Location: Scott County

Date of occurrence:   1985

Date report filed:   unknown

Weather conditions:   good

Lighting conditions:   night

Narrative of report:  

  I went deer hunting with my brother-in-law and two of his friends. We drove out the ridge before daylight <location deleted>. Once we got there, we split up and each of us went out a prong of the ridge. In this part of the country a ridge can go for miles, and the prongs will extend a mile or two.

  I made my way out a prong to the end of it and set up on the ground. Deer often move along the end of a ridge, and being unfamiliar with the area I figured that would be as good a place as any.

  The forest was a mixture of hard wood and yellow pine. Down in the hollows on three sides of me was thick growths of laurel and rhododendron, with white pines and big hemlocks. There was also a lot of smaller undergrowth.

  All was quiet as daylight came, with the exception of the rustle of a squirrel or the stirring of birds. It was not cold for the time of year and it was overcast, with no wind.

  The encounter only lasted for a few minutes, but I still remember it like yesterday. Around 7:00 am all hell broke loose down the hill just out of sight. Something began breaking brush and limbs . I also heard a growling or huffing sound. It scared me pretty bad and I moved to put my back to a big tree and shouldered my weapon. I made noise when I moved, and whatever was making the sound stopped.

  At the time, I figured it to be a wild hog, or a bear. But bears hadn't been re-introduced yet, and I don't think a hog could carry on like that. What ever it was, it was big.

  I stayed there till around 9:00 a.m. before making my way back to our meeting area. I did not check out the area of the sounds because I wasn't that brave at the time. And I did not tell my buddies about it.

  I'm not saying it was bigfoot. It could have very well been a big hog. I really don't know what it was, but it was like nothing I had ever encountered then , or since.

  I'll follow up with another bit of information that I have about this particular area. I used to ride motorcycles there when I was a teenager in the 1970's, and I always had a bad feeling there. I even had a bad feeling on that morning in 1985, like I was not supposed to be there. I thought the bad feelings may have been a spiritual thing, but now I'm not so sure. I have not been in that area for years now. I just don't want to go back there.

Follow up:  

Confidential database information:  Available

Tennessee Report #49