Investigation: Bigfoot Shot in PA?

Primary Investigators

Stan Gordon– Independent Bigfoot and UFO Researcher
Ron Gallucci– Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society member
Eric Altman– Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society Director

Case summary:

On May 14, 2013 at 2:41 pm,

The PA Bigfoot Society received its first email in regards to the case:

The email read “Today in Somerset county PA a turkey hunter shot and killed an animal he claimed is a Sasquatch. The state police were called and responded to the scene, according to chatter on the local police frequencies the officers confirmed there was an unidentified animal shot and killed. Details are a bit fuzzy at this time. Any investigative assistance would be appreciated.“

May 14, 2013 at 3:20 pm.

The Pa Bigfoot Society received a second email. This one had a name and contact phone number attached. The email read “Hello, YES this is legit, a strange report came over the scanner here in Somerset, Pa. just a few miles from Flight 93 memorial. The message went to the local Police department. The report stated that a hunter had shot a Sasquatch while hunting turkey this morning. This is the first day of Spring Turkey in Pennsylvania. Later a second confirmation message on the scanner stated that yes there was a body but was unable to identify who or what it was. This all started about 10:30 AM and continued through most of the day. The location was stated as Russell or Rustic Road (too fast to be sure) here in the local area of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Just wanted to let someone know.”

Both emails were then forwarded off to PBS investigator Ron Gallucci because he is a nearby resident and closest to the area. The emails were also forwarded off to long time UFO/Bigfoot researcher Stan Gordon.

Both Stan and Ron made contact with the author of the second email.

Stan reported he contacted the email author and amateur radio (ham) operator who had made contact with the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society concerning the police radio transmission. From him Stan learned that the radio chatter in question had actually been heard by his friend who is another ham operator. Soon after, Stan talked with that man directly and learned some additional details.

The person who heard the transmission has a public safety scanner radio, better known as a police scanner, which is programmed to receive the Somerset County Public Safety radio transmissions that would include police, fire, and EMS. The radio transmission was broadcast over the scanner, and not over ham radio equipment. The man stated that he had heard a radio transmission come across a county police frequency.

The man stated he heard the Somerset County Dispatch Center contacting an area police department, but he was unsure as to what municipality it was. What he said he heard was that a hunter had called and stated that he had shot a Bigfoot. He soon heard some radio chatter from police who were reportedly joking about the report. It was about 20 minutes later that he said he heard a police officer radio back and state, “there was a body.” He said the next radio transmission to the officer was, “call the center.”

The witness also mentioned to Stan that soon after he heard the sound of what appeared to be a large helicopter near his house. The sound was so loud it shook his house, so he went outside to take a look. It was then that he observed a formation of four Army Apache helicopters approaching from the north and moving in the direction of Somerset. The man frequently sees such helicopters flying around that general area, but he thought the timing was interesting since the choppers were moving toward the direction of the location where the report of a Bigfoot had allegedly been shot just a short time before.

The investigation:

Ron is a long time resident of the area and has made multiple contacts in law enforcement and other departments due to his former career.

Ron placed calls to a trooper he knows that worked in the State Police Barracks at Somerset, and a contact he knows in the Somerset 911 call center. His contact in the Somerset barracks he knows was not available. Ron called the Somerset 911 call center and it was confirmed there was a call to the center but it did not involve a Bigfoot being shot. It was in regard to a gentleman that discovered large human like tracks, and that he believed were Bigfoot prints.

Ron then was informed of the municipal police department that investigated. Being that Ron has contacts at the Paint Township Police Station, Ron called and spoke to the Police Chief about the incident. It was at that time, informed him of the situation and invited him to meet in the office on 5-16-2013, to discuss the case and findings. The Chief also told Ron they had photos of what they believed were bear prints. No discussion or mention of a Turkey Hunter shooting a Bigfoot was discussed at that time.

May 14, 2013:

Thanks to another PBS member, Eric was given the address to a website called Broadcastify. This website houses archived EMS, Fire, and Police transmissions. The website had the archive for Tuesday March 14, 2013. Eric listened to the files and found that there was a call dispatched out of the Somerset 911 call center to a local municipality police force to investigate. Eric has been able to download the file. This is available upon request.

The transcription from the recording is as follows.

Begin Transmission “Dispatcher: Did you have a Mr. ###### at ## Spruce Street?” Police officer: “Negative.” Dispatcher: “He called the 911 call center advising he called the state game commission and no one has returned his calls and he is requesting an officer to his house as he has proof of Bigfoot.” Police Officer: “Bigfoot, Right?” Dispatcher: “Affirmative, he wants an officer to come to his residence.” “Apparently he has proof of Bigfoot.” Police Officer: reply was unintelligible.
End of Transmission.

May 15, 2013.

Contact was made with the Game commission, and it was Stan’s understanding that the Pennsylvania Game Commission in that area had no knowledge of the incident and was not involved in any investigation dealing with this matter on May 14, 2013

In the evening, newspaper accounts were posted on line that a Turkey Hunter shot another person on April 30, 2013 in Somerset Township, Wisconsin. Some are speculating that this is the source of the rumor. It does not account for the witness who claims he heard the scanner report of a Bigfoot shot and confirmed by police on Tuesday May 14, 2013 at approximately 10:30 am. We are unable to determine if this plays a role in the case or not.

May 16, 2013

Eric Altman called the Somerset State Police Barracks on Thursday morning. Eric spoke with the daylight dispatcher. When asked about any involvement of the Somerset State Police in regards to the claim, the daylight dispatcher stated she was not aware of any. She also stated she was working that day and did not talk to anyone filing any type of claim or statement about Bigfoot to the barracks.

The Dispatcher then told Eric she would check into it further and call him back. Twenty minutes later the dispatcher called and stated the Somerset State Police did not receive any calls or information about it, nor went to investigate any shooting. The dispatcher stated she did find out there was a call into the 911 Call Center on Tuesday May 14, 2013 and Paint Township Police were dispatched on an Animal Complaint issue of an individual claiming to find large Bigfoot tracks in the forest. Police responded, took photos and determined the prints to be Bear prints. Two sets of tracks were found. A large set and a smaller set. The tracks were identified as bear tracks.

May 16, 2013.

Ron Gallucci met with Chief of police and met with him today verifying this did indeed happen. He met with him, found out an elderly gentleman filed an animal complaint of “proof of Bigfoot.” An officer responded and confirmed they were 2 sets of tracks. A large and small set of tracks which suggested a Mama bear and cub. Photos were taken and Ron has a copy of the photos, police report and I have a copy of the 911 transmission of the call requesting an officer that took place at 11:30 am on Tuesday May 14.

Ron also checked the claim about the low flying military helicopters. It was found out that there were no military helicopters sent to collect a body. However there are always low flying helicopters in formation and they do fly over that area multiple times a week due to the municipal airport being close by.

Stan also added he is aware that the Pennsylvania Army National Guard operates Apache helicopters out of the nearby John Murtha-Johnstown-Cambria County Airport and commonly conduct training missions around that area.

In Conclusion:

We cannot determine what was heard nor find evidence to confirm what the Ham Operator witness heard on his police scanner on May 14, 2013 at approximately 10:30 am. Stan, Ron and Eric were able rule out the claim of a Bigfoot being shot and killed by a turkey hunter and confirmed by police.

We have confirmation from the Somerset State Police, Somerset 911 call center, Paint Township Police department and the Pennsylvania Game Commission that to their knowledge, there has been no Bigfoot reportedly killed, no body confirmed nor recovered.

We have the 911 call center audio file of the dispatched track discovery call, a copy of the police report from the Paint Township police department and photographs of the bear prints.

[display_podcast] The dispatch about the Bigfoot is found at the 2:54 mark of the file.

Additional notes from researcher Stan Gordon –

With all of the police scanners in the area you would think that others would have heard the report of a Bigfoot being shot and there being a body. Surely this would have drawn much interest from local people making inquiries as well as the news media. That hasn’t happened, however the man who says he heard the broadcast seems certain as to what he believes he heard.

The 911 communication tapes confirm that there was radio traffic about possible Bigfoot evidence being found in the area, however nothing about a shooting or body of a Bigfoot has been located on the recordings.

I am very familiar with emergency radio communications and the chatter of such scanner radios. On occasion there can be some distortions in such radio transmissions making it difficult to understand what was being said. Also I have found myself at times only partially concentrating on what is coming over the scanner radio while being occupied with other matters. It is a possibility that fellow could have mistakenly heard certain details about the Bigfoot activity in the area that day.

Stan Gordon

Ron Gallucci
Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society Investigator