Fort Lewis, Washington
U.S. Army Military Installation, 1977 & 1978

In 1978, Edwin Godoy was an E-4 soldier with the U.S. Army commissioned to Fort Lewis, in Washington State. Fort Lewis is located next to a forested area in that western state. Mr. Godoy was also an expert marksman who came out as the third best marksman in the U.S. Army for that year.

One night, as his platoon was returning in a truck from some war games in the forest, the truck malfunctioned and lost all power. Impossible to make it start, the acting commander decided to return to the base by foot with the soldiers and ordered Godoy — as he was the one who had signed for taking out the truck — to stay and guard it until morning, when a tow unit from the base would be sent to pick up him and the vehicle. To Godoy this was somewhat irregular, as normally, two men would be ordered to do this. Anyway, the others left at about 8:00 P.M. and he remained there with the truck.

At about 12:15 A.M. he noticed a figure some 300 meters away from him, standing next to some pine trees in the forest. What shocked Godoy was the size of the figure — it was very tall — and its body was completely covered with hair. "It was something very big, huge, a giant, " he said, "and it was all covered by a dark long grayish hair all over its body. It was standing next to a pine tree and swinging his body sideways while looking straight at me. It looked somewhat like a man, but it wasn't a man. Very strongly built, with a broad chest — and his eyes glowed red in the dark. The moon was to the back of it and there were no lights in the area. It was totally dark so this red glow was not due to light reflection. It was something... those eyes had a red glow to them... they seemed to be self-luminous.

"That thing started running towards me, so I shouted a halt three times, asking that thing to stop and identify itself. As it wouldn't reply I made a first shot to the air and then I shot at him or 'it', I don't know how to call it. The hairy thing grabbed its chest and emitted a loud moan, stopped and then ran to his right, disappearing into the forest."

Godoy, very nervous, reasoned he had just seen a 'Bigfoot', one of the forest's legendary creatures the Native Americans in the region often talked about. Afraid, he locked himself inside the truck until 6:00 A.M. when two mechanics from the base arrived in a tow unit to pick up the truck.

He explained what had happened, but they wouldn't believe him. They all went to where the hairy thing was shot and the men were surprised to see huge humanlike footprints imprinted in the soft ground and several small pools of blood that looked red, but strangely oily and fresh looking. The mechanics stared at each other and then looked at Godoy in a strange way and mumbled something between them in low voice. From that moment on they kept at a distance and wouldn't talk to him. They communicated by radio to the base and reported the incident. Later on, the truck started at first try. At about 7:30 A.M. some unknown personnel arrived to the site —: several men dressed in white lab coats, wearing thick gray 'rubber' (leaded?) gloves and boots took samples from the tracks impression on the ground, the alleged 'blood' which was handled with extreme care. The mechanics talked with these men, but Godoy was not allowed to do the same. Later, they all were ordered by radio to return at once to Ft. Lewis. Godoy was to report himself to the base hospital immediately at his arrival.

To his surprise, an Air Force medical officer, a colonel, was waiting for him there. Fort Lewis is a U.S. Army military base with no ties with the Air Force, so why the presence of this full-bird Air Force colonel there? He couldn't say. The usual thing would have been for the regular medical staff in the base hospital to attend him. This man was not from the hospital's medical staff. The officer debriefed thoroughly him on the incident and made a complete medical and physical exam to him. While examining him he kept asking at what distance he was from the creature when he shot at it, on the creature's description, if he felt a tingling sensation or had a sore throat, headaches, if a rash had developed on his skin — and other things. The Air Force medical officer apparently knew what to ask. It was obvious to Godoy that he was looking for specific symptoms — and answers — but symptoms and answers to what?

Several samples of his blood, skin scrapings, urine, saliva and other types of samples were taken from Godoy. The soldier knew something odd was going on, he kept asking the officer where he had come from but he wouldn't answer. After being examined, he was ordered to go to his barracks, then he took a shower and rested.

Later, he was ordered to go to the base commander's office. The base commander, (a lieutenant general — name not remembered by Ed Godoy), was there together with his company commander, Captain Underwood, and a colonel whose last name was, to his best recall, Kropsie. They debriefed him again on what had happened out in the woods and then the base commander ordered Godoy not to talk ever to anyone on what had happened. He was warned that if he ever talked about it he'd be court martial and would have to face the consequences. Godoy responded he would obey.

Later, heading to his room, he was approached by L. Robles, a Puerto Rican soldier who was commissioned in the hospital's lab. Robles asked Godoy what was it he had shot. Godoy said he was not allowed to discuss the matter and Robles insisted on asking. He asked Robles why was it so important for him to know. Robles answered: "I, together with two other guys, had to analyze the blood samples taken from the ground, and we know you are the soldier involved because it was stated as such in the report... And you know? It's crazy, but... what the hell was it you shot out there? When we examined the blood samples we found out three weird things in it... That blood contained human blood cells, animal blood cells...and chlorophyll. Man, that's incredible! What the hell was it?

Godoy, somewhat shocked by Robles words, stated he could not discuss the incident and left. Now, thinking back, he feels that the base commander, Colonel Kropsie, and Captain Underwood, all seemed to know what they were dealing with, and for that reason they had ordered him to keep his mouth shut on the incident. He remembered that on one occasion he had to enter a huge security vault in the base in which many bottles are stored. All these bottles were filled with a liquid substance that had a greenish glow, similar to what Robles had described. The bottles in the vault were kept there under very heavy security, because, according to him, the liquid in the bottles seemed to be plutonium stored at the base. Was there a relationship between both substances? He didn't know. But he found rather strange that he was ordered to stand guard on the truck alone. Why was he left alone? "I don't know Martín, but after thinking it over I had a strange feeling... Who knows, maybe that thing was to capture me. All I know for sure is that the U.S. Government and the military know something weird is happening in the northwest, and they don't want the people to know about it," stated Godoy.

[Edited] - Source: Robert Stansberry via Jorge Martín a researcher in Puerto Rico who met Mr. Edwin Godoy and his wife Myrna in Cabo Rojo, in the southwest region of Puerto Rico, while scuba diving. Posted to the IVBC 4 September 1998.

Second letter and possibly related story from Craig Bennett, Pemberton, New Jersey:

Dear Ms. Short: I have never seen a Bigfoot, found any tracks, or hear any sounds. Recently I discovered your web site and thought out of curiosity to just take a look. Your accounts by military personnel were interesting.

The point is this: Back in December 1977, some twenty years ago, I was a freshman at Burlington County College located in Pemberton, New Jersey. Next door is Maguire Air Force Base and Fort Dix Army base. So it was a common sight see to the military in the college courses. While sitting in the snack bar and trying out my first cup of coffee, a soldier walked in and went over to a table and then a second soldier arrived going to the first one and excitedly asked him if he had heard about the news. He related that a platoon of soldiers on an exercise from (I'm not sure of the fort name — Fort Lewis, Washington?) went into the woods to drill and were injured in an encounter with Bigfoot some where in the Pacific Northwest. The first soldier then looked around the room nervously and then the other soldier and told him to not talk about it here and "we'll do it later." I did not see them again nor do I know their names. Also I really didn't look either because I was trying to pass my courses and experience college.

Sincerely, Craig Bennett

Address withheld by request, logged by Bobbie Short.