I really don't know how to start. I came to your website after an encounter with a large
creature resembling many definitions of Bigfoot. I was afraid no one would believe me until
I came here. This happened between West Des Moines and Van Meter, Iowa in Dallas County. It
happened last summer (around early July of 1999) at a campout with my friends.
My house sits in front of a rather large patch of timber. Our freshman year of high school just
got out for Summer Vacation, and we were celebrating in the timber at the camp out. It was just
getting dark outside, so we decided to build the fire. The four of us finished our supper and
were sitting around the fire just talking. Soon it was pitch black outside and you couldn't see
your hand in front of your face. We got out our flashlights and decided to go to the tent we had
set up earlier.
The next thing that happened, I'm not really sure about what time it was, but it was still very
dark out. We all woke up to the sound of rustling in the leaves. We assumed it was just a raccoon
eating the left over scraps of food, but then there was a strange grunting sound, sounding like
some sort of sick cow or something, and heavy raspy breathing. Also there was a reeking stench,
almost like rotten eggs. We all thought it was somebody playing a prank on us, but in the middle
of the night? And how would they find us out in the middle of the woods? We all went out of the
tent to look around, sure it was just nothing. As we unzipped the tent, the rustling stopped, and
the breathing slowed down a little. As we poked our heads out of the opening, we caught a glimpse of "him".
I still am not sure of what I saw that night. In proportion to the tree he was standing near
when we saw him, his head came close to hitting the branch, which seems to be a little less
than 7 feet tall. He was hairy, and had reddish brown fur.
Once the 4 of us talked about what we saw, we all had seen the same thing: A glimpse of him
walking away, I think he seemed maybe a little afraid of us, for what reason I do not know, he
was too far away too distinctly see his eyes. All I can tell you is that we only saw his backside,
reddish brown fur, and very tall. The woods we were in are located about 10 to 15 miles west of
Des Moines, I don't know how I could tell you how to get to the exact spot where we were camping though.
I know approximately where. The timber I very thick back in there, so it's hard to say. The
timber is behind my house, so it shouldn't be hard to find, if you need better instructions of
the location I can tell you road directions and such, but I would rather keep it anonymous for publication reasons.
As for the food he could have been attracted to, we had left over bags of potato chips, hot dogs
& buns, s'mores (chocolate bars, graham crackers, marshmallows) some fresh fruit (apples, bananas, oranges)
I can't think of anything else at this moment, but just general snacks and food for open camp fires.
His body was pretty strange as to the proportion question. Big hands (most likely big feet too),
tall, and large biceps and upper leg muscles from what I could tell, and long hair covered his
whole body from what we could see. I can't remember a lot more about this creature, he (or
she I suppose) seemed very frightened at the sight of humans, he wasn't afraid of the campfire
it seemed (although it was just smoke by this time). My guess is that he was attracted to the
fruit most likely. The fruit was the strongest smelling piece of food we had.
I am sorry if you need better answers for these questions. If you would like any other info, feel
free to e-mail me. Also, I would like to request that you keep my name anonymous if you choose
to put my sighting on your page. Thank you for reading my mail and taking time to respond. Feel
free to contact me with any other questions.
Thanks again, A.J.
Sat, 8 Apr 2000 20:39:11 EDT/reference in the files of Bobbie Short.
