DATE:  July 4, 1979

TIME:   Midafternoon

LOCATION:  Michigan, Berrien County

TERRAIN:     Wooded with hills
 

OBSERVED:  It all started one hot summer afternoon when I was living with my aunt and uncle, it was seven miles north of town. I was bored and decided to drive up and see what a couple of my friends were up to.  We were all about 16, myself just two months past 16. After some consideration we decided to go for a nature walk.
 We all started out  and walked up the steep hill that led into a field, I think it was planted with some kind of beans. After entering the field we headed off left, or north towards XXXX Road which would have been approxamately three miles away through fields. We walked through woods, and fields for what seemed like hours. Somewhere in the middle of this we came to a fenced in area that looked to be about 5 or so acres. Inside the five strand barbed wire area were five or six rows of evergreen trees, that were trimed up real nice to about seven to eight feet up, and this whole area was mowed and trimmed real nice, yet there was not a house or farm in sight, all this in the middle of no-where. This estimation was easy to figure because XXXX was an easy six feet tall and once we got into the field to the trees to rest in the shade, XXXX tried to grab the branches to stretch and could barely reach them. We sat there awhile talking and laughing then we all heard a strange deep groaning/grunting noise and smelled a very strong odor similiar to rotten eggs.  We all stopped and listened to try to figure out what it was.

Now I was born and raised in Chicago Il. and was not to familiar with country animals, or noises, and I was soon to learn that not one of the others had any idea what  was making the noise either. It sounded like it was getting closer, so we all stood there looking around trying to figure the direction it was coming from and then it sounded like it was right on top of us, no one asked any questions and we all took off. When I turned around two of them were already through the barbed wire fence, and I did the best I could to catch up and in trying I dropped my water jug and stopped to pick it up. I turned to look back and what ever it was was clearly in a crouching position, holding on the lower branches of the same tree we were resting at staring after us. Take in mind that a crouching position and reaching up to hold on to a branch that a six foot man could barely reach, kind of like you would see a gorilla do at a zoo. It was black and hairy, that was all I could see as far as color as it was in the shade of the tree but the hair hanging off of the back of the upper arm and lower fore arm. It made no attempt to come after us. This could not have been an hallucination because  it was four of us seen the same thing. When I stopped to pick up my water jug, they all stopped to see what was holding me up and to urge me on, and all the others witnessed this same thing. This was probably one of the scariest moments of my life.

 ACTIVITIES OF WITNESSES:  Exploring and walking

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:   Very tall, with long arms. It had dark, shiny hair that you could see moving in the slight breeze that was blowing.

OTHER NOTES:

FOLLOW UPS:

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA:   Yes prior to this when I was still 15 and living with the same aunt and uncle I was visiting with my friend watching TV until after dark. When it came time to go, I left walking down the driveway adjacent to XXXX driveway/property. My aunt and uncle live about 1/2 mile back off the road, and the road was a wooded tunnel for about the first third to half way at the time and while walking I heard the crunching of dead branches, and as I would later smell on our nature walk, I smelled a very strong odor of rotten egg's. I ran all the rest of the way that night, and never did I stay up to XXXX or XXXX past dark again, or at least until I started driving, and even then going down that driveway was scary. Prior to and up to the time of these occurances, and being a kid from Chicago I have never heard of a bigfoot, or yeti.

My aunt and uncle had 57 head of cattle on a section of this 40 acres fenced barbed and electric, and about the same time one of his yearlings was found by us at the north west corner of the property dead, and looked like it was killed by wild dogs.