Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

Mar 30

Tonight’s Show: You saw it’s face didn’t you?

A listener writes “As an elementary school student in 1971 I saw Legend of Boggy Creek and it really hit home. I later read Peter Byrne’s little paper back book.

The North GA mountains, especially the Appalachians are rich with legends and strange stories about BOOGERS. Parents and adults would say “Don’t be at at night the, that’s when the Booger Bears come out”. Or, “Don’t go there, the Boogers will get ya”. Problem was, nobody would ever tell ya what a Booger was or how it looked so we thought it was only a scary story. In the Spring of 1973 a Game Warden went missing overnight and was found on a rural road walking the next morning by a passing car. He was exhausted and confused with his clothes torn and couldn’t really remember what had happened. It was later said that he claimed to have seen a tall hairy creature with a big head and face like a Bull. This story was buzzing for about two weeks and suddenly all talk of it went quiet. We think he either quit or the State relocated him.

It was March of 1974 and I was 15. I didn’t drink or smoke anything thing. I was a straight arrow football player and not the type to tell stories. About 8:30 pm I was riding in a car with 3 other guys and the driver was about two years older than us. We were spot lighting Deer (Illegal) but not for the purpose of shooting one. Just checking them out. We were going down the main road, it was barely paved and full of pot holes. As we rolled along at about 10-15 MPH we spotted a Buck and two Does up on a chest high red clay bank with bushes and overgrowth partially blocking our view. This was at a 4 Way cross roads where the very narrow dirt/gravel right hand road led off into a completely deserted forest with no houses. On the left was another dirt/gravel road with an old church on the corner. Further down that road were a couple of farms. A river runs down one side that is fed by Amicalola Falls which is located at the head of the Appalachian Trail. Ironically, there is an area of the river known as the Devil’s Elbow where Moonshiners, car thieves, pot growers and hunters were alleged to have gone missing. This is the same area where the Game Warden went missing.

I was in the passenger rear seat and couldn’t really see the deer. We stopped and the guy in front of me got out with a spot light and (an old D Cell) and shined the deer. It was apparent they had been running and were tired because they didn’t haul ass when we lit em up. About 3 or 4 seconds after exiting the back seat I heard a crack/pop 45 degrees to my right in the forest. My friend who was sitting next to me heard it and said “Oh shit I bet thats a Game Warden”, I said that’s one noisy Game Warden . He then began urging the driver to get us out of there. About that time came some more noise like something large moving through the woods. I instantly thought “Bear” because a 500 pounder was killed in our area, but bears are known to be very quiet when walking. So I start saying let’s go and the hair starts standing up on my arms and neck and I began to feel sick with fear. About that time, approximately 75 or 80 feet to my right at a 15-20 degree angle I watched a large Hulking figure cross that road from bank to bank in three forward leaning large steps while swinging it’s arms. From the sound it was making it appeared to be approaching the deer, and at that moment they bolted out of there.

Now let’s pause for a moment as I’m frozen with fear and it seems like time has slowed down. My friend to the left says “What the Hell was that? and now we are both saying let’s go, let’s go and have one foot in the car. Then, as I look up on top of the embankment I see the outline of a figure move slowly to get behind a tree where it’s face/head was obscured. My friend with the spot light starts slowly getting in the car while me and the other dude dive in the back seat. At this time, my older and more stubborn friend pulls out a .22 caliber pistol and says “Who are you?, talk to me or I will shoot”. Now we are screaming let’s go as he again says “Tell me who you are or I will shoot”. I think my friend in front of me still has the light pointed at it over the door even though he is now back in the car. At that instant we hear bang, bang as the driver shoots up in the air. He immediately throws the pistol down and jumps in the car as we spin out of there sideways. Now I am shaking all over so bad that my feet are actually tapping and everybody but the driver is talking at once. I don’t remember who asked first, I think the guy in front, they got a better look, but he said “What did ya See?” The driver is silent as we drove until we found a closed gas station and pulled in. He got out and went to the drink machine and downed a coke and still wouldn’t talk.

So now my friend is driving us all home and it’s about 10:00 PM and we are planning to go back the next day to look around in daylight. We also agree to only tell our families minus the part about the gun fire of course. After we drop off my friend in the back we are headed to my house. My friend in front says to the driver, “Hey man, what did you see”? Nothing but silence until we get to my house where my friend in front says “You saw it’s face didn’t you”? He very quietly said “Umm”. I sat there for a minute waiting for more but it was obvious that he wasn’t talking and it was getting late on a school night. I then had to get out and walk up the long path to the dark back side of my house which sat at the foot of a mountain. When I got inside my Mom noticed that there was something wrong and her first question was “Has somebody been drinking”? Now that was all I needed. So as I finally managed to tell my story, my Mom replied “Huh, was probably the Devil”. But my Dad who grew up on a farm only a few miles from this incident sat silent looking at the TV. It was his older generation on both sides of the family who used the term BOOGER. Growing up on a farm he knew all too well about BOOGER stories and later said that he used to hear strange screaming sounds in the woods. They always blamed it on Panthers but they were all hunted and killed by the early 1900’s. The few other people I shared this story with laughed and ridiculed me so I shut my mouth until 1980.

So the following day we all head back and our driver still doesn’t wanna talk. We get to the location and cannot find foot prints but do find broken branches and impressions in the ground. Then we get to the tree where it’s face was hidden. A prominent crooked limb stuck out and bent upward. I could stand flat footed and reach the limb with my arm almost extended. That put the creature at about 7′ 10″ or possibly more. We went back two times at night to look (Stupid & Heavily Armed) but found nothing thank God. About two months later I was in church and saw a girl that lived on that same road but closer to the main highway. I told her what happened and a very serious expression overtook her face. She informed me that it had ran across the road in front of her one night while coming home from a football game. She also said that her Uncle saw it coming out of his chicken house about a year prior. I sat there silently thinking oh God why have you allowed such things to exist?

In 1980 a new subdivision was being built near our encounter. A story started circulating that the first resident of this subdivision came home one night to find his back door broken down and his kitchen ransacked. Nothing stolen, just a destroyed kitchen. I didn’t know the man but of all things he was related to my friend who drove the night of our encounter. Before church one morning. I again asked him some 6 years later if he had seen it’s face that night. He nodded yes and then looked away. My opinion is that the sight of it really scrambled his eggs and he didn’t want to deal with it.

As far as I know nothing ever came of the vandalized house incident as that story died quickly just like the Game Warden story. For some reason I told my Dad a story my very peculiar aunt told me at age 5 or 6 came to. She and my uncle lived in a house on top of a big hill at the foot of a mountain about 7 miles from our incident. She claimed that while rocking on her front porch one night a large hairy man with a very ugly face came around the corner and stood motionless looking at her about 8 feet away. She told that she felt paralyzed with fear and could only cut her eyes to look at it. She was unable to call out to my uncle sitting in the living room behind only feet away. She claimed that she closed her eyes very tight and began praying to her self and in a few seconds she opened her eyes and it was gone. I remember her saying his face looked like it was hit by a hammer. I asked my Dad if she was crazy to which he replied, “Folks thought so”.

Being able to share this story is therapeutic. Also, we now have a Bigfoot Museum about an hour north of me. I correspond regularly with the owner and staff and they say every week at least one person comes in to share a story. It;s a really neat place called Expedition Bigfoot. You should check them out. They do field research and have an on line virtual tour of the place. I hope my story wasn’t too Boring. I just wonder how many people from my area have even better stories to tell but fear the ridicule.”

21 Responses to “Tonight’s Show: You saw it’s face didn’t you?”

  1. Dan M

    Dear Listener, I am very intrigued by your story. I am very very familiar with area u speak of. I’m curious where this specifically happened as I section hike the AT from its starting point on Springer Mountain to the GA/NC border. I also have investigated (in my own amateur way) and read eye witness reports in White County where the AT runs thru the Chattahoochee National Forest. I’ve been to the museum Expedition Bigfoot twice and found it to be amazing. Lastly, I’ve never seen the creature but I believe I’ve had a couple of creature related experiences in the same area while backpacking the AT last fall. Thank you for sharing.

  2. SCOTT O

    Dan M…..
    How the hell do you go backpacking on the AT by yourself knowing these things are out there ? Don’t you have family and friends that would miss you ? How can this be fun not knowing what’s watching you frolick down the trail ??

    • Dan M

      Scott, what i wrote doesn’t specify if i hike alone alone or not. Calm down and pay attention. But to clarify and ease your anxiety I don’t the AT alone. Feel better?

      • Dan M

        Scott, what i wrote doesn’t specify if i hike alone alone or not. Calm down and pay attention. But to clarify and ease your anxiety I don’t hike the AT alone. Feel better?

  3. Dan M

    Again, just to make Scott feel more at ease and for any other readers that are concerned for my safety (which I appreciate) I hike with my dog, usually 1 to 2 or more fellow hikers, a side arm and a GPS locator. Once again, feel better Scott? LoooL

  4. m99

    Here’s how much we from Texas thought the thought control police (our parents) were full of it, one of my best friends son’s was nicknamed “Booger”, and called Booger Bear. Big hairies in the woods was the last thing on my mind!

    • m99

      “Problem was, nobody would ever tell ya what a Booger was or how it looked so we thought it was only a scary story.”

      Yep, that about sums it up.

      Why in the world didn’t my dad tell me what he was afraid of? I remember spending the weekend with him in the country. I’d get so annoyed. Everyone moves to the woods, chops down the woods, and lights the place up with street lights! I’d go sit in the dark around the house near the wood line so I could relax. Every few minutes or so, he’d come out and tell me there are boogers, boogers are going to get you, come in because of the boogers… blah blah blah. I’d say, why did you move to the country if you’re so scared? What are you talking about ‘boogers’? He’d just look at his feet and ask me to come in the house. Oh Boy.

  5. Trent M

    Dan, I’m glad you don’t hike the AT alone and that you don’t go unarmed. There are just too many creeps that consider the AT a “hunting ground” without even considering the big guys. Having your dog is a big advantage too. And you can’t blame Scott or anyone else on here for worrying about their fellow Sasquatch Chronicles members as this really is a good bunch of folks.

    • Dan M

      Thank u for the kind words Trent. And i agree I think it’s a great thing that Sasquatch Chronicles members like us look out for one another. I guess I was mildly annoyed by someone else’s error in how I hike when no specifics regarding how I hike was actually mentioned in my first post. Oh well over and done with now and I, like many of us, as akways look forward to the upcoming show. Be well all!!

  6. Paul M

    Hi all… Anything that’s 6 ot 9 feet …. weights in at 600 to 900 pounds…. AND HAS A FACE LIKE IT WAS TAKING HEAD SHOTS FROM AN ANVIL … WELL ITS SCARY TO THIS OLD BOY… MAYBE NOT WHEN I WAS IN MY PRIME… BUT BACK THEN I WAS INVINCIBLE… NOW IM OLD SLOW AND WANT TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY!!!! YOUTH IS A GREAT THING… ITS LIKE IT CAN NEVER END… BUT IT CAN… AND IT CAN COME QUICKLY…. ADVENTURES ARE GREAT… ITS LIKE NOTHING ELSE… BUT PLEASE STAY SAFE… HAVE PEOPLE WITH YOU… AND HAVE GOOD LARGE CALIBER WEPONS… your 45 WILL NOT CUT IT… AND SLOWING IT DOWN IS FUTILE…. BE CAREFUL… ITS THE. REAL DEAL… NOT A SUGGESTION… A GOOD peice OF ADVICE… THANKS

  7. Charles R

    My Fathers side came from the Ozarks, Douglas County, MO and most moved to Midland, MI just before and during WWII. My Father and Uncles and their cousins never talked about boogers, only danger they talked about were cooperheads. But my Aunts that came with them ( 2 ) would say at dark to come in so the boogers or boogie man does not get you. I always thought ( especially since I lived in a subdivsion ) this was just a scary ploy to get us inside. It was about 10 years ago I found out what a booger was. So wish I had known long ago, I would have loved to pick their brains, but both had passed.

  10. Denise F

    In regards to the witness asking about if anyone had ever tried crosses…. I only know that in the Sam Houston Nat that there are many memorial crosses throughout forest. Unfortunately, people have used that forest to leave bodies for decades and family members will put up memorials. I was noticing last time I was there a couple of “X’s” were fairly close to these crosses.

Leave a Reply