YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 17

STATE: Arkansas

COUNTY: Crittenden County

NEAREST TOWN: West Memphis

NEAREST ROAD: Mounds Rd

OBSERVED: My encounter happened in June of 2006 outside of West Memphis, AR between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. My then seven-year-old son and I were driving in my truck one afternoon to go feed our horses which we kept at my cousins home who live about twenty-five miles outside of town.

We had decided to take a shortcut and get off of the paved county road and turn onto a small gravel road that ran beside a railroad track for about ten miles.

There is a large frozen food warehouse on the corner of the county road and the gravel road but nothing else around.

After we had passed the warehouse is when the creature leaped across the road in front of my truck. It happened very quickly. It cleared the road entirely in one leap and never touched the gravel road.

It came from my right to my left and I nearly hit the creature with my truck before I could stop. I came within approximately two feet of it with the front of my vehicle. As I said before it was in mid-air when we first saw it.

The creature appeared to be around four feet in height may be slightly taller and was covered in reddish-brown hair all over that was about four to six inches in length.

It was like hair not fur because it was thin and flowing in the wind unlike what fur would do.

The creature was lean and somewhat muscular and it's arms seemed to be disproportionately long for its size. If I had to compare it to something I would have to say it looked similar to an orangutan but I'm sure there were no orangutans on the loose that day in eastern Arkansas.

I'm not sure what it was but I am certain of what it was not. It was not a dog, coyote, deer, bear or anything that I've seen before except for some sort of ape.

My son said, "Dad did you see that?" I said, "Yeah I did son." He said, "What was that a monkey?" I laughingly said, in order to comfort him, "I don't know. It was either that or a baby bigfoot."

When the creature landed across the road there was some very tall grass for several feet and beyond that the train tracks and beyond that thousands of acres of farmland with several patches of woods everywhere.

When it hit the ground it took one step into the grass and then the creature just seemed to disappear. I stopped my vehicle and waited for a few minutes in hopes of seeing it again but we never did. And just like that, it was gone. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

For years now I have often thought about the incident and just exactly what it was that we saw that afternoon. I believe that it was a young sasquatch and it had been dumpster diving behind that frozen food warehouse, though I can't be certain.

I've often wondered if there was an adult one nearby that we never saw. Because of that, I'm really glad now that I didn't get out and pursue it which had crossed my mind to do at the time.

Well, that's my story and you can choose to believe me or not it makes no difference to me but I know what I saw and I can tell you that it's real, there really is some unknown bipedal creature or ape or whatever out there and we were just lucky enough to see one. They're real!

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes my son saw it too

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm
It was nice and sunny that day

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

Spoke with witness via phone. I got a few other pertinent facts from him for clarity and or questions people may have when reading the report.

He has replayed the event "a thousand times" in his mind and he, and his son, are certain of what they saw. He indicated he was 75-100 ft. past the warehouse when the creature leaped across the road. Came from right to left. They saw it about 3 seconds after passing the warehouse. It "came form nowhere" and was mid air when they saw it at the right front of truck.

As stated, it "cleared the road in one leap". The road is about 14-15 feet wide. He was driving about 35-40 mph.

The road is the type of country road where vehicles coming towards each other will veer to the right to give each other enough room to pass each other. At it's closest point to the truck was about 2 feet at the drivers side front fender. Once it hit the other side of the road, it took another step and disappeared into the brush.

The brush consisted of weeds and cat tails, about 4.5 to 5 ft.tall. His windows were down and he did not hear any thrashing or movement once it was in the brush. They did see it "split the grass", and then it was gone.

Length of sighting was 2-3 seconds, and "clear as a bell".

Description: Reddish brown as stated, with "fine hair, not real thick". Hair was "flowing in the wind" as it passed in front of the truck. Skin was "dark like a dogs nose" and the hair was "matted in places", but it was hair, not fur.

Other descriptions in his report are the same, muscular, 4-5 feet tall, upright on 2 legs. He clearly stated to me that an orangutan is the closest thing to what they saw. He felt it was a juvenile.

They sat there for a few moments, hoping to see it again, or possibly another one (adult?) trailing behind. Momentarily considered getting out and walking into the reeds and weeds, then decided to move on.

He and his son, now 19, discuss it form time to time. The still have unwavering opinion as to what they saw.

About BFRO Investigator Carter Buschardt:

Carter is originally from Texas & moved to Missouri in 1988. Professional drummer for 20 years. Improv & sketch comic and writer for 5 years. Lighting technician for major touring groups for several years. Experienced outdoorsman and was a trained investigator for MUFON. Studied Herpetology in college. Longtime special interest in Sasquatch long term habituation, burial research, infra sound, language & stick structures. He led three Missouri BFRO Public Expeditions:, 2012 & 2013 & 2014. Led public expedition for BFRO in Illinois in 2019.Participated in Iowa, 2012 Illinois. Michigan 2016. Private Expeditions: Illinois 2011, 2012, 2013. Missouri 2011, 2012 (3) 2013(2) 2014. Iowa 2012, 2014 & 2015. Consulted on two Animal Planet Finding Bigfoot TV shows. Expedition leader in Missouri 2013 (1) & 2014 (2) & Illinois Expedition 2019 (1). Led night ops on numerous BFRO expeditions. Hosted a public Town Hall meeting in Missouri in 2017.