Investigation Report:
I was first contacted March 20, 2006 via my website submission form (www.bigfoot46555.net) by the person making the report. The family lives in a rural, southern portion of Orange County, Indiana. Having moved here from the state of Washington in the mid 90's, encountering a Sasquatch was the last thing she would have expected in the Midwest.
On the night of February 14, 2005, the witness had gone to bed after watching the news and trying to wind down. There had been some moderate storms pass through the area that day/evening, and conditions were mild later that evening. After going to bed around 11:00 pm, she was awakened by both her "inside dogs" and "outside dogs" all causing a ruckus for an unknown reason. Being a rural farmer, she thought it possible that something was into the livestock again, having lost chickens in the recent past, as well as having chickens, rabbits and even quail taken in years past from an unknown intruder(s). Having grabbed an air-rifle, the witness opened the front door and took three steps out onto the porch. The large family dog went rushing out toward the road where it stood barking in the direction of a wooded section across the road (also witness's property). All four dogs were at different locations in the yard, yapping and barking in the general direction of the road and beyond, when the witness realized the bigger dog had run right past something in the yard without stopping, but one of the smaller dogs was off to the side somewhat facing it.
The creature observed was approximately 30 to 40 feet away from the witness, and about 10 or so feet away from a utility pole with a sodium vapor type night light on it, 15 to 20 feet off the ground. For the most part, this put the creature nearly directly under the night light.
The witness saw a large hairy "man-like" thing squatted down on its feet, facing away from the front door and porch, holding a large tree limb in one hand, resting it on its shoulder with one end down to the ground across its front. Even crouched down, it appeared to be about 5' tall while squatting. Witness estimated that had it been standing, it would have been in excess of 8', but less than 9' tall. It was covered in hair about 3" in length, not matted, which was mostly black, but appeared to be graying across parts of its shoulders, neck and back of head. In that moment of shock and surprise, she let out an exclamation at the dogs' apparent lack of observation or sense of its nearness to them. When the witness spoke out loud, the creature's hair on it's shoulders, neck and parts of the back of its head began to "stand up," as if in reaction to hearing her speak, and at that point the creature began to shift its weight and pivot as if it were going to turn around in place and look back at the her. Afraid of having "it" look at her, she quickly moved backward into the house, slammed the door shut and dead-bolted it, hoping to make enough noise that it might scare the creature away.
The witness then went to her bedroom and loaded a 12-gauge shotgun, because her room is at the end of the house where the lighted utility pole is and the creature was just seen, and she ffeared it might come up around the window at that point. After her children (who were sleeping in her bed) woke, she called 911 and reported "a possible intruder" on her property and asked for an officer to come out quick. Within about 15 minutes, a sheriff's department officer arrived and spent a few minutes looking around and securing the property, with nothing or no one being found. A family friend was called to came out and spent a little time there, but because the witness was still very upset, they left the house for the night, and spent the next couple nights sleeping away from the property.
In hindsight, having lived on this large acreage working family farm since the mid 90's, odd things have gone on, but with no obvious or definable evidence. Since this sighting event, the witness has installed motion-sensing lighting, and become more aware of her surroundings. On one or two occassions this past spring, she feels she may have caught a glimpse of this same, or another large hairy creature near or around the edges of woods when driving in and around the general area. As well, her now 11 year old son, when around the age of four and up, would occassionally mention after coming in the house from playing outside, simple little statements about seeing "the hairy man" when he would be outside playing. They never gave that any credence until the last couple years.
While the neighbors have been generally vague in their comments, a few have seemed to indicate to the witness that over the past years, others in the immediate area have had odd and unusual things happen to them as well, but aren't or haven't come out with any specific stories that they are willing to commit to telling publicly. As well, some of these other farmers seem to have been putting up motion activated lighting on and around parts of their farms recently which seemed unusual to the witness, knowing these neighbors and the locations on the farm where it seemed unnecessary to the her to place such lighting.
In the last 3 months since this report initially came to me, I've maintained contact with this witness and will continue to monitor the situation as game cams have been deployed. Occasional screams and odd vocalizations have been heard this past spring.
Many reports of sightings have come out of this general area, which is not too many miles east of Patoka Lake, as Orange County is also just one county up from the Ohio River, somewhat centered in southern Indiana.
Michael R. Bardsley, S.R.I. Associate
Indiana Bigfoot Awareness Group
Report a Sighting