1981 Richie County, West Virginia

I am 32 years old now. I have lived in the same Holler since I was 5; my parents bought a farm here in West Virginia back in 1981 that had 64 acres surrounded by woods, animal trails, caves. Our neighbors had 3 boys about the same age as me and their cousin would come over on the weekends and in the summertime to hang out with all of us.

I can remember all 5 of us boys disappearing deep in the woods from morning till dark doing everything from playing cowboys and Indians to exploring caves, old hunting cabins and going swimming (which our parents threatened our butts that we best not come back wet - so all of us skinny dipped) anyway, as I sit here and reminisce about my childhood another boy/creature appears in my memories. I do not remember a name for him even though I know the neighbors were Billy, Eddie, Andy Satterfield, their cousin was Jason Bunner. I can not remember a name for the fifth friend -- all I can remember is that he always met up with us when we were deep in the woods and that he never followed us home. He was shorter than us but his feet were way bigger and he had way more hair/body hair than all of us put together.

It was in the 1980's and around here most but not all adult people were prejudice. We never saw many blacks or Hispanics around here; us kids did not care. Yes, he was different, but to us kids he was a friend and we had a lot of fun everyday; we were not afraid of him no matter what he looked like. He was not scary, just different looking than what we were used to and at that time so was a black person! I guess we viewed him like a person that grew up different than us.

I remember playing for hours with him in the woods for years & years, but as time went on and we grew up and started riding ATVs and driving and chasing girls I can not recall seeing him any more; I figured he grew up and found a girl friend too?

Well the years went by and I almost forgot that part of my childhood until last spring when Jason Bunner and myself were deep in the woods once again digging Yellow Root (**Golden Seal) when all of the sudden we felt like we were being watched; then Jason threw a rock at me to get my attention. He pointed across the creek about 50 yards I saw it/him (my hairy friend) standing in a clearing looking right at us.

We nearly crapped ourselves at first, then we both realized that what we were looking at was our hairy friend all grown up. He stood there staring at us for about 45 minutes when Jason and I finally yelled to tell him that we were digging some Yellow Root to sell (it was going for $19.00 a pound) and that we would dig and leave some for him in a clearing since it is good for mouth/cold sores, sore throats and other remedies.

As we were filling our bags up and gathering our digging tools and heading for the ATV our hairy friend made a bone chilling yell/scream and as we turned our heads towards where he was and standing along with him stood what appeared to be his wife and 2 children. We waved at them and yelled, "You got a good looking family there" and told him that we would be back another day to dig some more. A few days later we did get back in the woods to discover that the roots we laid out for him were missing, but replaced with a bundle of wild flowers and acorns (his way of paying us for digging the roots for him). We took those gifts and left more roots with a pile of berries that grow on them in the same clearing.

I do not believe this creature is harmful in anyway towards humans because if he was he could have killed or harmed all 5 of us kids years ago. Also he seems to know when it is us in the woods verses someone else because I have never heard of anyone else seeing him (or if they did see him, it was always a glimpse and never a family gathering).

It has been a while since I was 10, but you can ask anything you'd like, but let me tell you I do not go looking for him or his family everyday, I just feel myself lucky when I do see him, I do feel that (like many movies have portrayed) that he/they have chameleon capabilities and only show themselves when really threatened or when they know they are in the company of true friends.

I do not want researchers or cryptozoologists running all over my neck of the woods. It has to be hard being what they are and hiding for so long, so I hope you can respect that and just inquire about things instead of making my story the new start of a field trip.

I do believe that Sasquatches are a race of people/Indians of some sort with a rapid hair growth problem?! I do know that when we were children Jason Bunner’s grandma was canning deer meat as she does every winter and as always after she is done she just kicks the back door open and throws the boiling water out on the ground, but this one time my hairy buddy’s cousin was standing in the way getting splashed from the neck down to his belly button, instantly melting the hair/fur right off of him. All grandma said was he made one hell of a scream/yell (scaring the crap out of grandma Bunner) and then he just ran away. We thought she was just joshing us, because we never told the grownups about our woodland friends…. but a few months later in the spring our neighbors had a few cows that were mauled by a big predator cat and us kids/teenagers went hunting for the cat. While deep in the woods we saw him, a furry naked man with a bald burnt chest, he seemed to know that we weren't hunting for him, because he helped us to located the cats den; when the grown ups got close to us he just vanished and the grown ups trapped the cat and sold it to someone that does taxidermy work.

As to your questions:
1. Yes we talked to them, but I do not really remember him speaking back. He did however use hand gestures, even though we never knew sign language, but we all seemed to understand each other. We used the dirt/mud to draw things as a way of talking/writing each other letters.

I do remember that he could make sounds like every animal I know; he could snort and draw deer in closer, he could whistle and have turkeys call back, or he could whistle and have the whip-poor-will call during the day, he could make a noise and we would here coyotes, or bobcats or owls.

I do not remember him ever eating meat; even though he did help us early in our hunting to get deer and when fishing he would just get in the water and throw fish up on land. He always just picked berries and ate acorns and walnuts, and even got angry at us when we tried to eat some berries we found. We did not understand this behavior at first, but later when I showed my dad the same berries, my dad was like "you never ate any did you?" I was like "NO" and my dad told me that they were toxic and could have easily killed us.

The next time all of us kids gathered in the woods we all thanked our woodland friend for saving all of us. He showed us the Tea-berry, you can chew the leaves and it taste kind of like spearmint. He also showed us the sassafras tree and others. My dad also showed me these things, but a lot of times my dad was at work when us kids were in the woods so I learned some from my friend in the woods and other things from my dad.

Yes they do have a language of their own but mostly a lot of clicks, squeaks, grunts and beeps, and there was a great deal of hand gestures along with facial expressions between us. As far as speech, he never did speak English or some Indian dialect that I heard.

Just last spring, I happened upon a valley of ramps*** (an onion/garlic type vegetable that old people will almost kill for to get in the spring) and while I was at that location digging some for my dad and neighbor (along with getting some to sell, $1.50 for 6) I noticed that there was a patch of Yellow Root smack dab in the middle of the Ramps.

At first it did not make sense because Yellow root generally grows where it only gets so much sun and close to water in valleys but this was in a shaded area where no sun got to it. For some reason the plants in that area were bigger and the roots a lot bigger than in the surrounding areas, it was almost like they had been placed there by someone or something. Also it looked as though those plants had been watered and nurtured?!

I have found nuts of different kinds all piled up under a large over hanging rock in a place that I was sure that squirrels did not use. So I do think they do hoard or store food for the winter months. I have moved big rocks (using a floor jack, looking for snakes, I'm an amateur Herpetologist) to find a cache of nuts and roots, chipmunks don't dig roots do they?

I have also heard that a large nearby timber operation kept getting their tracks removed from off their dozers and thrown down over the hill, with no evidence that another vehicle had been up to the area. The dozer was pretty large and a bunch of naughty kids could not have done that without a bunch of tools and a 4x4 truck. But kids were blamed because no other evidence pointed at any other explanation.

I have not found foot prints in years but I have found/seen things that I could only explain to myself as they did it or made that mark or track; they are not stupid and they will go a mile out of the way not to walk through the mud as to not leave a footprint, but like us "Humans" their race has smart ones and some that could use a little help if ya know what I mean? The Sasquatches needing help are the ones that get photographed or leave prints, and when they make the news, the elders or older ones punish them and keep them close to home and don't allow them to go out and forage till the hype is calms down.

Anyhow like I said I am 32 years old and live in Ritchie County, West Virginia.

Believe me or not..

Shawn
Friday, December 26, 2008 8:57 AM

** Golden Seal (Hydrastis canadensis) is one of the most popular herbs on the market today. It was traditionally used by Native Americans to treat skin disorders, digestive problems, liver conditions, diarrhea, and eye irritations. Goldenseal became part of early colonial medical care as the European settlers learned of it from the Iroquois Indians and other Eastern tribes. It has strong activity against a variety of bacteria, yeast, and fungi, such as E. Coli and Candida.

*** The ramp, sometimes called wild leek, is a wild onion native to North America. Though the bulb resembles that of a scallion, the beautiful flat, broad leaves set it apart. Ramps grow from South Carolina to Canada, and in many areas they're considered a spring delicacy and even a reason for celebration. West Virginia is well-known for their many festivals and events in celebration of the ramp. The flavor and odor of ramps is usually compared to a combination of onions and garlic, and the garlic odor is particularly strong. Use of ramps dates back to 1600's; it is also interesting to note here that there exists in the database other witness accounts of Bigfoot seen eating wild onions and creek branch onions and other bulb roots in both coastal states.

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