Class 3a Encounter Report in Hudson, TX, Case #01100065

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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: 01100065

Class 3a

Hunter reports night-time encounter while hunting rabbits.

Report Details

Occurrence date: Winter/1979
Location: Angelina County, TX
Nearby/Vicinity: Hudson
Time / Conditions: 21:00 — Clear, cool.
# of Witnesses: 2

Witness Account:
I was hunting rabbits in the winter of 1979 with a friend in the Peavey Switch area. We had been walking the old road east of the Diboll cut off and had seen nothing. We loaded up in my truck and started riding the roads and shining lights looking for eye shine or rabbits in the road. We were coming up on a bend in the road I was shining across an old clearcut when my friend started screaming. I turned to see what he was looking at and saw what looked like a large man turning and going into the brush. We left the area as fast as the old truck would go and I pretty much gave up night hunting.

Additional observations:
My truck had a smell in the cab like something rotten.

Investigator's Observations

Investigator(s): Michael C. Mayes

This investigation was conducted as a result of an incident that allegedly occurred in the winter of 1979 in Angelina County, Texas just south of the small town of Hudson.

I spoke to the witness at length on 1 December 2010. The witness related the events of the night in question. He told me that he was an extremely experienced outdoorsman, having spent countless nights and days out on the Neches River and had never heard or experienced anything at all that he considered unusual. But on this particular hunt, he and a friend were out rabbit-hunting near an abandoned cabin not too far from Peavey Switch Road when something happened that changed his life and has kept him from living the kind of life he had lived up to that point.

The area was not developed in 1979 and heavily wooded. The pair was "spot-lighting" in the hopes of seeing the eye-shine of rabbits (the witness said his partner was a "dead eye" and could target and successfully shoot rabbits just from seeing their eye-shine). The area in which they were hunting had always been very productive, but on this night they failed to bag any game. They decided to move on, as they were having no luck near the old cabin. The pair climbed into their truck and began slowly making their way down an old dirt road while shining their lights into the brush in the hopes of catching a glimpse of some rabbits. The witness was driving and looking out the driver's side window when he heard his friend start yelling. The witness turned and looked on the opposite side of the road and saw a large upright figure quickly stride into the woods. The witness gunned the engine and "got out of dodge" at that point.

The witness's hunting partner related to him that he had been shining his spotlight into the brush, and it fell right on the face of a large, hair-covered animal that was squatting down just off the road, seemingly trying to hide from their vehicle. Once the light hit the subject, it stood up and quickly walked from the low brush near the side of the road into the thicker woods. The witness stated that his partner felt that if his light had not happened to fall right on the subject, it never would have moved and they would have driven right by it without seeing it.

The witness described the subject as very big and covered in long reddish-brown hair. He did not get a good look at its face as it had turned to walk away by the time he saw it. He did remember very clearly seeing the subject's arm and hand. The witness described the hand as very human-like, only larger. The witness related that his partner got a good look at its face. He told the witness the face was very much like that of a man and said its eyes widened greatly when he lit it up as if it were surprised. Once it realized it had been seen, it rose up on two legs and quickly walked away. The witness said the subject might have made a "screech" or scream when it was lit up, but he could not be sure due to his partner's yells. The witness recalled a foul and pungent odor that manifested immediately upon the sighting and permeated the inside of his truck for the better part of a week afterward. I inquired about possibly speaking to the witness's hunting partner that night, but he informed me that the gentleman had died two years ago.

It seems that Angelina County had a bit of a reputation as an area where "wild men" or "monsters" roamed from the 1950s through the 1970s. NAWAC report #01030016 documents another alleged sighting near Peavey Switch Road in October of 1968 of a squatting, hair-covered, bipedal animal. That witness made a statement in the report that the area had a lot of stories of this type associated with it. The witness with whom I spoke concurred and said that he had heard these same stories as a youth. He added that he had heard of another incident regarding "Callahan's Monster," a bigfoot-like creature, allegedly seen on the outskirts of Lufkin in the late 1960s. East Texas continues to be a source for reports of sightings of animals matching the description of the sasquatch to this day.

In conclusion, I found the witness's account compelling and detected no sign of deception. He related the story in the calm manner but remains, even 31 years later, amazed by what he saw that night.

(Mike Mayes is a teacher and a coach.)

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