How many members do we have that have actually seen one?

[WSA]

Okie, your account prompts me to post this about something similar that happened to me:

 

This happened in Northern Virginia, Fairfax County and my best recollection is it was in 1985 to 1987.  I was a graduate student living at home with my parents, but home on break from school. We lived near the Fairfax/Loudon County line near the Potomac. The incident took place here:

 

 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Seneca+Rd,+Great+Falls,+VA+22066/@39.060073,-77.3413231,14.89z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89b6372b0a3985ad:0xfa9a7c9ee4ee75ad!8m2!3d39.02672!4d-77.3424742

 

 The area is now a Regional Park, and The Donald has splatted a golf course down in that vicinity since, but back in that day it was a relatively unknown and passably remote corner of NOVA. The Nature Conservancy had bought up the land along the S. bank of the river to conserve some nice deciduous forest (mostly beech) and the riparian flood plain. There was no vehicle access, but the main road (Seneca Road) was paved, and had a locked gate blocking access to a water treatment plant.  All around, in those years, there was lots of open country...farms that had been sold and not yet developed. Since then, of course, it  has turned into McMansion City.  It was a beautiful piece of country, and I'm sure it still is somewhat. I haven't been back there in probably 30 years.

 

The night this occurred, a buddy and I had been at the house until late in the evening, we might have been out at a club, I can't remember. We would have been drinking,  I'm sure....three beers at most. What happened hardly would have been an alcohol induced hallucination (if such is even possible), even if we had been severally intoxicated, which we certainly were not.

 

Doug and I were avid hikers and backpacking buds, so anytime we had a chance to get outside, we would. Often we'd get restless late at night and decide to drive the mile or so down to the river to this area, park and go for a night ramble. We knew the trails well, and often hiked without a light at night if the weather was good and the moon was up. This happened on one of those nights.

 

I drove us down there and we parked in front of the access gate. We saw no other cars parked, and didn't expect to see any. In all of the times we'd been down there at night, we never saw another car or a sign of another person. During the day you would rarely see another soul. Strictly speaking, we were probably trespassing that night on Commonwealth property. You know, our modus operandi was it was always better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

 

We walked without a flashlight down the slope towards the river, toward the treatment facility. When we got down there we forked off to a little area we knew about that had a small pond...just a destination and we had no spoken plan, just walking and talking low, enjoying the night. When we got to the edge of the water, Doug lit a cigarette and we both stood still while he smoked. Almost immediately after that there was a huge KERPLOOSH in the middle of the pond. As a kid, who hasn't liked to lob large rocks into water? We all know that sound. You can almost tell how big the rock was too. This one was gigantic. Yeah, it was dark, and unexpected, so I take that into account, but this was a very large object, by any measure.

 

The reaction we both had was to be somewhat stunned. Both of us probably said to the other, What the f**** was THAT? We didn't move, and just stood there listening to our hearts pound. As always, you look for something you know to explain the unknown. After a little bit I said, "Beaver".  Doug,  seemed to find that explanation logical. Still, we both didn't seem to want to hang around  there. We turned and left without incident.

 

Like you Okie, I have since questioned my conclusions. Yes, back in that day beaver were starting to make a comeback in the area, but I've since heard and seen an actual beaver slapping the water, and no, it doesn't sound like that. Doug and I never talked about it afterwards, and I've long since lost track of him.  And yes, when the BFRO sighting database was first put on line I did find a Class A sighting that happened not too far from there, and not too many years before. After this incident Doug and I and some other friends had another weird encounter just up the road from this one. It  was even more unsettling and had even fewer alternative explanations. I'll post that later, when I have the time.        

[OkieFoot]

WSA, I think the splash you heard is very much like the one I heard, except I'm sure yours was louder. As you describe about the splash you heard, I did not hear the slap sound a beaver tail would make. I had watched a video of a beaver slapping the water and I'm not sure if it may have been the audio but when I listened to the splash sound, the subsequent splash noise after the initial slap of the tail wasn't very loud. The slapping sound of the tail hitting the water was as loud or louder than the splashing noise that followed. The splash sound I heard was different.

It is very strange to hear a loud splash sound of something hitting the water in the pitch dark; and for me it seemed very strange to hear it at 5:15AM.   

[Incorrigible1]

Respectfully, an overheard splashing sound is a bigfoot encounter?

[ioyza]

If a bigfoot made the splashing sound, yes

[NathanFooter]

  I saw one in 2009 and again in 2015.  

I have also had fleeting glimpses of figures at night but in these instances there was no way to say 100% that they where Sasquatch. 

[ioyza]

Also, for what it's worth, I have a group of friends that takes an annual ~6-day canoe trip to the Minnesota boundary waters, backpacking/portage, and the past two years have heard extremely large rocks thrown in the water late at night. Yes, we all know that sound.

[WSA]

24 minutes ago, ioyza said:

Also, for what it's worth, I have a group of friends that takes an annual ~6-day canoe trip to the Minnesota boundary waters, backpacking/portage, and the past two years have heard extremely large rocks thrown in the water late at night. Yes, we all know that sound.

I will be there next summer with my BSA Troop. I will certainly keep my eyes and ears open!

1 hour ago, Incorrigible1 said:

Respectfully, an overheard splashing sound is a bigfoot encounter?

Something with hands, throwing a very large rock is all I can tell you for sure. The possibility it was a completely silent, unseen human with a sick sense of humor is the other possibility.

 

[WSA]

Here is the report of the sighting not too far away from my possible encounter:

 

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=35477 

 

These also were reported in the same county, but more distant :

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_county_reports.asp?state=va&county=Fairfax

 

So, the second possible encounter I mentioned. Same general area as the other....and all these years later I can't remember which happened first, but they were around the same time.

 

I was working at the time in the kitchen at the time of L'Auberge Chez Francois, not too far away. (Great meal, if you are ever in the vicinity) A couple of my good friends Kevin and Doug (same guy as in the account above) worked there with me.  On most weekend nights after work we'd grab a beer or two, drive to a field somewhere or go down to the river and unwind from the night. While driving around one day, exploring old farm roads and fields I had come on this really cool spot. It was a little hillock that had this absolutely amazing circle of gigantic oak trees. It might have been a home site back in the day, but it was now just an overgrown field. Under the trees it was really open and unusually clear, but it was the usual thicket of second growth and briars all around. There were no houses or lights you could see from there, and it abutted the ararea I mentioned above, down along the Potomac river.  It was summer and I had just installed a really nice tape deck and speakers in my car. After work I suggested I drive us to the spot as I wanted to show them this place, listen to some music.

 

We drove up, I think it must have been after midnight. I cut the engine and lights and had the tape deck on. We went around to the front of the car and leaned on the hood. I think I was sitting on the hood with my back against the windshield. Absolutely dark night, clear but just stars, no moon. We were talking in low voices, and hadn't been there but a few minutes when I heard a distinctive bipedal tread moving around in the thickets not far from us, but we couldn't see anything. I asked them if they heard anything, and they stopped talking.  Footsteps stopped. I got down off the car and turned the music volume all the way down. We didn't hear anything. I shrugged it off and turned the music back up, but not loud. Almost immediately I heard the steps again, and Doug and Kevin did too. I called out, "Hey...who's there?" Silence. Whole sequence again, turn the music down, nothing. Turn it back on and start talking and the footsteps began again. We were seriously spooked at this point. We made some lame excuse about it getting late, loaded up and beat it out of there. I never, ever went back to that spot and I don't remember the three of us ever discussing it again.

 

I have questioned my perception many times since then, and tried to explain it away. Deer? Rabbit hopping? Cow? Horse?  Nothing fits but a large something with two feet making deliberate steps and only moving when we weren't paying attention. As many here know who have done their homework: Classic scenario.

[Midnight Owl]

I have been fortunate enough to have had multiple sightings of these elusive subjects.  The most intense was being approached by a family group in central Oklahoma.  There's no way to describe the intense feelings that well up inside you staring at a subject looking back at you that looks like something right out of a Stephen Spielberg movie yet it's alive and breathing 20 feet from you!!  It's easy for people to say " Well why didn't you do this or that" but they weren't there dealing with this intoxicating flood of emotions clouding your thinking!!  I was expecting this since the land owner interacted with these subjects and had their trust.  Even then, it was something I will NEVER forget!  With that said, my heart goes out to those who never believed then by chance they stumble onto one of these subjects face to face!!  I'm sure there are some with deep emotional scars that may haunt them for life!

As part of the agreement for this close meeting, I was told by the land owner, they do not like cameras or anything you put up to close your face so I never intended on taking photos.  Besides, staring at this hulking 10 footer in the dim 3/4 moon light that looked huge and massive, was not something I dared to **** off.  He could have squashed me like a bug if he wanted to!   A 6 footer I suspected to be a juvenile was a mere 15-20 feet from me.  I have attached a sketch of mine showing what he looked like.  I also have a marked picture I inadvertently took as I nervously fumbled with my camera standing there.  It shows the dim face of one of the subjects peering out from the brush illuminated only by the moonlight.  His nose and brow ridge are clearly seen.  This was the real distance no telephoto used.  I saw 5 but there were more all around me in the thick brush.  I enjoy sharing with interested folks and care nothing about convincing the skeptic.  Enjoy!         

[OkieFoot]

Midnight Owl, that was a very interesting post; seeing five is amazing. At the close distance you saw them from, I'm curious if you could hear any of them breathing or making any kind of sounds?

In the picture you inadvertently took, what are we seeing at the bottom of the photo, in the middle? It looks like a partly open mouth. 

[Incorrigible1]

6 hours ago, OkieFoot said:

WSA, I think the splash you heard is very much like the one I heard, except I'm sure yours was louder. As you describe about the splash you heard, I did not hear the slap sound a beaver tail would make. I had watched a video of a beaver slapping the water and I'm not sure if it may have been the audio but when I listened to the splash sound, the subsequent splash noise after the initial slap of the tail wasn't very loud. The slapping sound of the tail hitting the water was as loud or louder than the splashing noise that followed. The splash sound I heard was different.

It is very strange to hear a loud splash sound of something hitting the water in the pitch dark; and for me it seemed very strange to hear it at 5:15AM.   

Was it daylight, yet? Or dark, or between?

I'm just a little dubious that an unobserved splashing sound is determined to be bigfoot. Is it not possible there is some other explanation?

[OkieFoot]

4 minutes ago, Incorrigible1 said:

Was it daylight, yet? Or dark, or between?

I'm just a little dubious that an unobserved splashing sound is determined to be bigfoot. Is it not possible there is some other explanation?

 

It was still dark; with just enough light I could walk down the road. There wasn't any daylight yet. It was a fairly straight road which helped but I still had to walk a little slower than normal and watch where I was going.  

I'm not saying it necessarily was a Bigfoot because I don't know for sure. However when I go through all the possibilities and think through everything, I really can't totally rule Bigfoot out. At that hour of the morning, there aren't very many possibilities.

 

Here's what I can say about it:

The splash I heard did not sound like a beaver slapping it's tail on the water when I compared the two sounds, but I wouldn't completely rule a beaver out. I don't know much about the beaver population in Comanche Co. or  if beaver inhabit farm ponds. The water in them would not be clean and would likely have some manure in it. I just know the sound was more like a rock hitting water than a beaver tail slapping the water.

 

As far as the splash being made by a human: I never saw any kind of light being waved around and never saw any stationary truck lights. As dark as it was, someone would have needed a light to be able to see anything.

It's hard to imagine the landowner, or anyone, driving to one of his farm ponds in the dark at 5:15AM, turns off their truck lights, and after waiting in the dark, throws a rock into the pond at the exact moment I was walking by. That's just seems like a pretty far-fetched scenario to me. We weren't hunting on his land and he would have had no idea anyone was going to be going by his pond at that hour on that day. We never saw any other vehicles or people. 

 

As far as it being a prank: Throwing a rock into a farm pond at 5:15 AM, in the dark, right as someone was walking by seems to me like a very strange prank. Someone walking down the road at that hour would have just been a dark silhouette to someone standing by the pond. 

[Incorrigible1]

Thanks, OkieFoot, for expanding on your experience. Another possible explanation would be an osprey diving after a fish. It may have been too dark, though. Thanks, again.

[Midnight Owl]

Okiefoot, I counted 5 that either came out from behind large trees or rose up out of the thick brush.  I could also hear more stirring about all around us.  They used the canopy shadows to perfection stepping out into the moonlit areas where I could see them.  I had been very, very skeptical of some of the stories I had heard about the land owner and how they interacted with these forest subjects.  That all changed quickly-seeing is believing.    They maintained their positions close to me, never were threatening and I could see their expressions seemingly as astonished as I was getting a close look at me.  There is much I won't relate that happened that evening because it shifts into perimeters many on this blog would discount as pure nonsense.  I will say that I went into that area thinking I may see some undiscovered animal.  I came away realizing they are much, much more to them and is the primary reason people have spent years trying to "Harvest a specimen" with absolutely no success.  A dumb animal would have been baited and shot a long time ago.  This event changed my perspective on what these subjects are.  Others can believe what they want and that's okay, I know what I experienced that night and what others may say or believe doesn't change a thing for me. 

 

            

[OkieFoot]

10 hours ago, Incorrigible1 said:

Thanks, OkieFoot, for expanding on your experience. Another possible explanation would be an osprey diving after a fish. It may have been too dark, though. Thanks, again.

 

It can be chalked up as a mystery as to what actually happened.

I have ruled out a catfish breaching.