Class 3a Encounter Report in Ben Franklin, TX, Case #01020020

close

Class 1a
Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.
1a A sasquatch/bigfoot specimen has been collected (alive or dead).
Class 1b
Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.
1b A report investigation results in a sasquatch observation or the documentation of clear tracks or other forms of physical evidence by an investigator.
Class 1c
Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.
1c An investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot by a very reliable observer is a distinct possibility, tangible corroborating evidence is documented, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
Class 1d
Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.
1d A visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility involving two or more reliable observers, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
Class 2
Class 2, Competency: Reports involving sightings by professionally trained or highly skilled observers.
2 Investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility, the observer is exceptionally trustworthy, professionally trained, and experienced in the outdoors and/or is accustomed to looking for and recording details (e.g., biologist, anthropologist/archaeologist, ranger, trapper/tracker/seasoned hunter, bird watcher, game warden, naturalist, law enforcement), and other explanations can be reasonably excluded.
Class 3a
Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.
3a Investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility, the observer is credible, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
Class 3b
Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.
3b Unidentifiable vocalizations were reported and there is accompanying tangible evidence to possibly indicate the presence of a sasquatch/bigfoot, the observer is very reliable, and other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
Class 3c
Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.
3c No visual encounter occurred, but physical evidence was found to indicate the presence of a sasquatch/bigfoot (tracks, hair, scat, etc.), the observer is very reliable, and other sources can be reasonably ruled out.


Case: 01020020

Class 3a

Daytime sighting by hunter near Sulphur River.

Report Details

Occurrence date: December/1996
Location: Delta County, TX
Nearby/Vicinity: Ben Franklin
Time / Conditions: 11:30/11:45 a.m — Clear Cool. Thicket, riverbottom, and pasture. The North end of this property is on the Old Sulphur River.
# of Witnesses: 1

Witness Account:
This was late morning 11:25. I was hunting a thicket facing East. The area I was hunting runs North and South, I was at the far West side sitting on a fence line. There were 175/200 grazing cattle behind me. A few calves spooked as I walked up the fence line to the split at the base of a willow tree that I sit at most all the time. But the cattle are used to seeing me there, a few seconds pass and they kept grazing.

I sat there all morning waiting on a deer or my brother to show up. As usual he was late, so I was eating the cookies I packed for him. All of a sudden the cattle behind me and the other part of the herd across the other side of the pasture started stampeding to the center of the pasture. The cattle met in the center of the pasture and continued a thunder like stamped southward. I knew it was not me that startled them.

As I turned slowly and looked over my left shoulder I saw something walking on the far west fence line heading northward. It stopped twice and looked in my direction. An ice cold feeling shot down to my legs. The 6 strand barbwire fence came to its thigh or butt area. This thing was about 8 1/2 to 9 feet tall, solid black, and covered ground in a way I have never seen. I thought if this is a man he would have to be a good jumper, but it did not look like it was in a hurry, just moving on. I was so caught off guard that I did not think to lift my rifle to get a better look, all I could do was just stare with my mouth wide open.

My brother shown up about 30 minutes later and I asked him, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" He said he just parked his truck and started walking northward where he knew I would be, 1 1/2 miles north of where I lived. So that eliminated him.

Additional observations:
Once in a while at night my wife and myself would hear a low bellow followed by a glass breaking shrill. A loud growl. We lived 2 1/2 or 3 miles from the North Sulphur River.

Investigator's Observations

Investigator(s): Jerry Hestand

This investigation was conducted as a result of an incident that allegedly occurred in Delta County, Texas in 1996.

The witness added the following comments during the lengthy interview:

- The subject seemed to have an extended stride.
- The arms seemed too long.
- The hip or the waist came up to a six-wire fence.
- The subject turned to face the witness twice....witness was wearing a brown hunting suit with a brown facial covering. (Witness stands six feet two inches.)
- The witness told me he thought about that after the experience and that made him a bit nervous.
- The coloration on this figure was black but it seemed a bluish gray cast was on it.
- It had short hair and appeared as though it wore football shoulder pads.
- It pivoted toward him and turned its torso.
- The witness could see daylight between its legs.
- When it turned to look at the witness its shoulders and head came down as though it was leaning over some.
- The general look of the subject was between a medium build and heavy...It wasn't "puffed" out.
- The shoulder width was amazing....hard to get over.

Map

Left Menu Iconmenu
WoodApe.org
Right Menu Icon