YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: Doe season

STATE: New Jersey

COUNTY: Burlington County

LOCATION DETAILS: Hawkins Road to power lines follow power lines to logging road make right go down road to big Beachnut tree on left going in, on right coming out.

[Investigator (MM) Notes:

There is not a specific point for this incident. A close reference point to where the brothers were when the experienced the commotion: 39.883185, -74.765994

This occurred near the perimeter of the Pine Barrens, in a place marked on maps as "Bear Swamp Preserve At Red Lion" ]

NEAREST TOWN: South Hampton Township

NEAREST ROAD: Rt 70 and 206

OBSERVED: 2001 December deer season my three brothers and I was hunting bear swamp down a logging Rd off power lines. We all was hunting down the logging Rd. We agreed to wait for one another on way out of woods once it was too dark to see.

Something started screaming and charging at us from the swamp. It would charge at us then stop. You could feel the ground it was big. We had flashlights but it stayed out of sight. When it screamed at us it was so loud it went through you. It was charging and breaking branches and moving around. We were so scared we all had our guns up. W would have shot if we could see it but never got a good look at it. We couldn't move any further up the road. It kept coming at us, like a gorilla bluff charges and breaking branches. It was really mad. Finally it walked deeper into the swamp, still screaming and breaking branches. We got out of there.

ALSO NOTICED: No I hunted there many years never had anything like that happen before.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three brothers and me

OTHER STORIES: The location is near Wharton state Forest and Medford township. Bigfoots spotted in both locations.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: After dark

ENVIRONMENT: Road is on high ground but swamp is next to the road.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jacob Korbel:

I spoke with the witness over the phone. He relayed his story from 2001. I then met up with the witness a few weeks after speaking with him over the phone. Him and three of his brothers were intimidated by something large which was repeatedly breaking branches, bluff charging, and screaming.

The brothers never got a clear look at it, due to the darkness. They were armed because they were hunting, but he didn't feel safe even with firearms at the ready.

No other native wildlife would exhibit behavior they experienced. Deer will huff and might be territorial, but they won't scream at you and repeatedly break branches. He described the screams as a cross between a woman's scream and an elephant bellow.

Upon my own arrival at the encounter location it made more sense on why the brothers did not get a good look at it. There is a ridge that drops down into a wetland area that could easily ensconce a large animal. After dark flashlights would not help much at this location.

The witness, Chris, took me straight to the site without any trouble. He is very familiar with the area. The encounter location is remarkable. There is a vast variety of different nut and seed producing trees like walnuts, acorn, and beechnut trees. It is also within 50 feet or so of a large powerline cut.

I asked If I may speak to his brothers about the incident. He said they refuse to speak about it and he drifted apart from them over the years.

Chris very credible, and very knowledgeable on local wildlife. I do not believe he has no reason to make up this story.

I also wanted to note that fellow researcher Eric Spinner, had his road crossing on same powerline cut less than a few miles from this location in 2010 in March.

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Investigator Matt Moneymaker’s notes:

As mentioned by investigator Jacob Korbel above, the nearby power line route is the same one the passes by the location of Eric Spinner’s sighting. The same power line route extends along the perimeter of the Pine Barrens in other counties and passes close to the location of two other reliable reports:

Report 76444 in Salem County, 1998.

Report 63728 in Camden County, 2014.

Refer to map images on those reports to see the power line route in question. A Bigfoot could easily travel along this route late at night without being seen, and connect to various tracts of woods and swamp that are loaded with deer and other wildlife. There is no way to know if this still occurs because the most recent report is 10 years ago (2014).

About BFRO Investigator Jacob Korbel:

I’m a lifelong resident of southern NJ and If I’m
Not working, I’m exploring the vast 1.1 million acres of Pine Barrens that I live near.
I was pretty skeptical on the subject, until I had my own encounter in 2018 while doing field work in the pines. To fulfill my curiosity on the subject i went to my first expedition in 2021, where i had another class B sighting and various vocalizations that could only be attributed to sasquatch. Ever since then i do field work as much as i can out in the pine barrens and northern NJ, i remain as skeptical as possible with everything and will eliminate every possibility before calling anything bigfoot related.
I have attended some of the following expeditions
South Jersey Fall 2021
North Jersey Spring 2022
North Jersey Fall 2022
North Jersey Spring 2023
North Jersey Fall 2023
North Jersey Spring 2024