Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

Witness Observation

1983, While hunting on the Sam Houston National Forest, I encountered a weird ape-like animal that was like nothing else in the forest. I saw it a couple of times as it followed me and finally I saw it really good from about 10 to 15 yards away after I had tripped on a log. This thing was the size of a brown bear except that it was on two legs! It was huge and I remember it like it was yesterday.

Sounds

It huffed and grunted.

Time and Conditions

10:00 am – It was very cold. It had sleeted and snowed the night before and the ground was covered with a thin layer of snow and ice. I had always wanted to hunt in the snow.

Additional Information

The witness told me that he had always wanted to hunt in the snow. As a Texan, he had few opportunities to do so but on 20 December 1983 he finally got his chance. It was a very cold day. The night before had brought sleet and snow flurries which had created a very light dusting of white on the ground. The witness decided to hunt an area east of the Stubblefield Recreation Area. He had been walking for about 15 minutes on an old logging road when he heard something move off to his left.

He turned to look and spotted an animal of some kind in the underbrush. The animal was reddish brown and seemed to be hunkered down as if trying not to be seen. The witness had his rifle slung on his shoulder and decided to glass the animal in the hopes of identifying it.

He glanced down briefly to bring his rifle up to the high ready position; however, in the short interim during which he had taken his eyes off the subject it had disappeared.

The witness did not think too much of the incident and continued on his way. He had only walked 50 yards, or so, when he heard a large limb-snap to his left. He wheeled around to catch a glimpse of something upright approximately 90 yards away. The upright figure was partially obscured but the witness was able to get a fairly good look, as much of the underbrush was not green at the time. Again, the witness swung his rifle up in order to glass the subject. Unfortunately, the result was the same. The figure was gone and despite waiting and looking for several minutes the witness was unable to get another look at the figure. When asked to describe the upright figure, the witness said it was very big, very tall, and very wide. He said it was the same reddish brown color as the first subject he had seen. When asked if he thought it was the same subject the witness said he could not be sure but felt it was likely.

The witness was now mildly disturbed by these events but decided to continue to his hunting spot. He continued to ponder the events of the last half hour as he walked and decide he must have seen a black bear. He knew there were not supposed to be any black bears in East Texas anymore but he had heard stories from hunting buddies and acquaintances from time to time relating bear sightings in the region. The bear theory fit, he thought, as the first visual was of an animal down low to the ground and the second, assuming it was the same animal, was upright. “What other animal could stand up like that?” the witness wondered. Also, he knew that black bears could be reddish-cinnamon in color. Satisfied, and feeling a bit more relaxed after coming to this conclusion, he walked on.

The witness had trudged on another 100 yards, or so, when he encountered a large tree that had fallen across the logging road. While holding his weapon in the low-ready position (he had decided not to sling the weapon again), he went to step over the tree. His lead foot slipped on an icy spot and he fell hard on his backside. He said he cursed loudly and had begun gathering himself to get up when he heard something big approaching his position from his left.

The witness sat stunned as a huge, hair-covered, bipedal figure walked from the woods on his left directly toward his location. He watched the creature cover 20-25 yards very quickly and smoothly. The animal stopped just behind several small trees on the edge of the logging road. As the witness sat amazed, the animal pushed two trees apart and stepped into the gap. No farther than 10 yards away, the animal’s hands remained on the trees as it leered at the witness and huffed/grunted twice. The animal then stepped back, released the trees, which snapped back into place, turned and walked back toward the woods. The witness said it never looked back once it turned to leave. “It seemed very confident that I was no threat,” he said.

The witness described the animal as absolutely huge. He compared it to the overall size of a Kodiak brown bear “only upright.” He estimated the creature stood between seven and eight feet tall. The animal was covered in hair from head to toe. He could not recall seeing anything that might identify the creature a male or female such as breasts or genitalia. He did state that the animal did not appear to have a neck and the arms were very, very thick. The witness was struck by the sheer amount of air that the creature apparently exhaled as it huffed/grunted at him. He could see the vapor pour from the creature’s mouth due to the extremely cold temperatures that day so much so that it obscured the animal’s face for a couple of seconds before dissipating.

When asked if he could describe the subject’s face in more detail, the witness again noted how hairy it appeared. He said, “There was no skin showing like on a gorilla’s face—just hair.” He noted that the hair below the nose and around the mouth was white from ice that had formed due to the cold temperatures. “It looked kinda like some of those football players with beards get up in Green Bay and places like that,” he said. The witness then added that the eyes of the animal were huge. He struggled to come up with something comparable in size to which he could compare the eyes. I offered up the example of one of those old football-shaped coin purses that you would squeeze at the ends to open. He said he knew exactly what I was talking about and that the eyes were not quite that big but not too much smaller. He then added that the eyes were a “bright aqua-marine” color. When asked if he was sure about the color, he remained adamant that they were a very light bluish-green.

The witness did add one more detail that he noticed as the creature walked away. He said that the torso was long and the legs relatively short. He noted, “The torso to leg ratio (length) was opposite of what you see in most people.”