Report Received From: The GCBRO Online Report Submission Form.
 

DATE:    1966-2003
 

TIME:     8:00 AM/4:00 AM
 

LOCATION:   Palo Pinto County Texas
 

TERRAIN:    Wooded
 

OBSERVED:    July 1966. Was on a canoe trip with about 20 campers and 4 counselors from summer camp, three days and two nights camping.

The first day we were setting up camp, we picked a spot on the river just below a bend in the river and some fairly good rapids. The campsite we made was on a small grassy area right on the river. It was a strip of land with about a 15 to 20 foot cliff face running in both directions about 20 yards from shore.

There was an obvious overlook down on our campsite from the cliff face running along the river. That evening just before dark, several campers reported some kind of animal that was looking down on us from various points along the cliff face. Only the head was seen; it was identified as four different animals by four different people.....a Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, and a Gorilla. The Counselors told us to be quiet and everybody went to bed in our tents.

The next morning, me and my tent/camp buddy were up early and packed our stuff before anyone else. As I was loading our canoe, I went back for another load and my buddy said that he had just seen the animal looking down at our campsite again. He said it looked like a Fox. We decided to just climb up and take a look. We found a tree we could climb and get up to the cliff face, when we got to the top, we could hear the sound of something running off, and gave pursuit. We had chased the thing maybe 30 to 50 yards when we came to a large boulder outcrop. As we rounded the right side of this mass of boulders, the 'thing' we had been chasing had stopped and was waiting for us. I was in the lead, and what I saw is as fresh in my mind as the day it happened; a huge ape looking creature standing up with both arms
out and up in a aggressive posture. At the same moment, it let out several incredible screams of amazing volume. I was probably no more than 15 feet away in full view. I could go on and on about our hasty retreat, the incredible fear, and the ridicule we received from the other campers, counselors, and parents for years to come. The campers and counselors heard the commotion alright, but thought we had somehow done it ourselves to scare the others.

For years, I tried to explain to myself just what on earth had I seen, but couldn't. My parents, knowing I had seen something, tried to convince me I had seen a Black Bear, but I knew that just wasn't right. In the 1990's, I finally found several web sites concerning the Bigfoot phenomenon, and had no idea the range of this creature.....Hark! This is what I saw - finally!

Since I love the outdoors and camping, I decided to take my kayak to see if I could find the same spot on the river again.

This was in July 2003, 36 years after my original encounter.  To my amazement, I found our original campsite, and not only that, but the area was even more wild than it had ever been, which is unusual this day in age. Me and a Bigfoot buddy camped in the same exact spot, made no camp fire, and remained very quiet. Along about midnight, I made several of what I call territorial calls from our campsite. I did not use recorded calls, as they sound fake, and if they sound fake to us, they will certainly sound fake to the Bigfoot. Along about 4:00 AM, I could hear something big walking through the woods towards us, we were both in our tents at this time. I think this was a very rare occasion where I knew of Bigfoot before he knew of me, as he was not trying to be stealthy or quiet. I knew what he was doing too, he was looking for the source of the sounds he had heard earlier. He got within 15-20 yards of our camp site, must of realized our presence (we had two small tents), and stopped. I have heard most of the
recordings of this creature, but never have I heard anything like what I heard that night. It was loud, big lung power, and very, very pissed. You could just hear the disappointment to finding us as opposed to what he thought he was going to find. He crashed back through the brush the way he came, and the whole time muttering aggressive verbage. I could have jumped out of my tent and possibly taken a picture or two. This had been my plan, and I had two cameras ready. But when I heard the vocal outburst, and could gage the size by the power in his voice, I wanted absolutely no part of him that night.

I will be going back to this spot very soon, and with better equipment. I will keep you guys posted.
 

Activities of Witness:   Breaking camp, lots of kids yelling and caring on....as kids do.
The creature must of been very curious of us, as it hung around for two days.
 

Description of Creature:  A huge screaming mass of black fur, ape/human looking, and 6-7 feet tall.
I only saw it for a brief moment before I was running the other direction. It  did chase us, while screaming, to the edge of the cliff face, which we literally ran off of and both got banged up as we hit the ground. Luckily, we landed in some bushes, ala Rambo, or we would have been seriously hurt. We had been so terrified running away, we didn't even see the edge of the cliff!
 

Other Notes:    There are legends in this area that go back over 100 years, with several sightings. He seems to live on this one particular Mountain that slopes down to the exact spot on the River where we camped.
 

Additional Notes and or Follow up Comments:  Upon contact the witness had no additional information to add to this report.

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