene of the encounter is a gorgeous, rolling hills farm community of southwestern PA. The region remains largely unpopulated with little more than farms, livestock, barns, and farm homes. Creeks and streams are ample and run through the valleys, especially after a steady rain. The distance between the suspected screams and growls and where Dan stood the entire time is more or less 200+ yards. However, as Dan describes the event, he said even at that distance, he could feel the earth shake with how loud the creature was.

Upon arriving at the scene, Dan shared with me the original tape recorder and tape his father used. The recorder and tape were so old we feared the tape would crumble if we attempted to play it but decided to take the risk given it would be all but impossible to find a player that would accept the particular kind of tape that was used. Even via the speaker on the original recorder I could hear the distinct growls and screams the father and son witnesses heard that night. I told Dan, "either this creature was extremely loud, or you're pulling my leg and recorded the sounds of a large animal trapped in a cage." It was just that loud.

I walked the property for a short while and, like much of southwestern PA, found it be quite habitable for animals large and small. The region includes a large deer and turkey population, ample plant sustenance, easy access to clean, flowing water, not to mention the livestock and crops kept nearby on countless farms in the region.

After speaking at length with Dan, I had the opportunity to meet his father. Neither Dan nor his father could identify with certainty what they heard that night. Dan's father said, "We have bear on the property from time to time. If that was a bear, it was the largest and loudest bear I've ever heard." I found both witnesses to be quite reputable and entirely honest regarding their experience. Neither were aggressively stating it was definitely a Bigfoot. It was a memorable experience with an unknown creature, screaming, growling, and by all accounts killing a domestic dog.

This is a transcript of a letter the witness sent to BFRO Investigator Jim Sherman along with the recording to be analyzed.

Some information will be omitted.

"[The tape]...was recorded around 1978-1980, and the people talking on it are a young me and my father. He had put this recorder in his shirt pocket and walked down toward the woods where this noise was coming from, crazy, I know. But he was fearless and he had a big wooden club with him. Just to give you an idea of this tape...when it begins to play me and my father are about 250 yards uphill from the creature. It was getting dark, and even darker in the wooded valley where this thing was fighting with a dog. At the beginning of the tape you will hear a super loud roar and then me say "It's a bear." That was the roar that literally made the ground shake 250 yards away. [Note: Much of the talking and walking in the audio was removed to emphasize the vocals but this story is too good to not hear so I have added it here]. And then my dad told me to get into the truck if anything came out of the woods. He put this very recorder into his shirt pocket and you will hear him crunching through the leaves. I also noticed that there were a bunch of planes and aircraft flying around that day. Very unusual??? Were they looking for it also?"

As a researcher listening to this audio, I found myself thinking of how brave it was to walk toward the strange noises. But I was even more impressed with the obvious care the father had for his son when he told him to lock himself in the truck and he would be right back.

Here is a YouTube Video with the audio recording compiled with photographs from the property and scene of the incident. Credit goes to Jim Sherman, BFRO-Michigan, for transferring the audio and creating the video.

About BFRO Investigator Tom F:

Tom is a business owner, pastor, father and husband who makes his home in Pittsburgh, PA. In August 2012, during a BFRO expedition in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Tom was part of a small group of people paralleled by a sasquatch. His incident was so compelling it was featured on Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot Super Yooper episode. The encounter changed his life, causing the former skeptic to embark on a personal mission to learn more about this rare and mysterious species. After a few years of personal research in known sasquatch hot spots, investigations of sighting reports, and leading/educating groups on the subject matter, Tom is proud to be a part of the BFRO team.