Bigfoot Encounters Oklahoma Hoax: Two Articles Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma 1977 |
YOUTH PUTS BIG FOOT IN MOUTH August 27, 1977 -- STILWELL - A report Big Foot is in this area is a tall tale, authorities said Friday. A 15-year-old youth who earlier this month told officials he was attacked by a nine-foot-tall, hairy creature with "glowing red eyes" admitted his story was a hoax, Adair County Civil Defense Director Tobe O'Neal said. O'Neal said the youth said he made up the story of the attack. O'Neal said other reported sightings of the creature were apparently "just something somebody thought they saw" and a hair on the youth's shirt after the reported attack probably came from a mule's tail. "He said he just made it up when he was with his friends, and probably after the sheriff and others began investigating, he was kind of afraid to go back on it," O'Neal said. No disaction is planned for the youth, he said. O'Neal said the youth, Brian Jones of rural Stilwell said the story was a fib after he failed to pass a polygraph test in Fort Smith, Arkansas. "We just wanted to investigate this whole thing and get it all settled and before we continued we wanted to know whether he was telling the truth," O'Neal said. The youth's story on Aug. 5, led to investigtion by O'Neal, the Adair County Sheriff's office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) and the Sasquatch Investigation of Mid-America, a group which hunts the legendary creature also known as Big Foot. The case gained national attention. An OSBI laboratory test of the hair found on Jone's shirt indicated it could have come from a bear. However, O'Neal said there are some mules at the rural home where the story first began and "it could be the hair was from the tail of one of those mules." Neither the youth, nor an adult neighbor who had told authorities they saw the creature's red eyes, Robert Ritchie, could be contacted Friday for comment. Bob Stamps, Midwest City, director of the Sasquatch Investigation group who led an expedition into the hilly, wooded area of eastern Oklahoma soon after the report, said Friday's hoax report deosn't deter his research into Big Foot. He said he is currently planning an investigation in nearby states where incidents have been reported that indicate Sasquatch
creatures have been there. Second article: Thursday, August 11, 1977--STILWELL, OKLA. (AP) - Members of a group searching for the legendary creature "Big foot" will come here Saturday. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has joined the group in investigating a reported creature described by a youth as being 9-feet tall, hairy, and having glowing red eyes. The 15-year-old youth, Brian Jones, told authorities the creature grabbed him and ripped off his shirt outside a friend's rural home near here Friday night. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations (OSBI) is studying the boy's shirt, which authorities said had long coarse brown hair attached to it. Bob Stamps of Oklahoma City, director of a group calling itself Sasquatch Investigation of Mid-America said he has talked with authorities in the eastern Oklahoma town and is convinced "that there is something there - just what, I don't know." Stamps and other members of his group will search the area Saturday night, after interviewing persons in the area during the day. "We believe these people (who have reported a strange creature) are telling the truth and we just want to find out what this thing is," said Adair County Civil Defense Director Tobe O'Neal.
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