YEAR: 2015

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 6

STATE: Montana

COUNTY: Lewis And Clark County

LOCATION DETAILS: (Removed per witness' request)

NEAREST TOWN: Between Helena and Great Falls (Edited per Witness Request)

NEAREST ROAD: (Removed per Witness Request)

OBSERVED: While traveling up the dirt road I live on I passed a road off to my right, as I passed by the road I saw in the distance, about 1/4 mile away a figure, it looked to be all black and walking on two legs. I initially thought someone was walking down the road, but no person ever walks down my road, it is private property and then it dawned on me, that they were not wearing all black clothes but the head and hands were also black. The gait of the walk was different than anything I have ever seen as well, it was almost like a saunter. After I passed the intersection I stopped and backed up to get a better look and it was gone.

ALSO NOTICED: I was keeping my eyes open for a Moose cow which my son and I had seen that morning, it is very rare to see a moose this far south and central in the state. It had seemed to be very sickly or exhausted, I actually expected to find it dead somewhere. Then I saw this thing in the same location within 1/3 of a mile within an hour.

OTHER WITNESSES: No, Only Myself

OTHER STORIES: I have never heard of any sightings in this area prior to seeing them on this site, all seven Lewis and Clark sightings are within a few miles of here.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 0720 in the AM

ENVIRONMENT: Clear and bright morning.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Caitlin & Thomas Ertz:

After speaking with the witness we found his account to be truthful and insightful.

Witness is retired Special Forces and moved to the area a year ago in hopes of solitude. He has in the last year identified numerous wildlife that are in the area year round; Elk, Deer, Antelope, Geese, Duck, Fish, and Black Bear. He has lived in the area for a little over a year. Witness is extremely familiar with the property, and is not afraid to walk at night around property when he is unable to sleep.

Witness was driving home early morning, about to go up a steep incline which is his driveway, but to do so must cross the rural road accessing additional houses to the right and downhill. Unable to see houses from the road and unable to see them from viewpoint of where the witness saw the figure. As he looked for additional cars coming up the hill to safely cross to his driveway he spotted what he first assessed as a person walking. Witness had a 4 to 5 second view of the figure before sight-line was hindered. Witness processed quickly what he saw and had no recollection of ever seeing anyone in the area walking on the road. He reversed back to intersection and the figure was gone. Witness saw four steps, left leg front, right leg front, left leg front, right leg front. In the three steps, the figure had made it across the rural road from one side to the other. He said what was peculiar was how the figure moved, as left leg moved forward, witness was able to see the full back-side of figure. As the right leg moved forward, was able to see full front of figure. Witness described this as a “Swinging” type motion. Witness also described how even with the warmth of the morning the figure appeared “bundled” from head to toe in a dark or black color. This was unusual as it was not cold nor overcast and early morning. Witness said it is fairly easy for him to sneak up on animals familiar with the area when driving his pickup because it is fairly quiet. As he was driving parallel to the figure and as the figure was down-slope of him, he believes it would have been difficult to have heard his pickup and/or difficult to place where his pickup was on the road for the figure.

As we stayed discussing the sighting, an older model Subaru Forrester came up the road where the figure was, and the Witness said “Oh my gosh! The figure was a lot taller than that vehicle” as the vehicle passed us, we determined the height at approximately 5 feet tall. When looking at specs on cars.com a 2000 Subaru Forester is 65.0” (5’5”). Caitlin stayed with the witness while Thomas drove down the hill to the location of the sighting. As he got out of the pickup, the Witness became anxious, and stated “What I saw was a lot larger than Thomas.” Thomas is 6’1” and 275lbs. Thomas attempted to cross the road, and it took 8 steps for him to cross where it took the figure only 4. From our vantage point, the Witness and I could clearly see the definition of hands, head, jacket, jeans, and shoes. We could clearly see the lines of the clothing and where his bare skin was versus his clothing. Again, the witness appeared to be reevaluating what he saw as definitely not human as he was comparing Thomas to the figure he saw, the figure was extremely larger making Thomas look very small in comparison. Measurement of the road is 17’ across where figure crossed. This is approx. a 4’ wide left to right foot stride for what the witness saw.

As Thomas was walking around the area taking measurements of the road, Witness mentioned that the figure he saw seemed to be more flat-footed walking, as if a person was stomping, rather than heel to ball of foot like human walk. Caitlin attempted recreation for Witness and he agreed. Movement was bringing foot up to a 90 degree angle, and back down. Humans walk at an angle of 18 degrees naturally.
Witness was extremely unnerved as he is self-proclaimed “paranoid” in wanting to be secluded and knowing everything and everyone that is around him. When asked if it could have been a big bear he quickly said that none of the bears in this area are that large and the brown bears he has seen are not in that area.

As the witness saw the figure on the western slope of a downward hill, and it being at 0730, Caitlin asked if there was a shadow that could have been adding to size of the figure. Witness said no, lighting on slope was even and not harsh as sun had not crested the top of the hill. It was light enough to see clearly, but not direct lighting to have caused a shadow. We reviewed the topography of area, and there is a creek that flows into a large man-made pond, and then back out of the pond to continue through natural path, that is full year-round with fish between the pond and the creek. Creek is clear, and can easily identify fish, as well as able to easily access and wade in creek. Figure was walking up from creek area given trajectory of walking movement. Pond is less than two miles away from sighting location.

We measured how tall figure was from witness' memory and it was 8’7” tall, and 2’8” wide left to right shoulder as it walked with right foot forward. Note: the Witness was parallel to figure so did not get a clear straight on view of the figure width and Witness mentioned figure appeared slightly hunched, so full figure may be taller. Witness also advised the arms seemed extraordinarily long compared to normal human aspects. He initially thought it was a person with their hand drawn in to a jacket, however the arms would have been shorter, not longer, and again he was unable to see any jacket lines or clothing lines at all.

Given recreation, anxiousness of the witness while recreating, and his adamantly advising he has never seen anything like this, we believe he had a sighting. Given his wish to not over populate the area of his home, witness has asked for direct location to be removed.

**This is an on-going investigation and investigators have been invited back to further research the area. Will update if any further evidence is found. Witness is adamant he wants answers to what he saw.**

About BFRO Investigator Caitlin & Thomas Ertz:

Thomas is an avid outdoorsman, including hunting and fishing along with hiking and is becoming increasingly familiar with nature. Growing up in Eastern Washington, his curiosity has only grown through his life regarding Bigfoot. Caitlin grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an avid hiker, camper and nature photographer. Being in PACNW meant for her that the curiosity for Bigfoot has always been on her mind. Both began year-round research after Caitlin's brother brought them compelling evidence in 2012. Both Thomas and Caitlin have countless hours in the field, including attending WA-2 BFRO Expedition 2014.