Some Field Reports

[sheri]

Great thread Bronco. I love reading the encounter's of other people. I hope you find the followup reports you did. Do you keep in touch with this family ?

[Branco]

This report is a good one. Because the man approached me at the country store when he heard another witness and I talking, I went to the encounter location with him a few days later. After our visit, we (the RFP researchers in Clark and Washington Counties) were allowed access to that property for multiple investigations and outings. It was the most active research site in Alabama for us. Maybe I can find some of the other reports involving this property. I have several photos made during my first visit with the witness. They were not posted with the report. It was a spooky old home. If anyone wants to see some of them, I don't thinks the property owner's would care now. Everyone in the county knows about it anyway.

 

 

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) - Report of Encounter or Related Incident

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: 09/30/04 (Report received in person by Tal H. Branco.) The witness contacted the writer after he overheard the field investigator discussing local reports of enigmatic animals with area residents at the country store at Gainestown.)

 

Date of Encounter: Sometime in the late 1980s during the late fall.

 

Time of Incident: Late at night, about midnight.

 

Weather Conditions: Clear, cool and still, with some moonlight.

 

State: Alabama

 

County: Clarke

 

Nearest City or Town: Jackson.

 

Map Location: (gps or township/section coordinates if known): Known but not included.

 

Nearest highway or road: Undisclosed.

 

General Land Use Description: The land was once a large farm consisting of several hundred acres. No one now lives on the property and it is leased to a group of hunters. There is a very old house still standing on the property.  Most of the old field have now been planted in pine trees. Some small fields are kept mowed by the hunters, and some of those fields are lightly cultivated and planted in winter grass for deer and turkey.

 

General Terrain Description: The soil is a sandy clay/loam, and the property has a gentle slope from north to south. There are outcrops of seabed limestone near the southern edge of the property.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: A large creek passes through the southern part of the property. The creek discharges into the Tombigbee River a few miles further south.

 

Activities of Witnesses Prior to Encounter/Incident: Four young men were together in a car in Jackson during the early evening. They were celebrating a personal event in the life of one of the men. They were drinking beer, and were seen doing so by a police officer. They were not intoxicated, so the officer told them to either leave town or he would arrest them for drinking in public. They left town. That night they decided to stop by one of the young men's home to pick up a rifle and spotlight and go to the property described above to hunt deer. (Some of the men's relatives had the hunting lease on the property.) The men had no key to the gate, so they parked outside the gate and walked about one half mile on a farm road to the old house.

 

Details of Encounter / Incident: The men entered the old house by stepping onto the open-ended hallway that passes through the center of the home's length. The floor of the hallway extended through the main part of the house and terminated at the opposite end as a porch which was covered by a lean-to roof. (Old homes such as this were called "dog trot" houses because of the open-ended hallways.) From the hallway the men entered the first room to their left which was apparently the living room. There is a fireplace centered in the south wall of the room, with a window on each side which looked out onto a closely adjoining patch of winter oats. The men found old chairs and couches in the room, closed the door to the hallway, and sat near the windows watching the oat field for deer. They were not being loud, but were joking and laughing.

 

Sometime later one of the men heard something or someone walking through the only strip of dense brush, briars and trees that connected the home site to the woods surrounding it. The rest of the area surrounding the home had either been planted in winter grass, or had been kept mowed. The dense strip of vegetation extended from the woods to the open end and side of the porch. The man cautioned the other three to be quite and listen, which they did. They all heard the sound of what they first thought was a man breaking through the brush and vines as he slowly approached the porch. Although they assumed that it was a person, they were perplexed and alarmed because they realized a rational person with good intentions and/or common sense would never deliberately choose to walk to the house through the thicket. (Although it was fall and cool, the area has abundant rattlesnakes that were still active and they grow to impressive sizes.) At that moment they independently concluded that the visitor was either a crazy person or a vagabond seeking a place to sleep. (One of the rooms across the hall from where the men stood had old mattresses on the floor which apparently been left there by the last residents or by deer hunters sometime in the past. The deer hunters who held the lease did not camp inside the house at the time of this incident  because of the rotted condition of the floor in many places.)

 

There was a moment of silence when the visitor reached the end or side of the porch. By that time the men were standing. In a few seconds they felt the house move and heard it creak as the visitor stepped onto the porch. They stood silently as they heard the soft thud of footsteps slowly walked the hall toward them. As the steps approached the wall that separated the room they were in from the next one on that side, they could hear deep raspy breathing that the witnesses described as sounding like a very large person with bad asthmatic problems. The men were frozen in fear by the sounds because of the duration and volume of air inhaled and exhaled during each breath. At the same time the men began to detect a strong odor. By that time they had all decided the visitor was not a human, and were terrified because they had no idea what kind of animal was approaching them in the hallway. The animal made two more steps and was at the door. At that time the animal touched and rattled the door knob. Immediately one of the men switched on the spotlight, and the man with the rifle screamed and jumped to a half crouched position with the rifle pointing from his hip toward the door. He did not fire the gun, but the animal uttered a loud roaring snarl, wheeled and began running back down the hall to the porch. With each footfall the house shook. When it reached the porch it was in a full run and all of its running weight was enough to cause the entire porch and the roof above it to come crashing down. Immediately one of the men ran to an exterior door in the end wall of the room they were in. The door was barricaded from outside, but the man kicked the door down and all four men ran from the house and, instead of following the road back to their vehicle, cut across a weed and grass covered field to reach it. One witness stated that at the time he was not concerned about the possibility of stepping on a rattlesnake in the weeds and grass; he simply wanted to get away from the place.

 

Description of Animal(s) if Seen: The animal was not seen

 

Photos or Drawings Made?: No.

 

Description of Related Sounds: Deep, prolonged raspy breaths, and later a load roaring snarl. The primary witness stated that the sounds of the footsteps in the hall were that which would have been made by a large barefoot human.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: A strong musky odor.

 

Was Physical Evidence Obtained? No.

 

Other Reports From This Area? Yes. About two months after this incident occurred, the brother of one of the witnesses was walking toward the old house from his deer stand in the creek bottoms a mile or so south of the house. It was nearly dark and he noticed an animal hiding behind bushes along the side the farm road he was traveling. The animals was dark colored, and at first he thought it was a bear standing on four feet because of its bulk. As he stopped walking to view the animal, it stood up on two feet and ran effortlessly away. He then saw that it was completely covered in hair, and had the general shape of a large human.        

 

******************************************************************************

Follow-up Investigation Report(s) by The RFPRP

 

See RFP Field Investigation Report #CC-01.04

[Branco]

Great thread Bronco. I love reading the encounter's of other people. I hope you find the followup reports you did. Do you keep in touch with this family ?

Yes, I went back to visit two or three times. We keep in touch by e-mail. The father passed away a few years back. His grandson - the one that ran through the thickets in the dark, and who sat in the chair hunting and saw one - sent me e-mail not long ago to say the boogers were still around. He and a friend had another encounter which I think I wrote up. On one of my visits, another researcher and I "conned" one of the "girls" - now grown - to go with us down in the field above the creek, and whistle like she did when she was feeding them on the barrel. That was funny; I'll see if I can find that. I think It's part of another report.

[sheri]

That's great that you keep in touch with them. I am sorry to hear the father passed away. I hope the rest of the family is doing okay. I am surprized that the creatures have been there all those years and still are. I would love to read those report's if you find them. Take care Bronco and thank you.

[Airdale]

Wow! You're upping the ante with each report. After the last one I'm suppressing a sudden desire to check the status of my ready mags for the Socom 16. Thanks again Branco. I'd love to see any photos you feel comfortable posting and looking forward to more reports.

[Branco]

This is one of several reports from the same general area in which Greg's "running shootout" took place. 

 

 

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) - Report of Encounter

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: May 18, 2007

 

Date of Encounter: In March of 1995 or 1996

 

Time of Incident: Approximately midnight.

 

Weather Conditions: Clear and cool with a partial moon. 

 

State: Alabama

 

County: Lowndes

 

Nearest City or Town: Benton

 

Location: On county highway #40 between the Robert F. Henry Lock and Dam on the Alabama River and the town of White Hall.

 

Nearest highway or road: County Road #40.

 

General Land Use Description: Undeveloped wetlands intermingled with farm and pasture lands adjoining the Alabama River and its impounded R. E. Woodruff Lake.

 

General Terrain Description: River bottom lands.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: The lock and dam is about one and one-half miles west of the sighting location and Big Swamp Creek flows just south of the county road at that location.

 

Witness Profile: He is a 70 year old male who has lived in the area since birth. He is avid fisherman and has fished the river, and later the lakes, at night for catfish for many years. He spent much time in the more inaccessible areas of the county years ago while providing for his family during bad economic times. He now works for a local governmental entity. 

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounter/Incident: The witness had been fishing alone from his boat for catfish in the lake until near midnight. He then loaded his boat onto the trailer at the Prairie Creek Camp launch ramp and began driving toward White Hall on County Road #40.

 

Details of Encounter / Incident: The witness had driven to the point on the highway where  Big Swamp Creek makes a sharp, "U' shaped bend to the north and passes within about one-half mile of the road. The roadbed along that stretch is elevated and there are guard rails along each shoulder. From an initial distance of about 100 yard, the witness noticed a very large black animal coming up the north side of the road bed approaching the guard rail. He immediately thought that someone's Black Angus cow had gotten out of a pasture, and he began slowing down gradually. As he drew nearer to the animal it continued up the bank to the back of the guard rail. His vehicle was still moving toward the animal and he saw that it was walking on what he thought was four legs. He was then shocked to see the animal reach with arms and hands and pull itself over the guardrail and onto the shoulder of the road. At that point he brought the vehicle to a complete stop thirty yards or less from the animal.

 

His shock turned to complete fear and awe when the animal stood erect on two feet, stopped, and looked directly at the vehicle while keeping its body facing the opposite side of the road. At that time the witness locked all the doors in the vehicle and he checked to see that the lights were on bright. As the animal stood looking at the vehicle its eyes glowed a dull red. In a few seconds the animal took two or three slow, short steps onto the roadway, continually watching the vehicle. It then stopped again, staring at the witness. Seconds later the animal took another two or three slow steps, and stopped again. At that time the animal was near the center of the roadway. By this time the driver was alarmed, and he said that if he had not had the boat trailer attached, he would have turned the vehicle around to get away from the animal. He then decided to try to make the animal move faster and he blew the vehicle horn. The witness stated the animal never flinched and continued to stare at him. (The witness said that he got the distinct impression from the animal's actions that it was as much as saying, "I ain't scared of you, and if you want a piece of me just come on!")

 

It then slowly walked to the south side guard rail, dropped back onto "all fours", climbed over the guard rail and ambled out of sight down the embankment toward Big Swamp Creek. 

 

Description of the Animal: The witness stated the animal appeared to be between five and one-half and six feet tall. He said the animal was massive in size and nearly completely covered in very long, dark brown hair that flowed from its legs and arms when it walked. He stated the head was shaped like that of a large gorilla and its face had gorilla features that could be partially seen in the areas not covered by the long hair. The witness stated that even though long hair was hanging from the sides of the head, he could distinctly see part of the animal's ears. He side the ears were larger than those of a human's and were "shaped like those of a big monkey."

 

The witness stated that he never got a frontal view of the animal but that he did not see breasts either when the animal was on "all fours", or when it was walking sideways to him. He stated the animal's body did not seem to taper to the waist but looked "square built."

 

The witness was particularly impressed by the size of the animal's legs and arms which he described as "massive". (In trying to indicate the size of the legs visually, the witness used his hands to shown their diameter, and the hands were indicating a circle nearly as large as a five gallon bucket.) He said the animal's arms were only slightly smaller. He firmly believes the animal would have weighed from 500 to 600 pounds, considering its body thickness and limb sizes.

 

Photos or Drawings Made? No.

 

Description of Related Sounds: None heard.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: No odors were detected.

 

Historical Notes: This encounter took place within about three miles of the one mentioned in the January 1998 issue of the Alabama Game & Fish magazine, and in the same area as other encounters which have been recorded. 

 

******************************************************************************

Report received and recorded by: Tal H. Branco, The RFP Research Project

[NathanFooter]

 Great reports Branco , thanks !   

 

 I sent you a PM a few days ago by the way but my messenger option has been a bit wacky, let me know if you got it when you can.

[NathanFooter]

Branco , PM resent at 12:48 AM this morning.

[WSA]

Apropos of nothing except coincidence, I see they busted a large moonshine still in Lowndes County (Collirene)yesterday. But, it goes to show just how much the Black Belt of AL still remains somewhat of a frontier. Those who like to toss out conclusions about how BF couldn't remain reclusive in such a "settled" nation only display their topographical ignorance. Go down W. of Fostoria and then tell me that. Better have local plates though.   

[Branco]

This one is re-published here by special request. A lot of field time was spent by myself and others in Winston County, the Bankhead National Forest  and The Sipsey Wilderness Area after the report was initially received. 

 

The RFP Research Project - Report of Encounter

 

Date Report Submitted: April 20, 2008

 

Background Information: On April 19, 2008 the witness contacted the Host/Moderator, Mike McLain, of the Alabama Bigfoot Forum by e-mail to briefly share some of her family's experiences with a creature they called the "Hairy Man" while they lived for several years in a somewhat isolated hollow in Winston County, Alabama. Mike, who is  also a valued Investigator/Researcher for the RFP Research Project), forwarded the e-mail to the writer and asked that I contact the witness for more information about those experiences. The witness was contacted the first time by telephone the next day. 

 

Profile of the Witness & Her Family: The witness's family lived in the secluded hollow for about twenty years before she was born and she lived there with them for about ten years . She was the youngest of six children, all girls. Her oldest sister was seventeen when the reporting witness was born. Her father died before she was old enough to remember him.  After her father's death, the girls and their mother continued to live on the same property until the house burned in 1970. The reporting witness was about 10 years old at that time. The girls and their mother cultivated a large vegetable garden each year and canned the produce to provide food during the winter. They also raised hogs and chickens, but had no cow for milk. About once or twice a week they traded eggs to a neighbor who had a cow for milk. The witness stated that during the spring and summer they worked in the garden nearly every day where her mother paid special attention to the quantity and stage of maturity of all the different vegetables so that they would have everything ready when the particular crop was ready to be canned. The mother also "took in ironing" and cleaned houses for others for income when she had the spare time.

 

The family had no motorized vehicle, telephone or electricity for the home. Their nearest neighbor lived about two miles away. 

 

Writer's Note: Due to the number of incidents that occurred during the period covered by this report, the format has been modified to present the events in chronological order for clarity and continuity .  

 

Location Information: All of the incidents occurred on or very near the same small farm located in a hollow formed by a branch of Clear Creek a few miles northeast of Double Springs in Winston County, Alabama. The property is located near the end of a dirt road off of County Road #24, and U.S. Highway 278 is a few miles south of the property.

 

General Land Use Description: At the time covered by this report the land in the general area was primarily for timber production. In the immediate area the land along the creek was used for gardening and farming.

 

General Terrain Description: Small rolling hills with some bluffs, cliffs and caves along the eroded creek hollows.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: Clear Creek , Rock Creek and the Sipsey River. All of these streams flow into Smith Lake a few miles south of the home site.

 

Dates of Encounters: The witness's first visual encounter occurred when she was five years old (1965).

 

Details of Encounters / Incidents: The witness first saw one of the enigmatic creatures early one fall evening as she was using the small outdoor toilet. While seated inside she noticed through a diamond shaped opening in the door a large, hair covered man-like creature standing upright on top of a bluff beside the creek. The creature was about 200 feet away and it was intently staring at the outhouse while slowly swaying side-to-side. She stated she "hurriedly did her business", arranged her clothes and ran screaming to the house. She burst into the house repeatedly telling her mother that "a booger man was outside and had been watching me". She stated she vividly remembers that her mother calmly told her that what she had seen was "probably a bear or wolf".  The witness knew that what she had seen was neither a bear nor a wolf but could not seem to be able to convince her mother of that fact. (It was some time later before she discovered that her mother knew exactly what the girl had seen, but did not wish to alarm her further by telling her the truth.)

 

During the next few months or so the witness became aware of woman-like screaming sounds sometimes coming form the surrounding woods at night. He mother told her the sounds were made by "panthers" and told her not to worry about them. Both the witness and her sisters did not think the sounds were being made by panthers or any other feline because the sounds were entirely human-like with no cat-like qualities. The family often heard hooting sounds and whistling from the woods, sometimes both day and night, and the sound of rocks or sticks being struck against trees. The children were told the sounds were made by typical native animals or birds.

 

Late one afternoon when she was about seven years old, she and her next oldest sister (who was about eleven at the time) were out in the yard when her sister saw one of the creatures on the bluff beside the creek. Her sister immediately ran back into the house and got a shotgun and ran back outside. The girl's mother saw that the girl had the gun and followed her outside. Her mother shouted to tell the girl not to shoot at the creature, but the girl raised the gun and shot toward the animal anyway. The creature quickly ran off into the woods. (The witness stated the creature was too far from the girls for the shotgun pellets to have actually injured it.) The girl's mother immediately told her, "Now you've done it, we are going to have problems now!"

 

The witness stated that a couple of days later, they found that the latch on the chicken house, (which was designed so that no known animals could open it), had been opened and they found that two of the chickens had been killed (but not eaten) by their necks having been broken. The carcasses had been thrown on the ground inside the chicken house. 

 

By this time all of the girls knew they were dealing with animals that were not typical. The mother was afraid that other damages would be done, so she began cooking extra pans of "corn pone" (corn bread) and leaving them outside for the animals as a sign of appeasement. The corn bread was taken by some kind of animal, and no other damages occurred on the property.

 

It was typical that when the garden produce was ripening some of it was taken during the night. The more noticeable losses were ripe tomatoes, squash, sweet corn and watermelons. The losses were not massive, nor were the plants damaged. On several occasions the family found large bare humanoid foot prints in the garden soil, but the girls' mother lightly passed them off as being bear tracks.

 

During the summer the mother and the older daughters would gather apples, peel and slice them to be dried in the sun for use in pies during the winter. For drying the apples, two saw-horses were covered by a sheet of plywood, and the plywood covered with white cloth flour sacks that had been sewn together. The apple slices were spread out on the cloth during the day, and the apples were brought into the house during the night to prevent dew from causing them to mold. Although the witness did not see the incident, she remembers that her older sisters saw two (or three) small "monkeys" stealing the apple slices off the drying table during the day, and told her mother about it. The witness does not remember what steps, if any, her mother took in response to the thefts.

 

During hot summer nights the family often slept on the front porch on "pallets" (quilts or blankets used as mattresses) because the home had no electricity for fans or air conditioning. During many of the nights on the porch, the family heard the typical night sounds, plus other sounds that were puzzling to them. The witness stated sometimes late at night they could plainly hear the sounds of people talking in dialects they had never heard. In later years, after hearing Native Americans speaking in the movies and on television in their old native language, the witness stated those were similar to the sounds they heard on those summer nights.

 

The witness's next oldest sister (the one who fired a shotgun at one of the animals) had the family's only transportation, and it was a bicycle.  It was her responsibility, once or twice a week, to carry eggs to a neighbor's house about two miles away to trade them for milk. On one occasion, shortly after that girl had fired the shotgun at one of the animals, the girl left home with eggs and the a milk can and pedaled to the neighbor's house.  After she had left the eggs, picked up the can of milk and got about halfway home, the girl suddenly saw one of the creatures standing alongside the road a short distance in front of her. She immediately swerved and lost control of the bicycle and fell, losing the milk can in the process. (The lid on the can kept the milk from spilling.) She quickly recovered the bicycle and, leaving the can of milk beside the road, pedaled home as fast as she could. When she arrived, her mother asked her where was the milk. The girl excitedly told her what had occurred, but the mother told her to go back and get the can of milk as she needed it to prepare supper. The girl tried frantically to convince her mother that she was too scared of the "hairy man" to go back down the road that day. But her mother insisted, saying the creature would not harm her. The girl finally made the return trip, picked up the can of milk, and returned home without seeing or hearing the animal again.

 

The witness stated that their home was built off the ground five or six feet because the creek sometimes flooded the hollow in which the home was located after heavy rains. She stated that one of her older sisters would sometimes see a man-like face staring through the center part of the window in her room at night.  She said that for some reason the "person" seemed to appear more often when it was raining.

 

The witness also stated that when one of the older girls began her "monthly period", it was usual that at least one of the other girls began her "period" as well. During these times the family was very aware that the sounds of one or more "women screaming" were heard more often, and seemingly the sounds originated closer to the home.

 

One day in April or May when the witness was eight years old she filled her recently received Easter basket with food and went to creek bank to play and have a picnic alone. When she got there she placed the basket of food on the bank and went back to the house for fresh water that she had forgotten. When she returned she found that the basket had been taken away without any spillage of the food that had been piled in it. She and her sisters searched "all over the place" for hours but never found the basket or any sign of its contents. Much later she concluded that she knew of no typical animal that could have, or would have, removed the basket from the area without spilling or eating the contents and leaving the debris from the basket's contents. 

 

During the summer months of this period of time the girls often went to the creek below the home to bath and play in the water. As the creek level lowered during hot weather, they noticed that large "wallowed out" holes appeared in the sandy bottoms of the larger holes of water in the creek. They never saw what made the holes in the creek bed, but suspected the enigmatic creatures did the work to have deeper water to cool off in during hot weather.

 

When she was nine years old her oldest sister married and moved to a home on the slope of another hollow that was only about a mile or so from their home if measured "as the crow flies". By road, the witness knew that the distance was much more than that. After the girl married and moved to her new home, the witness's mother plotted a trail across the creek, over a large ridge and across a small branch to the newly married girl's home. Because of the depth and steepness of the ravine in which the smaller branch flowed, the trail included a "foot-log" over that branch. The mother and the other daughters often visited the elder daughter/sister by walking that trail to her home during daylight hours. During their trips along the trail they would hear a loud "whoop" call nearby as they entered the woods near their home. That whoop call would be answered by another such sound, usually further up the main ridge. While walking along the trail they could all usually hear the sounds of heavy bipedal footsteps on the trail behind them.  At time the footfalls were so close that the family could feel the vibrations of the footsteps in the ground. From the very beginning of those incidents, the children's mother would repeatedly tell them, "Just keep walking and don't look back, it won't hurt you." When the group would arrive at the foot-log across the small branch they would hear the animal following them whoop again, and the call would be repeated from somewhere away from them. And when the group approached the daughter/sister's house, another whoop call would be heard behind them, with a response from somewhere in the vicinity. When the mother and daughters left the oldest girl's home, one of the animals would be waiting unseen in the nearby woods, and the same vocalizations would be heard at the same locations on the trail on their way back home.  

 

About this time the witness's mother told the daughters that she, and her own mother, (who was a full-blood Choctaw Indian) knew about the creatures and had always referred to them as "The Old People".  The witness's grandmother was from Mississippi, but moved to the same area of Winston County Alabama after she married. The grandmother had explained to the witness's mother that the creatures were in all respects human-like and were protective of the people who lived among them as long as the people respected them and their families.

 

The witness and her sisters believed that the escorts they had through the woods from their home to their sister's home was for their protection. The witness believes the escort was always in vocal contact with the others members of the creature's family to let them know the location of the mother and her children so that no unexpected encounter occurred between the human family and the creature's own family. At no time did the family experience any direct aggressive behavior from the creatures.

 

While the family lived in the hollow, a man who lived a couple of miles away owned and cultivated some bottom land across the creek from their home. The man was known and respected by the family. He had for some time planted sugar cane in the field in the bottoms but told the children's mother that he quit trying to grow it because something kept stealing and it and eating it as it neared maturity. He planted corn and watermelons in the field, and told the witness's mother that he was continually losing more corn and melons than could be attributed to raccoons, squirrels, deer or other typical animals.

 

When the neighbor was working across the creek in warm weather the girl's mother would fill a container with cold water from a spring above their home and carry it across the creek to him. On one such occasion, at the start of the cultivation season, the man was in the fields "turning under" a crop of turnips and other greens that been planted the previous fall for use during the winter. The witness's mother filled a container of cold water from the spring and began walking toward the creek on the woods road across her property that the neighbor used to access his fields. Suddenly she heard the tractor engine and the tractor itself running at high speed as it came across the creek and through the woods toward her. When the tractor came into view, the neighbor began shouting to her to, "Get back in the house, — get back in the house!!" Not knowing what had happened, the woman hurried back to her house, and the neighbor continued to drive the tractor at high speed to his own home.

 

Days later, the neighbor came back to finish plowing his fields. The witness's mother made a point of asking him what had happened during his last trip to the fields. He told her that as he was plowing under the winter turnips and greens, three or four "somethings" came charging through the woods from different directions toward him and his tractor, and the "somethings" were aggressively screaming so loudly that he heard them plainly over the sound of the tractor engine. He told her he did not know what kind of animals were making the sounds, but said that this would be his last year to cultivate the fields. According to the witness, the fields were never cultivated again after that season.

 

The witness remembers that she and members of her extended family would go to a creek off of Highway 33 which led into the Bankhead National Forest. The primary purpose of the trips was to gather "silver dollar-sized, black mussels" from the creek which her mother would "steam like you would prepare clams". For the girls, the creek was one of their favorite swimming holes. After a year or so, they found that the creek had been cleaned of mussels, and they only found "mussel shells that had been cracked opened and piled on the creek bank". The witness stated that neither she nor the other family members knew what had taken the mussels, but they saw no evidence of otters in the area. (When asked by the writer, the witness stated the piled shells would probably fill a two and one-half gallon bucket.) The witness and relatives returned to this area years later and found that the road to this particular area of the creek had been closed. When they asked local residents (who had built homes in the area relatively recently), the residents stated that authorities had closed the road, "because of bears in the area".

 

She said that sometimes she and her immediate family would get together with her aunt and uncle and their boys and go on overnight fishing trips in the backwaters of Smith Lake in the Robinson Bottoms area.  She said they would take an old tire or two and gather wood along the lake to make a fire that would burn all night while the adults and older children fished off the bank. She said that she and the other younger "kids" had quilt pallets in the bed of their uncle's truck where they tried to sleep. She said that it was usually hard to sleep because a group of unseen animals would be howling, yelling and screaming angrily at the group after dark. She said she thought the animals "were throwing a fit" because her family was encroaching on their nighttime foraging area. She said that other residents of the community that went into the Robinson Bottoms area to fish at night had the same kind of experiences.

 

When the witness was between nine and ten years old a man who lived in the general area set up a whiskey still in the hollow just above the family's property. The man installed the still at that location so that during the dry season he could use the water from the cold spring which was on their property. Her mother became aware of the still, and resented the man taking water from her spring for its operation, but said nothing to the man about it. He later approached her to complain that the whiskey still was being heavily damaged when he was not at the site, and basically accused her of having her girls damage the still. She rightly denied the accusations. 

 

During February a few months later their mother awakened the children about 4:00 am  to get them out of the house because it was on fire along the back side nearest the woods.  By the time they gathered a few clothes and got out of the house it was too late to control the fire . As the family stood outside, a man who lived in the area saw the blaze as he was driving to work down the nearby county road. The man could do nothing but try to console the family. The witness's mother told the man to call her cousin when he got to a telephone and have him come pick them up. 

 

The man soon left and the family sat down in the yard, close enough to the fire to keep warm, and could do nothing but watch the home burn. While they sat, they noticed a very large, massively-built animal walk out of the woods and into the yard.  She said the greyish colored animal was "between eight and nine feet tall and very healthy looking". She said it was walking on two feet and stopped about 100 feet from the group. The witness said that for a little while the animal stood erect, swaying slowly side-to-side. As they watched it, the animal slowly turned its head from looking directly at them and then turning to watch the burning building. The children's mother quietly told the girl, "Don't move, and don't say nothing". The animal then slowly squatted and remained in that position, alternately looking at them and the burning house. The witness said that as it began to break day, the animal stood up, turned and walked off into the woods. According to the witness the animal was completely silent when he was in their presence.

 

The family thought the fire had originated because of a flaw in their wood heater or its flue piping. The family was forced to move from the home site because they did not have the funds to rebuild. Several years later, after the whiskey maker died, his wife made a trip to visit the witness's mother. The man's widow apologized to the family for the loss of their home and admitted that her husband had "burned them out" because of continued, heavy damage to his whiskey still that he always thought the family was causing.

 

Description of the Animals: The first time the witness clearly saw one of the animals she described it as being "really tall and hairy, standing upright on two feet in a slightly hunched position with its arm so long that its hands were below it knees". She said that animal's hair appeared to be dark brown.

 

On the second occasion that she saw one (when her older sister fired at the creature with a shotgun) it appeared identical to the first one except that in the sunshine its hair appeared reddish brown.

 

The last animal that she saw was the large grey colored animal which is described above.

 

Photos or Drawings Made?: No.

 

Description of Related Sounds: Sounds of a woman screaming in pain or grief, whooping and hooting sounds, loud whistling sounds, primitive-sounding speech in an unknown language and, while on Lake Smith, angry yelling and screaming sounds -some nearly like a human crying in pain or sorrow.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: The witness stated that at no time did they smell the animals.

 

Historical Anecdotes: In the late 60's, one of the witness's older sisters had a male school mate who went with a few friends to what the local residents call Saltpeter Cave in the Sipsey Wilderness Area of the Bankhead National Forest in Winston County. The boy reportedly went into the cave first with a flashlight and met a large black animal charging toward him on four feet. The story was that the boy ran screaming back past the others to his truck and locked himself in the cab. The others reportedly heard the animal inside the cave and tried to get into the truck cab, but had to settle for the truck bed until their frantic beating on the top of the cab finally resulted in the first boy unlocking the truck and speeding off when everyone was inside.

 

In the late 70's or early 80's the witness stated there was a story which was quickly spread by word of mouth across the area which she remembered and which she thought at the time might be related to the enigmatic animals her family was familiar with. According to her, the story was that a young National Forest Ranger and his wife moved into a "ranger's house" that was then located in or near the Sipsey Wilderness Area. Shortly afterwards, the Ranger's wife reportedly had a baby which was soon brought home to the ranger's house. Sometimes later, the house was reportedly attacked by a group of screaming animals at night, and both the ranger and his wife stayed up all night with firearms to prevent the animals from breaking into the house. The house was said to have been heavily damaged by the attack, and the next morning the Ranger reportedly removed his family. Sometime shortly thereafter the Ranger's House was torn down and never replaced.

 

In the early 80's the witness stated that one of her male cousins bought 10 acres of land in Winston County in the vicinity of Addison. Her cousin told her that when he began  constructing a building on the property himself he noticed when he would use a hammer to fasten lumber, he would often hear the same number of hammering sounds coming from the woods nearby. He reportedly began experimenting and varying the number of hammer strikes used to drive the nails. He was surprised to hear a repeat of the sounds. He continued to return to the site and work on the building at various times. He said that sometime later be began to hear loud grunting sounds, reportedly similar to those made by a large boar hog. Shortly afterwards he saw a very large, hair covered man-like creature walk to the edge of the wood line on two feet. The creature squatted at the edge of the woods and grunted occasionally as it watched him work. The man realized the creature was not aggressive and after a while he became accustomed to seeing it at times he was working on the building. At one time he told the witness "I would have given it a hammer and put it to work if it would have come on out of the woods".

******************************************************************************

Report received and recorded by: Tal H. Branco, Field Researcher/Investigator, The RFP Research Project

[Guest lightheart]

Another great report Branco. I think there is a lot of behavioral information that we can learn from this report.. For example, many like to ridicule the notion that they can count at least in a rudimentary way. What else could explain being able to mimic the number of hammer strikes!

[NathanFooter]

Another great report Branco.   Thank you.

[Guest]

Tal,

It's great to read your reports again, I have not made my sighting report yet since hearing of Bobbie's passing and that site closing.

 

 

 

Regards,

 

CG

[WV FOOTER]

Great report Branco. I enjoy them very much.

Welcome to the BFF Chicago Guy. I hope you enjoy the Forum.

[See-Te-Cah NC]

Thanks for sharing your reports with our forum, Tal. As usual, they are well-written and informative.