Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy

Investigator's Comments

Mike Mayes

This investigation was conducted as a result of an incident that allegedly occurred in Liberty County, Texas, in the fall of 1981.

After a comprehensive interview with the witness, my report is as follows:

The witness was squirrel-hunting during the fall of 1981 with his dog, a terrier mix. He was hunting in what was a densely wooded area at the time behind his home about eight miles northwest of Dayton, Texas. The witness was hunting an area off a pipeline right-of-way about one-half mile behind his house. The witness had lived in this location for two years and had hunted this property often. He was carrying a .22 single shot rifle.

According to the witness, his dog, which was several yards ahead of him in the thicket, stopped and began to growl deeply. The dog then began backing up with its tail tucked. The witness had never seen the dog behave this way and bent down to get a better look at whatever the dog was seeing. The witness claimed that at that time, he made direct eye contact with a hair-covered biped that appeared to be approximately four to five feet tall. The witness estimated that he was within 20 - 25 yards of the subject and, despite the brush, he saw it very clearly.

The witness described the subject as small, weighing perhaps 100 - 120 pounds, and covered in reddish-brown-orange hair. The witness recalled the color as being similar to that of Hereford cattle. When describing the subject in greater detail, the witness said it looked like an orangutan but “with straight shoulders.” The witness further revealed that the subject stood erect, “not hunched over; it stood straight up just like a person…” He did not recall much about its face, only adding that “it looked like a big monkey.” The witness’s description of the subject matches the classic description of a juvenile bigfoot.

The witness estimated that after staring at each other for a full three to four full seconds, he and the subject both turned and ran away from each other. The witness remembered being absolutely terrified, as he had never seen anything like it before. He turned one time as he fled to look over his shoulder; he wanted to see if the subject was coming after him. The witness recalled seeing the subject running away on two legs at a high rate of speed. After losing sight of it, the witness could still hear it running and “tearing up the woods” as it made its escape.

Once back at his home, the witness called a family member who was a seasoned outdoorsman. This family member listened to his story but insisted the witness had seen a deer, bear, or some other known animal. The witness said then, as now: “What I saw was what I saw.”

The witness told me that he did not talk much about the encounter over the years as each time he told of his experience he was greeted with derision and ridicule. Chance meetings with a couple of law enforcement officers, including Jimmy Chilcutt (forensics dermatoglyphics analyst), and another Dayton resident, who told him the story of the “Dayton Monkey Man,” compelled the witness to think about contacting someone about the incident. A recent hoax that received widespread media coverage (Georgia bigfoot body hoax) finally convinced him to make a report. The hoax angered the witness because, in his words, “It is that kind of thing that makes it so hard for people like me. Because of hoaxes like that one, nobody ever believes me.”

I am confident that the witness believes that he saw something for which he could not account. The TBRC continues to collect and investigate reports of encounters, both first and second hand, historical and contemporary, with similar upright ape-like figures in Liberty County and surrounding Big Thicket counties. Many, if not most of the hairy bipeds reportedly encountered, have been man-sized and reddish-brown in coloration. Southeast Texas may indeed be the most prolific of the four-state region for reports of encounters of this nature.