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Geographical Index > United States > Missouri > Lawrence County > Report # 24767
 
Report # 24767  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Saturday, September 20, 2008.
Motorist recalls possible early morning sighting north of Mt. Vernon

YEAR: 1991

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 15

STATE: Missouri

COUNTY: Lawrence County

LOCATION DETAILS: Directions omitted upon wtiness' request

NEAREST TOWN: Mt. Vernon

OBSERVED: After reading the FAQ section, I have finally decided to tell someone of my "sighting". I am not saying for sure it was a bigfoot, but after reading the article you posted about the young bigfoot caught on a game cam that some people say was "just a bear" made me realize that what I saw may have been a young bigfoot. My sighting was actually "the near miss with a car" experience. I am honestly not positive of the year, but it was near 1991 or 92. I was driving home from work, alone, about 1am. I had just turned onto the road I lived off of and was going down the first hill. Half way down, something ran across the road in front of me. I hit my brakes, natural instinct, barely missing it I was sure, and then I kept going. It was merely seconds, but I knew what I saw was not something normal. It was on all fours, but the body and head seemed parallel to the ground, unlike the bears I have seen in zoos. (They seem to have a downward slope from their hip to their head.) The body was not large at the back half but evenly proportioned. The legs seemed to be easily defined. Not real thick at the top tapering down. The only way I can describe it would be that the legs came from the hip, no flap of skin coming from the belly region to the leg to make them look bigger at the body and it seemed the bending when it ran came from the hip and knee area. The thing that has bothered me all these years, the one thing I knew that separates this from your typical animal was the head. It was the way it looked in my direction as it ran. 1) In my experience, most animals running across the road like that don't even look at you. 2) What has bothered me the most, and I couldn't put my finger on til recently, was when it looked in my direction, it didn't turn it's head "normally". It brought it's head up a little, but it turned it sideways to see! (picture yourself on all fours, looking at the floor. Without lifting your head, look to the left. That is how it looked my way.) I did see two eyes and a mouth, it happened too quick to get a detailed look , but I saw a face, a face that did NOT have an extended snout. Lighter colored than the rest of the brown colored body. It seemed hairless, but again, I can't be positive how hairless it was. I had a radio on, so if there was anything to hear, I didn't hear it. The next day I drove past where I saw it and saw no signs of anything. Not then , or since then. I am from Muscatine, Iowa originally. We lived not too far from the river, right beside the levee actually, and back in the seventies there seemed to be a migratory path going thru the area. I recall hearing about an encounter with a neighbors dog, and going fishing at night only to be loaded very quickly back up into the truck by dad to leave the area because of large branches breaking in the woods. But in all the stories I have heard, I never realized that a young bigfoot is known to run on all fours so I never made the connection until I read your website. I have always assumed they walk on two legs all the time.


ALSO NOTICED: Nothing

OTHER WITNESSES: My story just me. Second story, just the two men were there to hear the sounds.

OTHER STORIES: This may be interesting as well. Ten years or so prior to my sighting, a coonhunter we knew came banging on the door very late at night. (Not sure of the exact time) He had been hunting raccoons and had two very experienced coonhounds with him. At the time he arrived at our house, these dogs were shaking in their boxes and couldn't be drug out of them. If you know anything about coonhounds, you will know that they will fight with the most vicious of coons, and not much will scare them, (or their owners). They are usually very well trained dogs and obey commands well. Apparently, while hunting something had made a scream of sorts, a very loud one. I can't describe the sound as it was said to be indescribeable. But it sent those two dogs running, literally with their tails between their legs, for the truck. That was where he found them, he too, hightailed it out of there and to our house with this story. He wanted my father to go with him back out there to see what it was. They both had rifles and lights and went to where the noise was heard. Whatever it was knew they were there and screamed at them and ran in their direction always stopping short. It made a lot of noise, breaking limbs, big limbs my dad said. It made several charges. Richard(coonhunter) came up with the idea that one of them should climb a tree and the other one back off enough to get it to run farther, hopefully within range of the one in the tree, so they could see what it was. The one in the tree (with a gun for safety if needed) was to shine the wheatlight on it when it got close enough. (Wheatlights are commonly used by coonhunters because they can light up a large area with a lot of light) The first thought my dad had was a wild donkey, not real probable due to the fact that this isn't open country and wild donkeys just aren't here. I think the noise it made gave him that first thought as it was the closest he could get to describe the sound, nothing he has ever heard before or for the rest of his life. Anyway, he said the ground was extremely rocky and if anything ran on it with hooves you would hear the hooves hitting the rocks. The only sound they heard was the trampling of brush and breaking of limbs and after a while they were both convinced it was on two legs and breaking limbs deliberately. I think that assumption is what prompted them to discard the notion of climbing a tree and hanging around any longer. They left it alone. No one knows what it was, you can make your own assumption on this one. My father once told me that the "old timers" knew there was something out there but it left them and their livestock alone, so they left it alone. How they knew this and who they were, I dont' know. This incident would be about 1, perhaps 2, miles from where I saw what I did ten years later.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About 1am. Not stormy is all I remember. Very dark night.

ENVIRONMENT: At that time, deep ditches on both sides with trees on both sides. Creeks/ponds in area. Hilly. Missouri has several caverns. Not sure if any are close to that area.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Larry Newman:

After visiting with this witness by phone at length, she added the following:

The creature was close enough to her car she could not see the feet due to the car hood. She also stated the length of the creature from front to back was not as wide as her car, but more than half as wide. She again stated the fact there was no "flank skin" on the animal and was very sure about there being no extended nose or jaw.

The area of this siting is within a few miles of an area called the "Devil's Washpan". It is an area about 10 miles in diameter and is heavily forested.

"The young bigfoot caught on a game cam" she is referring to is known as the Jacobs Creature.

After my conversation with this witness, it is my conclusion that she could have seen a large juvenile bigfoot.


About BFRO Investigator Larry Newman:

Life long hunter and fisherman with tracking skills.
Fall 2009 Missouri expedition.
Retired Law Enforcement investigator and certified crime scene investigator. Also experienced and trained in interview techniques and written statement analysis.