Some Field Reports

[Branco]

Thanks folks, I appreciate the comments and your interest. (Good to hear from you again Chicago Guy! I'll PM you when I get a little more free time.)

[LeafTalker]

"I would have given it a hammer and put it to work if it would have come on out of the woods".

 

That made me laugh SO hard!!!!!

 

Thanks so much for sharing these wonderful reports!

Edited December 23, 2013 by LeafTalker

[Guest lightheart]

Branco I just want to take a moment to offer my thanks for your posts. I am learning so much from them.....details things that you can't normally learn from reports. Hope you have a great holiday and an awesome new year.

Lightheart

[JanV]

Hi Branco,

Great reports, thanks. What is your take on BF and Language? Do you think they have a proto language (present tense only)? Or a more fully developed language with past and future tense? Specifically, do you think they can make plans to meet somewhere at a certain time? Dawn or dusk ( I don't think they can utilize our 24 hour clock ).

Any reports that describe BF using language?

Edited December 23, 2013 by JanV

[Sunflower]

Branco,

 

I just love that report and have thought about it for several years.  She noticed whistling, talking, whooping, following, screaming, etc., which in my opinion, she should write a book!!!!

 

Thanks again!  Hope you locate the pics!  I'll might have a pic or two from back then.  I'll check.

[Branco]

Hi Branco,

Great reports, thanks. What is your take on BF and Language? Do you think they have a proto language (present tense only)? Or a more fully developed language with past and future tense? Specifically, do you think they can make plans to meet somewhere at a certain time? Dawn or dusk ( I don't think they can utilize our 24 hour clock ).

Any reports that describe BF using language?

They do "speak" in some type of language, that's a certainty. The first one I heard very plainly. He woke me up at 2 AM walking in the loose rocks beside my sound dish. He was walking straight to the back of my pick-up/camper shell. A couple of steps past the dish he began talking in a deep, gravelly and raspy voice in "words" and quick intermittent ape-like grunts. The words sounded like those spoken by Native Americans in their own dialect in some of the very old western movies. This one only spoke for about 5 or 10 seconds.

 

I heard two talking among themselves about 4 AM a year or so later in the same general area, but they were at least 200 yards away. I could hear them pretty clearly through the sound dish, but both were speaking in a subdued fashion, without the deep, raspy voice of the first one I heard. One's voice sounded more feminine, and her "words" were spoken choppily and rapidly. The others voice was deeper and the words were spoken much more slowly. No grunts mixed in.

 

I've heard others further down south speak as if there were whispering, although it sounded as if their mouths were nearly closed.

 

No I don't really think they have a fully developed language of their own, but I have heard recordings made by other hard-working field folks who have recorded what they say are BF using phrases to mimic what the folks had said earlier in the field. I know they mimic the sounds of other animals, birds and even machines, but I've never heard them mimic human speech.

 

Many animals can keep track of time. Dogs have amazing abilities to remember time schedules that are important to them.

 

It has always been interesting to me that a very large portion of the reports of BF coming onto humans' home sites or campsites happens around 2 AM to just before the crack of dawn. My first such encounter occurred precisely at 2 AM. (I suppose they believe that all decent, hard-working folks ought to be sound asleep by then.)   

Thanks Lightheart. The best to you and your family during this special holiday season.

Thanks Sunflower. I think you may have mentioned some of those sounds yourself, if my "remember'er" hasn't gone bad on me. :-).

Merry Christmas!

[Sunflower]

That is very cool!!!!   Thanks for relaying all of this information and observations. I've heard some very strange stuff in the woods from time to time.  Some in the afternoon and some at night.  Mostly we had experiences in the afternoons which is highly unlikely if you think about it.  I've always thought that was unusual.

 

Have a great holiday and happy new year as well!!!!!

[Branco]

That is very cool!!!!   Thanks for relaying all of this information and observations. I've heard some very strange stuff in the woods from time to time.  Some in the afternoon and some at night.  Mostly we had experiences in the afternoons which is highly unlikely if you think about it.  I've always thought that was unusual.

 

Have a great holiday and happy new year as well!!!!!

Hope you had as good of a time as I did on January 1st. Weather was perfect for a day in the mountains. My great grandson and I used up all the daylight & all the big lunch my wife so kindly made for us. We checked on a new Covert "black-out" game cam I put up on the 18th of December. Didn't check the photos, but was glad to see it was still there and undamaged. Spent the rest of the day prowling and checking tracks. Only found four old BF tracks inside a small area where shale rock had been removed years ago and hauled out for NF road surfaces. But I was able to show the boy recent tracks of cougar, black bear, coyote, and of those blasted wild hogs that were reintroduced in that part of the Ouachitas about two years ago. We got rid of the things in the early 60's, but some fools that live near the NF trapped a bunch in south AR and dumped them off on the boundary line so they could hunt them for sport. Idiots! 

 

Good thing we got our day in when we did, going to be cold as heck for several days.

 

Regards.

 

P.S. - Two of the three sighting I had were in the late afternoon, still good daylight. I saw the female in early spring and the young male in hot, mid-summer. These in our area start slowly moving around before dark, especially in the summer when they are headed to good cold spring water. 

Edited January 3, 2014 by Branco

[Guest]

Great reports Branco, thanks for sharing. I am interested in a couple of the reports where the witness smelled them from at least 100 yds. away Was the scent blown by a breeze toward the witness?

I have been closer than that to deer roadkill and didn't smell it. There have been other occasions where I smelled a strong skunky smell close by while in the woods and never figured out where it was coming from.

[WV FOOTER]

Enjoying those reports Branco. Much appreciated.

[Branco]

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

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: January 25, 2005 (Report was received by telephone by Tal H. Branco as a result of leads obtained during investigations of other area reports.)

Date of Encounter: Winter, exact date not known. Believed to have occurred in 1988.

Time of Incident: Night, sometime before midnight.

Weather Conditions: Clear, cold.

State: Alabama

County: Clarke

Nearest City or Town: Jackson

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

Nearest highway or road: Not disclosed.

General Land Use Description: Old farm, fields occasionally mowed. Some small areas planted with winter grasses for deer. Hunted by family members and friends.

General Terrain Description: Part of the property is steep, thickly forested hills with outcrops of seabed limestone. The base of the hills abruptly terminate alongside a swampy, ox-bow lake formed by the Tombigbee River which passes near and alongside the south side of the property, and alongside a clear creek which crosses the property along the base of the western slope.

Nearest Lakes or Streams: Tombigbee River and XXXXX Creek.

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounter/Incident: The witness -who was about seventeen years old at the time - had driven to a small hunting cabin which was located at the base of a hill near the ox-bow lake.

Details of Encounter / Incident: The young man was accompanied by his large bulldog that was trained to catch wild hogs which are abundant in the area. He arrived at the cabin shortly after darkness fell. He and the dog went inside, and he built a fire in the stove and opened the windows to air out the cabin. He was to be joined by one of his cousins shortly. After the fire was started he sat down to read an outdoor magazine. While reading he noticed that the dog stood up and began to watch one of the open windows intently. As he watched the dog, the hair on its neck stood up and the dog began woofing softly. It then started moving its head as if following the movement of something outside that was going toward the front of the cabin. In a few seconds the witness heard something (or someone) step directly onto the floor of the porch which was about three feet off the ground. The unknown visitor could be heard walking across the porch and stopped in front of the door. The door had both an entry lock-set and a deadbolt. At the time only the dead bolt was engaged. As the witness watched the door closely, the visitor turned the door knob. The witness had briefly thought that his cousin might have walked to the cabin to "mess with him", but immediately after the door knob turned the witness saw the lights of his cousin's vehicle coming down the road off the hills. The visitor turned and jumped off the porch, and could be heard running on two feet into the woods toward the swampy area.

 

When the cousin arrived the witness discussed with him what had happened and asked him who or what he thought the visitor might have been. The cousin had no idea. Later that night they heard sounds coming from the swampy area that they could not identify, but they concluded it must have been a wild hog. When the sound continued they turned the bull dog loose to see what would happen. The dog ran into the woods, but in less that a minute it came back to the cabin and ran inside. The witness stated that the dog at that time stunk so badly that he was put back outside. The witness stated that from that night forward, the dog would not hunt on that property.

 

The witness stated that as recently as June of 2005 he has been on the property and has smelled the same overpowering odors as emanated from the bulldog during the incident described above. He was mowing the opening fields at that time, and stated he had the uncomfortable feeling of being watched all the while he was working in the small field between the old cabin site (it is no longer there) and the swampy lake.

Description of Animal(s) if Seen: No visual contact.

Photos or Drawings Made?: None.

Description of Related Sounds: Growling/grunting

Description of Related Scents / Odors:  The witness described the dog's scent as a combination of a wet animal, rotting meat and a strong "sulfur" odor. (The dog had not been in water while gone.)

Was Physical Evidence Obtained? No.

Other Area Reports: The witness stated that one night in the spring about two years prior to the incident described above, two of his relatives drove past the cabin and down a farm road to the clear creek to fish. When they stopped their vehicle (thought to be a van) and killed the engine, something (or someone) burst from the dense wood and ran around the vehicle beating the top with their/its fists. The top of the vehicle was reportedly denting noticeably by the force of the blows. (The two young men thought it was the witness who filed the above report who had been responsible for the damage, but the witness stated he had no part in the incident.)

 

In June of 2005 the owner of this property was contacted by members of the RFP Research Project who are area residents, and the owner graciously agreed to allow the RFPRP access to the property. The owner in fact later accompanied this writer and the area members and gave us a guided tour of the property. The area was found to be ideal habitat for any wild animal, and it was apparent that the slope of the thickly wooded hill above the clear running creek was the optimum bedding location for any animal needing concealment and fresh water. About mid-afternoon the seven people who comprised the group heard a loud angry snarling growl coming from the side of the hill near the creek when a team member experimentally uttered a screaming yell.

 

The owner of this property knows there are large animals on this property that he cannot identify. He has heard them close-up, and he no longer goes onto the property alone at night. He is uncomfortable on the property alone during the day. 

 

There have been other reports from this vicinity from witnesses who have seen bipedal primates. In one case two men saw two of the animals walking side-by-side across an old abandoned railroad bed at a point about one mile from this farm. As recently as June of 2005, a husband and wife heard what was described as a group of these animals fighting or squabbling - likely over food - about 4:30am in an area less that a mile from this property. 

 

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

Follow-up Investigation Report(s) by The RFPRP

 

Further field research is scheduled for this particular site.

[NathanFooter]

 Thanks for sharing this Branco, I really enjoy this stuff.

[Guest]

Thanks for putting these reports on Branco. The last one about the hitting the hood of the vehicle I had heard about by word of mouth several years ago. I wasn't into the subject and didn't believe in any of this at the time, but I remember people talking about people seeing something and even getting banged on their car.

[Branco]

I thought of this report when we were talking about BF possibly taking shelter in abandoned coal mines during this very cold winter. There are a LOT of old coal mines in Morgan County, AL, some less than one-quarter mile from the houses mentioned in this report. 

--------------

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: The brief initial report was received by e-mail on July 3, 2007. 

 

Date of Encounter: The sighting occurred about the middle of June, 2007.

 

Time of Incident: About 6:00PM.

 

Weather Conditions: Sunny and hot at the time of the sighting, but it had rained earlier that day.

 

State: Alabama.

 

County: Morgan.

 

Nearest City or Town: Hulaco.

 

Location: The location of the home site on which the incident occurred is not disclosed at the request of the family members.

 

Nearest highway or road: State highway #67 is in the vicinity.

 

General Land Use Description: There are several single-family homes in the area, with some small cattle ranches and hay fields in the surrounding area. There are also extensive tracts of pine timberland north of the home site, some of which cover abandoned coal mines.

 

General Terrain Description: Steep rolling foothills of the southwest termination of the Appalachian Mountains. Along the peaks of the ridges there are sandstone outcrops, and  along the creeks and branches there are bluffs. In place the sandstone exposures contain sheltered overhangs. The home site is located on the weathered crest of one of the hills. 

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: There are several man-made ponds in the vicinity, and small creeks in the hollows. Cotaco Creek is reported to be the closest stream. The site is about 15 miles southwest of Guntersville Dam on the Flint River which is impounded to form Guntersville Lake.

 

Witness Profiles: The animal was seen most clearly by two children, ages 4 and 8, and briefly seen by the children's 22 year old aunt who was baby-sitting them at the time.

 

Other members of the family were reportedly at times close to the animal, before and after the sighting. Their accounts of those incidents are included later in this report.

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounter/Incident: There were three children and their aunt at the home at the time of the sighting. The youngest child was asleep in a bedroom. The aunt and the eight year old girl were watching television in the living room. A four year old girl was also in the living room, and she was staring out a window.

 

Details of Encounter / Incident: The baby sitter soon noticed the little girl seemed to be intently watching something in the front yard. The aunt then asked the girl what she was watching, the girl calmly told her "the monster came back and I was watching it". The girl's aunt immediately stood up and asked the girl to show her the "monster". The girl told her that the "monster" had left, and indicated it had gone around the house.

 

At that time the 8 year old moved to another window and began to scream loudly. The noise awakened the smallest child and that little girl began crying loudly. While the aunt was tending to the small child, she saw a large, dark hairy creature run at a high speed across the yard in front of the living room's double windows. The animal crossed the yard and disappeared into the thick woods just across the county road that runs in front of the home.

 

Photos or Drawings Made? Of her own volition the 8 year old witness later drew a simple sketch of the "monster" as it passed in front of the window only a few yards away. She was very careful to show the window sill in her drawing, and to have the drawing correspond with her verbal statement to this investigator that she could not see the animal's feet when it passed the window.

 

Description of Related Sounds: None heard during this sighting. Sounds that were heard by other family members before and after this sighting are described later.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: None detected during the sighting incident.

 

Description of the Animal: The 8 year old girl described the creature as being quite a bit taller than one of her relatives who is a little over 6 feet tall. She said the animal was covered in black hair that was "kind of short". In answer to the investigator's question, she said she saw no movement of the hair in the wind as the animal was running quickly across the yard. She said she could not see much of the facial features because the black hair covered most of the face. She indicated the animal was shaped like a man, and was at all times running on two legs. She also stated the animal's arm were long and the hands reached nearly to its knees.

 

The children's aunt only briefly saw the animal as it passed the windows. Her brief glimpse was of a large, dark colored animal and not a human.

 

Historical Notes: The family bought this property about 4 years ago and remodeled the house. The house has a wood-burning fireplace which they used for some time after moving in. A year or so later they decided to covert the fireplace and use gas logs. Before the conversion was completed, they carried the old firewood across the road and piled it in the edge of the woods. That winter the conversion still had not been made and during one of the first cold nights the children's mother walked across the yard and road to collect a few sticks of the old fire wood. When she arrived at the pile and began picked up the first sticks, she suddenly got an overpowering sense of fear that someone was watching her from close range. Immediately she began smelling a foul stench that she said burned her nasal passageways. In near panic, she ran back to the house and went inside. A few minutes she began to hear small rocks striking the vinyl siding on the front of the house. She had no idea what she had smelled, or who was throwing rocks at the house.

 

At other times when she was in the front yard near the woods at dusk, showers of small pea gravel (she thought from the shoulder of the blacktop road) would fall in the yard around her. The gravel never struck her, and it seemed to her that someone might have been "messing with her to get her attention".

 

For some time, the family and their neighbors' have noted that something or someone has been removing bags of garbage from their garbage cans. In nearly all cases, the lids have been removed and set aside, and the garbage bags carried quite a ways from the particular home. Seldom are the cans overturned.

 

The next day after the sightings described above, the children's grandfather (the mother's and the babysitter's father) and his brother-in-law armed themselves and started searching the dense woods and thickets in front of the home for some evidence of the animal that had been seen. As they quietly followed an old coal mine haul road down the side of the "mountain" they were startled to hear what they thought was the sound of a large animal getting up from its bed in a pine thicket and running downhill. They both agreed that the animal "tore through the woods and sounded like a truck running down hill out of gear".  The animal seemed to be about 100 yards off the old road when it broke and ran. It ran a few hundred yards and apparently stopped as no sounds were heard. They continued down the trail. At two or three locations the men noticed a strong odor like that from "rotten garbage". As they neared a small power transmission line, they suddenly heard the sound of a dead tree crashing to the ground. Both stated there was neither wind or rain at that time. Shortly thereafter, another tree crashed to the ground. As they stopped to listen, they suddenly heard very loud, chimpanzee-like hooting noises that ended with a peculiar "quivering sound". Although the men were armed with sidearms, they were hesitant to try to make a closer approach to the source of the sounds. They left the woods.

 

About a week later, one of the men and a different relative returned to the area and heard similar sounds, but did not see the animal that made them.

 

Late one night, on or about July 17, 2007, the children's parents were asleep and awakened by the rattling of a charcoal grill on the treated wood-planked front porch. The family's garbage can is usually kept hidden at one end of the porch between some evergreen shrubs and the front of the house. The wife got out of bed and walked to the living room window just in time to see a large white plastic bag full of garbage "floating across the yard towards the woods about two feet off the ground".  She quickly realized something or someone was actually carrying the bag, and the entity was so completely black it could not be seen in the darkness. (There is a motion activated light at one end of the house which was too far away from the movement to be turned on. There is a "night-watcher" light on a pole near the other end of the house, although there are trees that prevents the entire front yard from being illuminated.)

 

The next day family members found the bag of garbage in the woods about 25 yards from the road. The top of the bag had been opened and only an apple core had been removed. The core was lying nearby. Although there were reported teeth marks in the surface of the core, none of the core had been eaten. (The mother had peeled and sliced the apple for her kids, and none of the family had bitten the core.) The core was not preserved. (As confirmed by the writer on July 23, the bag had not been opened by claws or teeth. It had simply been pulled apart at the top.)

 

While examining the bag the day after it was taken, the family members again heard ape-like hooting sounds coming from the woods nearby. Shortly afterwards, they stated they heard very deep, snarling grows coming from the same general area. They did not attempt to approach the sounds to determine what was making them.

 

The family stated they owned 3 dogs that would at times refuse to stay at the home site, but retreat to a relative's house not too far from their own. At times when they would bring the dogs back home, they would immediately leave. At other times they seemed to be content to stay. The family stated whatever the animal might be that has alarmed them, it does not stay around the home continuously, but seems to stay a few days, then leaves, and returns a few days later. Other neighbors who have had garbage taken from cans at night are in agreement about the animal's foraging habits.

 

Other Details: During a three-day trip to this area the writer was asked to speak to a neighbor who lives across a hayfield from this home -about 300 yards away. The neighbor stated that about July 4th his wife placed table scraps in a large cast aluminum skillet on their back porch for their large dog just as she did nearly every night. They were puzzled the next morning to find the skillet missing. They looked for it around the house but it was not located until about three weeks later in the woods about 100 yards from the home.

 

The day the skillet came up missing, the homeowner was also puzzled to find a hand-sized piece of broken sandstone lying in the shallow end of his below-ground swimming pool. He was certain the rock had not been in the pool the day before. There is a gated, chain-link fence around the pool, and no loose rocks of that type are inside, or along the immediate outside perimeter of the fence.

 

The man also stated that at certain times during the night his dog would bark and growl like crazy, but he was not sure why the dog became so alarmed.

 

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

Report received and recorded by:

Tal H. Branco, Field Researcher/Investigator, The RFP Research Project

[See-Te-Cah NC]

Please keep 'em coming, Branco.