YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: Sunday, 17th.

STATE: Michigan

COUNTY: Schoolcraft County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was about half way through the longest straight stretch of M-77 just South of Seney, Mich.

NEAREST TOWN: Seney, Mich.

NEAREST ROAD: on M-77

OBSERVED: My wife and I were traveling North on M-77 in Schoolcraft county, in Michigan's upper peninsula around 7:10 pm on Sunday July 15, 2007. We were about two miles South of the town of Seney on a long straight stretch of road when we observed a very strange creature. The animal was traveling from East to West into the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. I'm 56 years old, an Army Vetern of the Vietnam war, born here and lived in the U.P. most of my life. I mention that I am a vetern because I want you to know that I am very serious about about what I am going to tell you in this report. We were about 100 yards away when it crossed the road in front of us. It was covered in light brown hair all over its body. The legs were thick all the way from the hip and sholder to what I would say were its feet, which I didn't notice. It appeared to be walking on all fours rather quickly. The legs were not tapered like a deer or moose. They were thick like a bears but about twice as long. I have seen different colored black bears up close at Vince Schuties Bear Refuge in northern Minn. between Orr and Nett Lake. I have seen them brown and also blonde. I know what a bear looks like. The body was not husky like a bear's, but more slender, like a man's. The neck was short, not like a deer or moose. I really can't give you many details about the head other than it was smaller than a deer or moose head. What held my attention were the hairy light brown long legs and the shape of the body. I could not tell if all four feet were used in walking like an ape or what. My wife said it appeared to be lopeing along like a kangaroo or rabbit but not bouncing across the road. I would swear on a stack of bibles that what I saw was not a deer, bear, moose or any type of big cat. You don't expect to see anything like this, so it took us both by suprise. We had a camera with a 10X optical, but no time to take a picture.

OTHER WITNESSES: Two in our Yukon. We were both watching the road. We would be willing to show a researcher about where the sighting occured. We live about 70 miles West ot the sighting.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 7:10 P.M. sunny and clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Marshy and brushy in the direction it was traveling. 10 feet tall then taller trees. Trees on both sides of the road which were further off the road.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Caroline Curtis:

Local volunteer, Bill Creason, interviewed the witness and found him to be credible. The following are highlights from Bill's investigation notes:

I called the witness and he gave me the same account of what he and his wife witnessed crossing the highway in front of them. He said it wasn’t a bear, moose, deer or big cat. I asked him about how tall he thought it was and he responded by saying the length of the back was about 4ft long because the creature was hunched over and walking on all fours and never stood upright. I also asked the witness how much he thought it weighed and he said from 100 hundred yards it looked to be 200 – 300lbs. I asked the witness if he smelled anything or heard any vocalizations once the creature crossed the road and he said no, he and his wife just slowed down to take a look as they passed by. The witness also said that the entire event took about 4 – 5 seconds for it to cross the highway. The witness also noticed a vehicle behind him and a vehicle coming towards him and wondered if they saw it too, but never stopped to ask those people. Witness also added that the creature was heading west into forest. Witness also added that he could not see any distinct path of where the creature entered the forest since he was going by too fast. The witness found the encounter to be startling.

This highway is on the edge of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge, locally known as the Great Manistique Swamp. The Refuge protects 95,212 acres and provides habitat for northwoods wildlife including ducks, bald eagles, osprey, loons, swans, river otters, beavers, black bears, moose and gray wolves.

See Report #20457 for a similar sighting only a few miles from this location.

About BFRO Investigator Caroline Curtis:

• Worked as an Assistant to a Circuit Court Judge in Florida for thirteen years
• An avid outdoorswoman, growing up in the UP of Michigan on a family-owned fishing and hunting resort, currently lives in the Hiawatha National Forest
• Certified Visual Tracker, Level 1
• Attended numerous public and private BFRO expeditions
• She and the Florida BFRO group organized South Florida Expedition 2008, North Florida Expedition 2008 and Central Florida Expedition in 2009.
  
• She and the Michigan BFRO group organized the Lower-Michigan Expedition in 2011 and Michigan UP Expedition 2012.

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