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Geographical Index > United States > Texas > Mills County > Report # 23246
 
Report # 23246  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Sunday, February 24, 2008.
Violent tree shaking startles horses and riders on a ranch near Goldthwaite

YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 17

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Mills County

LOCATION DETAILS: I don't want to include the location of the ranch cause I don't have the owners permission as of right now.

NEAREST TOWN: Goldthwaite

NEAREST ROAD: FM 2005

OBSERVED: It happened on November 17, 2007. My family and I were hunting on a family friends ranch in Goldthwaite. It was mid afternoon, and we were taking turns riding horses. When it came my turn to ride, my sister-in-law joined me on another horse. The horses were giving a lot of attitude, and not willing to comply with our requests of direction. So we were having to spin them and kick them cause they didnt want to leave the coral area. But once I got mine to leave then my sister-in-law's followed. We walked off and a couple hundred yards away, the coral disappeared. She and I were just admiring the land and talking. I then noticed that there were no animals around, and there wasnt any animal sounds either, birds included. All I could hear was the footsteps of the horses, and she and I talking. Right about then, there was a strong odor of a dirty wet dog, and the horses started acting different. Their ears kept perking up, and then moving back. I really didnt think anything of it at the time cause I was joking with my sister and we both started laughing. Right about then both our horses jumped like something had startled them, which made my sister jump and let out a small scream. I turned around in the saddle and looked back and to the left of where we were about 10 feet away to see two pine trees shaking bad. The two trees had grown close enough to each other as to have their branches interwoven so you couldnt see in between them. They were tall trees about 10 feet tall. It was as if something had grabbed the branches about 5 to 6 feet up and was shaking them which in turn was making both of the trees shake from top to trunk. I didnt say anything to my sister-in-law about it cause I didnt want to startle her. We continued on for a little bit, then we turned around and headed back to the coral. I never saw anything. They have cattle, goats, and horses on their land. There is also deer, turkey, and he occasional hog, bobcat, and mountain lion. I am 32 and I have been hunting most of my life, and I have never seen or experienced anything like that before. I have smelled that odor before, but I have never thought anything of it.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just myself and my sister-in-law witnessed it. I havent mentioned anything about it to anyone until today. 2/24/2008. I dont know if it was a bigfoot or not, but I dont know what else it could be.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Sunny, warm in the 80's, Slight breeze. It was early to mid afternoon.

ENVIRONMENT: Scattered patches of trees, pine, oak, cedar and pecan with some mesquite. It is in the northern portion of the Texas hill country with several mesas. There is a small lake within a 10 min walk of the location.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Sybilla Irwin:

I spoke to the witness for over an hour. His tone was sincere.

The witness was hunting on an 1,800 acre ranch in a small group that included the owner of the ranch, the ranch wrangler, two of his brothers and his sister-in-law. They had arrived on Friday night and were up in the early morning hours on Saturday to hunt deer. The witness reports that he had taken a deer that morning.

Around noon his sister-in-law, himself and others were taking turns horseback riding on the two ranch horses.They hadn't been saddled in a while so they were testing the riders. His sister-in-law and himself mounted up and had to work with the horses to gain control of them and get them out of the corral. The horses eventually settled down and they were riding in a relaxed manner.

They hadn't traveled very far from the corral when the horses demeanor totally changed. They became nervous and jumpy and were moving their ears back and forth rapidly.

The witness said he was suddenly hit with the strong smell of dirty, wet, dog. They were riding in single file. His horse passed by two cedar trees on his left and when his sister-in-law's horse arrived at that spot, the trees began to shake violently. Both of their horses spooked and she let out a small scream. The riders attention was immediately taken up with regaining control of the horses, which took several moments. He got his horse under control then asked her if she was okay, and she said she was.

The trees were about 10 to 15ft away from them. The trees were about two and a half or three feet apart, but were very thick, with the branches of both trees intertwined. The trees were eight to ten feet tall and he approximates the radius of the tree trunk would be at least 8 inches thick. He could not see what was shaking the trees but it seemed as if whatever had grabbed them was shaking them from a height of five or six feet. He doesn't believe a man would have the strength to shake those trees from top to bottom the way these trees were being shaken.

He chose at that time to try to minimize the incident to try not to scare her further.

They hunted the rest of the weekend without incident.

The witness reports that there is a pond and a lake within one hundred yards of their location. The deer population is so large that the owner of the ranch was informed that he needed to cull at least eighty head of does from the ranch. He added that the owner raises goats and that some of them had recently disappeared.


About BFRO Investigator Sybilla Irwin:

• Bachelor of Arts Degree from Texas A&M University

• Self employed Artist

• Professional stained glass artist and teacher.

• Professional Artist

• Fine artist. (Oils, pastels, & watercolor) Wildlife, Portraiture, Landscape, and sketches of Sasquatch for investigators and witnesses.

• Attended Texas Expedition 2008, Colorado Expedition 2008, Oklahoma Expedition 2008 and numerous private expeditions. She has attended: Michigan UP Expedition 2009, Utah Expedition 2009,Wyoming Expedition 2009, Colorado Expedition 2009 attended the Oklahoma Expedition 2009. In 2010 she attendee BFRO 'Investigator Only' expeditions in Texas and Colorado. She attended the
Colorado Expedition 2011. She Co-lead the BFRO's first all female expedition held in November Texas Expedition 2011. She lead and organized the recent Texas Expedition 2012.