The Shelby native says he saw an apelike creature dart across the road during a trip through the hills below South Mountains State Park Tuesday evening. Byers and friend Carolyn Wright had planned to watch for paranormal phenomena at an old church graveyard when the shrouded, shuffling figure crossed their path.
“She was hollering, ‘What is it, what is it?’ and I couldn’t even speak,” Byers said. “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. It looked like it was about 300 pounds and it was somewhere close to 7 feet tall. It came out of the field and came through the briars and bushes onto the road.”
Byers snapped photographs and recorded a brief video of the sighting with a pocket digital camera. As is often the case with footage of the camera-shy sasquatch, Byers’ film is blurry and indistinct. He said the darkening sky made clearer pictures impossible, but he’s convinced the creature was genuine.
“I saw its private parts,” he said. I don’t think it was anybody in a suit or anything like that. It was definitely male.”