YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Michigan

COUNTY: Montcalm County

LOCATION DETAILS: (Removed)

OBSERVED: In Montcalm county Michigan a group of friends, my dog and I were walking down a dirt road that is adjacent from my grandparents cottage near (removed). The time was roughly eleven thirty when we set out for a late night walk, our plans were to walk down to the paved road that intersects the dirt road and back to the cottage. We were on our way back to the cottage and should I say this dirt road we were on runs right through a very dense woodland area that is almost dark in the day time due to the canopy of the trees above road, so at night our line of vision ended as soon as the trees began on the side of the road. Over my friends chatter and occasional laughter I heard something that sounded rather large following us from behind us to the left, which was the side I was walking on. Whatever that was following us would only move at strategic times when my friends would get a bit too loud or started scraping their feet on the road. I had the group stop and turn around to face the direction of the noise. One friend got close to me and whispered (removed) look over by that mailbox, and as I turned my head to the left the see what he was talking about I seen a large somewhat illuminated figure slowly walking in a small circle, almost dancing in a way, this really interested me. As soon as the groups attention was focused on the moving figure, I heard a low in volume not threatening grunt. We turned around to see a large pair or red almost orange eyes looking down at us from just within the woods. We stood there and watched it watch us for a few short moments then one friend took off running back to the cabin. As he took off the eyes, still looking directly at me seemed to retreat back into the woods a few yards then got low to the ground continuing to go further and further into the woods. I watched the eyes then disappear, so we walked back to the cottage. I did not feel threatened one bit by this incident although my one friend ran for the cottage.

OTHER WITNESSES: Four other witnesses

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Dark, chilly night

ENVIRONMENT: Dense wooded area

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jim Sherman:

I was personally interested in this report because I had just returned from the Michigan U.P. Expedition and one of our groups had a similar paralleling experience. Further, I have numerous long-duration recording projects ongoing in this area. Lastly, I went to college in Alma only about ten miles from the location of this report so I was excited to have the chance to speak with this witness.

The area around the sighting contains Duck and Crystal Lakes, the Pine River and Fish Creek, as well as the Stanton and Vestaburg State Games Areas. There is ample forested land with fields of grains, soybeans and corn scattered throughout.

When Mr. T contacted me I was unaware that this story would become much more than just an interesting description of a sighting. Over time I found that this area may contain a great deal more evidence as vocalizations, stick structures and other possible interactions with something out there seems to be happening with some frequency.

I asked Mr T to first describe what made him notice the paralleling behavior and why did he think it was not simply an animal?
"I was a few paces behind our group as we were walking because my dog would tangle his leash around my friends legs. I believe that I noticed the paralleling sound because my friends were talking amongst themselves rather loudly at the time, I didn't think it was an animal because of how strategically it moved behind. It chose only to move when my friends would talk, what I call 'sound masking'. I could feel a strong presence around us at the time."

Next I asked him to describe the figure that he had seen and to better explain the "dancing" he described.
"The figure that we observed by the mailbox was very tall, very light in color, it almost glowed in the moonlight. I couldn't notice anything else about the figure because there was a thick fog and we were a ways away from the figure and the mailbox. The 'dance' that the figure was doing reminded me of somebody with their arms to their sides slow dancing by themselves, if that paints more of a clear picture for you."

He described the grunt that he heard as follows:
"The grunt was very short in length, not too loud at all but powerful. The sound came from a huge diaphragm. I have been practicing heavy metal vocals, as in screaming for five years. I can tell how deeply and powerfully noises are projected from practicing with my diaphragm. I can recreate the grunt I heard except for one thing. I lack a huge, strong diaphragm to even compete with what I heard."

I asked Mr. T to describe the "eyes" that he believed he saw and if the group had been carrying external light sources as well as what had happened to the figure near the mailbox.

"We didn't have any lights with us. A few of us had cell phones, I'm sure that the light from the phones acted like a beacon come to think of it. The eyes were a reddish, burning amber color and they looked to be set a couple inches apart from each other. I thought it was a living creature because of the grunt. I also saw the eyes blinking a few times after my friend took off. The eyes backed into the woods deeper then crouched down as the eyes moved away from us. The entire encounter lasted close to a minute. I believe that there were two creatures by us."

I shared a few vocals that I have captured with Mr. T and none were quite what he heard however, as recently as the third week in September he has been hearing vocalizations from his back yard.

"The past few nights, I have been hearing loud knocking around one to three in the morning out past my yard and my neighbors. Also one night sitting on my trampoline recently, I let out one of my mastered "whoops" and roughly five to ten minutes later I heard a very "bassy" whoop if you will, just outside of my yard. It made me so excited that I didn't fall asleep that night til around five thirty in the AM."

Mr T further described some of the vocals that he heard from his porch "...such as whistles, whoops, tree knocks, and whole trees falling from the swamp behind my house one time I even heard what sounded like two humans conversing in what I can only describe as a mumbling whistling language. Unlike anything I've heard in my twenty years of living in country area."

Mr. T also described a situation where he and a friend were outside near a campfire and began to hear sticks breaking in the woodline outside of the light from the fire. Then, they were pelted with acorns. Later they viewed numerous possible "stick structures" near where they thought they had heard activity the night before.

He also provided me with pictures of structures that have begun to appear in the forest behind his home that seem to have been produced by something with intelligence, including this photo:



Taken alone these structures could easily be formed by nature but when taken into consideration with the possible vocals, thrown objects and sightings there may be a connection. Mr T is in the process of purchasing recorders so he can begin to collect his own data. I wish him luck.

About BFRO Investigator Jim Sherman:

Jim is a High School History teacher and Track and Cross Country coach. He attended the Michigan Northern Lower Peninsula Expedition in 2011, the Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition in 2012, co-organized the Michigan UP 2013 Expedition and attended the 2014 Wisconsin Expedition. He assisted in the production of Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot Michigan episodes (Bigfoot and Wolverines and Super Yooper). He participates in Ironman Triathlons and enjoys fishing and camping with his wife and daughter. Jim can be contacted at [email protected] and Twitter @shermanbigfoot and his YouTube account is : Lordcryptid