DATE:   February 16 and 17, 2002

TIME:    Two Day of night and daylight hours field trip

LOCATION:  Overton County, Tennessee

TERRAIN:  Woods, Mountains

OBSERVED:    A field trip had been planned with Bobby Byrd, a GCBRO investigator from North Carolina.  He arrived on the 16th of Feb. 2002 and after resting, Bobby and I went to Clay and Overton County, Tennessee research site areas.  It was almost dark when we reached our destination.  I showed Bobby a few of the places
that I go but there was not much to be seen or heard until we went to the Clay county area.  There we experienced a very stout and nauseating smell while there.  The smell was not apparent when we first arrived but it wasn't too long after that we got our first whiffs of the odor and it became very overpowering rather swiftly.  I have smelled this on occasion before and I didn't personally believe it was from any skunk type odor.  It was much more invasive and stronger than any skunk could have produced.  It actually made my eyes water and felt like it was stinging the back of my throat.  I eventually begin to smother but Bobby did not seem to be as affected as much by the smell as I was.  I had never experienced that smell in this area before but others have reported it and even other reporters have seen up to 3 aggressive acting Bigfoot in years past at approximately the same time of night and location.  Since the smell seemed to be coming from one side we decided to drive down the road a bit, turn around and come back to see how it was then.  We did so and ran into an even worse area of smell.  There was a large field on the south side and a large, steep, mountainside on the north that was not  habitable and would be rough navigating without some type of climbing equipment.  Before turning around we passed through the strongest portion or the smell.  We came back and parked again and still the smell was the strongest on the south side of our vehicle.  We were out touring at this time as our main explorations would
be the next day, so after I could no longer tolerate the smell, I asked Bobby if it was all right with him if we left.  We heard only a couple of possible owl sounds and that was it.

The next day we left in the morning and picked Susan up as she was available for this outing.  We arrived at an area I had not explored much for at least three years.  I had once put bait out in this area and we did find approximately 3 tracks that were not well defined enough to consider casting in years past and some of the bait taken.  Other than that, I had not had the opportunity to truly explore this section as the place always gave me a very spooky feeling when there alone.  So I limited myself going there because I had heard there were folks who used this area to grow illegal plants and that Satin worshippers frequented the area and did bodily harm to unwary wanderers, although I had never once seen any activity of that kind there.  Still, being an older lady and never armed, I was quite cautious about the area due to the many rumors I had heard.  At least this time there was Bobby and Susan along as there's always more safety in numbers.  Some areas like this should never be explored alone.  I had on previous occasions seen packs of wild dogs in there too.

This day proved to be one of my most memorable outings that I have ever experienced and I am certain it was for Bobby Byrd.   I'm sure it's an outing that Susan will never forget either.  We were not there long until Bobby decides he will do some tree knocking for us as he should be able to make some much louder sounds than either me or Susan could physically do.  I also experimented for one of the first few times with another new method of calling to the Bigfoot there in hopes of an answer.  We were truly not expecting much to occur, or maybe I should say I wasn't as new methods don't often produce results.  After a very few repeated efforts on the tree knocking and other method we all three heard a very loud gargled and angry cry.  It was headed straight for us and we could hear the crashing through the timber below us, farther down the mountainside.  We all looked at each other and in another few seconds the almost roaring type cry came again from lungs that were extremely powerful.  I have heard this a couple times before and it can put some extreme fear in you in a hurry, I can tell you that much.  I know it made my voice quiver as I told Bobby and Susan we should go close to our vehicle in case we needed this sort of protection.  Upon hearing this creature nearly upon us I will confess that Susan dove into the back seat so Bobby could get into the front and I got in on the drivers side.  I had heard all I wanted to hear and no telling what this creature would do considering the way I had called it, as I didn't know what this new method meant to them.  Evidently it was a challenge to them or they thought one of their kind was being hurt?  I just don't know yet as I am still experimenting with this method on every occasion I'm out since this first most successful effort.  Bobby did not get in but stood outside and listened where he could hear better for a long time.  Suddenly Susan saw it from out her window.  It was hidden quite well and moving its head from time to time is the way she spotted it in the first place.  It didn't move except for its head.  I asked her if she thought she could video tape it from the rear car window and she said she would try.  She videoed for at least ten minutes, maybe longer and it was so well hid and didn't seem interested in charging us I guess after seeing there were more than one of us there.  I really don't know, I just know it was one more angry creature charging up the mountain towards us for a short few minutes, or maybe even seconds.  It definitely did not take it long to arrive!  Eventually we moved our vehicle to see if the creature would attack or retreat.  It did neither and then it disappeared silently and we could no longer see it.  So we went on further into the area in the places we could drive to and stopped again.  I tried some rock clacking and got a couple of responses but no vocalizations there in that area and I can say for a fact that only when I hit two rocks together did I ever get an answer and not in the same numbers that I did myself.  If I did it three times it would do twice and vice versa, very strange and I do not know what to think about that yet.  I am wondering if this creature raced behind us or above us and answered like this?  So many questions that we have no answers too.  We had only driven about 10 to 15 miles per hour until we reached a place where we could go no further.  We got out and explored and found other new finds but nothing related to bigfoot.  Bobby Byrd found something that I had never seen the likes of in TN before and that is currently under investigation also.  We are getting closer to some answers on this but not quite there yet.

After this episode we went to check on the popcorn that Fay, Susan, and John Jr put out the week before.  To our surprise we found that all but two bags of popcorn were gone and only one bag of apples remained.  One of the bags had been taken down and the bigfoot had used a forked stick to open it and poke around in it and evidently ripped one bottom part of it open.  There is where some unpopped kernels were drug out on the ground as they reached inside to get the popcorn.  Not all was eaten but the biggest part of it was.  Evidently they had had enough.

Pictures below.

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):  Out on research

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:   Black, approximately 6 to 7 foot tall, huge shouldered, large rounded head, extremely muscular arms and legs, hair approximately 2 to 4 inches long.  Looked to be a male adolescent in very good health.
 

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA:   Yes, there are many other sightings in Overton County on the GCBRO database.