ERIC H

[ERIC H]

I had an encounter in ither 80 or 81 range…I was a kid so I can’t recall specifically when.

Let me start by saying I am an avid outdoorsman, hunter, fisher, full-time firefighter/paramedic. I have been at my job for over 25 years. So I am not someone that makes up stuff.
I became interested in Bigfoot, Yeti, Loch Ness and all things Cryptid about 1976 range when I first started school. Shows like Boggy Creek and In Search Of came to mind. I grew up in Central Indiana and in a small town about an hour from Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Dayton. I was what my family called an East Side River Rat! We ran the swampy areas of the Whitewater River and played in the woods all day all the time… ok when we were not playing baseball or football, riding bikes or in the old barn on the property. The funny thing is we were in town and never had that moment that we saw or heard anything.

In grade school, I recall going to the library at the school and then later to the county library to find books on Bigfoot and other Cryptids. So I really believed in these creatures at a young age.

My grandparents moved to central Florida in the late 70’s and we would go down there a lot as a young boy especially during the cold winter months in Indiana. Grandma was getting the early onset of Dementia. It was my mom’s mom. So mom and dad would go down to help where we could as often as we could. I don’t recall the exact year, but it was either late winter early spring of 1980 or 81. I was 10 or 11 when this trip took place. Grandpa and Grandma lived at 2823 Hartsock Sawmill Rd. His home was a small ranch home made out of concrete blocks. His driveway was about 50-60’ long and was only sand. His home was near an old sawmill and close to the Griffin Chain of Lakes.

I can recall playing outside and feeling like I was being watched. Numerous times we walked down toward the old sawmill and I would just get the creeps and could not get the never up to explore that area. It had been shut down for a long time and was overgrown. Just a few hundred yards down the road the swamps and Forrest began. It was super thick and dark. We never really went in at all. I say this because in Indiana I ran the woods and river all the time, so outdoors never bothered me. I am not sure if it was the creepy feelings, fear of gators or rattlers that kept us out, but we never went too far in.

The day of the encounter my younger brother (4 years younger) and I were outside all day playing or in the pool. We were taking the sand and making piles to play army with our green army men. I am not sure if you did this, but we’d pile up sand, rocks or inside around the furniture we’d hide the army men and then have battles throwing small things at them like Lego’s or paper wads. If they got knocked over they were out….So I guess it was early Call of Duty.

When we got down there the local paper had some stories of the Bigfoot/swamp ape in the area near grandpas. The Orlando News Station also had a tv report, if I recall right. I mentioned to my grandpa that I thought it was true and wondered if the creature could use the old mill and swamps areas as a home. The whole family had stayed up and I had gone to bed about 2300. I stayed in a room at the front of the house by myself. I can’t recall if I was awake and trying to sleep or was awakened, but I could hear a noise outside my window. I am guessing it was about 0000-0030, or in that time frame. I could tell something was walking around out in the front yard. I thought it was my dad or grandpa. I could hear different sounds, from growling, guttural noises and snorting. I knew my family did not sound like that. I didn’t look. I wish I could have mustered the courage to look, but I was terrified. The noises only lasted about 5-10 minutes. I can recall hearing dragging sounds and like something touching the house. It was pacing back and forth. The sounds got louder and then softer. I remember the primal fear to this day. I was so scared to look out that window, even though I wanted to. I remember just staying in bed awake scared as bad as I have ever been trying to or get back to sleep.

I went outside as soon as I woke up in the morning and found something interesting. This morning there were 2 large footprints in the sand pile. It almost looked like they were made by something jumping onto our sandpile- feet together. The pile was a couple of feet tall and wide. I showed the tracks to my family and they all played it off as a fluke or a neighborhood kid goofing off. I can’t think of too many kids with feet that big. They all had the 5 toes and were just plain big bare footprints.
I measured them with a tape and they were about 17″ long and 8-10″ across. I actually measured my dad and grandpa’s feet to compare. They were not even close. My foot today is about 10.5″ long and 4.5″ wide. I have a bigger foot than both my dad and grandpa, so there is no way that was their feet. I can say I did not imagine these noises or the actual footprints. Being that I never saw the cause of the noises I don’t know for 100% certainty that it was a bigfoot/skunk ape. No one ever claimed they did it. I even asked my dad a few years back (He is 79) and to this day claims to have no knowledge of how the tracks got there. My grandpa also denied knowing when I was in college in FL. He passed away in 1991.

I had a second “encounter” of sorts. It was in Indiana. I was turkey hunting in the Yellowwood State Forrest with a friend of mine, 15 years ago. We had parked and started to walk into the area we were hunting before sunrise. It was about 0430. As we walked and talked softly I started to hear a noise to my right. Something was walking through the woods/brush. It sounded like it was on two legs. When we’d stop it would stop and then start as we started. I mentioned to my friend that something was paralleling us. He told me it was a deer. It never snorted/blew as spooked deer do. It just walked 20 yards from us. I did not smell anything or actually see anything but could hear the steps. It finally turned away from us and continued where ever it was headed.
Thanks! Eric

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