Details On Alabama “Gorilla” Sighting
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 13th, 2012
The specific details of the recent Alabama ape encounter (see first posting here) are contained in the following official law enforcement document:
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE HALE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
March 12, 2012
STATEMENT REGARDING ALLEGED GORILLA SIGHTING IN HALE COUNTY
On Saturday March 10, 2012 at approximately 7:33 p.m Hale County E-911 received a call from Perry County Dispatch advising several children on a school bus returning to Uniontown from a sporting event had seen what they believed to be a gorilla at AL Hwy 61 and Hale Co Rd 20 in the Town of Newbern.
Deputies responded and checked the area.
NO gorilla or other large primate was located. The Hale County Sheriff’s Office answers all calls for service in a professional and serious manner. This call, like all others, was investigated and until further evidence is discovered we consider this matter to be unfounded.
Thanks to reporter Travis Vaughn.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Its interesting that all the school children said it was a “Gorilla” instead of a “Bigfoot”. If it looked anywhere near like the latter, one would think that at least a few of the kids would describe it as a Bigfoot.
Either this is an escapee Gorilla, or perhaps a NAPE.
Wow ! 6 foot 4 inches tall. That would make it the tallest Gorilla since “Gargantua the Great.” Maybe it’s Gargantua Jr. ?
I have to second Hapa on this one – to a point.
With the popularity of Bigfoot in modern culture it would, indeed, be surprising for the alleged creature to be ID’d by the children as a “gorilla” if, in fact, it in any way resembled a sasquatch.
I’d also posit that, in the past, while out-of-place exotic animals were often attributed to Carnival or Circus escapes/crashes, most old-time stories about crashed circus trains were just that – stories. However, in modern-day America, the prevalence of unregistered exotic “pets” makes it much more likely than an abandoned or escaped animal is on the loose.
These days all it takes to procure an exotic (i.e., illegal) animal – be it a snake, gator, monkey, big cat, ape, etc. – is simply a willingness to flout the law and enough money to pay the freight. Then, when those cute little critters get too big/expensive/dangerous, they escape from substandard enclosures or are released into the wild by their owners – in neither case is the release, intentional or not, likely to be reported to the authorities.
Can we be certain that a “gorilla,” rather than some kind of crypto, is at large in Alabama? No, of course not; unless “something” is captured/shot all we can do is speculate. However, combine the childerns’ descriptions with the likelihood of an unregistered escaped “pet” and I think you have a more plausible case for an out-of-place ape than a sasquatch or it’s ilk.
To put it another way: if you had to put money on it, and assuming “something” was actually captured in this case, which would you consider the more likely suspect: chimp/ape or sasquatch/nape? I know what my money’d be on…
You know this just might me a person in a gorilla suit. Have you seen how cheap they are on ebay now. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
“You know this just might me a person in a gorilla suit…”
So it WAS you?
Newbern resident Audra Smith McKinney is given credit by the Tuscaloosa News for the gorilla poster. I’m sure it is supposed to be humorous.
Along the same lines, someone created a Twitter account for the gorilla.
I received a report last night (Monday) that several volunteer fire department members and others had gathered at the store in Newbern and were searching. By the time I got over there, no one was really out and about.
I’ve also been told of a similar sighting in southern Perry County last year. Many people think there are some exotic animal farms around, but I have no evidence of that.
Locals report a huge invasion of Federal agencies, helicopters and special forces teams over the last two days. All this for some “ape” on the loose?? Something is very fishy here. Especially since that all local zoos have reported nothing is missing! Sounds like a Squatch sighting to me.
It’s not outlandish to have schoolchildren identify a gorilla. It also is not outlandish to have the whole bus jumping on that bandwagon. The ‘Mob effect’ would definitely be a factor in the reports given.
6’4″ is not too small for a skunk ape, is it? They are the smaller of the ‘Bigfoot’ (we definitely need a respectable name for these animals…) species being reported. Alabama would be a good locale for that kind of sighting. So, those children might’ve had a squatchy (Yeah, i hate it, too) encounter.
Next few days are gonna be interesting…
Depending on the age of the children, they may only describe something they’ve seen that they can relate it to. If you’ve never seen a bigfoot, but you’ve seen a gorilla and it looks similar to a gorilla, that would be how children would be likely to describe it. Or they’re silly kids making it up. Or they saw a gorilla.