DATE:  August 8, 1977

TIME:  Sometime after dark

LOCATION:   Missouri Crawford County

TERRAIN:  Wooded river in Mark Twain National Forest

OBSERVED:Massively built upright walking creature crossed the river from left to right. Full moon was directly upriver from my position. Creature had "furry" appearance. With every step its arms were swaying and knees were bent. It walked slightly bent forward. When he walked, he lifted his knees above the water line which was about 2 1/2 to 3 foot deep and very fast moving. No man could have stayed upright in this current. It had a coned shaped head in profile and frontal view. Had a very pronounced eyebrow ridge. This sighting lasted about 10 seconds from a distance of about 20 yards. When I first saw the creature come out of a thicket with a spring fed stream running into the river, I propped myself up on my elbows to get a better view. There were four of us camping on a sandbar. As I was watching it cross the river, one friend to my left propped himself up on his elbows and said "What the heck is that?" I answered, "I don't know, maybe someone ripping off cabins" implying a human form, but this was no human. Upon hearing my friends words, it turned and looked at us until it reached the other bank and took about 4 or 5 steps out of the river and disappeared. I had an Anthropology class that previous semester and recognized the Sagital crest from my studies. This animal had to have been from 8 to 9 feet tall based on the depth of the water it was walking in.

The craziest part of this sighting is that earlier we had fished by the thicket the creature eventually came out of and I could not take my eyes off that thicket. We would canoe up and fish coming back down because we were catching small mouth bass where the creek came into the river, right where the creature eventually came out. The best way to describe the feeling is that if I were a point man for a squad of men there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY   I was going into that thicket. The feeling was indescribably intense. I also noticed a limestone bluff just past the thicket that I remember thinking would make a perfect sniper's lair because you could see the entire upstream portion of the river and would be 1 to 2 steps from thick cover (woods).

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):   Camping on a sandbar after a day of fishing and canoeing.

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:    8 to 9 feet tall, massive upper body, massive arms, shoulders and a very barrel chest. Furry appearance but not long flowing hair. Cone shaped head (Sagital crest) with very pronounced eyebrow ridge. Arms swayed excessively with every step. Knees bent and raised above the water line as he stepped. Turned at the waist upon hearing our voices from 20 yards away.  When his face was  turned towards me it was blacked out due to the position of the full moon (behind him), but some reflection could be seen at the cheekbones and chin area.

OTHER NOTES:   We used to canoe the rivers in south central Missouri a lot. We often heard wood chopping noises and loud screams or hollers. We thought at the time they were exotic birds the locals kept.