A Collection of Some of the More Bizarre and Surreal Bigfoot Encounter Reports

The world of Bigfoot sightings and encounters can get pretty strange. After all, we are dealing here with a supposed giant hairy hominid that has somehow gone undiscovered and not even particularly convincingly caught on camera despite being constantly reported in the wilds of North America and beyond. While such reports can be pretty odd as it is, there are some that stand out as particularly bizarre, pushing the whole phenomenon into the stratosphere of the weird, and here we will look at a selection of such bonkers accounts. 

Some Bigfoot reports are odd in that they don’t seem to describe something that is within the typical description of the creatures, and indeed can be well beyond it. One of these types of reports seems to describe what might be a completely different species of smaller hairy humanoids prowling the wilderness, and an account of this type comes to us from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). The sighting occurred in 1965 in Huron County, Michigan. It begins one evening when the witness was on the shores of Lake Huron having a bonfire with a group of kids when some other kids ran up in a panic claiming they had been attacked by a “witch.” The witness went to go check it out with a friend of hers and as they were climbing up a dune she says they were confronted with something from beyond their understanding. She says of what happened next:

The creature was about 4 feet tall, and had massive shoulders like a football player with their shoulder pads on. It was standing up right, but appeared hunched forward at the shoulders, appeared to have no neck, and a relatively small and perfectly round head. Due to the moon being behind it I could not see the lower 2/3rds of the head nor could I see the face at all. I really tried to see the face, too, but it was totally dark. From the massive shoulders, it narrowed into a relatively small waist with short stocky legs bent at the knees, and big feet. The chest was smooth and looked at 1st like leather, but I realized I could see muscle outlined. The arms were longer than would be proportionate for a human, hung down to its knees, and the hands were long and large. He was facing me swinging his arms side to side, right left, and had stopped growling but was kind of grunting. (I say he as it was very masculine looking.) It was covered with orange hair. As I studied it, I realized I could see veins, tendons, hairs coming out of skin. I began to realize this thing was real not a costume. I saw what looked like about 1-inch-long claws, clearly lit by the moon. I realized this thing was real, had started walking towards me, and had claws and a jolt of fear kicked me into gear and I ran. I know you say these animals don't have claws, but I saw claws, that's what made me panic. I am open to the possibility they were long fingernails. As I was running, I remember being so afraid it was going to grab me, as it was coming slowly towards me and was only about 6 feet or so away when I ran.

What was this thing? Another account of a diminutive “Bigfoot” comes from Ingham County, Michigan, where the witness was taking a stroll through a place called Bancroft Park, which is incidentally not a particularly remote area, when he saw what he at first took to be a child playing. As he drew closer, he noticed that this was no child, and the BFRO report reads:

The witness stated that what he saw was around four foot tall, covered in dark brown/ black fur/hair & nothing stood out different with regards to it's underlying skin color and what he described as “claws” initially, were actually long thin nails that came to something of a point, similar to claws at the end of a dog’s paw. No sound or vocalizations were heard from it, other than the rustling of bushes as it made its way thru them. The witness also stated that the "big reddish eyes" only stood out to him, because the rest of the body was dark in color. The witness stated that he didn't see and eye shine, or glow, but only the redness in the eyes due to no white of a typical sclera showing.

Very strange, indeed. Another report of a Bigfoot-type creature with a rather distinctive appearance was reported in 1973 by a witness who came across a rather small specimen with patchy hair, a protruding gut, and a face like a “lonely old man.” The witness explained of it:

The creature was not tall by any means probably in the low 6 foot range, I would compare to my current height of 6'1". The hair/fur was a rather rusty brown and wavy or matted. It didn’t look like a recently cleaned coat if you were to compare it to cleaning your dog’s coat etc. It looked like it was unkept and even sort of dread-locked appearance hair. I do recall that some of the hair on the body was rather long about 10 inches and I could see it move as the creature walked away. It looked a lot like of the reggae/rhasta type hair styles but not completely covering the body but just various strands of it throughout. The creature had a rather glum face or expression, like a lonely old man who didn’t have any friends. I do recall its eyes sort of reminding my like that of an orangutan and sunken in. It by far didn’t look evil, or mad in any way even though we were terrified. I think we may have woken it up and it was surprised and maybe a little irritated that it had to leave its comfortable seat next to the creek. The hair around its head sort of drooped down on the sides. There didn’t seem to be much hair on its face but it did have some. The nose may have been flat. I don’t recall any details about the mouth or ears etc. Its possible it had a slight cone shape to its head but not drastic. I don’t recall any smells or odors associated with it. There really wasn’t a neck and when it moved its legs just seemed to float forward without any obvious effort. The animal appeared confident, agile and very graceful. Once it disappeared into where-ever, I don’t have clear details into the rest of the moment.

Other bizarre Bigfoot reports have to do with these creatures exhibiting rather unusual behavior. For instance, there is a BFRO account from Benzie County, where in 1985 a witness claims to have seen one of the creatures apparently hanging out with a bunch of dogs. The witness says of it:

My very first thought was that a man had been out with his dogs and was somehow calling them to him. I thought a “man” because it looked like a very large man in a snowmobile suit with his hood up. A snowmobile suit because his body was not defined the way a person’s body would be. There was no separation between his shoulders and his neck – the way it looks when someone wears a jacket with a hood. It was as if my mind was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, but then I actually saw what I was looking at. It could not have been a man. It was very tall. Probably 2 feet taller than an average man. I’m guessing it must have been 8 feet. And there was no reason for a man to be wearing a snowmobile suit. They day was much too warm. He was all dark gray in color with no body definition. It was just all gray and big and bulky. His arms were also longer then a man’s. His hands hung down by his knees. By this time the dogs were all with him and excitedly running around and jumping. I remember thinking that the dogs were obviously “with” him. I also remember thinking that he must have called or whistled to the dogs. I don’t actually remember having my window down, but I must have because I remember thinking that if he had called or whistled I would have heard it. He then began to walk into the woods. He moved oddly. Not the way a man would walk. He had very large strides and his legs were bent like someone running but he was walking. It was similar to watching someone run in slow motion. And his arms swung back and forth in exaggerated motions. He moved into the woods very quickly but he was just seemed to calmly walk away. He had been right on the edge of the woods so we were not able to watch for very long before he and all the dogs disappeared into the trees.

What in the world? It is interesting to note that most Bigfoot reports describe dogs showing great fear of the creatures and going absolutely bonkers, so what are we to make of this case? Who knows? In another case the witness describes a Bigfoot in Muskegon County, Michigan that apparently likes to kill deer and make piles of its bones. The BFRO report says of it:

A witness believes there is a Bigfoot on the border of Muskegon and Oceana counties. She claims to have seen a tall animal looking out from the underbrush, as well as dead deer placed in the trees and "bone pillars." Reportedly, the piles of bones were stacked up to three feet high. In the report, the witness also states,   ‘During a walk after dark I was chased by an enormous creature which ran on two feet and was most definitely not human. Frequently, there was a feeling of being watched.....Also during this time period there were a lot of deer kills being attributed to wild dogs, I had no encounters with wild dogs in that area or their tracks or sign. Any time it felt like the creature was near there was a distinctive musk odor. Also some odd calls were let out before the chase in the dark....like nothing I had ever heard. This is in White River Township. I will tell you, there is more than one type of "bigfoot" living out there, the larger more reported, and a smaller not so reported. The smaller has closer to humanlike features, and resides in upper Michigan. It has the appearance of an early ape-man on the evolutionary track.

The mention of killing deer is pretty rare for Bigfoot accounts, as they are mostly described as peaceful creatures and not predators, but this isn’t always the case. In some instances, Bigfoot have been reported as being quite aggressive and even attacking people. One of the more outlandish of these accounts is one from BFRO from a witness who had his own standard Bigfoot sighting, but also relates another incident involving a Bigfoot attacking military personnel in a tank. Yes, you read that right. The report says:

There were other reports in and around N. Michigan the entire time I grew up there. In fact, a year or two after my sighting there had been accounts in the local newspaper (Crawford Co. Avalanche) of strange sighting and incidents by members of the National Guard. I heard that about 40 people watched a creature on the artillery range with binoculars for a while and that something was jumping on a tank and banging on the outside while there were soldiers inside. They did not see what it was because it was nighttime but the story’s I remember is that it was being called the “tank-banger."

What the what? Besides accounts with odd appearances or behavior, we have the really spooky and out-there stuff. Definitely qualifying are accounts of Bigfoot that are either invisible or have the ability to vanish into thin air. One BFRO account comes from a witness who claims that in 1991 she was out in the woods riding a horse at Marquette County, Michigan when she saw a Bigfoot that appears to have just evaporated or gone invisible. The witness has said of the strange incident:

All of a sudden, the animal came within about 30 yards from us, stopped and turned to go sideways... running behind some pine trees. HE just disappeared!!! I didn't see him come out of the other side, go back, nothing. JUST GONE. I was quite scared at the time, and real excited, too. I was too scared to go into the woods to find where it went, or what it was for that matter. I had white hair, looked like a horse standing tall, looking at me, but when it turned sideways, to run, there was no large body behind it. IT looked like an upright animal running. IT was totally silent, with no noises even though he was running through the trees, and in a very heavy blue berry patch area. THE area has since been logged off in that stretch, and I know my kids saw something running in the woods the same summer while 4-wheeling. We made a big joke about our albino Sasquatch, and to this day, I do believe I saw something real remarkable.

There are quite a few reports along these lines, of apparent Bigfoot just blinking out of existence somehow. There have been several similarly bizarre and inexplicable cases of Sasquatch simply vanishing in full view listed in a paper called Vanishing Bigfoot and Anecdotal Accounts: Implications and Challenges for Researchers, by Sharon Cornet. One of the cases covered comes from the summer of 2000, by a witness named John Bohannon. He claims that had been driving along a dirt road during the daylight hours just west of the Three Rivers Campground, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, when he saw a massive bipedal, ape-like creature, which was estimated to have been around 8 feet tall and walking along in the same direction as his vehicle. The driver slowed down to gape at it, and the massive beast was described as having short, reddish brown hair all over its body, with longer hair underneath its forearms and a face that looked like a “Neanderthal.” It allegedly kept up its brisk stride while staring directly at John for about 100 feet, after which it suddenly just abruptly faded away into thin air, as if it had just been somehow erased. The witness explained that there were no trees or anything that it could have hidden behind and that it seemed as if it had walked through “an invisible wall.”

Also covered is a curious account that allegedly happened to witness Larry Kelm, in August of 1980 near Eugene, Oregon, and it is hard to really classify, seeming to point at vanishing Sasquatch being the result of some sort of inter-dimensional portal. On this day, Larry had decided to take a hike along the Mollala Indian trail, which connects the ridges of Saddle Blanket Mountain and nearby Oakridge. At some point during his hike, the witness claims that his surroundings became blurry, overcast, and tinged with an odd grey color, despite the sunny weather, and even though there were no clouds in the sky it seemed as if a shadow had been cast over the land. Larry would say of this:

The only way I can describe it was as if suddenly I was looking through someone else’s prescription sunglasses. I finished the step and started another. Every inch I moved forward the darkness increased and the gray blurring turned into a jumble of shapes that made no sense.

Then, as suddenly as this had all happened, Larry reports that he seemed to pass “a barrier,” and that everything returned to focus but that it was now night time and the wind had completely ceased. Upon looking around himself, Larry found that the scenery had changed in other bizarre ways as well. Instead of the fir trees that had been around him before, there was now thick, unrecognizable and wild vegetation similar to a jungle, and the air seemed thick and oppressively humid. Even though it was now night and there was no discernible moon in the sky, he found that he could still see everything to some degree, as if there was some mysterious light source casting a faint frosting of light upon the landscape. At this point, Larry claims that the air was pierced by a “continuous high-pitched keening sound,” which immediately filled him with an unbearable sense of dread. The witness explained the really quite bizarre events that followed:

It was at this point, I heard a whispered “Gotcha” over my right shoulder. I couldn’t tell if I heard it with my ears or inside my head. The word wasn’t directed at me but something said the word quietly to itself. I was so terrified I actually felt my heart stop for a moment. That whispered word is what saved me. I opened my mouth and gasped in a huge gush of thick air and recoiled backward in the same footsteps I had entered wherever I was. As I threw myself backward, I looked over my right shoulder. A dark colored hairy right hand and arm was reaching for my throat over my shoulder. The hand had pale ivory spade-shaped fingernails. The nails looked clean and almost had a manicured look to them. The thumb was placed lower (towards the wrist) on the hand than a human’s is. Both hand and arm were thin and powerful looking and both were covered with thick coarse black hair. I got a good look at it because the thumbnail grazed my neck (it did not break the skin) as I moved backwards. As I continued backwards, the hand clutched where my neck had been a split second before and it seemed to fade off into the distance as I returned through the Portal.

As soon as he had scampered a few more steps backwards, Larry found himself back in the cool mountain air he had left behind and back in his familiar surroundings, and the portal before him seemed to be an oval shaped patch of shimmering air that slowly faded away until it was gone. Larry then ran off towards his truck as fast as he could without looking back. The terrified witness later would reflect on what had happened to him, and came to the conclusion that it had been some sort of inter-dimensional trap, saying:

On my way home, I was absolutely horrified at the thought of what would happen if I were to drive my truck into something like that. It had been a trap pure and simple. Whatever it was that tried to kill me somehow kept the Portal hidden from me on the way in, and I didn’t actually see it until I was back out again. I had terrible nightmares for years, and still haven’t come to grips with what happened. My fingers are trembling and the hair is standing up on the nape of my neck as I write this.

In yet another report, a witness named Ms. Montanez was driving along a desert highway east of El Paso, Texas, when she spotted a Bigfoot reportedly hunched over a dead coyote. She slowed her vehicle to get a better look at the bizarre sight, and claims that as she looked on the massive beast started to sort of sink, as if being absorbed into the ground, until it was completely gone. The witness was convinced that there had to have been a cave there, and that the thing had simply retreated to its dark confines, but when the spot was investigated there was found to be no cave or other opening in the ground. Curiously, the coyote was gone and there were no footprints of anything that could have matched the description of what she had seen. Where in the world did it go? No one knows. These are all very weird Bigfoot reports that go far beyond even the usual amount of strangeness. What are we to make of such cases? What do they mean? It remains to be seen.