QUOTES OF ENCOUNTERS
"It left a hand print there by the door on the side of the house which was eleven and a half inches from the base of the palm to the end of the finger."
- Bud Jenkins, Fort Bragg, California, 1962
"The thing that makes those tracks weighs around 1,000 pounds, walks upright, takes strides from five to ten feet long, goes up and down rugged terrain where a man just can't go, and has a foot very humanlike."
-Roger Patterson
A pilot saw a sasquatch-like creature after making a forced landing in an isolated area. While walking out, the pilot said, he saw a man who ran into the woods when he waved. Later he saw this creature standing only 10 yards away as he walked by. He described it as seven feet tall, apelike, with a large head and massive arms and a stale odor. Its eyes, he said, were a glowing green.
- near Nelagony in north-eastern Oklahoma, 1967.
At LaCrescent, Minnesota, in the fall of 1968 a man in a duck blind thought he heard a friend approaching, rose to tell him to be quiet, and saw a tall black hairy thing so high he came up to the middle of its chest. He dropped his shotgun, which discharged, and the thing ran off screaming.
-original story from Eric Norman's The Abominable Snowman
Richard Lee Smith told police that just after midnight he had run into something on the road "huge, seven or eight feet tall, dark-colored and human-like." He said the thing, resembling "a gorilla, a strange creature of some sort" had suddenly jumped in front of his car. After it was hit it ran limping into the Everglades.
- near Hollywood, Florida, January 1974
Michael Bennett and Lawrence Groom, while driving down a dirt road toward Black Point near the water dyke, observed what appeared to be a giant ape-like man, approximately eight to nine feet tall and very heavy set, black in color with no clothes, standing next to a blue chevy and rocking the car back and forth with great force. They observed a man getting out of the chevy in a hysterical manner and yelling for help. When the lights of their vehicle lit up the ape-like man it turned and ran into the mangroves.
-Black Point-Goulds Canal, Florida, March 24, 1975
He looked around to his left and then to his right. There it was, twenty yards away, looking straight at him was this thing. Its head and arms were resting on a fallen tree that was five or six feet above the ground. Seeing only the head and arms, Rye thought it was a large bear, a very large bear. He began to raise his rifle to his shoulder. The thing, still looking at him, still leaning on the fallen tree, grinned at him--or so Rye thought. Then the thing let go an eerie, half-human scream. Its head began to rock from side to side and Rye. It had a large flat head, stubby ears, a short neck and sloping shoulders with long arms. It was all covered with brownish grey hair.
- Mission Mountains, near Seeley Lake, Montana, 1959 (original story appeared in the December 1960 issue of Saga and described an experience that R.W. Rye had while bear hunting)
We had fished all day Saturday, and were very happy to return to our camp early that evening. We proceeded to build a fire circle on a large gravel bank close to the stream. We built a fire, prepared our meal, and settled back for a much needed rest and conversation about the day's activities. My nephew proceeded to fall asleep rather early, but I remained awake until fairly late, perhaps 11:00 p.m., feeding the fire, and feeling quite content and at peace with the world. This peaceful attitude was rather quickly shattered. First of all, I heard a sound exactly as if someone was walking along the gravel bank close to the river. I could distinctly hear the crunch and grinding of each step. I strained to see who or what could be making such a noise, and at that time a very large form came within view of the fire light. It was walking erect, with a very determined gait, almost fluid in motion. The creature swung its arms as it walked, almost as a man would, but slightly more pronounced. As it passed directly in front of the fire, about 20 yards away from me, it paused slightly, and gave almost an indifferent glance towards me and towards the fire. Needless to say I was virtually thunderstruck. I rose slowly, turned my flashlight on the creature, drew my .22 pistol and fired three shots. Upon my execution of this action, the creature emitted a high-pitched scream, and moved with really astounding speed over a huge log, and into the heavy timber. I was so upset that I could not sleep the rest of the night. Early the next morning my nephew and I searched the bank for signs or tracks but found only a few depressions in the coarse gravel which could have been foot prints. We also examined the point at which the creature moved into the timber. There we also found no trace of its movement. The log which the creature literally stepped over, was waist high, and I had some difficult climbing over it.
- along the Collowash River, about 40 miles above the town of Estacada, Oregon, June 1973