YEAR: 2022

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 5th

STATE: Pennsylvania

COUNTY: Cambria County

LOCATION DETAILS: The Ghost Town Trails between Ebensburg, Pa and Nanty-Glo, PA

[Investigator (MM) Notes:
GPS coordinates for witness Vincent's hand picked best guess for spot where the creature was seen, in terrain with almost no distinct landmarks seen from the air:
40.458963, -78.809708

NEAREST TOWN: Nanty Glo, Pa

NEAREST ROAD: RT22

OBSERVED: On October 5, 2022 while my boyfriend and I were biking on the Ghost Town Trails near Ebensburg PA we saw a bigfoot come about 150 yds in front us. He was walking along the trail towards us. We couldn't see his face. When he saw us he turned and quickly walked into the woods.

We were shocked at what we saw. As we went by, we looked into the woods and didn't see anything. We didn't stop then but continued on until we finally stopped to talk about what we saw.

It was really shocking. There were no sounds or smells. Didn't get a look at his face but as he was walking you could see how big his stride was. There was a huge space between his legs.

On the way back we stopped and looked around for prints and marks but didn't see anything. The leaves were really heavy there and blowing all over.

The sighting was between Ebensburg, Pa and Nanty Glo, Pa.

We thought this was a once in a life time thing and thought it was so cool. Yes, Big Foot does exist!!!

ALSO NOTICED: no sounds or smells, it was quiet, no birds chirping

OTHER WITNESSES: 2 myself and my boyfriend saw it

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 4:30 P.M.

ENVIRONMENT: Ghost Town Trails, old railroad tracks that were converted to recreational trails, heavy woods where we see a lot of wild life, trees and dense forests

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with both witnesses: Francince Bobal and Vincent Weiland. This is report is very reliable. The witnesses definitely saw a tall dark sasquatch walking along Ghost Town Trail bike path between Nanty-Glo and Ebensburg, Pennsylvania on October 5, 2022.

The witnesses are both 73 year old retirees. They ride that bike trail frequently. They've seen lots of animals on the trail. They both scoffed at the possibilty that it could have been a human in dark clothes. They said it was way too big for a human. The long strides were striking.

The couple was peddling eastward toward Ebensburg. The sasquatch came into view not long after they rounded a bend onto a long straightaway section of bike trail.

It was obvious to Vincent, the first one who spotted it, that it had been walking along the bike trail before it came into view. It was not just crossing the trail at that moment. It was walking on the trail in the direction of Nanty-Glo. Vincent and Francine noticed it about the same time it seemed to notice them, then veered off into the trees and brush.

Would a sasquatch walk along a bike trail during the day??

That depends on several factors, such as:

1) Is it much easier and faster and quieter for any animal to get from Point A to Point B by walking along the bike trail rather than through the surrounding terrain?

2) How much bike traffic does the bike trail see on any given day? Is the trail often free of any traffic?

3) Are there enough long straight sections of trail so a sasquatch can spot bike riders from a distance? It's more likely to be surprised by a bike approaching quietly along a curvy forest trail.

2) How close does the forest cover come to the edge of the bike trail? Close enough that a sasquatch only needs to take a few steps to be out of view from bikes approaching from a distance?

The witnesses say they often ride their bikes from Revloc to Nanty-Glo but usually see on or two other riders. On weekends there are more but still only a handful or two. Many times they can recall seeing no other riders the whole way until they are very close to town.

This incident happened at 4:30pm on a Wednesday.

The couple has seen deer many times, and other animals, along the trail, but not every time.

The Ghost Town Trail (re-puposed railroad bed) has several long straight stretches tightly lined with forest growth. A sasquatch could be confident about using that trail knowing it will likely see or hear approaching bikes from a long distance, and then disappear in seconds.

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This is a very opportune place to set up some type of camera system to record whatever walks down that trail during the daylight.

I say this knowing that most people do not know how to propertly set up trail cameras when trying to get photos of sasquatches. A trail camera must be so well concealed or camouflaged that a passing human would not notice it day or night. One must be particulary artful to blend that in to the natural enviroment.

The camera must also be set so that no dangling leaves or waving grass blades cause false triggers (and false notifications to phones) of motion detection.

At present no company offers the type of device that could record all intelligent (human or saquatch) traffic along a trail without the camera potentially being spotted... and then avoided, or stolen.

The camera system would need to have a few elements in common with a trail camera. It would need to be battery operated and record to SD card (could also have cell uplink, but not crucial).

The big difference from a trail camera: It would need to have an excellent zoom lens, so it can be set back from the trail up 200 feet away or more. It would be set up in a tree, or in a rabbit hole on a hillside, etc., to look along a section of trail in the distance.

Even at a distance the camera system would need to be artfully camoflauged or concealed in a dark cavity.

The motion detector would be unlike the type on trail cameras. Trail cameras use motion detectors like you see on motion lights. They are only good for motion within 50 feet or so of the camera.

Whereas a telescopic trail camera would need to detect motion within the image itself, like a security camera. A security camera's motion detection system looks for pixel changes in the image. Theoretically it can detect movement a mile away if the camera is zoomed in on a road/trail one mile away.

Most security camera hubs nowadays allow the user to select which parts of a camera view to look for pixel changes, and which parts to ignore. Thus a zoomed shot looking down along a bike trail would be set so motion detection ignores movement of the trees and brush on the sides of the trail, and only triggers to record when something on the trail is moving. It can also tack on the 10 seconds preceding the trigger so you don't miss a thing.

Some simple wireless security cameras (e.g. Ring) have some of these features requied, but they do not have zoom lenses that allow you to set them back 100s of feet from a trail.

On Amazon you will see an inexpensive small telescopic monocular with motion detection. Unfortunately that device won't work for this application for a few reasions:

1) neither waterproof nor rainproof
2) bad image quality in low-light conditions (according to reviews)
3) does not record internally, must be connected to a computer
4) not battery-powered, must be connected directly to computer via USB cable for power

All of the components I described are in common use in other contexts, but no one has brought them all together in one weatherized device -- a small telescope with trail camera features and Ring-camera-type motion detector.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email [email protected]