YEAR: 1978 or 79

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 10/15/1978

STATE: Pennsylvania

COUNTY: Mercer County

LOCATION DETAILS: From the red light in Sandy Lake take 173 north to Mill Street stay on Mill Street it turns into Coal Road go about 1 mile you will cross a small creek in a valley the incident happened near the back of the property.

NEAREST TOWN: Sandy Lake

NEAREST ROAD: Cole Road and Rt 62

OBSERVED: When I was 12 years old, my mother was cooking my breakfast before school and as she was cooking and looking out the window she said, what in the world is that? I jumped up just in time to see a large brown figure going into the woods toward a stream behind my house. She said it ran from the neighbors down a powerline and was snapping off sumac like they were twigs. Being young and curious I ran about 75 yds to the spot the animal had entered, there was a small drop off of about 20 feet then a level spot about 10 ft, then another 4 ft drop to the creek bed. When I arrived I observed the bigfoot at about 50 yrds, It must have heard me as it stopped and turned its upper torso and looked at me. The animal was between 6 and 7 ft tall with a dark face, after looking at me it made great strides down the creekbed and was gone around the bend. When my father arrived we went to check the area. There were very large heel prints in the top of the bank where the animal had landed when it leaped off of the top. I hunted those woods for years and there were times that I felt I was being watched, We heard vocalizations one night but my father said it was a bobcat, after hearing bigfoot recordings I believe they are what made the noise.

ALSO NOTICED: Heel prints

OTHER WITNESSES: My mother but she wasnt sure what it was just that it was on 2 feet

OTHER STORIES: Around the time of this incident there where many articles in the newspaper about a lady seeing a bigfoot in the hells kitchen area of Venango county, this creek leads to Sandy creek which leads to that area

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 7:45 am

ENVIRONMENT: At the time it was a large area of pine and oak trees

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jarrett Johnson:

I spoke to the witness at length concerning his encounter from nearly 35+ years ago. Considering it was a life-changing event for him, he can still remember the encounter vividly. His clarity and detail of the Bigfoot creature attribute to a very interesting encounter.

The witness stated he was sitting at the kitchen table while his mother was cooking him breakfast. She witnessed a large, dark colored bipedal creature walking along the powerline on the edge of the woods. She gasped aloud "What in the world is that?"

His first thought was that it was a bear. Being a youngster at the time, he had never seen a bear and wanted to see for himself what his mother had alluded to through the kitchen window. The witness jumped up from the table and ran out the door towards the wood line where he got a fleeting glimpse of the creature as it entered the woods and dropped down towards the creek.

The witness stated that he had stepped into the woodline in a hurry and the creature must have heard him as it stopped and turned to look at him at a distance of approximately 50 yards. It actually made eye contact with him for about five seconds. When it turned to look at him, it moved the entire top of its body as it appeared to have no neck. He stated that he "got a really good look at the face". The creature then turned and quickly crossed the creek and disappeared through the sumac. It used its arms to "wade" through the sumac and appeared to be pushing the sumac away from its path. The boy was able to observe the creature from behind for approximately 30 seconds.

The witness and I engaged in a lengthy dialogue in relation to the physical description and attributes of the Bigfoot creature. During the course of our conversation, he communicated the following details:

- The color was a dark brown with a slight tinge of red
- The brown was darker in coloration than a white-tailed deer
- The length of the hair was similar to a sheep dog
- There was a dark line of color in the hair of the creature along the length of the spine.
- Very broad shoulders and chest with a "body builder" appearance
- Very muscular and round buttocks
- Did not notice any physical female characteristics and thought it was male in gender
- He saw the bottoms of its feet as it walked away from him. The soles were a lighter tan in color than the face

The witness described the head and face in great detail.

- Eyes were deep set above prominent cheek bones
- The creature had a significant jawline or mandible
- Eye color was deep black with no visible sclera
- It had a "coconut head" with a pointed appearance suggesting a sagittal crest
- Noticeable hair on the cheeks
- The skin of the face and cheeks was a dark tan and reminded him of "roofers" that he had seen that worked in the summer sun
- The nose was flat and wide with large human-like nostrils
- He did not see its teeth
- It looked very "annoyed" as it looked him in the eyes
- He viewed discernible hands and fingers which were long - The arms were also long as they hung to just above its knees.
- He saw the palms which were a dark tan like its face

Even though it has been many years since the encounter, the witness stated that it was such a monumental event in his life that he has maintained a vivid memory of the creature. The way that the creature moved was something that has always remained with him. The witness described its movement as such:

- It moved with grace and fluidity through the woods
- The creature moved with purpose and like it knew where it was going. He said he got the feeling that it was traveling somewhere
- It covered ground with great strides but was "light on its feet at the same time" for its great size.

The observer claimed that he did not want to go to school and was afraid to leave his mother at home. His mother urged him on to school.

His father was waiting for him when he got off the bus after school. The boy's mother had described the encounter to his father. His dad asked him to show him where the creature had walked through the woods. They found where the creature had crossed the creek as the bank had collapsed. His father pointed out the evidence of the heels of the creature in the damaged soil bank. There was a rocky ledge on the bend of the creek that enabled him to estimate the height at an estimated 6- 7' in height. If he were to approximate the size, the witness would say 600+ pounds due to its immense size. He and his father did not see any other visible tracks other than the damaged creek bank. Growing up on the property, they never observed anything unusual again.

The witness did state that two months later, a lady claimed to have seen and almost hit a Sasquatch with her vehicle on Route 965 near Hell's Kitchen. He stated that he remembered an article in the Franklin, PA newspaper - The Derrick. I could not find any reference to this article online. The area has since changed over the past 35+ years.

In speaking to the witness, I found him to be honest, forthright, and sincere.

About BFRO Investigator Jarrett Johnson:

Jarrett grew up in an area of western Pennsylvania that has historically experienced reported sightings regarding a hominid creature in the Hell's Hollow area. Having heard the stories as a child, he never gave the local lore serious thought... until years later when a family member revealed a personal encounter. He also spent a number years on the edge of the Florida Everglades where sasquatch activity has been reported for many years. In 1998, a Skunk Ape photo taken near Ochopee was posted along with a feature article in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper and his serious interest in the subject of sasquatch began.

JJ is an enthusiast of the outdoors including remote camping, hunting, fly fishing for native trout, seeking wild morel mushrooms, riding Harley Davidson motorcycles, and all things related to the sasquatch phenomena.

Jarrett has attended BFRO expeditions in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. He has also attended a number of private expeditions.

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