Monsters are Real!

While researching the recent San Antonio Sasquatch incident, it occurred to me that the Alamo City has a notable history of mysterious hominid reports. Beginning in November of 1974, when a man named John Martinez sighted a Bigfoot creature while hunting rabbits with his friend Rick on the outskirts of the city. The following year, Sasquatch expert Dr. Grover Krantz received a letter from a gentleman who was fishing at a secluded lake thirty miles north of San Antonio. The man wrote about how he had heard a loud splash and when he glanced across the lake, he spotted an eight or nine foot tall creature on top of a limestone cliff. When the eyewitness looked through his rifle scope, he could observe that the man-like being was covered in long, gray fur and had a cat-like head. The next day, the man investigated the location where he had seen the thing and found trampled brush, broken branches and an overturned boulder. There were some highly publicized reports which emanated from Kelly Air Force Base on the south side of San Antonio, during the summer of 1976. First, a telephone worker named El Olivarri saw a seven foot, hairy Bigfoot lurking in his backyard one morning. A week later, his next door neighbor Rose Medina heard her dog barking and when she looked out her back door, she was horrified to see a three-foot tall, furry animal sitting on her back porch. Rose estimated that the being was about as big as a nine year old child and had an apelike appearance. The creature became startled when someone opened up a window and it ran off on two legs. There were other reports of activity in the area for a couple of weeks and then the hysteria seemed to die down. Very recently, I spoke to a young man who confided in me that he encountered a white colored, eight-foot tall Bigfoot about a decade ago, while riding his dirt bike at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Guilbeau Road on the City’s west side. The witness also noticed a dead pig nearby. In addition, there is a documented report from 2005, from a couple who were cleaning a trailer in a newly developing, residential area at Interstate 10 and Bandera Road. At first, they heard something banging on the walls of the trailer. When the woman looked outside, she spotted a tall, hairy, manlike figure leering at her from behind a tree. The woman was able to observe that the creature had a pointy, conical-shaped head. All things considered, it would appear that San Antonio must be counted among the places where Bigfoot is said to roam.

A newspaper clipping from 1976, describing Bigfoot reports in the Alamo City

On Tuesday, December 01st, I received news that there had been a Bigfoot report on the west side of San Antonio the previous night. Since that time, I have been involved in an ongoing investigation of the case, which has received quite a bit of publicity. I’ve spent considerable time at the sighting location, which lies a mere twelve miles from my home and have also been allowed access to the original police report. Unfortunately, the eyewitnesses cannot be located, but there is their recorded 911 call, which has been made public. Here’s what we know – Just before midnight, a police officer responded to a call from a homeless woman named Jennifer. The woman and her boyfriend claimed that they had witnessed a huge, hairy, figure on two legs, pick up a dead deer and then carry it away. The couple, who apparently were living in a tent in the woods, also reported that the creature emitted a foul odor and that it made screeching and howling noises as it retreated towards a nearby water tower. The responding officer found the witnesses to appear completely sober and rational, but understandably frightened. He decided not to search for the creature and the police have been reluctant to have any further involvement. The somewhat residential location, which lies near the intersection of Loop 1604 and Highway 151 near Sea World, is wooded and lies next to a water treatment facility. Understandably, the eyewitnesses have since moved out of the area and because the weather has gotten cold and wet in the interim, there is speculation that they could be staying in a nearby homeless shelter. The phone number listed on the police report is bad. It rings a department store, frustrating all attempts to track the couple down and raising more questions than answers. Reporter Joe Conger and I determined that the sighting probably took place at a dump site, where a bag full of food belonging to the eyewitnesses, along with the remnants of an abandoned campfire were left behind. My own searches of the area have revealed no tracks, hair or other evidence and I have not been able to locate any remains of the alleged deer. GCBRO investigator Rick Tullos discovered one track-like impression that was thirteen inches long and I have found a number of animal bones strewn throughout the area and some empty food containers, so a lot of animals are probably drawn to the spot. The local news stations have been running broadcasts about the incident and I have been made aware of two other Bigfoot sightings in the area, within the past decade. There has also been rampant speculation that the culprit could be an escaped monkey from Southwest Research facility (ironically founded by Bigfoot pioneer Tom Slick), based on incidents at a southside body shop where workers encountered an animal resembling a monkey. It goes without saying that Jennifer’s description does not resemble a monkey, nor are monkeys known to carry off deer. On one trip out to the sighting location, I heard some loud, brush popping noises in the woods, but couldn’t pinpoint the source. Less than a week after the report, the area was plowed over by heavy machinery, strange timing indeed.

Location of the San Antonio Sasquatch sighting on 11/30/09

As November draws to a close, I can’t help but to remember Lake Worth Texas’ ‘Goat Man’, which caused quite an uproar during the latter part of 1969. Sadly and ironically researcher Sallie Ann Clarke, author of the classic book – The Lake Worth Monster of Greer Island, Fort Worth Texas, passed away earlier this month. Clarke was an aspiring writer and detective who, like many other residents in Fort Worth had read of the goat man’s exploits, as reported by the local newspaper and reporter (now UFO writer) Jim Marrs. The monster first had been reported by three couples who were parked by the shore of the lake  in early July. They had run into the police department in the middle of the night claiming that, “A scaly, white goat man,” had jumped out of a tree and onto the roof of their car. The following evening, the area was overrun by curiosity seekers and self-proclaimed monster hunters, who were duly rewarded when a hairy, white, manlike creature (presumably Bigfoot), climbed up a cliff overlooking an area known as ‘the Pit’ and thrust a spare tire at a crowd of thirty or so people, causing them to run to their cars and flee. Apparently, there were even some sheriff’s deputies present at the incident, which must rank as one of the most witnessed monster encounters ever. Sallie Ann Clark became a regular among the throng that gathered at the lake for the ensuing months and subsequently penned her now famous book, admittedly mixing in a little fiction to make it more exciting for the readers (something she later regretted after seeing the monster herself). There was even a photograph taken by a business owner named Alan Plaster, which alleged to show the monster, though it was ultimately too out of focus to be conclusive. The last sighting of the beast involved a man named Charles Buchanan, who claimed he was sleeping in the bed of his pickup truck by the lake one November night, when the creature began to drag him to the ground. Thinking quickly, Charles shoved a bag of uneaten chicken into the monster’s mouth. It apparently worked, since the thing lumbered off and dove into the lake, swimming away with the bag of chicken still clenched in its teeth! The events of 1969 were commemorated this past October at the Greer Island Nature Center, at a festival honoring the 40th anniversary of the goat man. For more info about the Lake Worth Monster and recent evidence discovered by investigator Nick Redfern and myself, check out Nick’s excellent book – Memoirs of a Monster Hunter, available at major book retailers.