YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 01/01/04

STATE: West Virginia

COUNTY: Pendleton County

LOCATION DETAILS: I'm sorry but I do not have a map at the moment so I'll do my best to explain where we were. We left Green Bank, WV heading toward Seneca Rocks. I think that it is Rt.55. We took a dirt road which ran west off of the main road. It was marked 17miles to Spruce Knob. We only made it about 6 miles up that road and had to turn around because the road became snow covered and icey as we got higher. I would guess that we were about 3500 ft because it seems that we almost reached the top of the mountain and were just traveling around the ridge. There was a mountain spring where we stopped and got water close to where we saw the footprints.

NEAREST TOWN: Not sure maybe Judy Gap or Seneca Rocks.

NEAREST ROAD: Dirt road leading to Spruce Knob off of I think Rt.55.

OBSERVED: My Daughter and I were enroute to Spruce Knob which is in Pendelton County WV. While traveling up a very long dirt road(we were about 6 miles off of the main road at an elavation of approximately 3500 feet) we observed very large footprints in the snow. My husband wears a size 12 shoe and these were larger than that. The foot prints looked like a barefoot human foot. The 2nd toe was longer than the others. The footprints went up the mountain and crossed a fence. We did not attempt to follow them.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2, my daughter and I were just driving along this very deserted road.

OTHER STORIES: There is a previous sighting listed on this site but it was several years ago. I am not from this area so I don't know if there have been any other incidents.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was approximately 3:00pm
Daylight, cold with about 6 inches of snow.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine Forest and rocky. Very steep. Several small streams in the area.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness, a retired policewoman with twenty-one years of experience. As such, she was accustomed to paying attention to details.

She stated that this road winds through a very remote area of the mountains with almost no traffic. The terrain was very steep on each side of the road. She was only able to find four prints. The footprints were at least sixteen inches long and six inches wide. She was particularly impressed that the animal had crossed the fence which was four feet high with no detectable change in stride. She was sorry that she did not have a camera with her.

About BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Stan Courtney has a special interest in wildlife audio recording. He has attended numerous BFRO Expeditions. See Stan's blog StanCourtney.com for recordings he has collected over the years.

Stan Courtney can be reached at illinois@bfro.net