‘Big Foot’ Terrorizes Kelly Area
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 29th, 2006
In my post from yesterday, Bigfoot in Texas, regarding the news segment that was aired on KENS 5 San Antonio, there was a link to the video on the station’s website.
The sightings from 1976 near Kelly Air Force Base where mentioned in the news segment.
A reader mentioned that they had never heard about these sightings.
Following are the entries from John Green’s opus, Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us regarding those sightings.
Aug. 1976 Nr Kelly Air Force Base, TX Ed Olivarri 7-ft brown Bigfoot ran out of his back yard.
Aug. 1976 Nr Kelly Air Force Base, TX Mrs. Rose Medina Nextdoor neighbor to Ed Olivarri, a few days after his sighting, saw 3-ft brown creature sitting on her back step; it ran off on 2 legs.
Following is the source for those entries, a 1976 article from the San Antonio Light recounting these sightings.
‘Big Foot’ Terrorizes Kelly Area
The San Antonio Light, San Antonio, Texas
September 1, 1976
A mysterious ‘Big Foot’ type creature may be lurking in a wooded area next to Kelly Air Force Base, frightened residents of a South Side neighborhood say.
The residents, who live on West Fenfield, also say the large animal might have a smaller offspring.
The big furry animal was first sighted about two weeks ago by Ed Olivarri, 1370 W. Fenfield.
Olivarri said he was getting ready to go to work early one morning when his dog began barking excitedly in the backyard.
Going outside to investigate, Olivarri said he was looking over the back fence towards a wooded area along Quintana Road when a train whistle sounded from the nearby Missouri-Pacific tracks.
"The animal must have been hiding or lying down because when the whistle blew, it started running. It looked like some kind of "Big Foot" monster. It was about seven feet tall with short brown hair over its body. It was running on two legs like a man, but a little more awkwardly."
Olivarri said that the dogs in the neighborhood have since started howling late at night.
Then early Sunday morning, a neighbor, Mrs. Rosa Medina, 1362 W. Fenfield, said she spotted a smaller animal which ran on two feet.
Mrs. Medina said she was awakened by her dog barking. When she went to the window, she saw an animal sitting on her back step. She said she was too frightened of the animal to go out so she tapped on the window.
To her surprise, she said, the animal jumped on on two feet and ran off. She described the beast as about three feet tall with brown fur.
In addition to the sightings, Olivarri’s sister, Yolanda, reported that the partially devoured body of a cat was found in their backyard last week. She said the jaw of the cat was found in their back yard had been twisted grotesquely.
Olivarri said he thinks the creatures may be a mother and its offspring living in the heavily wooded area along Quintana Road.
He said he has searched the area and has found some unusual looking footprints or tracks, but has been unable to sight the animals again.
Members of the Olivarri family Tuesday showed some of the tracks to a reported and photographer.
Several prints appeared to be the size and shape of human footprints
Olivarri said he had contacted state wildlife officials about the creature and was told that someone would examine the prints.
Meanwhile, a number of residents are afraid to go outside their homes at night.
"I’m not going to come out here alone," said Olivarri’s mother, Mrs. Guadalupe Olivarri as she talked to a reporter in her back yard.
And her daughter, Yolanda added, "Last night the dogs were barking and I heard a low growling, but I was afraid to look outside.
While organizing the Bigfoot in Texas? museum exhibit, several employees of the Institute of Texan Cultures attempted to locate these witnesses to no avail.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Thanks, Mr. Woolheater. Neat article.
Thanks for the article. I found the 3′ tall bigfoot and the part about the cat very interesting.
San Antonio has a beautiful riverwalk area downtown. Worth the trip if anyone is in the area.
I don’t see the San Antonio area to be different from many areas of Mexico. So I ask this question, “Are there Mexican bigfoot?”
If not then why not?
What about Central and South America?
CamperGuy you can find a short thread on that by going to bigfoot forums >Sightings & Encounters >Forum Topics > the 6th subject from the top – Sasquatch reports from Central America.
I remember hearing these stories from my uncle when I was five years old. It was the first time I had ever heard of Bigfoot living in this neck of the woods. I think I spent the next six months always checking my grandmother’s back step for a baby Bigfoot before going outside to play.
I know the area around Kelly/Lackland/Medina Base very well. There’s a very rugged and densely wooded ravine that runs between the two bases. It also has an ample source of ground water with the creek nearby. Nearby Medina Base Annex has deer, javalina and wild boar. Cougars have been seen and captured on it. This was several years later in the ’80’s. Most of nearby Mexico is not anything like the western edge of San Antonio are which is part of the Texas Hill country. It’s mostly desert except for the elevations above 5,000 ft sea level which is mostly pinyon and cedar forest. The area around Kelly AFB is where the Hill Country begins and the Blackland and coastal prairie ends.
hey craig & everyone etc at cryptomundo these sasquatch encounters are definitely very interesting & informative. I like the above replies as well.
What are the names of the counties in this area? Wanted to check the BFRO database.
Never mind – San Antonio’s on their map. There’s supposed to be some sightings in Gonzales County, but they don’t seem to be written up.
Air Force bases usually tend to be “hotspots” for UFO activity. These Bigfoot sightings give it a different slant. A very interesting article indeed. I wonder if other military locales have had similar types of reports, Bigfoot that is.
Thanks for the article. There have been a number of chupacabra sightings in south Texas. I guess it’s possible that the lack of Bigfoot sightings in Mexico is because any strange, large creature would be called chupacabra.
Iftheshoefits
Thanks. 🙂