A listener writes “In the early 80’s I worked on a horse farm in Manitoba and for lack of permission, I will not disclose the name of the farm.
I was working around 11pm at night with the farmers daughter doing the last feed and watering of mares in the barn. I went to the oat bin about 60 + feet from the main barn. This oat bin was placed against a fence and measured approximate 6 X 6 and 8 feet tall plus the roof. While inside the oat shed filling 2 five gallon pails I heard a loud WHAM against the back wall.
It scared the crap out of me and went out thinking I would see the geldings by the fence – but there was none. This evening was cold, with snow on the ground and a full moon with intermittent clouds. While standing by the fence and beside the shed I heard shuffling beside me in the shadows. I could see something dark and decided to back away and turned to give it another look and saw a definite head above shoulders. This thing was easily a foot or two taller than the shed. It turned it’s head one way and then the other and seemed to stop and be staring at me. It growled at me – not a loud growl but a deep gutteral growl. I got scared and ran to the barn yelling for the daughter to come quick something was standing on the fence behind the oat bin. We both armed ourselves with pitch forks and ran back and confronted it.
It was still there and we both started to yell “GETTERRRRR OUTTA HEEEEEER” It looked one way then the other, growled again, leaned and jumped in to the paddock. We freaked and ran to the house to get her dad. We followed her dad who was now armed with a shotgun and there was no sign of it. He stood guard while we finished the chores and all went to bed. A few hours later around 3am we were awoken by a knock at the door. The RCMP was there to let us know our horses were out and one was killed by a car a few miles out. We jumped in to the truck and collected the horses and walked them back. When we arrived, the sun was just coming up and we walked the paddock looking for where they got out. We found they ran right through the fence. After mending it we went in for breakfast and the daughters mom had the paper in hand and said you need to see this. We read an article about a patrol man 40 miles away saying two days earlier he stopped his cruiser and observed some one walking in a snow packed field heading his way. He waited as they approached and as it neared he identified that is was not a person but a large dark hair covered creature and it jumped the 10 foot ditch and crossed the road in front of him, jumped the other ditch and kept on walking.
He said it was heading……Well in our direction. We looked at each other and said “No Way”. After giving it some thought, we remembered getting in shit for feeding the horses too much oats as her dad had to reorder weeks earlier then expected and then there was the time I climbed up on the big straw pile and pulled back the tarp and found a fort (That’s what it appeared like) with straw bale opened up and spread with in a wall of straw on each side. I just chalked it up to her younger brother and sister making it. This encounter was buried in my mind until later when wanting to purchase a hobby farm in a rural part of eastern Ontario I got scared to be so rural for fear of Big Foot. Little bit by little bit it is coming out and I am terrified to see another.”