YEAR: 1976

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 1-3 Jan

STATE: Georgia

COUNTY: Chatham County

LOCATION DETAILS: Little Tybee Island lies across Tybee's Back River, and slightly southwest. It is an uninhabited & Wild Barrier Island, It has never been a habitat for man. People visit it, and usually only in summer.

NEAREST TOWN: Tybee Island

NEAREST ROAD: US 80

OBSERVED: I think it was 2nd or 3rd Jan. 1976. I was active duty and stationed at Hunter Army Airfield. one of my Army Buddies and our wives went out to Little Tybee Island on a Camping hunting trip. We had a nicely sheltered tent inland about two hundred yards off the beach behind the dunes. The first night out was cold. It got into the high teens. The local forcast predicted record lows the next day and night. Our wives were cold and wanted to go in. We transported them back to Tybee, and we went back out for an afternoon hunt. By 1600 hrs it was too cold to stay out. Our lab was coming out of the water with ice coating her. We returned to camp and had a warm fire going, ate an early supper, and retired early. It was too cold to sit up. At aproximately 2200 hrs I awaken to our lab growling softly. Jim was awake too. He asked me, "Robbie, is your gun loaded?" I assured him it was. We then heard a two legged creature walking toward our tent from the rear. I say a two legged creature because Men walk differently from deer. At that time there were no deer, or hogs on Little Tybee, Although now there are. The creature stopped aproximately 30 to 40 feet from our tent.(Our tent was in a small valley, and wouldnt be visible to someone coming from the backside of the Island unil they were upon it.)There was a minute or two of complete silence. Even my Lab was extremely quiet, she acted scared for the first time I had ever seen. There was then a whooshing sound of something large whirling through the air, it struck out tent with a tremendous whump. The dog went nuts. We both unassed the tent with our six volt headlights on and our shotguns at port arms. I caught a glimpse of something very dark colored and man sized running towards the backside of the Island. I noticed an odor tha I can only describe as a cross between grey fox and civit cat, in the air. We ran after it out to the edge of the open marsh. It clearly coul run faster without lights than we could with lights. I never got close enough for a positive visual.There is nothing on the backside of Little Tybee, except miles on open salt marsh, tidal rivers and creeks,and dozens of smaller hammocks and small islands. No man could or would hav exposed himself to that marsh in those temperatures. The marsh itself was frozen hard, but the creeks wern't. Under those conditions a man would perish in minutes if he got wet in salt water. We checked the only other boat landing on the island, the creek intrance on the northeastern end of the island. There was no boat or evidence of one being there. We walked the entire beach looking for prints, or other boats, and we were the only boat on the beach. We discussed the incident awhile and concluded that we just may have had a sasquatch encounter. At the time I felt that this was unlikely as all the encounters I had ever heard of was in the Pacific Northwest. Over the years since I have come to realize that the Bigfoot egnima is world wide, in all wild places.

ALSO NOTICED: The following year we returned on another duck hunt. I had my same lab, and my buddy had one of her nine month old pups. We were giving the pup working knowledge, using her mom. the weather was fortish, wet, miserable, windy. Great duck shooting weather. We were taking a lunch sleep break during a hard rain. The dogs were left outside to wander the island. We were awakenen by the two dogs barking ferociously, the barking ended with a sharp whine. Soon the older lab was at the tent begging to be let in. She was trembling in fear. Her pup appeared a minute or two behind her. We passed it off as them barking at a passing boat. An hour later we were awaken by the pup she was in a grand mal seizure. She died soon after that. Both my buddie and I are skilled and experienced army medics, I had two tours in Vietnam, He is a PA. We carefully examined the dead pup for snakebite, gunshot wounds, or any other visible causes of trauma. We found nothing. We buried the pup on the island. I have never returned to little Tybee since then. There is something there that the dogs feared, enough to kill one.

OTHER WITNESSES: My hunting partner. Sleeping.

OTHER STORIES: No I have not discussed this much with others.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 2200hrs. Dark no moon. Calm extremely cold night for S. Ga. temp went to -6 that night. A state record low.

ENVIRONMENT: Live oaks, stunted by weather, but many over three hundred years old. Bay shrubs, etc. Ocean frontage to eastern side. North and south ends blocked by tidal rivers. Backside tidal marsh to mainland.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matt Pruitt:

This case is an intriguing one, due to the remote location of the incident, the unique terrain in which it occurred, and the subfreezing temperatures that the incident took place in.

The approach of the animal is consistent with other sasquatch reports; in that it stalked the two men's camp in total darkness, it approached from the forest, and it threw a large stick or branch at their canvas tent.

The hunters pursued the animal, which moved incredibly fast without the aid of artificial illumination through the dense woods. The hunters were never able to get close enough to the animal to make a strong visual confirmation. They surmised that it was very large and bipedal by the nature of the sounds it made during its retreat.

The hunters were also able to confirm that there were no other boats at the boat ramps and boat-accessible beaches.

The behavior and maneuvers that the animal displayed (bipedal locomotion and stick throwing), coupled with its ability to withstand subfreezing temperatures and frozen wetlands, suggests that the creature was indeed a sasquatch.

Little Tybee Island is considered a pure, uninhabited wildlife haven. There is an abundance of food on the island to sustain a large omnivore.

About BFRO Investigator Matt Pruitt:

Matt Pruitt grew up in the mountains of Northeast Georgia, and has been conducting active sasquatch research for several years in various parts of the country.

Matt has attended/organized the following expeditions:

North Carolina - 2007
South Carolina - 2007
North Carolina - 2008
Georgia - 2008 (Expedition Organizer)
Washington (Cascades) - 2008
Washington (Olympic Peninsula) - 2008
Georgia - 2009 (Expedition Organizer)
Washington (Cascades) - 2009
Washington (Olympic Peninsula) - 2009
Oregon - 2010 (Expedition Organizer)
Washington (Olympic Peninsula) - 2010
Georgia - 2010 (Expedition Organizer)
Oklahoma - 2011 (Expedition Organizer)
North Georgia (1) - 2011 (Expedition Organizer)
North Georgia (2) - 2011 (Expedition Organizer)
Arkansas - 2012 (Expedition Organizer)
North Georgia - 2013 (Expedition Organizer)
North Carolina - 2013 (Expedition Organizer)

Matt is a trained visual tracker. During the summer of 2007, Matt co-instructed a tracking course for BFRO members in the Southeast. In 2009, he co-instructed an updated version of the same course for BFRO members in Utah. He currently lives in Northeast Georgia.

He can be contacted at [email protected]