Ape-Men in the Americas
The Duende and Sisemito of Central America
In the previous chapter I mentioned author Ivan T. Sanderson, who spent a great deal of his life investigating and writing about natural mysteries. While my personal interest in zoological enigmas dates back to my childhood, it was as a freshman in high school that I first discovered one of Sanderson’s most influential books in the student library. Ultimately, that particular volume had a tremendous impact on me—I checked out that copy so many times over the course of my tenure that the head librarian eventually gave it to me as a graduation present. The compendium was titled Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, and for it, Sanderson had undertaken a masterfully thorough census of elusive, mystery hominids from various points around the globe, including many lesser-known and obscure ones. In addition to North America’s iconic Bigfoot (or Sasquatch), he discussed the infamous Yeti (or Abominable Snowman) of the Himalayas, the Neanderthal-like Almas of Central Asia, and the diminutive Sedapa (or Orang Pendek) of Sumatra, as well as similar types from Africa and South America. But he mentioned one other cryptid creature that really piqued my interest.
You see, for a time Sanderson and his wife had taken up residence in the tiny Central American nation of British Honduras (modern-day Belize) and had gained the solemn trust of many of the locals. Sanderson repeatedly heard stories about rarely seen, forest-dwelling pygmies known as Duendes, who were typically encountered near the edge of the Maya Mountains in the nation’s southern interior. The term Duende is a Spanish word that essentially translates to “elf” or “goblin,” and most Belizeans seem to regard these mischievous beings as magical imps not unlike the mythical little people featured in fairy folklore around the world. In Belizean stories, Duendes are typically portrayed as tiny, bearded men that sport large hats and carry tiny machetes or clubs. Furthermore, they are said to lack thumbs on their hands, to have backwards-pointing feet, and to abduct unsuspecting children from time to time. This description seems familiar and most assuredly has some connection to the fairy lore of Europe. There are, after all, distinct Spanish and British influences apparent in Belizean culture.
Sanderson had apparently also spoken with reputable forestry officials who confided in him that they had actually seen small, unfamiliar hominids emerging from the fringes of the montane forests. Sanderson explained,
These little folk were described as being between three foot six and four foot six, well proportioned but with very heavy shoulders and rather long arms; clothed in thick, tight, close, brown hair looking like that of a short-coated dog; having very flat yellowish faces but with head-hair no longer than the body hair except down the back of the neck and mid back. Everybody said that these Dwendis have very pronounced calves but the most outstanding thing of all about them is that they almost always held either a piece of dried palm leaf or something looking like a large Mexican-type hat over their heads.
The Duendes’ tracks were easily recognizable because they featured extremely pointy heels, according to what Sanderson had been told. Furthermore, these hair-covered dwarves were said to be nocturnal and to make sounds like a baby crying. They also delight in wrapping their arms around cottonwood trees and grasping the hands of unsuspecting humans, according to my friend and colleague, cryptozoologist Richard Freeman. Belief in the Duendes apparently extends far to the north of Belize. On my most recent trip to Mexico, a farmer in the western state of Nayarit told me that he had once seen a Duende peering at him from between his cornstalks. When I asked him what it looked like, he described it as resembling a dwarf with a long nose.
I have always been intrigued by Belize. Here is a little jewel of a nation known for its thriving tourist industry centered on tropical Caribbean beaches and shimmering, turquoise water. But beyond its populated coastline lies a vast wilderness of lush, uninhabited jungles that are teeming with wildlife, waterways, and extensive cave systems. Impressive but overgrown Maya ruins pepper the landscape, reminders of an ancient empire that once boasted a population much greater than that which currently resides in the country. The romantic allure of those kinds of pristine, emerald forests seems to always beckon intrepid adventurers like myself. Legends of lost cities and monstrous, man-eating beasts still permeate the darkest and least inhabited regions of Mesoamerica, adding to the intrigue. In fact, a handful of explorers who successfully penetrated this domain returned to civilization with tales of primitive manlike creatures existing at a subhuman level and frequently abducting or even cannibalizing those who venture too deep. Perhaps Sanderson was on to something.
As an adult my dreams of a Belizean adventure were always obstructed by those irritating financial burdens commonly referred to as “bills,” despite the relative accessibility of the place. Eventually, in 2004 I received a modest, unexpected inheritance and, recognizing a rare opportunity, quickly made plans to undertake the journey at last. My young wife at the time, Lori, was to accompany me on the trek, and we planned on taking advantage of the cooler winter weather. I’d decided to focus my efforts primarily on the Maya Mountains where the Duende was said to dwell. The trip would be a boon to Lori as well, as she had recently developed a keen interest in archaeology and was looking forward to visiting the impressive ruins of Caracol, which rests in the southern Cayo District.
We zeroed in on an area known as Mountain Pine Ridge not only because of its proximity to remote Caracol, but also because I remembered something that the late anthropologist Dr. Grover Krantz had once written. A colleague had pointed out to Krantz that sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures were always concentrated around areas where coniferous trees were prevalent. This seems to be supported by the fact that the vast majority of reports stem from higher elevations and rainforests, particularly in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada, and a surprising number of accounts come from the pine thickets of the Deep South and Florida, whose local hominids are referred to as Skunk Apes. Krantz theorized that pine needles could provide a viable food source for nomadic hominids, particularly in the lean winter months, and that they could actually help them regulate their body temperature like an organic antifreeze. Since I conjectured that the Duende might be a pygmy-sized relative of its North American cousins, it seemed like as good a place as any to take up the search.
While laying the groundwork for my trip, I chanced upon an article that had been written by a researcher named Mark Sanborne. Sanborne, who apparently had been affiliated with the now-defunct International Society of Cryptozoology, had beaten me to the punch and had undertaken an expedition (similar to the one I was planning) over a dozen years earlier in 1992. Sanborne first spent considerable time in the Cayo District where the Duende is apparently well known. In addition to asking many locals about the subject, he had also uncovered some local books dealing with Belizean folklore.
Generally referred to as Tata (Papa) Duende, the most common depiction of a Duende portrays a tiny, manlike figure in tattered clothing displaying the features previously mentioned: long beard, large hat, four fingers, backwards-pointing feet, etc. Many people Sanborne spoke with claimed to have had spectral encounters with these beings. He came to the conclusion that Duendes were essentially perceived to be forest-dwelling spirits not that dissimilar to gnomes. However, he also mentioned that the eminent zoologist Alan Rabinowitz had written about seeing a small, manlike figure at the edge of Belize’s Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary while conducting pioneering work in the field of jaguar research. It is difficult to ignore the affirmation of such a skilled wildlife observer. Here is a description of the sighting from Rabinowitz’s book, Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle to Establish the World’s First Jaguar Preserve:
On the fourth night I went out as usual to the hill. It was a particularly dark night because rain clouds hid the moon and stars. I put on the headphones and scanned the darkness for Xaman Ek’s [a roaming jaguar] signal, moving the antenna in a full circle. There was no signal, but there was something else. I sensed something was wrong. Even wearing headphones I could feel a stillness in the forest around me. A chill ran down my back, and for an inexplicable reason, I felt frightened, unsure of the darkness.
Countless times I had tracked at night but never had I felt this way. I continued listening for the jaguar over the next half hour, but the feeling that something was wrong wouldn’t leave. I decided to return to camp.
The truck was facing the forest. As I turned on my headlights and swung the truck around toward the timber road, a strange sight flashed before my right headlight. Standing at the edge of the forest, I had a brief glance at what looked like a little man, about three feet tall, holding his left hand up, palm out as if signaling me to stop.
My first reaction was terror. I had heard too many stories of the duendes of the forest. I raced down the road before deciding my imagination was getting the better of me. After driving two miles, I turned around went back to the site. … There was only a bush where I thought I’d seen the little man. Yet, an uneasy feeling, a tingling sensation came back to me stronger than ever. I didn’t linger. …
… It surprised me to learn how prevalent the belief in these little men was among most people I spoke with.
Rabinowitz had also written of a second, distinct mystery hominid that the Maya preserve caretakers told him about, el Sisimito. With descriptions of being much larger and more apelike than the Duendes, the Sisimito sounds virtually identical to North America’s Sasquatch: it’s a hulking, hairy, upright creature that leaves behind huge, humanlike footprints. One of Rabinowitz’s workers told him this:
Dere also de big hairy man, the Sisimito, in de bush. Two men see he in Cockscomb already … You know de hairy man close when you hear scream at night, like woman screaming. Long time ago, an old man come from de south, he still a boy. He go wit he fadder way back in Cockscomb for hunt. He go different way from he fadder and soon hear crash in de bush. He tink maybe it a tiger [jaguar] and he get scared and hide in de big mahogany log, and look out from a crack. Den, a big hairy man come out from de bush and he have a big bird (hawk) in he hand. The hairy man bite off and eat de head of de bird. Then he go ’way. The man lay in de log and shake because he scared bad. Finally he fadder come out of de bush and dey both go ’way fast. De fadder see de hairy man too.
In Abominable Snowmen, Ivan Sanderson mentioned, in fact, that the Sisimito was well known in the highlands of neighboring Guatemala. But he was apparently unaware of its presence in southern Belize or else didn’t mention it. Like a Duende, the Sisimito is said to only have four fingers as well as backwards-pointing feet (perhaps accounting for the difficulty in trying to track one) and evidently possesses a nasty disposition, often murdering native men and abducting young women à la King Kong. According to Sanderson, Guatemalans would typically know when the Sisimito had come calling because they would be inexplicably overcome with uncontrollable shivers of fright.
From what Sanborne was able to discern, most of the Sisimito accounts from Belize seem to be centered in the far south of the Toledo District, near a tiny Kekchi Maya village named Blue Creek. His inquiries into the matter there revealed that the monster is considered to be a rarely seen, flesh-and-blood animal (likened to a gorilla), which lives in caves in the high bush and has a piercing scream.
During 1994, cryptozoologist Marc E. W. Miller also visited Blue Creek village and uncovered more intriguing stories. A local man named Richard Genus claimed to have seen a Sisimito while working on a plantation just six years prior. He described the thing as a six-foot, apelike creature and was apparently so traumatized by the experience that he had an emotional breakdown following the encounter. Based on his discussions with the locals, Miller was of the firm opinion that the Sisimito is an unknown, American ape that stands about as tall as a man and emits loud vocalizations that are distinct from those of howler monkeys, which are prevalent in the area.
There is further evidence that a type of undiscovered hominid may inhabit the jungles of Central and South America. During the late nineteenth century a colorful adventurer named Edward Jonathan Hoyt (better known as Buckskin Joe) claimed that he shot a five-foot, manlike creature as it climbed over the edge of his bunk one night while he was on a prospecting trip in Honduras. Brazilian writer Pablo Villarrubia Mausó chronicled other accounts of Honduras’s Sisimito while traveling through that nation. An elderly man named Don Manuel Mejia related that he had encountered one of the creatures in the mountains of Pico Bonito during 1912. He recalled that the creature had been extremely tall and hairy and walked upright. Sanderson had a correspondent who mentioned a similar beast called the Arrancalenguas (Tongue Ripper), which was known for killing livestock near the border of Honduras and El Salvador. American diplomat, engineer, and ethnographer Richard Oglesby March wrote of a prospector who claimed to have shot a gorilla-like animal in Panama during 1920. The man described the thing as standing six feet tall and weighing around 300 pounds. It was covered in long, black hair. The prospector noted that its big toe was parallel to its other toes, like on a human foot.
As far back as 1860, naturalist Philip Henry Gosse wrote about a great anthropoid ape that might exist in the nation of Venezuela. He noted, “On the cataracts of the Upper Orinoco … [there are] reports of a ‘hairy man of the woods,’ reputed to build huts, to carry off women and to devour human flesh.” According to explorer Alexander van Humboldt, the “hairy man” was known locally as the Vasitri (Great Devil). South America evidently has no shortage of Bigfoot-type beasts, and they are known by a variety of names, including Mapinguari, Mono Grande, Ucumar, Maricoxi, Didi, and Shiru. A controversial photo taken by Swiss geologist François de Loys in 1920 alleges to show a five-foot, upright ape, which he shot while on a Venezuelan expedition. Critics point out that the subject in the picture looks strikingly similar to a large spider monkey with its tail obscured. Regardless, the Green Continent exudes potential for new discoveries. As recently as 2013, a previously unknown species of tapir weighing almost 250 pounds was catalogued there for the very first time. It had been living inconspicuously in the grasslands of western Amazonia.
Lori and I landed in Belize in December of 2004. Due to the fact that the vintage tires on our rental jeep were ostensibly smooth, we endured a treacherous, rainy drive up slick, muddy mountain roads to our destination, a primitive lodge nestled atop the Pine Ridge of the Maya Mountains. We rolled in just after dark and were received by our host, an esoteric expatriate who had formerly been a colonel in the US Army. Richard seemed wholly amused by the purpose of our visit, as he viewed the Duende as nothing more than a native superstition, but he had been gracious enough to arrange a skillful guide for us, Honorio Mai. Mai is a native chiclero (gum collector) whose great uncle is famous for discovering the jungle-shrouded ruins of Caracol. According to Richard, Mai was one of the few men who had ever traversed the treacherous Rapaculo Pass alone—armed with only a machete, no less. Before turning in for the evening, we all enjoyed a memorable Belizean dinner that featured the most delightful tomato and orange soup imaginable.
Early the next morning, Mai drove us down the rugged, twenty-mile gravel road to the ruins of Caracol. On the way he explained that one of his sons had once been assaulted by an unseen stone thrower there: probably a Duende, he figured. We arrived at our destination and immediately climbed the many steps of the great pyramid of Caana, where we ate a lunch of sheep liver tacos that Mai’s wife had graciously prepared for us. Mai then shocked Lori and me by informing us that his younger sister had once been kidnapped by a Duende! As he explained it, many years ago the two-year-old had been playing near the edge of the forest when she began to point and excitedly shout, “Look at that strange boy!” Apparently no one in her family was able to see the tiny being except for her. Immediately after that, she vanished mysteriously, later found alone in the jungle sleeping soundly next to a strange piece of fabric. When the material was taken as a bad omen and burned, Mai’s family was dealt a tragic blow—another infant sister died suddenly of unknown causes.
For most of that afternoon, we hiked through the surrounding jungle canopy. My excitement became evident when we detected the unmistakable grunts of a howler monkey troop roosting nearby. Without hesitation, I instructed Mai to lead us directly to the source, and he wasted no time, hacking a pathway through the brush until we were standing just below them. Observing these impressive primates in the treetops above us was without a doubt one of the great thrills of my life, though the creatures did not seem very pleased to see us. We endured a barrage of their thunderous grunts while they shook the treetops, causing a shower of leaves to fall onto our heads.
Having failed to encounter a Duende at Caracol, we resolved to make the long drive down to the Cockscomb jaguar preserve the following day, which we did. This of course is the location where Alan Rabonowitz had his sighting years before. The thrill of finding myself standing among numerous fresh, crisscrossing trails of jaguar tracks is one that I will not soon forget. However, the fact that we never actually caught a glimpse of a jaguar (or any other animal) speaks to the denseness of the jungle there. At one point I began to make wood-knocking sounds (supposedly a Sasquatch-locating technique) in order to see if I could elicit a response. I did not hear anything answer back, but something very heavy abruptly crashed through the brush, just out of sight.
Our quest became slightly more promising when I interviewed a couple of caretakers who worked at the sanctuary. A younger man named Manuel told me that he was from the Blue Creek area and that he remembered his grandmother telling him that she had once heard the call of the Sisimito. She had said that it had sounded like a man yelling, only much louder. An older caretaker named Ignacio Pop then related to me that he had heard about a recent incident in which enormous, manlike footprints were found in the grounds surrounding a shrimp farm on the coast, a dozen miles to the southeast.
For the remainder of our stay in Belize, Lori and I decided to part ways with Honorio Mai and concentrate our efforts in the region around Mountain Pine Ridge, where we were based. Among the gadgets I had brought along were some motion-activated trail cameras, a video recorder with night-vision capabilities and a primate pheromone chip. This unique chip had been developed by clinical psychiatrist and avid outdoorsman Dr. Greg Bambenek, who combined the pungent essence of both gorillas and humans, thinking that the smelly concoction just might entice other hominids such as Bigfoot. (Despite being sealed in multiple layers of plastic ziplock bags, this particular item imbued an odor to my luggage that lingered on for many years to come.)
In the end, my deployment of these gadgets over the next few days yielded no results whatsoever, though while scouting the area, we were amazed to stumble upon impressions in the ground that resembled small human footprints!
This notable event occurred on our first day hiking a trail along winding Privassion Creek. Lori first noticed a single track impressed in a tiny patch of white sand, and just a few yards away I discovered two other prints in some dirt among sparse weeds. These impressions admittedly lacked much definition. Toe marks were not vivid, though the tracks all displayed the general shape of a bare human foot. The two in the dirt were about nine inches long. Most startling was the fact that the single track in the sand was only six inches long and had a remarkably pointed heel, just as Sanderson had described the spoor of the Duende!
Though the prints certainly didn’t make for conclusive evidence, I was encouraged by the fact that we were hiking in a remote, virgin area with limited accessibility. The nearest humans lived many miles away, and, besides, these tracks did not display the tread marks and distinct edges that would indicate footwear was involved. I cannot for the life of me think of any reason why someone would be walking around in that area barefoot with potential hazards like venomous fer-de-lance snakes and scorpions crawling about. Because I had brought along some plaster-like material known as UltraCal, I was able to make casts of two of the impressions: the one with the pointy heel and the clearer of the two in the dirt. With this find under our belts, we departed Pine Ridge.
Following a memorable visit to the scenic coast (specifically, lovely Ambergris Caye), Lori and I returned home to Texas. Word of the prints we found did cause a small stir in the Bigfoot community. In hindsight, we were probably being a bit overzealous at the time, since the ambiguous casts fell far short of any standard of acceptable scientific evidence. However, we were intrigued enough to return to Belize a year later in order to mount a second expedition, which yielded minimal results. For the follow-up journey, I had intended to make it down to Blue Creek Village, since I felt that the accounts of the Sisimito were more compelling than those of the Duende. But finances were limited this time around, and we remained in the more accessible Mountain Pine Ridge for the duration of our stay. We had also considered crossing the border into Guatemala but were warned that it was not safe, as banditos were on the prowl.
Someday I hope to continue with more Central American research. Yet it’s not always mandatory to travel to exotic, faraway lands for a dose of good mystery. Sometimes, it can be found in our own backyard.
Dwarves of the Dakotas
The notion of there being an undiscovered race of “protopygmies” (hair-covered, subhuman dwarves), as Ivan Sanderson labeled them, seems a bit outlandish on the surface. However, there is no denying the fact that these beings have reportedly been encountered at numerous locales around the globe. The best known of these is Sumatra’s Orang Pendek (Little Man), whose existence is supported by the discovery of 13,000-year-old Homo floresiensis skeletons on nearby Flores Island. According to physical anthropologists that have studied these remains, the “hobbit” (as H. floresiensis has been nicknamed) seems to represent a pygmy-sized side branch of human evolution. Since 13,000 years is merely a blink of an eye in geological terms, could the Flores Man or something like it still exist? On the island of Sri Lanka, there is a legend about a race of shaggy, and apparently quite nasty, pygmies known as the Nittaweo. From Africa, we hear accounts of the tiny Agogwe and Sehite, and from South America, the Didi and Shiru. We mustn’t ignore the possibility that Europe’s abundant “little people” lore may have some bearing on the subject as well. The point is that behind every legend there may be a tiny grain of truth, and this particular grain seems to walk on two little legs.
What is utterly dumbfounding is the prospect that the protopygmies’ range might even extend into the United States. Following a lecture that I gave in northern Minnesota, a Chippewa family from North Dakota that was in attendance approached me. They confided that their reservation had regularly been under siege by a race of generally unpleasant, savage, and hairy dwarves that had become quite a nuisance, primarily due to the fact that they are known to raid food supplies and small livestock from residents’ properties. These entities are also blamed for carrying off a pet dog or two on occasion. The sincerity of this family was unquestionable, in my opinion, as they seemed awfully concerned about the situation.
Reminiscent stories are abundant. Across the border in Montana, the Crow Nation has a famous myth that refers to the Nirumbee or Awwakkule, described as powerful and ferocious dwarves with sharp teeth, short limbs, and potbellies. It is said that these beings inhabit the Pryor Mountains and that they are capable of raining stone-tipped arrows onto their enemies with great accuracy. Ancient petroglyphs attributed to the dwarves speak to their antiquity. Other tribes share remarkably similar tales: Idaho’s Nez Perce tell of the Itste-ya-ha, which are the Hecesiiteihii to the Arapaho and the Jogah to the Iroquois. In addition, I once uncovered an obscure reference to the Goga’ne of Oregon (possibly an Umatilla name, though I’m not sure). There is also the shared belief that these “cannibal” dwarves are keen on human flesh and have been around as long as the Native Americans.
While speculation into these matters may seem like utter fantasy, we need only to reflect once again on the tiny Flores Man as well as the explanation offered by its discoverers that it quite possibly represents a dwarfed subspecies of Homo erectus, a highly widespread human ancestor that thrived on three continents for almost two million years. Although there is no evidence that H. erectus ever managed to reach the Americas before its presumed extinction 70,000 years ago, one cannot completely discount the possibility of a diminutive version migrating to the Americas at some point … and that small groups of them live on.
Houston’s Hominid
It is not uncommon for me to hear from people who believe they’ve had experiences that extend well beyond their capacity of understanding. The following is an example of one such incident that was brought to my attention by a colleague who resides in my old haunt of Houston, Texas. Consequently, I conducted two separate and in-depth phone interviews with the primary eyewitness, Justin Myers. Here is his story.
On Sunday, April 3, 2011, Myers and his girlfriend went jogging at Terry Hershey Park on the city’s west side. As they often did, the couple ventured off the main path and into the surrounding woods for a brief nature hike. While following a slight, meandering creek, they came upon a felled tree in front of a bend. Just beyond that was an overgrown grotto carved in the muddy bank of the steep creek bed. Squatting within the grotto was what they at first took to be a very tall person wearing a hoodie and kneeling down at the water’s edge.
As the couple stopped and watched, they began to realize that the being did not appear to be human. It was covered from head to toe in matted hair; its relatively small, hair-covered face featured enormous, round, dark eyes like those of a pug dog. The apparition seemed startled by the couple’s presence and began to run away very fast. Myers and his girlfriend were understandably terrified and immediately began to run in the opposite direction, back the way they had come. His girlfriend was bordering on hysterics by the time they had made it back to their vehicle. Despite the distance they had put between themselves and the thing, they still felt an eerie vibe, as if they were being watched.
Myers and his girlfriend finally did muster up the courage to return to the scene of their encounter several days later, but only while accompanied by my initial contact, a Fortean researcher named Jason DeVries. The group discovered what appeared to be strands of long, dark hair hanging from a nearby tree branch, in addition to a half-eaten fish where the thing had been squatting down. There was also something that resembled a footprint in the mud. They did not find any other evidence but took a few photographs of the location. DeVries later told me that he felt uncomfortable while at the scene and thought that he heard some low-pitched grunting and wood-knocking sounds in the distance. He also detected a foul odor in the air.
While most readers are by now filing this account away into their personal Bigfoot dossiers and calling it a day, I should point out that Myers emphasized that the pug-eyed creature was noticeably slender and that its seemingly lifeless arms hung limply by its side while it ran away, significant details that are not typically associated with the well-chronicled archetype of the traditional Sasquatch. It is therefore unclear to me precisely what kind of creature the couple actually encountered, though it must be acknowledged that hirsute hominids of varying shapes and sizes have been reported all over the world. On the outskirts of America’s fourth largest city, an exceptionally bizarre example may be lurking just on the fringe of civilization.
Manticores: Four-Legged Beasts
with Human Faces
A mere thirty miles northeast of New Orleans along the Pearl River corridor lays the vast Honey Island Swamp. Considered to be one of the most impenetrable wilderness areas remaining in North America, it is also alleged to be home to a hairy man-beast known as the Honey Island Swamp Monster. While its descriptions are reminiscent of Florida’s Skunk Ape as well as Arkansas’s Fouke Monster and other bipedal Bigfoot creatures said to stalk southern bottomlands, I interviewed one eyewitness who had an exceptional encounter with a quadruped version.
At the time of his sighting, Louisiana-native Herman Broom was only fourteen years old. He and a fishing companion were boating up the Pearl River when they saw the creature. Broom explained,
The one I saw was on all four legs: face like a man, body like an animal … very scary. It was about the size of a medium-sized man. Brownish in color, dirty brown. Fur not long, one-inch maybe. I did not see ears. Face hair-free. Eyes similar to a person. No protruding snout. Flat face. Did not notice a tail, nor do I remember seeing the feet. Flat back. No odors or sounds. It was not aggressive. Almost seemed like it wanted to say something. But it put fear in this fourteen-year-old boy at the time. For many years we never talked about what we saw in the woods that day. Who would believe us?
Well, quite possibly Bigfoot researcher Wes Ison, since he claims to have encountered a similar beast in Laurel County Kentucky some years later. With Ison’s kind permission, I reproduce his story here:
In 2005, while four-wheeling with my girlfriend in some bottomland where I live, I was following the Laurel River as it snakes its way through these dense bottoms. It was getting dusk dark.… I was carrying my Sony Hi8 camcorder because I have seen Bigfoot before, but it had been awhile. I also had my .44 Magnum pistol on me, for we have lots of wildlife around here and I would rather be safe than sorry. As we continued our ride, we came to a bend in the creek and the tree frogs and crickets were so loud that they about drowned out the ATV’s engine roar. So I turned it off so we could hear them better because the sound was just really nice and soothing.
As we sat and listened, I caught a movement out of my right eye, so I turned to see an animal which looked like a gorilla for it was on all fours but was the color of an orangutan … an orange/red, and when it turned its head to look at me its face, which I saw pretty well, was white much like that of a skull. My girlfriend was looking the other way when I jumped off the ATV to film this creature. The creature moved quickly to the base of a downed treetop, which it was in front of and just climbed right over onto the other side where I lost sight of it. My camera was around my neck, so I popped off my lens cap cover and started filming … [but] all I got was a short video of the main branch of the tree shaking where it had just went over. This all took place in just a few seconds, possibly twelve to fifteen seconds. I was very disappointed, as I’m sure anyone who looks for these creatures would be.
While it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of Bigfoot accounts describe a bipedal, upright primate that strides like a human, reports of them going down on all fours do exist, particularly in the swampy terrain of the southeastern United States. Some researchers have theorized that there might be a distinct quadruped subspecies, indigenous to these low-lying swampy areas. Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman proposed an alternative identity, referring to these creatures as “Napes” (North American Apes) and suggesting that they could represent a surviving population of Dryopithecines, ancient pongids that inhabited the temperate forests of Europe millions of years ago during the Miocene epoch.
White Bluff Screamer
Throughout the hills and hollers of northern central Tennessee, there exists colorful folklore that speaks of a monster known as the White Bluff Screamer. As with most local legends, descriptions of this particular creature seem to vary widely depending on who you ask. Yet most of the old-timers will tell you that it is said to be a tall, shaggy, white, three-toed creature with a long neck and flat face that has acquired a taste for both dogs and livestock. In 2010, a woman I’ll call Brenda related a brief encounter to me that might lend a measure of truth to the tale.
Me, my friend, and her sister went camping at this place out in the middle of nowhere with our kids. It had a nice place to swim. It got late and our fire went out. We didn’t have tents, so we slept in our cars. My friend and I were about asleep when my friend’s sister, who had parked right behind us, turned on her headlights and yelled to us to turn on ours. What we saw were two big, dirty, white, hairy things that stood six feet tall or better and were slightly hunched over. It was only a split second we saw them before they were gone. They moved extremely quickly. My friend and I saw two of them, and her sister had seen four when she yelled at us. We have no idea what we saw, but it made me think of all the stories I had heard growing up. We didn’t stay. We went home.
During my follow-up interview with Brenda, I elicited additional details from her: “It was about ten to twelve years ago when we saw them. My dad thinks it may have been between the Hickman, Maury, and Williamson County lines, at a swimming hole called Mill Seed. It may be on South Lick Creek Road or Schoals Branch Road. Not quite sure, but that is the area.”
I should point out that Williamson County has produced a handful of Bigfoot sightings over the years, including a report from South Lick Creek from the early 1970s as well as a report of a gray-colored ape-man that crossed the road in front of a vehicle in 2010. Also, high-pitched screams are some of the most common vocalizations associated with Bigfoot creatures. Accounts of gray- or white-haired Sasquatches are less common but not unheard of. Possible explanations for this type of pelage include a genetic condition such as albinism, or perhaps like the hair of other animals, theirs simply tends to lose pigmentation as they grow older. If this is the case, the deep woods of central Tennessee may harbor a veritable retirement community for excessively vocal Bigfoot creatures.