Class 3a Encounter Report in Lake Ariel is a village in Lake and Salem Townships, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Located in northeastern Pennsylvania, PA, Case #22011701

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Case: 22011701

Class 3a

Woman Recounts Series of Unusual Occurances and Sighting of Large Primate

Report Details

Witness Account:
This event happened over 35 years ago when I was around 12 - 14 years old. It changed my life yet I only recently told people what I saw. Some details I don't remember anymore such as time / exact dates.

A little details:
My father often took me for most of the summers to his uncle's property. We stayed in off grid hunting cabin. My father was a avid outdoorsman, hunter & fisherman. He taught me alot about the outdoors. I was a complete animal & nature lover. I study & read about all animals. I even took summer classes / internships on zoology, zoos, basically anything I could at my age.
I was no novice even at that age with the local Wildlife.
Another tidbit is at that time I owned a mix breed (Lab, Shepherd & Collie) dog, Prince.
Prince was my constant shadow & protector. He was quick to act & fearless. He lived spending the summers with me & his favorite pass time was finding then chasing deer but especially bear. Luckily he always listen to stop causing trouble & come back.

Now to what happened:
Please see more detail description of surrounding below.

Most days I spent the heat of the afternoons in my favorite place. Which was a boulder at the end of a trail from the cabin. It was in the shade of the wood line with beautiful views of the field & brook. I often brought a sandwich plus apple with me while I sat on the boulder to read.

This became my normal routine for the next couple of weeks. Every afternoon I would be there for a few hours reading. But something seemed off. Normally I would hear & see various song birds. Also small Wildlife would normally be spotted also. Everything seemed unusually quiet. Yet I got the feeling something was in the woods across the field.
Oddly my dog Prince was acting very distracted. He wanted to go back toward the opposite direction of the cabin. Something he never wanted to do normally.

I wasn't sure if homeless person or wild animal out in woods, so I decided to leave my apple on the boulder. Each day I came back my apple was gone. So I thought I would test to see if whatever is around is carnivorous. Since we fished in the mornings I always had plenty of trout. I started to leave a trout & apple on the boulder. I was surprised to see both were always gone. Not even a trace of fish bones was left. Whenever we down to my uncle's farm I would collect acorns to leave on the boulder also.

After a few days of leaving the various food items on top of the boulder I started to find different color river rocks on top of the boulder. At first I didn't think much of it. But then noticed despite removing the rocks every day so I can climb up on the boulder to sit I would find more rocks the next day.
I still felt like I was being watched. I started to get uncomfortable & began leaving after placing the food items on the boulder. I felt like I was being followed back towards the cabin.

The rest of the day I spent by the pond. I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. My dog, Prince normally swimming for hours in the pond was glued to my side. My uncle & aunt came up to have a cookout with us. Their dogs were also acting very mellow & staying under the pavilion with us.

We normally walked over to the large equipment barn on the opposite side of the field in back of the cabin. The barn was filled with straw bales we could sit on & watch the deer. This night was the first time we ever came here tons of deer didn't rush out onto the field. We would see some deer across from us come out of the wood line then dart back into the woods. We were down wind from them so it was odd.
I felt like I was being watched still. I told my father I just wanted to go back to bed / cabin. I was in a rush to leave & didn't realize I dropped or lost my campus until I got back to the cabin.

Next day = actual sighting

As I approached the boulder I was shocked to find my campus sitting on top of more river rocks. This really freaked me out. I figured it had to be a person stalking me now. I turned around & hurried down the trail. I still felt like I was being watched & followed.
Half way back to the cabin my dog Prince started growling & charging toward the brook. I grabbed his collar & put him on a leash. I was afraid if a person was out there they had a gun.
Then a black bear appeared in the woods walking parallel to us. He obviously could smell I was carrying food, but weighing his options against a barking snarling dog. I threw the food in back down the trail. But the bear didn't move. My dog, Prince was suddenly quiet & looking up the slope. I couldn't see anything at first. I noticed long the tree line something looked off. It looked like a strange shape next to a tree. The sun was in back of it so wasn't sure it was a odd shadow. I heard banging noise & almost like a growling. Turned back to see what the bear was doing thinking the growling came from him. The bear took off running like it's life depend on it.

I looked back up the slope. I realized it couldn't be a shadow because it was moving. The loud banging noise was him beating his chest with one hand.
Even though I couldn't make out what I was seeing I never felt so scared. I was literally frozen in place. The shape was almost human but the lack of neck, width of chest, the arms were too long to be human. His hands down to his knees. Most of all the size was just so big I couldn't fathom what I was looking at. It stood head half hidden in the tree line of mature pines. That had to be anywhere from 8ft-12ft tall -?

He squatted down 1/2 behind the tree watching me. This only showed how big he really was.

I looked down at my dog to comfort him since he was leaning into me & down the trail willing myself to move.
Hoping my eyes were playing tricks on my. This was only seconds looking away.

I heard a stick crack & looked back up to the huge figure. He had moved a little down the slope. He must have moved very fast because I only looked away for a few seconds. He was back to squatting by a tree.

Now I could see better that he was covered in dark brown - black hair. My first reaction was this was a Gorilla, like I saw at Bronx Zoo. Except so much bigger & with longer hair. He's skull seem a little different than Gorilla. Also he was standing completely up right but his hind legs remained bent slightly. The sun was still behind him making out exact facial details difficult.

He threw something in opposite direction. I looked in that direction & as soon as I looked away I saw in side vision he began moving again.
He crawled in a way by stretching out his arms & legs while remaining close to the ground. He was able to move very fast a great distance = basically his height + arms & legs stretched out then pulling himself forward. He was now even closer down the slope & resume sitting position partially behind trees by the time I turn my head back.

He threw another small rock down the trail. This time I wasn't looking away. He started making odd gurgling like noises. He then got quiet & watched me. I felt like he was studying my reactions / emotions. Maybe because I was frozen in fear.

Then he got up to his full gigantic height. He took a long pronounce step to the side out in the open. Then stood staring at me. I got the feeling he wanted me to see him. We stay watching each other for a little awhile. Some of my fear was wading. I got the feeling he was trying to communicate with me.

Then he dropped down like a gorilla with his hands on the ground also. The side view of his face showed his nose & mouth protruded out like a snout a little. He's forehead seem to also protrude forward a little. In this position he had the exact profile of a gorilla's topline. He's skull was more rounded. Arms & legs much longer than Gorilla. He was massive but not as broad as a male Gorilla. Also still just so unbelievable tall.
Once again he out stretch his arms & legs in a full out run unlike any Gorilla or Chimpanzee I've seen. He was gone in a blink of a eye.

The way this animal can move it's no wonder they are difficult to spot. What I saw definitely seemed like a intelligent ape / early humanoid species. Especially the reaction from my dog that's normally very scrappy. He would've shown aggression toward a bear or stranger scaring me. I've seen seen him afraid of anything before.

The next morning I found a colorful river rock on the cabin stairs. I asked my father, uncle & cousins if they ever saw anything odd in the woods.
I told them I saw something really big & moved very fast.
They all blew it off as a bear & laughed. I left it at that & when I returned to the cabin I stayed by the pond or in groups with my friends. I never went to my favorite spot again.

Hand/foot prints:
NA

Sounds:
• Loud bangs = he was beating his chest with one hand. The bang was so loud it was like you could feel the vibrations & the ground shook.
• Growling like noise
• Gurgling like noises almost like he was talking.
Over all after the noises to chase the bear away he was pretty quiet.

Additional observations:
When I got the feeling of being watched all normal woodland & nature noises stop. It was always a weird silence.

Before I saw him all birds flew out of the area. You didn't hear or see anything

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