Geographical Index > United States > Florida > Duval County > Report # 16683
(Class A)
Submitted by witness on Friday, November 17, 2006.
Daylight sighting at edge of woods near fishing hole outside Jacksonville
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YEAR: 1975
SEASON: Fall MONTH: November DATE: Nov 1975 STATE: Florida COUNTY: Duval County LOCATION DETAILS: Unfortunately, this area has homes built on it now.
We were at ____ Creek near Normandy Blvd. It was on the east side of the creek when I saw it and retreated South. NEAREST TOWN: Jacksonville Florida NEAREST ROAD: Normandy Blvd OBSERVED: I grew up on the Westside of Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. I lived near ______ Creek near Normandy Blvd. My house was the only house on a dirt road approximately 3/10 of a mile from the nearest hard road.
As I was walking home, early one evening, I heard heavy sounding foot steps on dried leaves in the woods along the dirt road. I stopped, it stopped. I walked, it walked. This happened several times before I hauled ass out of there.
A few years later, my brother, a friend and I, were about to do a little fishing in ______ creek. We took our fishing rods and coolers to the creek and I made a trip back to the car for the tackle boxes. That's when I started hearing those heavy foot steps on the dried leaves, again. At first, I paid it no attention, then when the walking stopped, I looked at where the sound come from and saw this very tall hairy creature looking at me from about75 yards away. I still see him, pushing a tree away from his face with his left hand, and when I hollared for my brother and friend to come "look at this thing," it ran into the woods.
I later told my mother about this. She asked me if I remembered the couple who had parked in the woods (about 1965)that had problem and come to the house. She told me they saw the same thing. My father told me he saw something like that at the end of our property, at the old cattle gap, watching him work in his garden. When he looked up, it ran away. ALSO NOTICED: Just the heavy footsteps on dry leaves that only I heard. OTHER WITNESSES: No witnesses, my brother and friend say I was seeing things. OTHER STORIES: Only what I explaned above. TIME AND CONDITIONS: Both times I experienced this, it was early evening. ENVIRONMENT: My first experience it was in a pine forest. The second time and when I actually saw it, the area was densely wooded, marshy and along a creek.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Dr. Robert S. (MD):
11/23/06: Spoke with witness by phone for 25 minutes, and he seemed very sincere in relating his encounter. He also agreed to meet me at the location of his sighting, which has changed significantly in 30 plus years with the clearing of much land and the addition of several housing developments. The witness grew up in these woods, and hunted there since the age of 12. Small game seemed plentiful, in addition to water moccasins in the marsh area and an occasional small alligator. The following information can be added from our phone conversation and meeting at the location:
The first encounter occurred when the witness was about age 18, roughly 1970, and he was not sure of the season. The bipedal walking sounds were coming from just inside thick woods an estimated 30 feet away from him, and he did look into the woods but could not see anything.
He was age 23 (1975) for the second encounter, and had just gotten out of the Air Force, approximately November timeframe. The creek area was about a half mile away from his home, so they had driven a car there, which was parked in a clearing. He notes hearing some footstep type sounds in the woods on the way from the car to the creek, but had not thought much of it. While heading back to the car for more gear, he clearly heard footsteps in the woods again, and when he reached the trunk of the car, the footsteps stopped. At this point, he turned to where the sound had come from, and saw a hair-covered man-like creature about 70 yards away. The hair was dark brown, and he did not recall noting the hair length. He estimates the height was 6.5 feet, weight about 250 lbs, with obvious legs and arms. The creature was just at the edge of the woods behind a small 10-12 foot tree, roughly 3-4 inches in diameter, and seemed to bend slightly to one side of the tree while using an arm to push a smaller tree branch forward away from its face. At that point the witness turned his head toward the fishing hole to call to his brother and friend to come look. Upon turning his head back to the woods the creature had disappeared and the witness heard loud footfalls heading away through the woods at a rapid pace, although he did remark that the sounds seemed to stop abruptly as if the creature had stopped in the woods. They did go over to the area to look for tracks but found none, and they chose not to go into the woods to investigate further as he was fairly shook up by the encounter. However, he did not feel like the creature was dangerous or meant to harm him. No unusual sounds or odors were noted.
He notes telling some local friends about his experience, and they remarked something like "Oh that sounds like Chicken Foot," which he thought referred to some local rumors passed by word of mouth but he is unaware of anyone else's encounter with any similar creature, other than his father's and the couple in the car as already noted. He has not heard of any unusual tracks being found in that area.
About BFRO Investigator Dr. Robert S. (MD):
Robert S. is a physician practicing in Florida. He has attended numerous public and private expeditions since 2006 in FL, GA, TN, WA, OR, CA, NM, NY, and NC.
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