Photo by Bob Doran
February 13, 2015
Interesting parallels with this recent news story and a Bigfoot sighting report I investigated over a dozen years ago from the Angelina National Forest. Details below.
Photo by Bob Doran
When students on Dr. Lynch’s botany field trip discovered a set of unusually large footprints and a tuft of coarse hair caught on a tree, they thought they’d made the discovery of the century. Unfortunately, Dr. Angela Carter with the Animal Sciences department is less convinced.
The excitement occurred last Saturday when 16 students and Dr. Peter Lynch hiked the Big Thicket forest for a lesson in native fora.
“Just after we’d taken a break for lunch, all of a sudden we all heard this crashing noise. It sounded like someone running blindly through the brush, like maybe a spooked animal,” said Jamie Dawe, a Sports Medicine Junior. “Four of us were curious and went to check it out. The first thing we noticed was this terrible smell, like something had died. Then we came on this little clear area where it looked like some brush had been piled up in a shelter. That’s when we noticed the footprints . They were too big to be a person’s, but no animal made them. Then Jace found a little tuft of hair caught on a tree. That’s when we thought, ‘This is it! We have physical evidence of bigfoot!’”
Excited by their discovery, the students called over their classmates and professor to witness the discovery. Although several students took photos from their phones, poor lighting conditions and poor contrast of the footprints made most images unusable.
Unfortunately, initial hair sample examination by Dr. Carter on Monday dampened the students’ enthusiasm.
“Under the microscope, the hair samples Dr. Lynch brought in share a lot in common with wild boar,” said Dr. Carter. “However, there were a few differences, so we mailed the sample to the state lab for genetic analysis. We should hear from them in about six months.”
Dr. Lynch and some of his students attempted to return to the site on Tuesday with better photography equipment, plaster for moulds, and sample containers. Although they found the location where they stopped for lunch, they were unable to retrace their steps to the mysterious footprints. For now, the existence of bigfoot remains a mystery.
“Looking at the bright side,” said Dr. Lynch. “I think my students have learned an unforgettable lesson about specimen collection.”
Group of students have 2:00 a.m. encounter while camping in Angelina National Forest.
Occurred October 1972 (Submitted August 2, 2002)
Witness Observation: I was camping with school buddies and a college professor in the Angelina National Forest. We saw a bigfoot. We were camped about five miles down a logging road. The professor that was accompanying us turned in a report to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. They wrote it up as an unidentified sighting. I will be more than willing to discuss the sighting.
Time and Conditions: 2:00am – Wooded areas, streams nearby.
Investigator’s Comments – Craig Woolheater
This investigation was conducted as a result of an incident that allegedly occurred in Angelina County, Texas, in the northern part of Angelina National Forest, October 1972.
I interviewed the primary witness on 21 August 2002, 30 years after the incident reportedly occurred. I was unable to contact any of the other witnesses for corroboration purposes.
The witness remembered that he was camping with a group of 10 students from Stephen F. Austin State University along with their professor. The witness indicated that around 2:00 a.m. the group heard something circling the camp; whatever it was sounded large and heavy. The group had a campfire lit and a Coleman lantern was burning.
The witness said that after a while, four of the students, including him, decided to check out what was making the noise. They walked into the woods carrying flashlights and suddenly spotted something standing behind a tree. All four shined their flashlights on the object and out came a large upright figure from behind the tree.
The subject was standing on two legs. It appeared to be approximately five feet tall, and was a light color. The upper part of the animal was stocky. The witness estimated its weight to be around 250 pounds.
The witness stated that he and the others looked at the subject for five seconds. The witness remembered how the subject was standing still and looking into the flashlights. Then he recalled how it suddenly jumped from a standstill, twenty feet over a ditch, and kept running. The witness said it was amazing how the animal jumped.
There was no doubt in their mind, that what they had witnessed was a bigfoot. The four young men were astonished and were very frightened.
The four went back to camp and woke up the others including their professor. They explained what just happened. The group decided to spend another two days in the area.
The accompanying professor contacted the US Forest Service; rangers came out to investigate. When the students questioned the rangers about these types of animals, the Rangers response was, “We?ve had reports before.”
Apparently the rangers and the students found footprints. The students left and came back with casting materials in order to cast one of the footprints. The print they cast had three toes and a nub for the fourth toe.
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.
Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Footprint Evidence, Forensic Science, Sasquatch