RECEIVED: From the G.C.B.R.O. Web Site Submission Form

DATE:              1968 or 1969, 1973 or 1974, 1978, 11-95 & '96

TIME:                Day and night time sightings

LOCATION:       Mora County, New Mexico

TERRAIN:         Wooded

OBSERVED:      Let me start at the begining.  My name is John.  My grandfather who has recently passed away, owned an 1100 acre ranch along Coyote Creek. Approximately -- miles out side of Mora County, New Mexico.  The first incident occured in about 1968 or 1969.  According to my uncle, who's nick name is Leroy, he is known to be an exaggerator, so I never really knew if he was telling the truth until I had my own experiences.  Any way he was on a camping trip during that summer, with his hippie friends, two girls and one guy. They had set up a tent to sleep in and started a camp fire, and ate dinner.

Just after dark, my uncle, and his male friend who were both Vietnam veterans had began to brag in front of these girls about who was the stongest, and most fearless, and so on, anyway it had gotten pretty late, probably around midnight, as leroy recalled and he said to his friend....If you're such a tough guy, why don't you walk across the creek, and up the side of the mountain in the pitch black of the night, and when you get about half way up, sleep there by yourself for the remainder of the night.   He said... You can take your sleeping bag, but nothing else, and his friend replied... no problem, since he had been a green beret, and was afraid, so he claimed, of nothing. So he grabbed his sleeping bag, and set out in the dark. Just as he agreed, and proceeded about half way up the mountain, where he laid down to sleep.

Then approximately about 3:00 A.M., my uncle, and the girls woke to a horribly loud scream that he had never heard before in his life.  He said it was eerie, somewhere between a roar and a scream. He was so terrified that he grabbed a shovel, and jumped out of the tent to see if he could see anything. It was still dark but he could see something coming down the mountain hobbling, and approaching his tent very rapidly. He clenched the shovel and was getting ready to swing, when he heard the voice of his friend saying, its me, its me.  He was still in his mummy bag.

My uncle asked him what happened,  and he said a giant creature had walked up to where he was sleeping, on two legs. He said it was covered with hair, and roared at him. He got so scared, he didn't have time to get out of his sleeping bag. He said to Leroy we need to get the hell out of here so they loaded up the camp, and drove off as fast as they could!

The next incident was an experience my grandfather had. It was about 1973 or 1974. He had cattle and he drove out about once a month to check on them. He had a small cabin near the creek. He would often take me with him.  We were very close, and had a special sort of bond.  We would have long talks, and really got to know each other. Any way we went to spend a weekend at the cabin, so he could do his routine.

We got there in the evening, ate dinner, and went to bed.  He always got up at 4 in the morning, before the sun came up and set out across the creek, to cut wild loco weed, so the cows would not eat it. I would stay in bed till about 8 a.m., when he would return and make breakfast. Well that morning he retuned about 5 a.m., woke me and looked white as a ghost.  I knew him well, and he was a man that was not afraid of any thing. He said he was cutting loco weed at precisely the crack of dawn, when he heard a scream that made the skin crawl up the back of his neck. It was unlike anything he had ever heard. He said at first he thought it sounded like a womans scream, but there was something animal like, it was very hard for him to describe. This was a man who was raised on this very mountain and had visited time, and time again, but never recalled anything like it.

The next incident, was my first direct experience. It happenened on our 4th of July vacation 1978. It was a family event.  We arrived a few days early.   It was me, my brother and sister, my father and mother, my grandfather and grandmother, my cousin Freddie, my God parents, and a few other friends of the family, and my dog, a red doberman pincher named Vader.

The night we arrived, we all started to set up. The men collected wood for the bonfire, while the women cooked dinner on the cast iron Army stove, that was out side of the cabin, under a wooden type porch, with picnic tables.   My god parents had their RV about 25 yards away.  We ate dinner, and sat around the campfire, roasting marshmallows, and hotdogs, and Jiffy Pop popcorn, over the open fire.  At that time we had an adobe house approximately 1/4 mile west of the cabin with several beds.  Anyway we were tired, it was getting late, and everybody decided to go to bed. We put the fire out, and me, my mom, dad, sister, and brother, grandpa, and grandma, walked to the adobe house, and the others stayed.

When we got there everybody layed down, and me, my dad, and brother, went out side the front door, to urinate, since the house had no plumbing. We were facing the east, and it was a very calm quiet night.  Then I noticed a strange whirring noise coming from the east, above the top of the moutain, and directly above the first lake I saw a light hovering and pointed it out to my dad and brother. We stared in awe and watched it move very quickly up and down, and side to side. In what looked like a square pattern, never veering away from above the lake. My dad worked for the department of energy and the department of weaponry at Sandia Labs, and was experienced with different types of goverment planes, which was what we thought it might be, but he remarked it was impossible, because the G force this thing was exhibiting, moving abruptly up and down, and side to side, was too tremendous.

I ran in to get my grandfather to take a look. He came out and looked quite shocked, but then said it was just a shooting star, and said we should all get to bed, because there was a lot of work to do in the morning, and my dad replied, yeah right.  So my grandfather went to bed, but we stayed, and continued to watch this shooting star continue its square type flying pattern, for about another 45 minutes, all the while emitting a strange whirring noise, then it hovered still, in what looked like the exact center above the lake, for a couple of minutes, emmited an extremely loud noise, and shot straight up into the stars, at what apeared to be the speed of light, and vanished! Me, my brother, and my dad, were totally astounded. The next morning we went on as if it had never happened. My dad never said another word about it. We ate breakfast, went for a hike, came back, had lunch. The men got together for a game of cards, and beer on the picnic tables. The women went inside the cabin to gossip. My brother and sister were playing together. Me and my cousin Freddie were bored, and we approached my grandfather.  He said I have the cure for you, and quickly put us to work.

He had a ten acre corral, fenced with barbed wire, surrounding a fruit orchard. What he wanted us to do was take these wire twists, and insert them between the posts, binding the barbed wire through the twists. So we took as many twists as we could carry, and my dog, and set out to the southwest corner of the corral. There were no cows, because they were on top of the mesa grazing. It was a beautiful clear and warm day.
I told my cousin, we'll start at this corner, you work west toward the fruit orchard, and I'll work the fence north.

My dog stayed at my side, as I worked north. About 30 minutes into it my dog started acting very strange. I was trying to continue north, but he would not move. He was frozen stiff, belly and nose down in the dirt, facing West directly towards the fruit orchard. His eyes were tearing, which I had never seen before, and he was letting out a very quiet whimpering, which I had never seen before.  I kicked and pulled at him to try to get him to move, but he would not budge. Then I could hear a heavy breathing, very low pitched rumbling, and then a long, loud, low pitched roar, coming directly from the fruit orchard.

I looked, and I saw what I thought was a bear. I could still hear it breathing.  I looked closer, focusing my eyes, and noticed it was sitting down like a man, on a knocked over tree, as it was eating apples with one hand, still breathing heavy, but yet it seemed to be looking directly at me, and I got the feeling it was happy, and somehow smiling at me. At that moment, my cousin had reached me at break neck speed, yelling did you hear that? I replied I'm looking at it.  He turned to look.  We saw it stand from its sitting position, next to a 12 foot apple tree. It seemed to be just as tall as the tree, or pretty close reaching in grabbing apples with one arm, one at a time, then sit and eat one at a time, while staring at us every time it ate one.

It was covered in long reddish hair all over its body. The sun was shining directly on it its hair. It almost seemed to have blondishe sun bleached highlights, very shiny. It had a cone shaped head, It looked clean. I personally wasn't scared, but my cousin was frantic, and the way my dog was acting troubled me. My cousin said were dead.  I replied look at the length of its legs.  We are standing about 200 yards away. I said,  I think if it really wanted to hurt us, we would already be dead, and he replied I'm not taking any chances, I'm gonna make a run for it. I said if you're running, I'm not staying.

So we took one last look, and darted, and my dog got up and darted after us. We ran as fast as we could to the cabin, where my dad, grandfather, godfather, and their friends, were playing poker, and drinking beer. We ran up screaming frantically there's some sort of creature in the fruit orchard. My grandfather replied you guys are just trying to get out of work dammit. Get back to work. Nobody would believe us so I told my little brother, and he said I want to see it. Show me. He grabbed a hand full of bottle rockets, and we walked towards the orchard. To his amazement, and ours the creature was still there eating apples.

My brother started shooting bottle rockets at it. I told him not to but he did not listen. Then the creature casually stood up from its sitting position, and gracefully walked deeper into the orchard, out of our view. We told my brother to walk over into the orchard, to see if it was still there, and he replied no way!  We knew no one would ever believe us.  So we put it behind us, and just tried to forget about it. We would talk about it amongst each other, but never to any one else, out of fear of ridicule. Years went by!

The next incident happened in the winter of 1995 about mid November. I was anxious to start my own business, selling live trees. I had a small Mazda pickup my grandfather was loaning me. I got my nursery license, tree tags, some twine, some burlap, some nails, chicken wire, a bailing hook, a shovel, and two spades. My idea was to collect Pinon and Juniper from my grandfathers ranch, bring it to Albuquerque, and sell it on the side of the road.

I was married then, my son only seven years old, so they (my wife and son) stayed in town, while I ventured out on the weekends to collect trees.  Always the same set of circumstances. I chose an area with loose soil.  However there is an abundance of minerals in this 80 acre area, off of the main dirt road.  Its pristine, virtually untouched virgin land, but definitely a mineralologists dream, heavy pine Pinon, and Juniper in the lower elevation, and Douglas fir, white fir in the upper region. The minerals I've came across while digging up trees, I've seen huge chunks of pyrite fall from the rootballs as I dig them out.  Copper, azurite, silver, white quartz, flint, and many others, I dont even know the names of.  A rock collectors dream.

Any way back to my point, I drive my truck into this certain area as far as I can until the trees become so thick I have to stop and set out on foot. I grab my back pack with all my gear including food and water, and one shovel, and a spade.  No guns!  I dont believe in them! I walk about 300-600 yards into the forest. Looking for only the best looking tree specimens I can find, one here, one there, spread out. I'll locate one, set down my gear, take a drink of water, take a deep breath of fresh air, relax, and break out my favorite pipe, and then start to dig.  About 15 minutes into it I get a strange sensation.  A distinct feeling that I am being watched.  I look into the trees and I can see movement from tree to tree, at several points, in various locations, about two hundred yards, but the figures are shadowy, and hard to focus on, but they seem to be large,  upright, moving from behind the tree to another tree.

Well I figure maybe my minds just playing tricks on me, so I continue with my work, I'll collect all my trees, lift the rootballs, and drag them back to my truck, and call it a day, and drive back to Albuquerque, and return ever other weekend or so that winter, with the identical circumstances.

I told my wife and she didn't know what to make of it. The summer came and I didn't return til the next winter in 1996. That first winter was dry, and there was no snow, but the next winter was moist. I started again in november this time it was snowing quite heavy. I did the same routine but this time there was virgin snow. I got out of the truck at the usual location, but walking through fresh snow, my foot prints visible, I walked out, did my usual routine.   About 15 minutes into digging I get the same "I'm being watched" sensation, but this time I for sure can clearly see a figure in the trees, very visable, because every thing is white and this figure is dark, but I try not to pay too much attention and continue my work.  Once all my trees are ready, I grab the first two,  one rootball in each hand, and drag them towards the truck, following the exact foot prints I made earlier.

About halfway to the truck I saw foot prints directly crossing my path, about 15 to 18 inches in length, very large with 3 toes, a left foot and a right foot, one large toe on each a medium toe and a smaller toe about 7 to 8 feet a part.  I wonder could this be the same creature I had seen when I was a child? I returned several weekends in a row that same winter, in fresh snow with the exact same circumstances. I told my wife and she definitely believed me, but who else would believe me? I thought.

So I called my brother.  I told him the story and suggested it could be the same creature we had seen when we were kids.  He remembered the incident when we were kids, but still he said my current story sounded a bit hard to believe. So I said there is only one way to find out, and asked if he would go to the area the following weekend. He agreed.  We went together that weekend, and I did every thing the same.  It was snowing really hard when we got there. So we sat in the truck until it died down some.  We got out together, only our tracks in the snow, and walked out about 300 yards, and  started to dig.  I figured we would take turns.  I told him to start digging.  He went about 10 minutes, and then I went about 10 minutes, and then he said he had an incredible sensation.   I felt it too.  We looked out, and saw what seemed to be twenty or so figures watching and moving about 100 yards in a half circle in the perimeter.

He was terrified!  I told him not to be, as animals have been known to sense fear. I told him to relax. I gave him a drink of water, and we both smoked my pipe.  We continued our work, started gathering our equipment, and trees, followed our foot prints out.  I expected to see tracks as I had before and we did but I was astounded.   For the first time I saw three sets of 3 toed prints.  The large set I had seen before, but a smaller set and even smaller set!  I looked at him and said,  Oh my God,  there must be families of these creatures.  I said damn,  we should have brought some plaster!   Nobody's ever going to believe us, but at the same time I was relieved, because I had at least one real witness and if nothing else, I knew I wasn't imagining these incidents!

Im sure I could have gathered even more proof, but my father wanted me to stop digging up trees, in fear that I might damage the environment.  He told my grandmother to pull the plug on my tree business, and my grandfather took the truck!  I've recently passed through the area during the summer months and have had the same being watched sensations.  I know they're out there!

Back to my dilemma I spoke of at the beginning, I feel like I'm caught between science, and nature.  On one hand I feel its my duty to reveal this because it may be of great importance to science, and mankind. On the other hand I feel these creatures have never brought any harm to me, and I owe it to them to preserve and protect their safe haven. I have to look at all the angles. Man, by nature, wants to ultimately prove he is the smartest of all species. To do this he has exploited, caged, and zooed every other species on the planet as specimens of a lower intellect, somehow giving himself a sense of empowerment and dominion over other species. If an alien race of a higher intellect caged and zooed us because we were not as smart, would that be right?  What exactly would happen if we could absolutely proove bigfoot exists? Would the bigfoot benefit or would we benefit? Would we get rich, would we be famous, would we have a moment of glory? What would the bigfoot gain? Why has bigfoot eluded mankind for so long? There must be a reason? With all the reported sightings I would think its pretty obvious that it exists? Isnt that enough? My own personal experience suggests to me that bigfoot is trying to comunicate something to us and that is symbiosis, mutual respect for all living creatures. By hunting them down aren't we just forcing them to run further away? Maybe we should just leave well enough alone!  What do you think?  For the sake of science I am willing to take a lie detector test to back my claims.  My brother is also willing.  I have not spoken to my cousin in years but I am sure I could persuade him to take the test also.
 

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):      See each individual sighting above
 

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:      Again, read above for any descriptions
                                                         (sketch below)
 

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA?:    Yes