Some Field Reports

[Branco]

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) - Report of Encounter

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: Initial report received in person on November 24, 2007. Additional details received by telephone during the next few days.

 

Date of Encounter: The sighting occurred in the summer of 1990. Vocalizations have been heard at various times before and after the sighting.

 

Time of Incident: About 10:00pm.

 

Weather Conditions: Cloudy at the time, but the witness said that he remembered it had rained earlier.

 

State: Alabama.

 

County: Morgan.

 

Nearest City or Town: North of the community of Hulaco, north of Joppa.

 

Location: Near Ruth Mountain.

 

Nearest highway or road: The witness was driving on Apple Grove Road.

 

General Land Use Description: Cattle and poultry farms.

 

General Terrain Description: Rolling hills which are in places cut by deep ravines and hollows which expose bluffs of limestone and sandstone. There are numerous caves and sheltered overhangs in the bluffs and outcrops on the slopes bordering the hollows and ravines. The sighting location is within 1/2 mile of the upper end of one of the numerous rugged and undeveloped hollows in Morgan County.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: Cotaco Creek is within 1/2 mile of the sighting location.

 

Witness Profile: A mature male who has lived in the area since birth, and who is an avid hunter familiar with the typical wildlife in Alabama.

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounter/Incident: During the day the witness had been doing repair work on a close relative's home. He had quit for the day and was driving home. He had been diving east on Carter Road, and had just turned south onto Apple Grove Road. 

 

Details of Encounter / Incident: Shortly after he had turned onto Apple Road Grove, and before he reached Ruth Mountain Road which turns east off that road, his vehicle lights illuminated a large animal in the edge of a pine thicket a few yards - approximately 10 - west of the road. He was driving slowly, and slowed even more to determine what he was seeing. He said that he could see that the animal was massive in width and as tall as a man, but was shocked when he realized that it was actually crouched as if trying to hide from the car lights. As the vehicle reached the closest point, the animal stood up, wheeled and disappeared into the pine thicket on two feet.

 

Photos or Drawings Made? No.

 

Description of Related Sounds: None heard.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: None detected.

 

Description of Animal: The witness stated that when the animal was "hunkered down", he could see that it was covered in reddish-brown hair. He said that when it stood upright, he could see the hair was long and "blowing in the wind like an elk's mane". At that time he realized that the animal was nearly twice as tall as an average size man. He said that he was so shocked at seeing the bulk of the animal that he could remember no details of its face or head.

 

Other Details: The witness and his father, who actually live less than one mile from the sighting location, stated they had, for several years, heard strange animal sounds at night from the woodlands north of their homes. When asked to describe the sounds, the witness's father stated that they sounded like " big hogs fighting over a good bed". 

 

After his encounter, the witness began to read information about these animals on inter-net sites. He stated he now believes the animal he saw is using a large cave not far from the sighting location as a bedding area or den.

 

Historical Notes: This witness stated that after his sighting (which he did not disclose to others for fear of ridicule) a young female member of his close family saw an identically described animal beside Apple Grove Road less than fifty yards from his sighting location. He stated that the woman's encounter was so traumatic for her that she was in shock after the incident. She told family members that the "thing" had apparently followed her car home (she was very close to her home when she saw it), and returned to her house two or three nights later to throw her garbage cans off the side of the hill.

 

To make matters worse for her, she later saw what she believes is the same animal crossing the same road near the same location on two different occasions. Reportedly during her last sighting of the animal, she and her vehicle were so close to it that the animal turned toward her, opened its mouth and bared its teeth.

 

Investigator's Notes & Comments: The primary witness in this reports has talked to his female relative several times to obtain further details from her, and to try to convince her to speak to a researcher/investigator about her encounter. The female relative said that she could not talk about the incidents because the incidents were so frightening to her that to relive them during a discussion would cause her to have nightmares and sleepless nights. The primary witness stated that at some time his relative might write her recollections about the events and submit them to The RFP Research Project. (The writer did not pursue the matter further because the young woman's husband was serving overseas in military service and she was alone in the home.) 

 

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Report received and recorded by:

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

[Branco]

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) - Report of Encounter

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: June 16, 2007 

 

Date of Encounters: During the 70's.

 

Time of Incident: Various.

 

Weather Conditions: Various.

 

State: Alabama.

 

County: Talladega.

 

Nearest City or Town: Sylacauga.

 

Location: On the slope of Merkle Mountain.

 

Nearest highway or road: Gravity Hill Road.

 

General Land Use Description: Small family farms intermingled with timberlands.

 

General Terrain Description: The area is within the foothills marking the southwest termination of the Appalachian Mountains.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: The Coosa River is about 6 miles west of the area. The area is about 3 miles from Tallahatchie Creek.

 

Witness Profile: He is now 49 years old and has lived in the general area since birth. He is an extraordinarily talented woodsman, an avid hunter, and is very familiar with the known flora and the classified fauna in the Southeast.

 

He spent a great part of his childhood with his Grandparents who lived on farm on the slope of Merkle Mountain. The incidents described below occurred on and around that farm while he resided there..

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounter/Incident: Just prior to the most unusual incident, the family dogs began "barking like crazy" at something behind the house one night. At the time the reporting witness was about 13 or 14 years old.

 

Details of Encounter / Incident: The reporting witness, his younger brother (about 8 years old) and their Grandfather went outside to try to see what the dogs were barking at. When the three got in the yard, the barking dogs began moving and looking toward the woods. The trio continued to walk up a trail that entered the woods. After walking about 75 yards from the home, the Grandfather decided that whatever the dogs had detected had left the area, and the three started walking back to the house.

 

The Grandfather was in the lead, with the reporting witness directly behind him, and the younger brother was the last in line. Nothing was being said, and the first two did not notice the younger boy was not with them until they were close to the house. As they turned and started back up the hill to see about the boy, they heard him screaming and shouting. Immediately the boy came running to them in a panic-stricken state. The boy was taken inside where he calmed down enough to tell the family that something had grabbed him by the neck from behind while the three were walking back to the house. The boy said he was lifted off the ground for a few seconds before being released by the unseen entity. The reporting witness stated there were red "finger marks" on both sides of the boy's neck. 

 

Description of the Animal: No animal was seen.

 

Photos or Drawings Made? No.

 

Description of Related Sounds: None heard during this incident.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: None noted.

 

Other Possibly Related Details: The witness stated that for three or four nights after  the family butchered hogs during the winter they would hear loud screaming sounds coming from the mountainside above the home. Even though at times there were two or more entities making the sounds, the Grandparents thought the sounds were made by panthers.

 

About the same time of the young boy's encounter, the family found that a ham had been taken from the smoke house. The reporting witness was quick to point out the ham may have been stolen by someone living in the area.

 

During that time period, the reporting witness stated that his Grandparent's milk cow was attacked one night by a large animal. The attack left deep claw marks down both sides of the animal from the front of its shoulders to its back legs. The injuries caused the cow to die, and it was reportedly buried using a neighbor's dozer.

 

Sometime later the reporting witness's 18 year old cousin went hunting on the mountainside one night with a dog and flashlight. The dog treed an opossum which the boy killed but did not retrieve. The next night the boy went back to the same location but the dog started growling at something in the woods and would not leave the boy's side and would go no further into the woods. The boy then began hearing loud "huffing" sounds which he thought were being made by a bear. The boy started walking quickly toward the Grandparents' home with the unseen animal followed him. The dog continually stayed between the boy and the unseen animal. The hair on the dog's back was raised and it continued to growl as if watching something that it feared. The cousin spent the night at the Grandparents' home. The next morning the Grandmother told the family she found a very large track of some kind on the ground under the kitchen window.

 

A week or so after the cousin's experience, neighbors that lived about a quarter mile away reportedly kept hearing something prowling around their home at night. They finally called the Sheriff's Office for help. A Deputy was reportedly sent to investigate. The deputy is said to have encountered at close range a large, hairy animal standing on two feet near the home. The Deputy reportedly emptied his revolver in an attempt to bring down the animal. The shots reportedly failed to drop the animal and it ran off. The Deputy reportedly told the neighbor what he had seen and done, and told the citizen he would not come back to the area at night alone. 

 

The reporting witness stated that on occasion when he was a child, his Grandparents would hear the dogs barking frantically late at night. On one such night they got out of bed and went outside to see what was upsetting the dogs. They saw what they thought was a large bear standing and walking on two feet in the yard alongside a ravine that headed on the mountain behind the house. When the "bear" would not leave after they shouted at it, they began throwing rocks at it. Then the animal reportedly walked on two feet into the ravine and out of sight.

 

Historical Notes: This area has generated many reports of large, hairy enigmatic primates over the years. One such reports was recently posted on the BFRO web site.

 

Writer's Comments: This witness's talents and skills as a woodsman  were vividly apparent during the three days and nights the writer recently accompanied him and others along the swamps of Lowndes County and in the hills of Talladega and Clay Counties. 

 

During that time tracks were seen and sounds were heard that indicate the area described in this report is still inhabited by enigmatic primates. (Although the summer months present some challenges and discomforts to Southern researchers, it is, in this writer's opinion, it is the ideal time to try to learn more about these intriguing animals.)

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

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) Report of Encounter

 Date report submitted to RFPRP: December 10, 2008

Date of encounter: November, exact date not known, 2008.

Time of incident: 2:30 am.

Weather conditions: Clear, with a few scattered clouds, ¾ moon, temperature between 45 & 50 degrees.

State: Alabama.

County: Clarke.

Nearest city or town: Near the community of Salitpa.

Location: On an undisclosed county road between State Highway #69 and the Tombigbee River.

Nearest road: Undisclosed.

General land use: Timber production with scattered rural homesteads.

General terrain description: Rolling hills, generally covered with pine plantations, which abruptly terminate and form the eastern margins of theTombigbee River Basin. The basin itself consists of dense oak forests with heavy palmetto undergrowth. The basin contains numerous areas of swamps, oxbow lakes and marshes. Much of the basin is flooded by heavy rains during the spring and winter months.

Nearest lakes and streams: An undisclosed creek which empties into the Tombigbee River.

Witness profile: A mature woman who moved to the area about one year ago from a northern state.

Activities of witness prior to the encounter: The woman is spending some time at the home of her grandparents. She said that she enjoyed sitting outside late at night in Alabama because she could hear animals and see the stars which she had been unable to do where she previously lived. She had made herself a cup of coffee, put on a sweater and walked out onto a deck on the back of the house. She said when she sat down in a chair on the deck, she noticed that the dogs in the area were “going crazy†and “barking as if they were scared to deathâ€. She said that eight of the dogs belonged to her son-in-law who lived in the area, and the others she heard belonged to a family who lived about one half mile away from the back of the house. She said there was an old road, which had overgrown and is now just a path, which led out of the deep woods on the hillside behind the house and into a corner of the back yard that had been recently used for a small garden.

She sat a few minutes listening to the dogs, watching clouds pass over the moon and looking at the bright stars. The sounds the dogs were making were so frantic that she stood up and walked off the deck into the yard to listen more closely. She previously heard the dogs barking at people, other dogs and at deer, but she had never heard them bark in this manner.

Description of the encounter/incident: The woman suddenly heard something running down the hillside toward her. The runner was breaking limbs and crunching leaves and twigs obviously moving fast down the path. A few seconds after first hearing those sounds, she began to hear what sounded like a man breathing heavily, quickly and loudly as if the man was exerting himself and nearly exhausted. The witness was frozen in surprise and fear, and simply stared at the pathway opening in the tree line.

Seconds later, a huge, hair covered man-like creature burst out of the pathway into the yard, still breathing heavily and loudly. As she stared in disbelief, the creature stared directly at her as it continued running into the corner of the old garden spot. When it broke out of the tree line, the witness said the animal was within 25 feet of her.

At that point the witness wheeled and ran up the steps onto the deck and immediately into the house.

Description of creature: The witness stated that the creature was, to her, unbelievably tall, massive and fast. She said that the animal was at least 9 feet tall and very wide and muscular. She said its hair was not black, but appeared to be a light reddish/brown. The witness stated she wanted me to understand that she was not sure that the creature was actually exposed to the direct light from the moon when she was watching it; she said that it may have been in shadows of the trees. But she said the whole yard was clearly visible from the light of the moon and stars. She said that the creature’s hair-covered legs were so massive that she could see no open space between them when it was running toward her. She also said that she could not see the animal’s neck because its neck and head were covered by long hair, “like someone who draped a big floor mop over their headâ€. She said she thought she could see its eyes when it looked directly at her, but she could give no description other than she thought they looked “bigger, and more oval shaped than a humansâ€. She particularly noted that its hair was long all over its body, but the hair was not loose and flowing as it ran. She said the hair appeared to be “layered†and lay close to the body. She said that the animal had hair, not fur.

The witness stated with absolute certainty that what she saw was not a person in a fake suit, a bear (she has seen bears in the wild), a deer, or any other recognized animal species.

During the telephone interview the witness repeatedly mentioned that the animal was running at a speed that was amazing to her and said more than once that the animal “looked too big and heavy to be able to move as fast as it runningâ€.

Photos and drawing: None.

Description of relative sounds: As described above.

Description of relative scents: None detected.

Other details: When the writer spoke to the witness on her cell phone she was in her grandparents’ home. Part of that time she was outside, and standing in the same spot as when the encounter took place. She said that her grandfather is about six feet tall, and when he stands in the same spot in which she saw the animal, he is at least three feet shorter than the animal when using the brush in that area as reference.

After receiving and discussing details of her encounter, I asked the witness to ask her grandparents (who had lived at the location for 15 years) if they had ever heard unusual animal sounds in the area at night. The grandparents said they really had not. I asked that she ask them if they had every heard the sounds exactly like those of a woman screaming at night coming from the wooded hills or the river bottoms. The grandfather said that both of them had heard that sound a few years ago, but did not know what made it. As an afterthought he said that they often heard the sounds of “someone†beating on trees at night, but didn’t know “who†that was.

Historical notes and investigators comments: The Tombigbee River Basin and the adjoining hills have generated numerous reports of large, hirsute enigmatic primates for at least 150 years. Older residents refer to the animals as “Hairy Menâ€. Some of those reports are recorded on this web site. This summer one of the creatures was seen by a seismograph crew in the Tombigbee River bottoms a few miles east of the location of the encounter described in this report.

The area of this latest encounter report has been the target of recent field investigations by both the Alabama Bigfoot Research Group and the RFP Research Project. Additional research and investigations are scheduled for that same area in January of 2009.

Tal H. Branco â€“ The RFP Research Project

[Branco]

I think this is a case in which a BF mistakenly  thought a young girl was lost and stopped her from going any further into the woods. There is a better and more interesting case here in AR if I can dig up the report.

 

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) - Report of Encounter

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: October 27, 2006

 

Date of Encounter: About 1969 in the summer.

 

Time of Incident: Midday

 

Weather Conditions: Clear, warm

 

State: Alabama

 

County: Winston

 

Nearest City or Town: Addison 

 

Location: Near Brushy Creek

 

Nearest highway or road: U.S. 278/AL 74

 

General Land Use Description: Timber production

 

General Terrain Description: Rolling hills with numerous streams that cut through the sandy surface soils and the underlying limestone and loosely compacted sandstone to form steep cliffs and ledges alongside the stream beds. The area reportedly contains some limestone caves.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: Between the Sipsey River and Brushy Creek forks of what is now the large Lewis Smith Lake. 

 

Witness Profile: Mature female who has lived in the area since birth. Her favorite outdoor pastime is fishing, and she is very familiar with the streams and wildlife in the area.

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounter/Incident: Walking from home to meet her mother and siblings who were fishing off the bank of Brushy Creek.

 

Details of Encounter: The witness was 8 years old at the time. She had been visiting a neighbor and returned home. There was a note left for her there to come to the family's favorite fishing hole on Brushy Creek to fish with the family. The place on the creek was within walking distance of the home, and there was a plainly visible trail from the house to the fishing spot. The witness knew the trail was not direct, but followed the best walking terrain. She knew a short-cut to the place and started walking through the woods toward the creek. Since it was summer time she was paying close attention to the ground so that she would not step on a snake, and seldom looked straight ahead. 

 

As she reached the dense part of the woods away from the house, she saw something move in the brush just in front of her. She quickly looked up and was petrified to see a huge, hair-covered creature standing on two feet so close she could have touched it.

 

The sight of the creature so close to her caused her to drop to the ground and put her head between her knees. She immediately covered her head with her hands and began praying to God to protect her from the "monster" she thought would surely kill her. She stated she kept praying very loudly for a long time - she has no idea how long - so that she could not hear the animal if it came toward her. After a while she stopped praying, looked up, and the animal was gone.

 

She immediately turned around and ran home. After staying there for a few minutes she began running to the creek bank on the marked trail. She told her mother and siblings what she had seen and none of them believed her. That night, she told her father, and he did not believe her either.

 

Description of Animal: She said the animals was huge, and at least seven feet tall. Its hair was long and a "brownish" color. She said the animals was slouched and leaning toward her. Its arms and legs were massive, and its shoulders were enormously wide.

 

When asked, she said she could not tell if the animal was a male or female. She was unable to provide any further details about the animals features because, as she said, she wanted no more than the first look at the terrifying creature.

 

Photos or Drawings Made?: None.

 

Description of Related Sounds: She heard no sounds made by the animal.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: She does not remember smelling the scent of the animal.

 

Other Possibly Related Details: During the summer of 2004 the witness, her son and her sister were fishing one night on Brushy Creek just north of U.S. #278 /AL #74. They had parked on a road above the creek and walked down the steep incline to the creek. They had taken a flashlight which they found to be inoperable after they had cast out their lines and darkness fell. She said there was a bright moon which was shining into the creek hollow and they decided to stay. (She said all their fishing rods had luminous tips so they could see them move if a fish struck their bait.)

 

After a while they began to hear a very deep growling sound that was slowly moving toward them from the slope between them and their vehicle. As the sounds grew much louder and closer, they became very concerned. In desperation her son began to pick up and throw large rocks toward the sounds. At that time the sounds appeared to be originating about 40 feet away, and had taken on loud, menacing tones. After the first few rocks were thrown, the growling ceased. Warily the three gathered up their equipment and carefully made their way back to the safety of their vehicle. She stated the volume and depths of the sounds ruled out the possibility they were made by a human or by any known animal native to the area.

 

Historical Notes: This area of northwest Alabama has generated an unusual  number of  reports of sightings of the reclusive forest primates during the past several years. Such reports are becoming much more frequent, and very recently involve multiple witnesses. 

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Report received and recorded by:

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

[Branco]

The Parkie: This is one in which the witness saw and heard a BF vocalize.

 

The RFP Research Project (RFPRP) - Report of Encounters

 

Date Report Submitted to the RFPRP: October 27, 2006

 

Dates of Encounters: (1st: Late summer of 1953.)  (2nd : Winter of 2005)

 

Time of Incidents: (1st during midday.)  (2nd: About 8:30 at night.) 

 

Weather Conditions: Clear on both occasions.

 

State: Alabama

 

County: Winston

 

Nearest City or Town: Houston

 

Location: West of Houston in the Bankhead National Forest near the head of Yellow Creek.

 

Nearest highway or road: Highway 63 south of U.S. 278/State 74.

 

General Land Use Description: Timber production & recreation.

 

General Terrain Description: Rolling hills with numerous streams that cut through the sandy surface soils and the underlying limestone and loosely compacted sandstone to form steep cliffs and ledges alongside the stream beds. The area reportedly contains some limestone caves.

 

Nearest Lakes or Streams: Both the sightings occurred between the Sipsey River and Brushy Creek forks of what is now the large Lewis Smith Lake. 

 

Witness Profile: A life-long resident who has spend much of his spare time since a small child searching the area for Indian relics.

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounters/Incidents: (1st encounter. "Looking for arrowheads.")  (2nd encounter: Driving and looking at wildlife.)

 

Details of Encounters / Incidents: (1st encounter.) One summer day when the  witness was eight years old he was walking through a large track of land from which the timber had been recently harvested. The logging operations had exposed fresh ground and he was searching those areas for Indian relics. He was slowly walking and intently looking at the ground. As he moved out into the cleared area he noticed the tracks of what he assumed was a large man walking barefoot. Although he was somewhat puzzled that a man would be walking the area without shoes, he continued his search. After noticing the tracks again, he detected a strong unpleasant odor. 

 

He stopped to look for the source of the smell and heard an unusual animal sound. As he scanned the area he saw a very large man-like figure climbing a small ridge about 300 yards away. Upon study, he saw that the figure was covered in hair and leaning forward. The creature had long arms which swung noticeably as it walked. Its stooped posture caused the hands to nearly touch the ground when the arms were is the vertical, downward position. As he watched, the creature stopped, and turned its upper body to look at him. It then made another loud vocal sound, turned, and quickly walked over the crest of the ridge out of sight.

 

Description of First Animal: The animal's head was described as being "humped", and it appeared the head sat close to the shoulders with no noticeable neck..  Although the distance prevented a good view of the face, the witness stated the face appeared to be "flat". Its hair was reported to be a greyish brown color and appeared to be very dirty. The animal appeared to have a "pot belly", but was said to be very muscular in the arms, shoulders and legs. The witness stated the animals was much taller than a large man, and he estimated it was about 7 feet tall, although he said it may have been taller if it had been standing totally erect. 

 

Photos or Drawings Made?: None.

 

Description of Related Sounds: Something akin to a snarling growl.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: The witness described the smell as  "weird" and "stinking".

 

Other Possibly Related Details: The witness stated he and his boyhood friends often rode the rural roads on their bicycles. When they were near teen age one of his friends owned a small motorcycle.. On one occasion when the boys were on an outing in this area, the boy left his  motorcycle on a small woods road while all of them walked quite a distance away to look for arrowheads. When they returned, the motorcycle was gone. When they looked around, they found the machine had been thrown, not driven, into the center of a large blackberry thicket several yards away from where it had been parked.

 

Activities of Witness Prior to Encounters/Incidents: (2st encounter.) Driving in the edge of a "greenfield" inside a 200 acre track of timberland.

 

Details of Encounters / Incidents: (2nd  encounter.) During the winter of 2005, the witness was driving his pickup truck about 8:30 at night, shortly after a rain, onto a clearing which had been planted in winter vegetation for attracting wildlife. On one side of the field there was an elevated "shooting house". The top of the house is said to be nearly 15' off the ground. When the witness neared the shooting house the truck's headlights illuminated the structure and a very large hair covered animal standing on two feet beside it. The headlights clearly revealed the animal which was watching the truck, although - somewhat surprisingly to the witness - the animal's eyes did not reflect the light from the truck. Within a few seconds, the animal turned and walked into the dense woods behind the structure.

 

The witness drove near the hunting blind, stopped and listened, but heard nothing. He returned to the site to search for hair samples on tree limbs along the animals path, but found nothing.

 

Description of Second Animal: The animal's hair appeared to be of a mixed color, but mostly dark brown. The quick view of the animal showed that it was massive and muscular. The witness stated that as unbelievable as it may sound, the animal was nearly as tall as the shooting house.

 

Photos or Drawings Made?: None.

 

Description of Related Sounds: None heard.

 

Description of Related Scents / Odors: No odors detected.

 

Other Possibly Related Details: During 2005 a timber cruiser found a large, distinct footprint in a small sandy draw in a very dense area of this properly. He alerted the landowner, and a cousin of the landowner obtained very clear photographs of that track. The photographer made detailed notes of the event, and that report - along with a copy of the photograph - will be posted on this web site as time allows.

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Report received and recorded by:

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

[the parkie]

Great reading, thanks Branco.

[Guest SquatchinNY]

Love 'em! Keep them coming!

[Sunflower]

Thank you, thank you!!!  I especially like the ones where witnesses have actually seen what made the vocalizations.

 

My hubby still has a difficult time admitting how blown away he was after hearing and feeling a "roar" but we saw nothing.

[NathanFooter]

I am really enjoying these Branco.

[Guest]

Nathan-- very much enjoyed your site;  keep up the good work bro.

[WSA]

Thanks for the data Branco.  I'll be in the Bankhead this April, if all goes as planned. Winston/Lawrence/Cullman/Morgan County reports are especially interesting to me as I've been tramping up and around there since 1984.  

[Branco]

WSA: You're welcome! There are certainly a lot of hot spots in those counties. I always wanted to spend more time in the Sipsey Wilderness Area, but just too much going on down there to zero in on one place for long. The whole Bankhead area is a BF paradise; and they don't mind messing with folks. A lot of funny stuff happened in Bankhead that I never published because so many of the folks involved were hesitant and afraid the locals would figure out who they were if I did. 

 

If you go about it the right way, you'll find that most of the older folks in those counties can tell you a lot about the Boogers. Amazing to me how many people have encountered the things and have only told family members about it until I and other locals got them off to the side and talked to them. 

 

There is one monstrously big red one over in Morgan County that I tried like the dickens to get my eyeballs on, but never did. From his tracks, and from statements made by several people who saw him, some more than once, he may the largest one in that part of the state. If you're going to up in Morgan County, review that report which describes his road-crossing locations.

 

Good luck. 

[Guest]

Branco, love reading these reports thank you so much for taking the time to post them.

I have a question for you if you don't mind. I have noticed that so many of these reports deal with a BF acting agressive. Chasing people, bluff charging, trying to get into houses. Do you think this is typical BF behavior or is this something that is unique to the BF in the Alabama/ deep South area? I have seen reports of this type of behavior in other areas of the country but it seems to be the norm in these reports.

Also you write about the three different types, is it one type that seems to be more agressive than the others?

Again, thanks so much for sharing these reports with us.

[WSA]

Branco...I think my first visit to the Sipsey was one of the major factors for me adopting Alabama as my second home. That and the people in Alabama in general. Since marriage/children I've not spent nearly as much time up that way as I once did. There is still nothing I'd rather do than wander around in those canyons for a day by myself, but responsibilities usually make those excursions few and far between. It is seriously mysterious place, I've always felt that, but it intrigues me to think there may be something more.  I've only had a couple of, let's just say....out of the ordinary occurrences there. I really didn't think too much of them at the time, and I'm not saying they are too signifcant even after reading your reports, but...

 

Once while camped down Parker Creek we had a large tree fall not far from us (this was around 10:00 p.m.). There was another group camped a few hundred yards away and the tree fell between our two camps.  It was big one and made all of us jump. Yeah, trees fall, sure. It was a very still evening, no wind. I can't say I've ever had a tree that large fall anywhere near me in all my nights out though.

 

The second incident was somewhat more noteworthy. I was with a friend camped near Borden Creek, late evening. He had a black lab dog with a reputation for being quite a scrapper. He went from dozing in front of the fire to full on alert in an eyeblink.  He growled, raised is hackles and started a slow, stiff-legged retreat. THAT go our attention. We couldn't detect any animal in the vicinity, although something obviously was there. Then, just like that, the dog relaxed. "Cat", we thought. And it probably was. Still.... 

 

The Sipsey is certainly scenic, but it doesn't offer much edge habitat for deer and other critters a booger might want, but you would know better than I would.  The rivers and creeks do make handy travel corridors though, I'm sure. There are wild hogs, so I guess that is always attractive to a large predator. I reckon the brushy areas above the canyon are a fairly likely area for activity, some old clear-cut or planted pine plot.

 

Since my awareness and knowledge have increased on this subject I've not ever visited up there and looked around with that in mind. Like anything else you hope to find, you increase your chances if you know what to look for, right?    

 

I have no doubt locals bring the best information. Perhaps if I knew what the know I might be a little more reticent to poke into some of these places, hmmm?  Well, such is the nature of curiosity, as many dead cats can testify.

[Branco]

Branco, love reading these reports thank you so much for taking the time to post them.

I have a question for you if you don't mind. I have noticed that so many of these reports deal with a BF acting agressive. Chasing people, bluff charging, trying to get into houses. Do you think this is typical BF behavior or is this something that is unique to the BF in the Alabama/ deep South area? I have seen reports of this type of behavior in other areas of the country but it seems to be the norm in these reports.

Also you write about the three different types, is it one type that seems to be more agressive than the others?

Again, thanks so much for sharing these reports with us.

 

You know, it does appear that in areas where there has been a great deal of housing developments along major waterways, BF is prone to be more aggressive. Even around older communities close to rivers, swamps, oxbow lakes and wetlands, BF does in fact forage inside the communities late at night. It is in these kinds of communities that dogs are so often killed when they try to be overly protective of of the property. There have been so many reports from the Southeastern states in which dogs have been killed by blows to the head late at night as they were barking frantically that someone should write a book about that. Such reports are seldom published because usually no one actually sees what killed the dogs. Along some river bottoms her in AR, there have been two to four dogs killed at the same rural home sites, and the bodies stacked near the homes.

 

There is a short, stocky one with a more ape-like face and short, curly black hair. That type is nearly always reported to travel in a group. They have the worst reputation for aggressiveness toward humans in the South & SE. 

Edited February 8, 2014 by Branco

[Guest]

Branco I have just one more question for you (for right now lol) if you don't mind. I used the term "bluff charge" in my earlier question because in quite a few of the reports the humans were "chased" either out of the area or to their vehicle without the BF making physical contact. In your opinion were these bluff charges or did these people escape what could have been a bad situation? Also if the humans refused to flee the area do you think the BF would physically attack them at some point if intimadation tactics didn't work or is it more of a scare tactic? I'm curious as to what would happen if standard things BF does to run a human out of an area was met with resistance, not violence or a counter attack but just a refusal to leave the area.  

On a side note I don't wish to be the person who tests these ideas out in the field!!!