YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

STATE: South Dakota

COUNTY: Shannon County

LOCATION DETAILS: This location is near the junction of Bureau of Indian Affairs ( BIA) Highway 27 and 14 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The closest town is called Porcupine which is 35 miles Northeast of Pine Ridge, SD.

NEAREST TOWN: Porcupine

NEAREST ROAD: BIA Highway 27 and BIA Highway 14

OBSERVED: For the past four years my family has seen a creature unidentifiable to us; these sightings have been at our home seven miles north of Porcupine, South Dakota. The creature appears to be seven to nine feet tall and has left a couple of footprints that measured 18 inches long and 7 inches wide. It stands up straight and has a slight hunch when walking. We have also found hair; possible saliva mixed with grass, and dried blood stains on cactus. There have been small trees broken on the property; they look snapped which would take such strength. It has often been seen running at high speed, too quickly to follow.

I and most family members have seen this creature continuously – not just once; sometimes days pass between sightings.

ALSO NOTICED: This area seems to be its stomping ground, its home ground. Sightings were reported in this same area in the 1960’s.

OTHER WITNESSES: Most of the time, the witness (9 witnesses) have seen it when going or coming into the area. Also there are three houses, and times some of the witnesses will see the creature when going from one house to another.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, but other people who had lived in the same area, back in the 1960's, they are no longer alive, but have told us of these sightings.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The sightings of this creature have been during the night time, please do keep in mind, it has been for the past four years.

ENVIRONMENT: Rolling hills and some small valleys, near a swampy area.

Follow-up investigation report:

Beginning in the late summer or early fall for the past four years, a family begins seeing a large bipedal animal around their home site during the evening hours. Usually, they are alerted to the animal’s presence by the family dogs, but they have occasionally surprised it causing it to hastily depart. It is normally seen each fall and spring and usually stays outside the perimeter of their surveillance and lighting system. On at least two occasions late at night when the outside lights were turned off, the creature has come close enough to the house to knock down a rain gutter downspout and to throw a dog against the side of the house, stunning, but not killing it. Also, it is alleged to occasionally slap the side of a parked box truck as it passes through the area.

In the fall of year 2001, a sample of unknown hair was found and retrieved by a 13 year old granddaughter from a small shed on the family property; she was sent by her mother to investigate two dead dogs found there by other children. The dogs appeared to have been torn apart, but not eaten. The suspect hair was snagged on a metal tub’s torn handle which, she indicated, was about five feet above floor level at the time. She took the suspect hair to her mother and grandmother where the latter compared it with some horse hair before it was placed in a sealable plastic bag. The family attempted to have the hair identified by a local taxidermist with negative results. The hair sample was then placed on a back shelf where it remained until given to me on 2 November 2002. The hair sample that I received appeared to be dark brown or brindle in color and appeared to be about 3 to 5 inches in length with several strands appearing to have tapered ends. There was one strand of hair that may have been from a horse’s tail, but I could not be sure. I obtained a small cutting of the young girl’s hair for comparison. I also received a sealed plastic bag containing a wad of grass mixed with possible saliva from the creature. These samples were sent to the BFRO’s evidence curator.

During an evening in December 2001, the reporting witness saw the creature for the first time as he was trying out a new spotlight. The creature was seen squatting or sitting on the side of the ridge west of the family home site. The witness could only see its upper torso which he described as being covered with reddish brown hair; its eyes reflected a gold color. Further observation revealed the creature to be very tall which prompted the witness to halt his observation and quickly depart the area. During a later spotlighting session at the family home site, he again observed a very tall bipedal creature standing near some trees south of his sister’s house exhibiting the same gold colored eye shine as he had seen before. Upon being spotlighted, the creature moved quickly toward and up the ridge west of the house. The witness has found possible large foot impressions around the home site at various times and has photographed some of them. The photos that he provided me have been sent to the Wyoming curator for his opinion.

In the spring of 2002, the family patriarch’s son-in-law, a Captain of the Oglala Sioux Tribe Police, heard some unusual late night sounds through his bedroom window. He described the event as beginning at 12:09 AM as he retired for the evening and ending at 12:15 AM. He heard a flurry of barking dogs to the south followed by the sound of a heavy biped running north toward his house. He described the runner as stopping directly behind his house next to his closed window. As the unseen runner stood outside his window, he insisted that its breathing was heard at the same height above ground as the bedroom window, about nine feet. He compared the runner’s breathing to the sounds of playing children which he is accustomed to hearing below the window. He described the runner’s breathing as unusually slow and deep and sounding as if it was congested. Fear of the unknown caused him to refrain from opening the window to investigate the runner.

He has since seen the creature on two separate occasions this fall of 2002 and has given chase both times in his 4X4 service vehicle. His last pursuit of the creature followed it over the ridge west of his sister-in-law’s house where it apparently hid in the bottom of the next draw. The creature escaped up that draw by doubling back on its pursuers. Its eye shine was seen as it escaped, but he couldn’t remember the color. He was emphatic that the creature’s eye reflections appeared much larger than any other animal’s eyes he has seen at night at that distance. A later search of the area around his sister-in-law’s house located one partial footprint that appeared to have been made by a running biped – the impression of the toes and ball of the foot were most pronounced and, according to the Captain, dwarfed his own size 13 foot. Unfortunately, he was unable to preserve the print long enough to photograph it and he didn’t have any casting material available.

Because all interviewed witnesses appeared to relive their encounters as they related them to me, I conclude that their experiences were real and are credible.

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