First I'll tell you a little about myself. I am 49, married, a supervisor at
the Hills Floral Group in Richmond, Indiana. I have lived in this area all
my life. First in Richmond, then in Economy (20 yrs.)
The Bigfoot footprint sighting and subsequent unknown scream took place in
1972.
I will tell you a little about the area of the sighting. The place was
Springwood Park, on the northern outskirts of Richmond. Richmond is about 15
miles away from Economy. At that time Springwood was a private owned park.
It is a very large park bordering, at that time, large tracts of woodland.
The far northern end of the park is very dense undergrowth. No one ever
ventured that far back except for a few friends & me. There is a railroad
that cuts through the park & this is where I saw the prints. The day I saw
them was extremely cold out, about 15 - 20 degrees. About 3 inches of snow had
fallen the night before. I love to wander around the woods after a fresh
fallen snow. Walking along the tracks, I stopped for a rest on a big metal
box that belonged to the railroad. This is when I noticed the prints. They
crossed the tracks a few feet from where I was sitting and went around the box
and into the woods. The other side of the tracks dropped off into a steep bank
and into a small valley. The tracks came from the valley, crossed the tracks and
into the woods. What was strange was that they were barefoot tracks, but,
they were not large tracks. More like a normal sized man's. But barefoot in
that weather? You are thinking, "did you follow them?" Not on Aunt Betty's
tootie! I could see them for about 20 yards or so where they headed
into the thicker part of the woods. I was alone and not crazy.
At that time, I never heard of anything called Bigfoot. I thought it had to
be a real nut case. I figured that anyone who could traipse around in 15
degree weather, in the snow and no telling how far he went, had to be one
rugged individual!
Time for me to beat-feet and get the hell out of Dodge. Ok, now will let you
in on secret no. 2. Two of my friends and I spent many days and afternoons
roaming around there and had only one other incident before this one but don't
know if this has any meaning.
I have been a hunter all my life, (hope that does not offend) so I know the
sounds of the woods and when things are not right. We could go out there and
at times things just didn't feel right. Eerie. It was like we were being
watched or something. The woods just was not right. Can't explain it, but we
all felt it without saying a word.
We just knew it was time to leave. One summer's evening, before the print
sighting, we decided to grab our sleeping bags and camp out. All went well
until sometime in the middle of the night. We heard the most awful scream I
have ever heard. Can not describe it, but have NEVER heard anything like it.
It did it several times. We packed up our gear. There is a small cabin not
far from where we were. The park rented it out for parties etc. We climbed
up onto the roof and stayed there until daylight; figured it was safer than
trying to make the trek out of the woods. Well, that's about it. Can't think
of anything else that would help you.
According to the witness, this report was sent to the BFRO on Wed, 2 Jun 1999
but the report was abandoned for reasons unknown. Subsequently the report taken by Bobbie Short.
