YEAR: 2017

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 31st

STATE: Kansas

COUNTY: Mitchell County

LOCATION DETAILS: there were two large long corn fields and a small lake was close. i forgot the sign after we got past the ball of twine.

NEAREST TOWN: the one with the big ball of twine [Cawker, Kansas]

NEAREST ROAD: highway [24 &9 ]

OBSERVED: I was going to Concordia, Kansas with my sister and her husband on August 31, 2017. We were on Hwy [24 & 9] going eastbound. I did not get the mile marker. I wasn't thinking about it.

Around 9:35 pm I was telling my sister who was driving to be careful about deer running across the road cause we seen a few. Some did not even look at the truck we were in. Most were focused on the corn fields. Anyway when we got by a lake that is in the area, out of the corn field a big buff gorilla looking man hopped out on all fours, jumped from the corn field to my left in front of me and onto the left side of the road. He was on his knuckles. His head was like tucked in and he was big and quick and agile. He took an other jump and cleared the road moving left toward the edge of a cornfield.

He stood when he got to the other side of the road. When he stood up my sister said "What was that?" I told her that was a bigfoot.

I looked to the side. She wanted to stop. I said no sis we don't have a gun and we're women. Who knows what it would do.

When he stood up he was at least 1 foot higher than the corn which had to be about 8 feet plus. When he stood up on the side of the road I could only see his outline cause the moon was not that full yet, almost though. I got a scared yet amazed feeling. I had rocks thrown at me before in Colorado but never seen them.

To my eyes he was beautiful -- strong, had big legs, like a dark grey feet with black around his ankles and dark dark brown with hues of reddish at the tips of his hair. I could see muscle def in his body. His arms had to be at least 24 inches round or bigger cause he was big not skinny at the waist. Big legs to his ankles and his arms were bigger than most body builders.

The only thing that I got out of that experience was when how tall he was. The body gesture was he seen us and I told my sister just leave him be.

You know that was one of the most coolest thing I ever saw. He is real and as long it doesn't bug me I wont bug it.

ALSO NOTICED: Quiet, no crickets.

OTHER WITNESSES: me and my sister my brother in law was asleep.

OTHER STORIES: Nope

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 9:35 pm

ENVIRONMENT: just the rtwo lane road and the two opposite corn fields, I could see a little because of the light of the moon.

A & G References: 11-2

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

Regarding the correction of some of the location info provided in the original submission:

The highway they were driving along is both Interstate 24 and State Route 9 (not Highway 19, as stated in the original submission). Interstate 24 splits from State Route 9 after you pass through Cawker City headed eastward.

They were headed east towards Concordia KS around 9:30 - 10pm on a moonlit Summer's night.

I spoke with the witness by phone, a 59 year-old woman with a photographic memory. Her recollection of the event was actually quite remarkable. I will add extra details.

The Sasquatch emerged from the cornfield on her right about 100 feet ahead of the truck. They had slowed down a bit before that point when they spotted deer out near the highway. There was also a pickup truck with four guys in it that was "kinda doing crazy stuff" on the highway and they wanted to be safe.

She saw the Sasquatch at first standing in the corn on the right side, then it jumped out of the cornfield and landed in a "squatted position", like it was going to jump again, like a sprinter. I jump again and crossed to the opposite side just as the truck came up on it.

She guesses had 10-15 second view of the creature. It wasn't much more than a lane's width away when they passed it. It looked right in the truck window. They were driving a Chevy S-10.

There was a slight ditch on the side of the highway, between the cornfield and highway. That's where it landed.

Physical characteristics of the "gorilla man":

> 9-10 ft tall at least.
> It was a male without a shadow of a doubt -- she saw genitals.
> The hair around the head was "like a lions mane."
> The color of the hair on the head was darker brown with "auburn
tips".
> It seemed to have a brow ridge that "stuck out".
> The skin was a darker grey than the fur.
> Slightly conical head that just sat on the shoulders.
> It turned its whole body to look at them.
> The eyes were 2-3 times human size, they had wrinkles under
them.
> The eyes "sorta glowed like a cats eyes do when hit by light" but,
not real bright. There was a slight greenish glow.
> There was no sound from the creature at any time.
> The nose was mostly flat, "like a Hawaiian or pacific islanders".
> His ears were "sorta twisted looking, not flat like ours".
> He was ripped like a body builder with a tapered waist and he
"was just all buffed out".
> The moon was out and between the moon and the ambient light
of the truck, she had an excellent, slow motion view. We "just
stared at each other" as they slowly drove by.
> The hair was generally about 3 inches long on most of the body,
but along the bottom of the arms to the elbow it was longer,
perhaps up to 5-6 inches at the elbow.
> There were small areas where she saw no hair at all, just bare
skin.

It jumped across the road in front of the truck, stood up then disappeared into the cornfield on the other side of the highway.

As she stated, she told her sister not to stop, because she didn't know what it was going to do. Two women with brother in law passed (asleep) out in the back seat.

She says he was a beautiful, finely built creature and she wanted to leave him be. She was so happy to have been able to see one.

____________________________________________________


[Matt Moneymaker notes:

The specific area of this sighting was most likely close to the North boundary of Glen Elder State Park between "the ball of twine" in Cawker City and the tiny town of Glen Elder.

The likely crossing zone is more than a mile from the marina & campground. There are no roads or trails connecting the crossing area to the marina & campground. It was not a nine-foot-tall, super buff camper in a costume. It was a Sasquatch in pursuit of deer.

The sighting was close to the Missouri-Pacific railroad bed. In the Midwest especially there is a strong correlation between Sasquatch sighting areas and long landmarks such as railroad beds, power line cuts, gas pipeline routes, etc., just as often as rivers and major creeks, as if these creatures follow those landmarks for long distances (as deer do) to get to places where they feed.

Like bears they will feed on any high calorie forage they can gather. Opportunistically, they'll prey on small mammals, reptiles and amphibians they can catch, but there is one prey species and prey supply that has the most influence over where they will go, especially in this part of the country: white tailed deer.

In every direction, and as far as the eye can see from this highway in August there is the favorite food of white tailed deer -- corn. There's corn all over the place but this area has the added layer of a river confluence (N & S Forks of the Solomon River) at the top end of Waconda Lake. Deer following those two rivers would merge around there and create a relative glut of deer in the cornfields around Waconda Lake.

There are strips of woods along the Solomon River but the landscape doesn't provide enough cover for Sasquatches until the corn is high enough to conceal them. That's when a Sasquatch will have full reign in places like these. Therefore it is likely this Sasquatch (and likely its family) will move into this area seasonally, emerging from pockets of woods (especially cedar bogs) where they'll prefer to spend Winters.

Cawker City is in Northern Kansas so it is rolling hill country rather than flat plains. In this zone the elevation gain from river bottoms to hill tops is roughly 100'. That provides deep enough gullies for all the deer to endure the deadly freezing winds of Winter that could kill a whole herd out in flat treeless plains. The "Winter kill" is often what keeps deer populations in check in the flatter, featureless corn growing areas without any strips of woods. The terrain features here help boost the relative deer density.

If poachers and other predators are not active (relatively) in this area then it has all the ingredients for deer overpopulation, boosted mainly by human agriculture. Sasquatches benefit from that situation.

Scattered populations of Sasquatches in the Midwest have likely been growing over the past few decades rather than declining.


The first image is a sketch of the creature made by the witness and provided to the lead BFRO investigator in Kansas -- Carter Buschardt.



























[ Matt Moneymaker notes:

The sighting was just outside the boundary of Glen Elder State Park on the North side so you can assume this Sasquatch crosses into that state park sometimes. It be most likely when the corn inside is sufficiently high enough to conceal their presence -- from late Spring until harvest time.

The corn does not need to be 8 feet high to provide cover for a Sasquatch. The corn only needs to be 3-4 three feet high to provide cover, because even adult Sasquatches can deftly knuckle-walk through 3-4 foot high brush, grass or corn without being visible laterally. They can move very quickly that way when need be.

(Note: A crawling Sasquatch would be still be very visible to a drone in those circumstances.)

This is an explanation for why some witnesses said they could hear sasquatches moving around them but not see them in the brush.

A witness might first see a Sasquatch standing upright while peaking around a tree, etc. The witness then assumed the Sasquatch would remain upright, and thus more visible (like a human), as if it circled the camp or parked vehicle. In actuality, if there's low bush or low crops a Sasquatch will *prefer* to move on all fours like other predators, creating a much lower profile which can instantly be lowered further if flashlight beams are aimed in its direction.

This is one the big advantages to having longer, bigger arms and shorter legs than a human. You're much better equipped for crawling when hunting by hand.

About BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

Carter is originally from Texas & moved to Missouri in 1988. Professional drummer for 20 years. Improv & sketch comic and writer for 5 years. Lighting technician for major touring groups for several years. Experienced outdoorsman and was a trained investigator for MUFON. Studied Herpetology in college. Longtime special interest in Sasquatch long term habituation, burial research, infra sound, language & stick structures. He led three Missouri BFRO Public Expeditions:, 2012 & 2013 & 2014. Led public expedition for BFRO in Illinois in 2019.Participated in Iowa, 2012 Illinois. Michigan 2016. Private Expeditions: Illinois 2011, 2012, 2013. Missouri 2011, 2012 (3) 2013(2) 2014. Iowa 2012, 2014 & 2015. Consulted on two Animal Planet Finding Bigfoot TV shows. Expedition leader in Missouri 2013 (1) & 2014 (2) & Illinois Expedition 2019 (1). Led night ops on numerous BFRO expeditions. Hosted a public Town Hall meeting in Missouri in 2017.