Witness Observation
In the Fall of 2003, my wife and I were driving on FM 1276 near the Big Sandy Creek unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve after sunset. (It was almost fully night.) We both witnessed a bipedal animal run across the road in front of us. It was running on two legs but ran in a bent over posture with its arms near or on the pavement sometimes. It ran very quickly and well. The animal was around 5 feet in height and covered with long reddish brown hair. It had a very broad build and looked somewhat like an orangutan except that it had a flat face and was proportioned more like a human with long arms. It had entered the road in front of us from the driver’s side, ran across the road, and paused briefly on the other side of the road to look at us before entering the woods.
It looked at us by turning its body partially. I had braked as it entered the road and passed it just after it entered the edge of the woods.
Physical Evidence
My father saw the animal in a separate incident that week at the same location. He also knows a woman who saw the animal as well.
Time and Conditions
Just after sunset. – It was barely dark not too long after sunset. I was using headlights.
WindshieldSquatcher
That’s a few miles from my Paw Paw’s old house where we heard howls in the mid 70’s. There was another encounter there where it stood in the middle of the road and faced down a young woman. She swerved to miss it and wound up wheels in the air at the treeline unconcious. I think these came from GCBRO.
S O
I have wondered if this is general area of Bob Garretts “torn up camp” encounter.
WindshieldSquatcher
No, it’s an hour or two from there, S O. Big Sandy is near Livingston and Woodville while the torn up camp is over above Houston. It was in the Sam Houston Nat’l. Forest, wasn’t it?
S O
I’m not sure, just piecing together info I’ve heard from different episodes. Specifically ep. 68. Concerning the Big Thicket National Preserve. Also, look at the map above. There are 2 Big Sandy points. The Big Sandy Trail and (Big Sandy).
S O
Oh.. and Big Sandy Creek, so 3
WindshieldSquatcher
Well, they were driving so it was the creek that crosses the road or the town near Dallardsville. They’re just a few miles apart so the whole thing is referred to as Big Sandy. I don’t think most people are aware of Big Sandy Trail up there. I remember reading it on the website and it was on that highway. The “town” is like one city block. I think it has one stoplight in front of the school. It’s really squatchy up there, dense woods on both sides of the road. Where it says Big Sandy Creek is long and where it’s labelled is pretty far below the area. I know that map’s confusing for somebody whose not driven it or not familiar with the area.
WindshieldSquatcher
I meant to say that the creek is long and it goes through woods where most people never go so you’re just looking at the part that crosses the road there above the town.
S O
Where do you think it happened?
WindshieldSquatcher
I think it happened on 1276 that intersects with 190 between Livingston and Woodville and it’s not far from the indian reservation. But the main reservation entrance is on 190 quite a ways from the town or area known as Big Sandy. Those several miles on that road 1276 are called “Big Sandy”. They posted this encounter today on the blog and it says the unit of the preserve but you have to understand that’s relatively new and people just don’t call it that unless they’re hikers or hunters or whatever in that context. I don’t know, I guess they could. That sign for the entrance wasn’t there when I was a kid that I remember but it’s close enough that they could mean any of those. Same road. I don’t know of any other road it could be. I’d have to look at the map but I’m almost positive it’s 1276 that runs through there from above Kountze to 190 halfway between Livingston and Woodville. My grandfather lived at the intersection of those and I spent every other weekend there as a kid. That’s the only area I know of as Big Sandy and the boundaries of the unit or the creek itself may be close to the reservation but not a road where this could have happened that I’m aware of. The entrance to the unit is on 1276 unless there’s another one on the other boundary. Anyway, I don’t know that it’s that important. It’s just that whole 15-20 mile stretch with the town, creek crossing, and sign for the unit would all be called Big “Sandy”.
WindshieldSquatcher
Now that I think about it, my father was born at Big Sandy actually. My grandfather moved to the other place before I was born. I’ve said this before,, I don’t believe there’s anyway these things were there in the numbers they are now or my family would have known. There are accounts of boogers and wild men but not by anybody we knew. My uncles LIVED in the woods. All my male relatives hunted there because it wasn’t posted in those days. My daddy would sleep with his head propped against a tree. We never saw or heard anything til the mid 70’s around the time they released the turkeys. That’s when the wierd howls started behind Paw Paw’s house. Daddy said it had to be “somebody messin around” cuz he’d never heard any animal make that sound. We were out in the cornfield behind the house dressing a hog when we heard it.
WindshieldSquatcher
LOL. I never realized I sounded like such a hillbilly til I read that post I just wrote.
S O
Thanks for responding Windshield! Actually, “hillbilly” has great childhood memories for me, as my paternal Grandmother was from Arkansas, and had a comforting hillbilly way of speaking. I lived in Orange County CA at the time, but made many trips to the south when I was a kid.
But concerning the Big Sandy…..Did you ever listen to ep. 68, w/ Ken the insider? The “biosphere” discussion makes me wonder if it happened in or near the Big Thicket National Preserve. I’m not at all familiar w/ the area, but I believe Wes made reference to the Big Sandy, & said the same thing you did about it being a vast area. If I remember correctly, I believe Wes made mention of “Bragg Road” concerning the “torn up camp”, but for the life of me I can’t find which ep. it is, so I may be mistaken. Also, I remember discussion about “Honey Island”, but I think that may have been a reference in one of Bob G’s YouTube vids.
There is a map on the Big Thicket Nat. Preserve website that shows the 4 locations above, so my very amature investigating skills leads me to wonder about the actual location happening in this area, as opposed to Sam H Nat Forest. I will try to post the map, although you obviously are VERY familiar w/ the are. Thanks for the info exchange, cuz I sure am curious about all of the circumstances around this event!
S O
http://www.nps.gov/parkmaps/bith/img/TileGroup0/2-0-1.jpg
S O
I can’t get the actual map to come up as an image, but here is a link to the BTNP website, on the left there it says “view park map”. (just in case you are interested)
http://www.nps.gov/bith/index.htm
WindshieldSquatcher
No, that little Honey Island is just a little bump in the road. It’s near the start of 1276, but the Honey Island he talked about was in Louisiana. They were talking about the Honey Island Swamp Monster/Bigfoot, I think. That always confused me too. One of the guys from Swamp People, the alligator hunters, did a special on the monster. It’s on youtube. I guess it’s possible he meant that tiny Honey Island because I’ve never seen the town itself, but I doubt it. I think you could easily miss the whole town though. It says Honey Island on the sign that leads to 1276, Livingston, and the Big Sandy unit, but you just use the sign as a landmark because you don’t pass through Honey Island before the turn off for 1276. I really don’t think he’s talking about that though. That unit isn’t all that vast but the entire ‘Big Thicket’ is because there are miles between the different units. The Nat’l. Preserve is definitely what Ken was talking about and he talked about Big Sandy, so that WAS the area Bob was in when they harassed them. It was in BS where they were watching them and said something about gunshots and tried to intimidate them. That’s what Ken said. That was a year or so later. The torn up camp, unless it’s ANOTHER one, was in 2013 according to his sasquatchmountain blog.
No, there are no campgrounds on Bragg Rd. that I know of except private hunting camps. There are a couple of houses and some little rv trailers at one of the hunting camps. If you go down one of the side roads there is a camp house of some kind but it’s not tent camping. I never heard Wes mention Bragg Rd aka the Saratoga Ghost Light Rd. It’s in the Lance Rosier unit. It’s in Saratogo on 787 about an hour from the BS unit. I’m not saying Bob never went there but I’ve never heard him mention it and I don’t see it on his blog. Go to youtube and you’ll see good video of Bragg Rd by ghosthunters. I posted it under oblivious ghosthunter. He’s showing torn up deer, pushed over trees, and all kind of things but doesn’t have a clue.
I think the torn up camp was in Sam Houston, possibly Stubblefield lake.
Do you know how to use Google Earth? You can see all these places on there. What I really want to know is the area he talked about near Beaumont.
S O
Did you ever see Bob G’s “other torn up camp” video? The one where he finds the kids shoes? I’m going to make it may mission to find that ep. where Wes talks about Bragg Rd. Yes I’ll take a look @ Google Earth again, but I’ve had minimal luck in the past lookig for that area. Remind me about Beaumont.
S O
To many places w/ all the same names is what my problem is! Big Sandy’s, Big Thicket’s, Hony Island’s. Geesh!
WindshieldSquatcher
@S O , LOL. Gets confusing when you live here too.
I never saw the one with the kids shoes. Just type in Big Sandy, TX or hwy 1276. It should bring it up. GE has Bragg Rd and Old Bragg Rd. You’re looking for Bragg Rd. If you look across 770 at the end of Bragg,, there’s a train track where the workers switch the trains or whatever. There’s also this little road that runs parallel to it on the other side of a little strip of trees but I don’t know where that goes. There are also old graveyards near there. All of it’s really squatchey. You can see the Salt Water Barrier at Beaumont on GE. I’ve wondered if the boogers don’t use the walkway over the barrier to cross the river at night. I’m really surprised Bob doesn’t go over around Liberty. I think he did say they went on the Trinity River once. Liberty Co. has more reported sightings than anywhere in TX, according to the sighting sites and it’s closer to where he lives.
WindshieldSquatcher
I forgot, Bob said the lights had been seen near Beaumont. I don’t know where he’s talking about. Another guy had asked that but I’ve never heard of that around Beaumont. Saratoga has the lights but its about 45 min from Beaumont.
WindshieldSquatcher
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/springmeeting/easttexasmap.html
This is a good map that gives you a good frame of reference for the Sam Houston, Cold Spring, BTNP, Beaumont, Saratoga, etc. Turns out there’s yet another Big Sandy up there on 80.
S O
Thanks! that is helpful. 🙂
I think Bob has spent time researching on Bragg Rd, because on one or more of his youtube vids the has film of a bridge where they thought they heard a baby crying and strange lights,, and something to do w/ a legend about a women & I’m pretty sure he said the bridge was on Ghost Rd. Man, I wish I could still reference his youtube stuff, cuz I’m almost sure he was talking about Bragg Rd. I speculate he lives close to that area because he said they research in that area often, many nights per week.
Will you please fill me in why you think the torn up camp happened in the SHNF @ Stubblefeild Lake?
WindshieldSquatcher
Some Bragg encounters-
http://woodape.org/reports/report/detail/181
There is one somewhere that says it jumped on the hood of a couple that was parked out there and the guy pointed a shotgun at it but it doesn’t say if he shot it or it ran off.
S O
Thanks for the link! The description of the encounter from the “witness observation” it cracks me up! Definitely no frills or embellishment in that report!
So, Windshield, would you please fill me in a bit on why you think the torn up camp incident happened in the SHNF. The reason I ask is cuz I can’t seem to find any definitive info on this.