Report # 82485(Class B) Submitted by witness K.D. on Monday, August 17, 2026.Human? Sasquatch? Other? ... Hiker photographs strange small figure wading in remote marshy pond(Show Printer-friendly Version)
LOCATION DETAILS: [We normally include very specific location information when a sighting report is first posted. That will not happen in this case. There will be at least a delay in providing location specifics. We are leaving open the possibility that this figure is a human. That person will be able to identify himself by telling us the location. Others who merely want to draw attention to themselves ... will not know the location. Holding back this information for the time being will help us with this investigation. We would like this person (if it is a person) to contact us.]
NEAREST TOWN: [Will be added later]
NEAREST ROAD: [Will be added later]
OBSERVED: Monday August 10, 2026 was my day off from work. I always like to plan some kind of outdoor, in the woods kind of adventure . Monday was a beautiful day for a hike . So I decided to go to a remote place in upstate New York. I picked out a glacial pond and bog [in Onondaga County].
It was about 1pm when I arrived. I was the only one there. Not too surprising for a weekday afternoon. I walked out on the path to the take in the pond view. I took some video on the way out and then when I reached the pond I looked straight out and took a picture of the whole pond with the surrounding area. As I looked to the left I realized there was someone like wading in the pond. I was instantly unnerved and wondering what the heck was going on . I snapped a couple photo’s and it seemed to snap its head around and look right at me in such a strange way that I got creeped out even more.
I just slowly turned the other way and started walking away in the opposite direction. I walked the back to the parking lot. I passed a family of three just arriving and starting their walk on the path. When I got back to the parking lot. I decided to walk the other path down to the pond's edge, closer to the spot where I had taken the photo to see if anyone was down there. There was no one down there. There was a sign posted that said no swimming or wadding though. There was also a small shoreline path in front of a patch of reeds that I started to walk down but I got a really creepy feeling and decided to head back to the parking lot.
Once I got close to the parking lot I discovered another trail leading into the woods and decided to check out this trail too. I walked a little ways down trail maybe a quarter mile but I didn’t see anyone and I started to feel very creeped out so I turned around and went back to my car and went home. When I got home and started looking at my photo’s from the day I discovered that the photo of the person I had seen wading in the pond looked very odd and strange to me. It really looked inhuman. I showed the pictures to a friend of mine and once he saw the pictures he immediately thought it was a bigfoot and sent it out to some researchers.
OTHER WITNESSES: No
TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 1pm
ENVIRONMENT: The environment is a glacial carved valley with a shallow pond and boggy land surrounded by steep mountains
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Benjamin C.:
NOTE to NEWS MEDIA: The witness and copyright owner of these images is granting permission to regular news media outlets (newspaper and television news, and their associated web sites) to reprint and show these images. She is also willing to sign an agreement to allow Associated Press or Reuters Pictures or Getty Images to handle licensing of these images if they contact the BFRO about it (Contact.BFRO@Gmail.com). AP, Reuters or Getty can speak directly to the witness about the photos.
CLICK THESE PHOTOS TO SEE FULL SIZE VERSIONS . . CLICK THESE IMAGES FOR FULL SIZE VERSIONS .
. CLICK THESE IMAGES FOR FULL SIZE VERSIONS . . . . . .
.
I met the witness at the location of the sighting six days after she had taken the photos. I spoke with her at length about the circumstances leading up the sighting and accompanying photographs. I found her to be very credible and the pictures taken very compelling.
The witness is a 25-year resident of the central upstate New York. She stated adamantly that she had “never seen anything like this before.” Due to privacy concerns, the witness will only be identified in the report by the initials K.D.
The location of the sighting by K.D. occurred at a marshy pond in a very rural area of Onondaga County, NY. Due to the sensitivity of the site as it pertains to this investigation, the actual location will be provided at a later date.
Regarding the circumstances leading up to the sighting and subsequent photographs, the witness would routinely take advantage of having time off on Mondays and would go for hikes and walks on nature trails. On Monday August 10 she arrived at the location at approximately 1pm. The parking lot was empty and seemingly no one in the area. The last time the witness visited this location was six years ago.
She walked down the main path from the parking lot to the edge of the pond, a distance of roughly half a kilometer that meanders through forest and marsh. Upon arriving, K.D. began to take some photographs of the pond to her front, then noticing movement to the left, turned and thought “what the hell is going on here?”
To her left, at approximately 240 feet (72.6 meters) away, was what she initially thought was a naked man wading along the edge of the pond. As she snapped a couple of photos, the figure turned and seemingly looked right at her as she took the second photo.
K.D. stated that she felt “creeped out” and immediately turned around and headed back up the path. On the way back, she passed a family of three coming down the path, none of whom matched the figure she had seen.
Seeing the other people relieved the anxiety she experienced. When she got back to the parking lot, which now only had two vehicles, hers and the family’s, K.D decided to go down a utility access path to the pond to double-check to see if a person was down there. She walked down to the water’s edge and stated that she did not see anyone there. There was a small trail running along the edge of the pond near the reeds going into the woods towards where she saw the creature. K.D. said she followed the trail a little way in but began to feel very uneasy and then left the area back to the parking lot.
The witness said she never saw the figure leave, as she departed the area after taking the second photo.
She initially thought it was a person because in her own words, “What else could it be?” But when she came home and looked at the photos what she saw did not look like any person she had ever seen. To note, the witness is nearsighted and commonly takes photos of objects so she can better see them up close.
The photos in question were taken with an iPhone 17 with an automatic focus. The witness didn’t think that the figure could have heard her take the photo as the wind was blowing making the trees and reeds rustle all along the pond, so she assumes that the creature must have seen her. As the witness is only 5’3” (160 centimeters), her head was likely the only thing exposed due to the blowing of the rushes in front of her, so it is reasonable that the creature saw the witness.
The wind was blowing down the pond towards her from the direction of the figure. Other than normal natural pond odor, she did not smell anything out of the ordinary.
The conditions on the day of the sighting were mostly cloudy with highs in the low 80’s, humidity was approximately 60% with winds from the NNE.
I met with the witness six days after the initial sighting. The weather conditions were very similar to those on the day of the sighting, partly cloudy and in the high 70s, with a good breeze. We met at the parking lot of the area and walked down the path to where the witness had her sighting. Once at the location, we set up a tripod and affixed her cell phone at approximately the same height, angle, and orientation as when she took the picture on the day of the sighting. The purpose for this was to take a comparison photo of myself in the same location as the figure to allow for an accurate assessment of the height and build of the creature.
I provided the witness with a walkie talkie so that we could communicate and she could guide me into the exact location of the figure she saw in order to recreate the photo. I then proceeded to walk back on the path to the parking lot and then down the access path to the bank of the pond.
Wading along the shoreline, despite the distance only being 290 feet (80 meters) according to Google Maps, it took me approximately 10 minutes to wade through the water due to the uncertainty of footing caused by waist deep pockets of mud, multiple submerged trees and branches, as well as the roots of entangling water plants. The depth of the water was approximately 26 inches (66 centimeters) just a foot from the marshy shoreline.
Using the walkie talkie, K.D. was able to guide me in to within a few feet of where the figure was seen. The witness had her phone on video record and used a feature to take still photos simultaneously.
To the best of my ability, I recreated the posture of the figure as well as providing a comparison of a known height to the unknown height of the figure. After confirming that K.D. captured the comparison photos, I returned along the pond shore and up the access path, meeting with the witness at the main path. After some further discussion of her sighting and the recreation of the sighting that day, we parted ways. That night, the witness sent me the best comparison shots from the photos taken of me in the same location as the creature.
Looking at the photos in question, at first glance they suggest that the figure in the image is an elderly, out of shape and naked, human male. This could be assumed due to the coloration of the figure, the seeming gynecomastia on the chest, and what appears to be abdominal obesity on the stomach of the figure.
However, on-site investigation of the location and subsequent size comparison of the figure in the photos to known measurements make this less tenable. I also want to caution that we cannot assume the sex nor the age of the figure in the photo, although inferences could be made.
Regarding the height of the figure in the photo, using both my own height (6 feet/72 inches or 182.8 cm) as a comparison as well as the known diameter of the tree on the bank that can be seen in the left side of the photos which is 11 inches (27.94 cm) I determined that the height of the creature to be approximately four feet nine inches tall or 57 inches (1.44 meters)
The YouTube reel and the animated GIF file above are comparitive images that fade from one to the other. They fade to show the height and build of the Syracuse figure next to a six foot tall human who stands at the same spot (BFRO Investigator Ben C.). The same camera was lined up the same way from same angle. The position of the tree on the left served as the anchor for where Ben should be standing.
Ben C. is granting permission for any regular news media service to reprint (in print or online) these images or show them on TV news. _________________________________________________
According to Our World in Data, the average male height worldwide is 67.3 inches (171 centimeters) with a standard deviation of ~2.75 inches (~7 centimeters). For an individual with a height of 57 inches (1.44 meters), the difference from the global mean is 10.62 inches (27 centimeters). This difference, when divided by the standard deviation of ~2.75 inches (~7 centimeters) results in 3.86 or roughly -3.9 standard deviations below the mean.
What this indicates is that for a human adult male to be this height is exceedingly rare. On a standard normal table, or Z table, (a statistical chart that is used to find the probability that a statistic is observed below, above, or between values on the standard normal distribution) a standard deviation of -3.9 equates to approximately 0.005% of a population, or equivalently fewer than 1 in 20,000 adult men would be this height or smaller.
To further the argument against the figure being human, the location of the figure is very difficult, although not impossible, for an athletic six-foot-tall human male to reach. Using myself as an example, the attempt to reach the location the figure by a ground route along the edge of the pond, it took this researcher 15 minutes to go 300 feet (91 meters) due to the density of the reeds and brush along the shoreline, combined with deep mud, marshy ground, and thorny plants in the area. The water route was only slightly easier, as mentioned earlier in the report, taking 10 minutes to go a slightly shorter distance. But for a presumed naked and elderly man, this would be an incredible feat, and furthermore, for what purpose? Swimming in the pond is not authorized and there is absolutely nothing there that, in this investigator’s opinion, would entice anyone to go seek out, particularly if nude, given the scratches I sustained via the land route.
There is a very strong argument to make that the figure in the photo is some type of hominoid. Looking at the photos taken by the witness, the facial features of the figure in the first photo where it is turned slight to the left and looking down strongly suggest a visible brow ridge, as indicated by the uniform shadow under the brow of the creature. This can also be seen in the second photo where the figure is looking in the direction of the witness. Brow ridges are not an anatomical feature of modern humans, but are overwhelmingly reported in describing the facial features of bigfoot.
The coloration of the creature as well is not unknown as the light brown or honey blonde color has been described in other witness sightings, such as the BFRO reports 37038, 7300, 33187, 65679, 12913, 60892, among others. To read those reports simply open any sighting report on the BFRO web site then substitute the report numbers above in the later part of the URL (web address), then click Enter.
The height of the creature does pose a partial challenge to the theory that the creature seen was a sasquatch. If we accept that it was a juvenile sasquatch, the small height would make sense. However, if we accept that the creature seen was an adult, then certainly a height of 4’9” would make this being an anomaly amongst a presumed unrecognized species whose anecdotal height estimates correspond to a species average height of 7 feet (2.1 meters).
Given that the established medical, if not necessarily socially acceptable, term for adult male (homo sapiens) individuals under 4 feet, 10 inches (147 centimeters) or less is dwarfism, it is worth considering that if there is a population of sasquatches, that they, like other species, would also be afflicted with medical conditions that might affect their height. This is not without precedent as well, as a report from Idaho, BFRO report 5767, described what looked like a “dwarf” female bigfoot that was reported at under 5 feet.
However, it is just as likely, if not more so, that the figure seen was a juvenile sasquatch, given the seemingly proportionate limbs on the figure, as well as the presumed statistical likelihood of a small sasquatch simply being a juvenile versus one that is a statistical improbability, if we apply human height standard deviations to the overall sasquatch population.
As far as why the figure would be there at that time of day and at this location, my assessment as a researcher is as follows:
We can presume that this figure, if not a human, is familiar enough with human behavior and human traffic patterns, that it would know that on most days at midday there would be few humans present, and thus a low risk of being spotted. As demonstrated by K.D., she was the only individual present at the time of the sighting.
Furthermore, the area is rich in edible wild foods, with just a cursory observation during my time there showing cattails, frogs, geese, deer, and blackberries to name a few.
In short, it is in this investigators opinion that the witness did see and photograph a sasquatch. However, due to the distance the photo was taken, we cannot rule out the extreme improbability that this was an elderly human wading in this marshy pond. At minimum, this investigator strongly feels that the preponderance of evidence argues against the figure in the photos being human.
The area in question of this sighting lies in the Glaciated Low Allegheny Plateau, a region extending through much of southern upstate New York, and well into Pennsylvania. This region is a dissected plateau smoothed by glaciation, and consists mostly of low, rolling hills, open, wide valleys, some glacial lakes, and relatively abundant bogs and marshes. Peak elevations range from 1,300-1,800 ft The region has a humid continental climate, but milder than many of the surrounding regions. Most of the forests here are in earlier stages of succession; red maple and black cherry are now dominant on many sites, and there is much less hemlock and somewhat less beech. Forest is more common on steeper slopes, but there are significant areas of both ridgetops and valleys covered in forests. Low-lying depressions with moisture supplied from groundwater support swamps with hemlock, red maple, yellow birch, tupelo, and understories of highbush blueberry, great laurel, and cinnamon fern. Animals in the area include whitetail deer, black bear, coyotes, red foxes, and a plethora of smaller animals, not to mention agricultural areas and livestock farming.
___________________________________________
Notes from Investigator Matt Moneymaker:
1) There is more than one possibility for what this figure may be. I might have eliminated one or more possibilities if I had personally investigated the site like the investigator was able to do, so I defer to his opinion.
3) What appears to be loose skin hanging down from this figure may actually be wet fur that is lying flat.
4) These two photos were shot in upstate New York in the same county as Syracuse. The city of Syracuse NY is named after the city of Syracuse in Sicily. It was named after the Sicilian City because both cities are situated in marshlands. "Syracuse" literally means "marshland". There are a lot of marshlands around both cities. We suspect this figure, whatever it is, spends a lot of time in marshland, so it is appropriate to call it the "Syracuse Figure", due to its proximity to the city of Syracuse and its environment.
5) To reiterate a point made by investigator Ben C., this relatively remote marshy pond is not a place where people would want to skinny dip. The bottom of this pond is full of sticks, logs and mud. It is not easy to wade through this pond. The forest area behind this figure is too dense and scratchy to walk through easily, so this figure must have been wading through this mucky pond for quite a distance along the edge from where it could easily step into the pond.
6) The fact that there were no other cars in the parking lot when the witness arrived means this figure, if it was a human, walked or rode a bike a few miles from civilization to get there. The nearest isolated farmhouse is more than a mile away. There are no bus stops anywhere around there for miles.
7) We are being intentionally vague about the location because it will help us distinguish between liars and people who have actual knowledge that may be relevant to the investigation. Those with actual knowledge will know the location, whereas liars who just want to grab attention will not know the location.
8) We first heard about these photos from the boyfriend of the witness. He left a voicemail saying his girlfriend got photos of something near Syracuse that is "either a human, or a bigfoot, or an alien".
I was trying to imagine what that looked like. Right before he sent me the photos via text he mentioned that it was wading in a swampy pond.
I thought "Ah, yes ... bigfoots are often seen wading through swamps and marshes, bogs, flooded forests and sloughs, etc. That is bigfoot behavior."
Then I received the images ... and I wondered what an old naked tweaker might be doing in that swamp. That was my second thought.
9) The faces: Then I tried to reconcile the faces and bodies in two images, knowing that they are cropped blowups. They are enlarged because they were actually small in the original images. She was half way zoomed in. Enlarging small figures in photos that much will cause distortion, so the face in a blowup may look distinctly different than how it appears in clear view. The faces in both images may be pretty distorted, but there are still some basic elements are undeniable and strange.
10) On the chest: The man-boobs are not visible on the chest from one posture to the next, which makes me think they are not man-boobs at all, but rather wet fur on the chest that lays flat when standing straight, but then hangs down when it leans forward -- light colored wet fur that hangs down in a pointy boob pattern. That's one way to reconcile the two chests. . .
About BFRO Investigator Benjamin C.:
B. has attended multiple BFRO expeditions: North Georgia 2018 Fall, North Georgia 2019 Spring, Tennessee 2020 Fall, South Carolina 2021 Spring, and Pennsylvania 2021 Fall, Pennsylvania 2022 Fall, New Jersey 2022 Spring and Fall, Tennessee 2023 Fall, West Virginia 2024 Spring, Tennessee 2025 Spring
He has also conducted private expeditions in New Jersey, Alaska, Arizona, North Carolina, and southern Georgia. His area of responsibility as a BFRO investigator is central New York.
