Encounter Location: Beside the Sulphur River, East of Long Slough & south of Ford Island within the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission‘s Sulphur River Wildlife Management Area. (As best the witness could determine by his recent review of various maps of the area.)
Nearest Highway or Road: State Highway #237
General Terrain Description: River bottoms wetlands.

Nearest Lakes or Streams: Sulphur River.

Witness Profile: The reporting witness is a male who was about 13 years old at the time. He was accompanied by his father who was an experienced woodsman, hunter, and a World War II combat veteran. The witness had never been to this particular area before, and never returned to it again.

Activities of Witnesses Prior to Encounter/Incident: Both had been duck hunting from a boat near what the witness remembers to have been called either “Hermit Island” or “Hermit Mound”.

They had launched his father’s motor driven boat on a newly cut boat ramp into the Sulphur River. At noon, they returned, loaded the boat on the trailer and pulled it off the side of the new ramp road and parked about 30 feet from the river. They planned to eat their lunch, rest awhile, and put the boat back into the water and hunt that afternoon.

Details of Encounter / Incident: The two hunters had placed their lunch on the hood of the truck and were standing or pacing around as they ate. The road to the ramp had been recently built and the witness remembers that the road appeared to have been close to 25’ wide. The timber had been cleared for about 30 or 40 feet along both side of the road bed. He said the road was straight for approximately 400 yards away from the ramp.

While they were eating they discussed what a good day it was to be hunting. He said he remembers that is was very sunny and clear, and the birds were singing all around them. Sometime after they began eating, they both began to smell “an awful stench like an outhouse”. They looked around but saw nothing unusual. As the stench grew worse they looked down the roadway and saw a dark, man-life figure - but much to large to be a man - walking across the roadway clearing about 200 or 250 yard from them. It was walking from the woods along the river toward the south, and taking very long and deliberate strides. The witness stated the creature was walking with its forearms parallel to the ground as if it were carrying something, although as far as they could determine, it was not. (The witness elaborated by saying that because the creature’s midsection was covered in long hair, they might not have been able to see a small animal in its arms if the animal was being held close to the body, and if its hair was about the same color as the creature’s.)

The creature never looked in their direction and crossed the cleared areas and the roadbed quickly. He said it took the creature only a few seconds to cross the entire opening. He said the creature’s stride was one of the things that impressed him the most. He said it appeared each step covered over eight feet, and it was not running. He said it appeared the creature crossed the cleared areas with not much more than 12 steps. It then disappeared into the woods.

The father took his shotgun from its case inside the truck cab, loaded it and lay it on the hood of the truck. His father closely watched the woods until they finished their lunch. They did not see the creature again. Later that afternoon they put the boat back into the river and hunted until dark without incident.

Description of Animal(s) if Seen: The witness said the creature was over eight feet tall, and maybe nine. He said it was covered in shaggy and patchy hair. The hair was predominately a rusty-red color that was brindled by black streaks. He said the hair was not “slick”. He stated the hair on its legs, back, side and midsection was longer than that on its upper shoulders and head. The witness never saw a full view of the face. He said that because the animal’s head seemed to sit on its shoulders (without a neck), the head had the shape of a “dinner bell”, with the shoulder muscles that sloped up to base of the head making the lower, flared part of the “bell”. He stated the head’s position on the shoulders somewhat resembled that of a large gorilla’s.

He stated it had a very large, thick, and muscular chest and shoulders.. The upper arms, from shoulder to elbow, appeared to be noticeably shorter than the lower arm from the elbow to the hand. The waist “was not really narrow” but the hair on that area appeared longer and more “shaggy”. They saw nothing to indicate the sex of the creature, but both believed it to be a male.

Description of Related Sounds: None. The witness and his father did notice that all of the birds that had been singing in the area just before they first smelled the creature became silent when it started walking across the opening.

Description of Related Scents/Odors: A stench like that from an outhouse. During the actual sighting, the smell became so strong it made the witness “want to throw up”.

Other Reports From This Area? This general area has a very long history of encounters between area residents and these creatures. Many of those encounters have been detailed in newspapers, magazine articles and a movie. The internet websites of various Bigfoot Research groups carry several eyewitness accounts of encounters in this area as well.

Tal H. Branco - March 3, 2010

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