Report Received From: The GCBRO Online Report Submission Form.
 

DATE:    August 1988
 

TIME:     10:30 pm
 

LOCATION:   South Carolina, Greenville County
 

TERRAIN:    Wooded
 

OBSERVED:    This incident was witnessed by three of the four people present. We never came forward nor will the others come forward now do to the fact they don't want to be ridiculed. I was 20 yrs of age at the time. It was close to the full moon because we could see very well in complete darkness. We (myself and a date and my best friend and his date) pulled of the main rd onto a logging trail to just park and drink beer and smoke weed. (Another reason we chose not to make a report.)

We were standing in front of the car when I noticed what smelled like a wet bear!

At that time I was an avid hunter and black bears are no strangers to the area, not to mention i've had close brushes with bears while hunting on different occasions so I know what they smell like. But this odor was much stronger and more concentrated. My friend XXXXX made the remark that I had let one go, but I was concerned that a bear was too close for comfort. I walked to the open window of the car and reached into the dash for a light but only found a pen light which was of no use. I did however collect my 9 mm and a extra clip before returning to the front of the car. My date noticed the smell next although we were trying to keep this quiet until we figured out what it was. We were looking around as she got out of the back seat of the car, when I noticed a dark silhouette against the tree background! It was less than twenty feet away from us!!! It was also in a crouched position watching us. The moonlight reflected it's "yellow eye shine". That's how we knew where it's head was. When I told XXXXX to look, he started backing up towards the car and told his date to get back in the car. It was then that I pulled the slide back and chambered a round and pointed at the dark outline. As I did so, The figure stood up and started blinking it's eyes. I'm a good judge of size, especially at that range! It was no less that 8 1/2 to 9 feet tall and very wide across the shoulders! That's when I decided that shooting this thing might prove to be a very bad mistake. It was too close to get away from if it chose to attack. When it stood up, we could hear it huffing, but it didn't move! I was shaking as I stepped backwards towards the drivers side door.  Everyone else had freaked out and jumped in the car already but I wasn't ready to give up my defensive position. As I neared the door, it turned around and stepped into the forest, but it only went a few steps and stopped and kept watching us. When I turned the motor and lights on we could see it standing behind a tree but too far to make out facial features. It had grayish black fur from head to toe and huge gorilla like hands. Everyone was screaming to go, go, so I put the car in gear and backed up and took off at a high rate of speed. I drove with the gun still in my hand and clenching the steering wheel! By the time we got back to a populated area which was not really that far away, we all had calmed down enough to talk about it.  My friends girlfriend said she didn't see anything. But three of us did! We vowed not to speak about this, because nobody had EVER heard of a bigfoot sighting in SC!

Then some years later we had that lizzard-man thing going on. But here's the funny thing about this whole situation. The area where we sighted this creature is less than a mile from a bridge called "Cry-baby" bridge! Which is so-named due to the sound of a crying baby noise which many people have sworn that they have heard! I just happened upon your sight on the net after I saw that there were reports of bigfoot sightings in the Smokey mtns. Which of course if you know geography, isn't that far from SC! I wanted to report this encounter in case others in the area have seen similar things. I don't suggest anyone shoot at one due to the fact that it seemed to recognize it was in danger. It only stood up after I pulled the slide back, and it didn't run. Which to me means that they have no fear of humans. It had plenty of chances to harm or kill us if it wanted to but it chose not to!

I want to return the same respect to this endangered species.
 

Activities of Witness:   Just relaxing and having fun on a desolate logging rd. drinking beer and smoking weed.
 

Description of Creature:  It was about four to four and a half feet across at the shoulders and definitely 8 1/2 to nine feet tall. It had greyish-black fur, and produced yellow eye shine. It approached us "VERY" silently, so they are very stealthy creatures for their size, I even noticed that it made very little noise when it moved away. In the car headlights, I saw it's hand very clearly and it was almost identical to a gorilla hand in color with long fingers and dark finger nails, not claws.
 

Other Notes:    N/A
 

Additional Notes or Comments:
After contacting the witness, they added this following bit of information:
I'm just curious to know if any other sightings have ever been made on the eastern side of the US other than the smokey mtns. I've also conversed with another hunter who claimed to see and later hear something he's never experienced before, and he was in his mid sixties. But he wouldn't give me many details. I don't blame him, neither would I.

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