Report # 30249 (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Saturday, July 30, 2011.
Possible daytime sighting by boaters and day prior by morning walker between Perth and Westport
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YEAR: 2007
SEASON: Fall
MONTH: September
DATE: 28,29
PROVINCE: Ontario
COUNTRY: Canada
NEAREST TOWN: Perth, Westport
OBSERVED: Our sightings occurred over a 34-hour span on September 28th and 29th in 2007.
A group of us take an annual fishing trip to a lake that is about half-way between Perth and Westport in Ontario, Canada. One of the guys (Harry) on the trip had quadruple bypass surgery a few years earlier and gets up to walk 8-10 miles each morning around 5:30am. On Friday morning he got up for his normal walk, and while turning the corner toward the owner’s house, saw something in the darkness next to the owner’s deck. He had an LED flashlight and shined it on the deck (40-50 yards max). The thing was reaching over the deck railing and upon having the light shined on it, turned away and slowly walked away from the deck toward an open field and east toward the forest, turning away from him. Harry continued on his walk. On the way back he stopped at the deck (still very early, but now daybreak) and measured the height. Where the creature's upper thigh came to on the deck was the same as his mid-chest. At this point, Harry said nothing to anyone about it.
The following day (Saturday) we have our annual fishing derby (which isn’t very serious) which runs from 9am to noon. After deciding the winners, which gets your names engraved on a trophy, everyone either hangs at the cottage, goes to town, or goes back out fishing. Two of our more dedicated guys decided to go back out after lunch. The lake has a river on the opposite end from where we stay that flows in from the southwest end and exits the northeast end. The guys (Matt and Tom) went to the inlet end of the lake and went as far up the river as they could, probably a mile or so. They then drifted down the river fishing for bass. As they approached the mouth of the river (they were on the north shore of the river), there was a canoe with two people paddling up-river (and talking) closer to the south shore of the river. As they looked at the folks in the canoe, they both saw an animal on the shore behind the canoe observing the people in the canoe. Tom said to Matt, “Hey Matt, check that out” and they both watched the animal walk along the bog and step up and over the bank to the marsh into the brush to disappear. I have since been on the other side of that marshy-bog location, and there is no way a human can or would get there, let alone, move easily.
That evening, we were all sitting in the living room as usual reflecting on the day (after a few beers). I will never forget Tom saying something like, “all right, I gotta say something. I don’t know what I saw, but it got up on two feet, walked along the shore, and went where nobody could go.” As he was speaking, Harry was just about to take a sip and stopped dead cold, and said “ oh F#%$. I’d just convinced myself I didn’t see what I did.” Harry then told what he had seen the morning before while on his walk.
We were leaving the next day and nobody bothered to check for footprints or anything. If you have been conditioned to think something doesn’t exist, you don’t react the way people may think. If I had the chance to go back to that day I would have been in the woods at both ends of the lake looking for signs or footprints. It wasn’t until the ride home that I really started to think about what happened.
During the following week, we slowly started googling for websites. We found BFRO which had an encounter reported from the scout camp on the same lake in the ‘90’s. Since then there has been a report from a cabin outside of Westport about 10 months after our encounter. I have since placed game cameras (started with 2 and am up to 6) in the area from August to January, annually. Great photos of deer, raccoon, porcupine, and a fisher, but no squatch.
Matt and Tom are avid hunters who spend many hours in the woods each year. Harry is a self-employed businessman who doesn’t hunt anymore, but knows what he saw. My job has been to document the details of the trip. They are all available for comment.
OTHER STORIES: Learned from the internet after the sightings
TIME AND CONDITIONS: 5:30am
2:30PM
ENVIRONMENT: When I go in to place my game cams it looks like the ape exhibit at the zoo. Steep rock, pines, hardwoods - classic Canadian shield.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Todd Prescott:
Harry = morning sighting while walking
Tom and Matt = sighting from boat
Harry had a sighting the day before Tom and Matt had their sighting from their boat.
Here are further details from all the witnesses who I interviewed individually and separately over the phone:
HARRY
Harry has a routine of taking a morning walk before others get up. It was sometime around 5am, with a full moon when he had his sighting. When walking, he always carries a powerful tactical flashlight with him because the area is choke-full of skunks and sometimes its too dark to see the trail/road. He had walked approximately a half mile down a path that leads back from the land owner's main house to a series of cottages. As he approached within 75 yards of the owner's house, he made a 90 degree turn and proceeded to walk between the garage and big barn. He noticed something at the back of the owner's house where the back porch is. At first he thought it was one of the owners or the owner's father who lives right next door. But then he realized that the figure was too big to be either of them, as they are short and stocky. His next thought was that someone was messing around with the barbecue, since the figure was right next to it. Now only 30 yards away, the Harry shone his light at the figure.
“The wind was coming from the north so it would have been
a crosswind. It wasn't anything torrential, but I think that was
one of the reasons it didn't hear me or see me either
because I kind of surprised it when I came around the
corner. And then I walked maybe five steps and I know that
it hadn't seen or heard me yet.”
At this moment, the figure turned away at a 180 degree angle and walked away slowly. The figure “was very fluid...he walked with a little bit of a hunch-over and walked right out of the owner's backyard”.
Beyond the owner's back yard is a cow pasture and this is where the figure headed. Harry decided to follow, and he watched it walk in between a break in the fence leading to the pasture. At this stage, the witness still thought that the figure may have been a man trying to steal the barbecue. He lost sight of the figure as it walked in a south-east direction into the nearby woods. He was unable to see any facial features and stated that the figure was “not in a hurry” and it “never dropped down on all fours at all...just walked”. He did not notice any sounds associated with the figure either.
Harry continued on with his walk - which is usually a 5-10 mile walk. When he finished his walk, he began to really think about what he saw. He walked back to the porch where he'd seen the figure. It was then that he realized the height of the figure would have been in the seven foot range. He estimated this based on his own height of six feet and the fact that the figure was leaning over ("most likely looking into the barbecue"); the porch only came up to the figure's mid-thigh.
Harry did not tell anyone about his sighting that day.
Physical details according to Harry:
- the silhouette was very similar to what you see when people
make reports about a sasquatch or a bigfoot – slightly
stooped over
- there was no real definition to the back of his head but an
oval shaped head on top of a big body was noted
- very long arms on the figure
- figure appeared to not be wearing any clothing, but witness
did state that he was unable to see that closely
- he was startled by what he saw and felt that he was able
to view the figure for about 3-4 seconds
- he was unable to determine physical definition between
arms and legs but stated that the figure was very large
- the gait and the way the figure held its arms was non-human:
“it walked with its knuckles forward kind of, and they were well
below its waist when it would walk”
The next day Harry walked the opposite way he had previously and found a path that leads into the forest. He followed it about a quarter mile back. He heard what he thought sounded like pigs screaming (note too that Matt commented about a similar sound - see further down). Harry kept walking toward the sounds but couldn't get any closer. The sounds seemed to be moving away from him and bending to the south-east kind of back toward the owner's farm. He figured he was probably about two miles away from the farm. It was shortly after 7am. In discussions with the owner, Harry stated that the owner was not aware of any pig farms in the area. Harry stated that the sounds were similar to those of a large boar.
TOM
Tom was in a boat when a figure was sighted. Here are some details of his sighting:
- it was on a Saturday and “a really nice day – probably 80
degrees”
- with a friend (Matt), it was decided that the two would
go back out fishing while the others went back in for lunch
- they took a “little Bass Tracker - 25hp or so” boat out
- they decided to go up the river off of the main lake
- they motored up the river slowly to see how far they could get
- the river is fairly slow moving but deep in some spots
- they went up as far as they could easily and were just going
to drift back down
- they were fishing a little bit as they were drifting
- they got to a straight, but fairly wide tributary section, not
terribly far from the lake (“I'd say we're probably a quarter of a
mile from the lake”)
- at about 2-2:30pm they heard some people talking and then
noticed two guys in a canoe heading toward them
- when Tom saw the canoeists, he also spotted a “black
thing on shore”
- the canoeists “didn't see it because they were coming down
the river, paddling against it, and we were just slowly drifting
toward them”
- he was not sure if the canoeists had passed them
when he saw the figure
- estimated the distance from the boat to the figure
“wasn't much over 400 feet”
- when he first saw the figure, it was kind of “hunched down”.
He turned to Matt and said, “What is that?” He then
pointed in its direction
- at that point the figure had seen the boaters
- “Its knees were bent and lower to the ground because I
remember watching it stand up. It was hunched down. So it
stood up”
- he was unable to discern much detail pertaining to the
figure: “It was just big, dark, black. I just remember the size of
the thing, it was enormous – probably 8ft tall or something like
that. It never really was alarmed a whole lot. I think it kind of
realized at this point it wasn't the only one watching. I think it
was curious about the noise of the canoe because it acted
just like it had kind of snuck out there to check out the canoe
and didn't expect us to be drifting the other way. So it just
stood up, got up, started to turn at a diagonal away from
us...there was a little bank there...and just strided over the
bank out of sight”
- felt that the movement of the figure was “super fluid
and smooth as can be, not alarmed. Didn't break a stride or
anything...amazingly just walked away”
- Tom returned to the sighting area another day and felt
that “there's no way a person could've even thought about
climbing through that stuff. It's just a bog”
MATT
Also in the boat was Matt who's version of the events coincided with Tom's. Here are additional details/info:
- figure was watching the men in the canoe as they paddled
toward the boat which Matt and Tom were in
- Matt commented that all he saw was “a large, upright,
dark, hairy type-thing in an area that you or I could not walk in”
- Matt had a camera at his feet and regrets not having it
at the ready
- mentioned that both he and Tom were shocked at what
they saw
- Matt is an avid outdoorsman – hunting, fishing 200 days
a year
- has seen black bear numerous times and is completely
confident that it wasn't a bear
- felt that a bear wouldn't be in the thickets that the
figure was in – implying that it was too dense for even a bear
- commented that the figure moved very easily through the
dense brush
- felt that the figure was approx 100 yards (300 feet) away
from he and Tom
- did not notice distinct features but did note that it was
“human-like” with “arms hanging...but bigger than us”
- no sounds or smells accompanied the sighting
Matt also relayed other strange incidents over the past 17 years while he's been frequenting the area. Two or three times witness felt that a rock had been thrown at him while he was fishing. This happened just after sun up and very close to the area of the sighting as noted above. Witness is confident the rock was thrown and not simply a 'rolling rock'.
Another strange incident which occurred in the same general area was relayed by Matt. While fishing on a shoreline, he heard a screeching noise that he felt was reminiscent of sounds heard on a pig farm. He went on to say that, “Everything, birds, chipmunks, etc went pitch quiet”. Furthermore, “The woods just shut down. I was fishing again in the morning sunrise. The scream was probably ten seconds long. When I'm down there it seems close...within 75-100 yards offshore. It was really loud. I hunt and it was nothing like anything I've heard other than a pig squeal.”
About BFRO Investigator Todd Prescott:
Todd Prescott, B.Ed, B.Mus, has been researching the subject of bigfoot for well over 20 years Todd attended the 2006 and 2008 B.C. Coastal Expeditions, 2008 and 2011 Pennsylvania Expedition, 2010 Pennsylvania Mini Expeditions, the 2007 Ontario Expedition and he hosted the Ontario 2009 Expedition. His research has taken him as far as Alaska to PA, Northern Ontario to BC, including a 2-week solo expedition throughout the Bella Coola (B.C.) region. Most recently, in August of 2012, Todd had the honor and privilege of spending 4 days/nights with Mr. John Green in BC where he was granted permission to peruse Mr. Green's extensive files dating back to 1957. Todd also had the unique experience of researching with Mr. Green near Harrison Hot Springs one evening.
Explanation of the report classification system
Report # 31992 (Class A)
Submitted by witness on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.
Man recalls his nighttime roadside sighting near Markdale
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YEAR: 1964
SEASON: Summer
MONTH: June
PROVINCE: Ontario
COUNTRY: Canada
LOCATION DETAILS: West/southwest of Markdale about 2 miles
NEAREST TOWN: Markdale, Ontario
NEAREST ROAD: intersection of Rt 12 and W. Backline at Barrhead
OBSERVED: I was in my early teens riding in the backseat of our family car coming from my Dad's cousins farm. Both my parents were in the front seat. As we rounded a curve on the gravel road, the car headlights shown some lateral light to the sides. I was looking out the right rear window and saw standing up on the embankment at the treeline a tall fur covered creature. The roadside embankment went up about 10 feet. As our car passed, I turned around to look out the rear window and the thing was now walking down the embankment and stopped and stood at the edge of the road. I could see it clearly in the brakelights and some light coming from a lodge across the road as my Dad slowed to stop at a stop sign about 300 feet from the creature. I yelled at my parents to turn around but they just doubted my sighting and drove on. It was at the closest about 35 feet from the car. Note: I am 100% convinced that this was a Sasquatch for 2 reasons -
1. No bear walks down an embankment on its hind legs
2. Few men are 7 feet tall and if it was a man in a monkey suit why would he try to not be seen by us until we passed. A hoaxer would want to be seen.
ALSO NOTICED: My dad used to swim in the pond as a child and told me some years later that he and his buddies would hear strange screams or growls in the woods where I saw it come from.
OTHER WITNESSES: None saw it but my parents were in the car.
OTHER STORIES: No. I never heard any of my dads relatives talk about it.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: About 11 p.m. Clear night lights from car brakes and lights from a lodge across the road.
ENVIRONMENT: At that time there was no structures except the Lodge. Very woodsy. Now there are some houses and some fields with a few woods at that location. I was there 4 years ago to show my wife. Ponds are nearby.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Todd Prescott:
I spoke with the witness on the telephone and he added the following to his report:
- when he was younger, his family would vacation each summer in the Markdale area to visit his aunt – witness resides in the U.S.
- one of his cousins had a turkey farm about a half mile from where the sighting took place
- the time was approximately 11pm when he and his parents were driving back from his cousin's turkey farm – they were driving in a north/west direction along W Back Line
- because they were approaching a very sharp corner (see photos), they were traveling at a speed of about 20 miles per hour as they approached the turn
- the road is now paved, but at the time it was a gravel road
- although the embankment has eroded over the years (again, see photos), at the time the witness stated that the embankment was probably between 10-15 feet high - certainly steeper than it is now
- as well, at the time, the area the figure traversed from was a completely wooded area – now much of the wooded area has been cleared and a long driveway and a house have been added (see photos below)
- the family was driving a 1962 Cadillac at the time of the sighting, and the witness noted that the side and rear windows of the vehicle were quite large
- as the vehicle approached the sharp turn, the witness saw the figure in the peripheral of the vehicle's headlights – the figure was standing at the treeline at the top of the embankment (on the south-east side of W Back Line) and the witness was in disbelief at what he was seeing
- he felt that the figure was not much more than 30 feet away from the car window and he feels that he “got a real good look at it”
- as the vehicle passed by the figure, the witness spun around and looked out the back window, and this is when he noticed the figure began to descend off the embankment on its hind legs
- the witness watched it walk down the embankment as the brake lights illuminated the area behind the vehicle – there was also light from the lodge across the road (on their left side – the west side of W Back Line)
- by the time the vehicle had reached the stop sign, the figure had come down and was standing on the edge of the road - it was just looking towards the vehicle
- witness remembered the following physical details regarding the figure:
“It was between 6 feet 5 inches and 7 feet tall. Completely
covered in hair and it had what seemed to be fairly long
arms.” (no other physical details were noted)
Although the witness told his parents then and there what he had just saw, as noted in his report, his parents doubted what he claimed to have witnessed and continued on to where they were staying for the evening
Witness did add:
“They never did turn around and all these years it frustrated
me you know. I wasn't able to sleep that night thinking about
this thing. I know it was a long time ago but my memory is
clear today as it was then and there hasn't been a month
that's gone by that I haven't thought about it.”
Before my conversation ended with the witness, he did close with the following possibly related incident:
“That same summer my cousin, who owned the turkey farm,
had complained about...where he kept his turkeys, they
were in this pen, he was the biggest supplier for turkeys for
Toronto and they were in these building and there were
these outdoor pens where the turkeys could walk out. There
was chicken wire I guess and they could stick their head
through that wire. He was mad that he was finding these
turkey bodies in the pens but the heads and necks would be
gone because they would be sticking their heads through
the fence and something was tearing their heads off.”
I, Todd Prescott, did visit the area shortly after speaking with the witness. The area as described by the witness has changed slightly as noted above, but many physical features remain, such as: the sharp bend in the road, the embankment, the lodge building which is now a restaurant, and the pond on the west side of W Back Line (see photos).
It may be important to note the date of the sighting – 1964. This pre-dates the Patterson/Gimlin film of 1967 and the subsequent media attention Bigfoot received in the U.S. and Canada.
Photos:
Approach of sharp turn in road heading same direction as witness at time of sighting:
About BFRO Investigator Todd Prescott:
Todd Prescott, B.Ed, B.Mus, has been researching the subject of bigfoot for well over 20 years Todd attended the 2006 and 2008 B.C. Coastal Expeditions, 2008 and 2011 Pennsylvania Expedition, 2010 Pennsylvania Mini Expeditions, the 2007 Ontario Expedition and he hosted the Ontario 2009 Expedition. His research has taken him as far as Alaska to PA, Northern Ontario to BC, including a 2-week solo expedition throughout the Bella Coola (B.C.) region. Most recently, in August of 2012, Todd had the honor and privilege of spending 4 days/nights with Mr. John Green in BC where he was granted permission to peruse Mr. Green's extensive files dating back to 1957. Todd also had the unique experience of researching with Mr. Green near Harrison Hot Springs one evening.
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