Between the summer of 2001 and 2002, we would hear Bigfoot occasionally howl on the hillside here at our Cabell County home. There was even one encounter of him coming down to our mobile home and slapping the side of it. Bigfoot hit the trailer so hard; it shook it from end to end.

Our family and friends had heard repeatedly about our Bigfoot for a year. In the summer of 2002, July to be exact, we decided to have Rachel and Jonathan’s birthday party with the theme “Bigfoot”. We had a bonfire hot dog roast, with a night walk in the woods after dark.

There were about 18 people that took that walk in the woods, including several small children and grandparents. We were going to walk up the gas well road to the end and come back. The walk was approximately one mile total.

As we were walking along in the pitch dark, with only a couple of flashlights, we could not hear anything in the woods all the way up to the gas well. With everyone talking non-stop the whole time, I am afraid if there were any animals about, they would be long gone when our big group of loud mouths came through.

On our way back out of the holler, Kevin and I decided to wait and let everyone get far ahead of us, so we can walk out in silence. On the right of us, was a very steep hillside, at the top was the very place I had seen Bigfoot a year before when Puff chased him. On the left side of the dirt road was a steep drop off, and about 50 feet below the road, a stream.

Kevin and I began walking very slowly out of the gas well holler alone. The rest of the party had gone on ahead of us. We each had a small flashlight. After going about 30 feet down the road, we heard footsteps on the hillside to our right, following along. We would take several steps, and stop, and “it” would take steps and stop right after us. It would take two or three steps more than we did, so we heard those extra steps after we had stopped moving. Along the way out, we would stop and listen to see if “it” was doing exactly what we did.

We had to pass through a gate about 1/2 way out of the holler. On each side of the gate, was barbed wire that ran up the hill to the top and down the hill towards the stream. When we passed through the gate, whatever it was making those footsteps did not cross over the barbed wire. From then on out, we did not hear it walking along anymore.

In the summer of 2002, my four kids were playing near the creek that is right behind our home. They came across one long footprint. It was about the size of a woman’s seven or eight. It had three toes pointing forward and one toe at the side, sort of like where your thumb is positioned on your hand. We could clearly see the claws at the end of each toe in the mud.

It looked to be made from something that walked on two legs. From what we could tell, it took a step from a rocky road (it leads to a barn), down into the mud (that made the footprint), then on into the water. We figured that is the reason only one footprint could be seen.

We have shown the pictures to several “experts”, including an anthropologist in Australia. No one could identify this footprint. Especially something that could be native to West Virginia.

A couple of weeks ago (September 2005), while hiking on the farm, my kids came across this very same footprint, again. However, it was way back in the hills, near some big power lines. They did not have a camera with them, so we did not get any pictures. Whatever it is is still around.

It all really started in the summer of 2001 for our family. There was an earlier account in the late 70’s, but I will leave that to the person who had that encounter to personally submit it himself.

Our family moved to this farm in 1991. For ten years, we would hear things in the woods behind our home. The kids were little then, and weren’t allowed out of the yard. I didn’t worry too much, about what was “out there”. We would go for hikes on the hill, up until 1997. In the fall of ’97, while I was hiking up on the ridge line with the kids, we heard a very loud growl that echoed through the hilltops, and it came from right behind us, over a small dip in the hill. We left immediately and never went back without my husband with us.

In the summer of 2001, my kids, names and ages at that time: Sarah-12, Rachel-11, Katie-9, and Jonathan-6, were playing out back in the field. Since they were older, they were allowed to wander around some in the nearby woods, creek, and the neighbor’s field. They were playing out behind our home, across the field, at the creek. Our dog Sam was with them. All of a sudden, a loud crashing sound was heard above them in the woods. Something was coming straight down the hillside towards them, crashing through the trees. The kids couldn’t see what it was, the trees were so dense. It sounded big. Very big. The kids were terrified, and Sam, the dog, took off after whatever it was. When Sam took out after it, it changed direction. It wasn’t going straight down the hillside toward the kids anymore; it took off then around the hillside with the dog hot on its heels.

The kids came running inside to tell me what had happened. I was just glad whatever it was, took off the other way when the dog gave chase. I was worried about the dog, of course, but knew he could take care of himself. I wasn’t going looking for him, that’s for sure.

About two hours later, Sam finally came back. He was covered in some kind of stinky slime. He was covered head to toe with it. The slime had a horrible smell to it.

Two days later, early in the morning, I had the windows open. It was sunny and cool. I was standing at a window that faces the back hill, where the huge animal was heard running a few days before. Our dogs, Sam and Big Dog, were sleeping right below the window in the yard. A few seconds later, I heard a loud bellow type yell/scream/growl directly in front of me on the hillside. The dogs heard it too. They jumped up and took off after whatever it was, barking madly.

I told the kids they weren’t allowed to play on the hillside or creek until we find out what it was that was up there. Like most kids, they didn’t listen, and took off for the hillside. Sarah and Rachel were playing around toward the left of the hill, while Katie and Jonathan had taken off around the bend to the right. Katie and Jon had the wild idea to “scare” the older girls by hiding down in the weeds, wait for the girls to walk by and jump out at them.

While waiting for the older girls, Katie and Jon heard something coming down the hill towards them. Thinking it was Sarah and Rachel, they stayed down in their hiding place a minute or two more. Katie then jumps up, not to be met face to face with her sisters, but face to face with BIGFOOT. Yes, Bigfoot. It was about 10 yards away, and sitting on a fallen tree. It was sitting as if a human would. Katie screamed, and Jon jumped up then to see it too. They said it was a very dirty grayish color. It had long hair all over. Jonathan distinctly remembers it had “dingle berries” hanging off its backside as they watched it take off running back up the hillside. I’m not sure who was more scared. My kids, or Bigfoot.

Katie and Jonathan then ran down the hillside screaming with Sarah and Rachel following. They were scared to death. I had them both to draw me a picture of what they saw. I separated them in different rooms so they wouldn’t copy. I wanted to make sure they weren’t telling stories.

They drew identical pictures. I know they were telling the truth, just by Jonathan’s reaction to what he saw. He had nightmares for weeks, and will not, to this day, go into the woods without an adult with him, and he is 11 years old now!

A couple of days later, the older girls went back up on the hill to check and see if there was any “evidence” of Bigfoot. After a few minutes, something on up the hill above them was throwing huge rocks down on them. I’m not talking little pebbles and such. I’m talking, big rocks. As big as your head came sailing through the air at them from up the hillside. They ran home, and fast.

About a month later, at the end of July, I was taking a hike on the hill with my kids, my mom and dad, and my brother. (Safety in numbers, I have always heard) We were following a dirt road that runs across the ridge line. On the left of us, the property line is divided with a barbed wire fence. On the right, it slopes downhill, into a cleared off hillside. Then about 50 feet below, multi-flora rose bushes have grown up, then the woods begin.

I am walking about 100 feet ahead of the rest of the family, along with Sarah. Our dog Puff was walking at my side. We hear some rustling in the thorn bushes below us. At first, I’m thinking, cows. We have a few head of cattle on the farm, roaming. In addition, we ARE walking in their “pasture” area; anyway, Puff also heard it and perked up, looking over the hillside towards the right. Puff starts barking and takes off down the hill. I know then it is NOT a cow, Puff doesn’t chase cows. Sarah and I then see a head, a hairy head and shoulders standing above the multi-flora rose bushes. It takes off down the hillside towards the trees, with Puff on its heels. Whatever this thing was, it was taller than the bushes (which we later went down and judged them to be at least 8 or 9 feet tall, and this thing stood a head taller than the bushes). It was a reddish brown color. Not the gray the kids saw. Therefore, we have more than one around here.

I have told several family members and friends what we have seen. They think we are crazy. I know there is something out there. I was like most people, I didn’t believe in such things. Until I saw it with my own eyes.

I had walked down to the game room about five minutes below my house (which is on a hill up against a mountain). Around 11-11:30pm, as I started walking back home, I heard some kind of a loud noise like a woman screaming. I spotted something on the mountain standing beside the light pole on the other end of my home. When I got to the top of my hill I froze in fear not knowing what it was, and it just watched me. About ten minutes later my neighbor (which has a 2-story home) seen me just standing there, he said he knew something was wrong because I would not answer him when he hollered at me.

I saw the tall dark thing looking towards my neighbor’s house. I ran behind our building outside, but I could still see it. It kept standing there, about five minutes had gone by and my neighbor has his gun running up the hill to see what was wrong. That thing seen him and turned and ran/walked back onto the mountain. I was so terrified, and it had scared my dog so bad that she hid under my neighbor’s porch.

Finally, my neighbor got on the hill where I was at and I explained to him what I saw. It was about 9-10ft tall, long dark fur from head to toe, and it walked/ran in long strides. My dad and Roger (neighbor) tells me to get in the house. They have their guns and they seen footprints about 18 to 20 inches long or more. The weeds and limbs on the trees were torn off as if someone had taken a weed-whacker to them.

The next night my neighbor was laying down in his daughter’s room on the couch watching her, when all of a sudden something hit his sliding doors so hard that it knocked his curtain rods and all down. He grabbed his gun, goes outside and did not see anything. He puts the curtains back up and goes to see if he can hit the doors and knock the curtains down. He could not hit it hard enough, so he said whatever it was had to be at least nine or ten ft tall to be able knock them down. He saw the same footprints in his yard the next morning. Bigfoot is on the prowl!