Bigfoot Encounters


Sighting of a Stark White Sasquatch is recalled...
Franklin County, Missouri July/August 2004

by Amber Nicole Hildebrandt


Franklin County, Missouri July/August 2004; Approx 2-3:00pm
Hendricks Rd., though I am not sure if it was North Hendricks Rd. or South Hendricks Rd.

Description: The Sasquatch was a brilliant white, long, straight, and clean hair covering from its head down to its legs. Large black eyes. Walks on two legs. Long arms. Somewhat hunched as it walked aimlessly. Fully aware of our presence, but unconcerned. Maybe 6 feet tall, could have been taller or a few inches shorter. Seemed to be elderly. No hair around its eyes, except for maybe a few long hairs from the top of its head that hung down. Very quiet. Made no noise at all when it walked. Was unperturbed by the dog barking. Did not look at us directly until I opened the door and peered out at him. He then met my gaze and his eyes held great emotion, such as what appeared to be sadness, curiosity, peace, and a gentleness, as well as wisdom. He was not aggressive at all, not in body language or facial expression or anything else. Appeared to be searching for something on the ground.

Where do I start? Well, first of all, I was visiting my parent's home, which was a trailer, in Lonedell, MO. I lived in Warrensburg, MO at that time, so it was about a four hour drive to get there. Because of the drive, I would stay for at least a week each visit. I brought my 4 year old son each time, as well.
 

It was probably about 2-3 pm in the afternoon, but I only think this because 1)there was full sun 2)my mother, who is disabled, was napping and that is usually the time she would lay down. My son, their dog Buddy, and I were all sitting on the "back deck" of the trailer, although we referred to it as the front porch because the driveway is on that side of the house and that door was the only one we used to enter and exit the trailer. So, the three of us were sitting there, just chatting, and something caught my attention directly ahead of me and a little ways off in the distance. I remember thinking it was a person, as it was walking, but as it drew closer I could see long white hair covering it. I had an instant instinct to get my son in the trailer, so I hurried him inside and I followed. I closed the screen door and continued to watch this thing up the slight hill and towards the trailer. I felt horrible for Buddy, who was only an outside dog, because I had left him out there and he was very scared. He had hopped down from his chair and got under it. Buddy was a brave little dog, used to helping herd cattle with my dad, but he was shaking and barking very unconvincingly at the thing that was approaching.  

I stood there inside the doorway and just stared at the Bigfoot, though I didn't connect Bigfoot with what I seeing at the time and I think I might have heard about Bigfoot only once or twice many years before. When I recounted this event to my husband, I told him that my brain was acting as a Rolodex of animals that I knew of and nothing matched what I was seeing. I kept saying out loud, "What is that? What is that?" and my son kept answering, "I don't know." 

I know without a doubt that the Bigfoot was well aware of our presence even before I was aware of his. He (or she, though I felt it more masculine) walked what seemed intentionally in our direction, though not looking at us, and I know he must have heard Buddy barking but he acted as though he didn't. The Bigfoot seemed in no hurry at all and even almost like he was just out for a stroll. He continued toward the trailer until he reached a wood fence that served no fencing purpose but was more decoration, I suppose. He stayed on the opposite side of the fence from me, but, being that the fence was the long horizontal pole kind, I could see him still just as easily. Again, Buddy is still barking, though not near as often, and yet the Bigfoot paid him absolutely no mind and didn't look in Buddy's direction which was also my direction.  

The Bigfoot wandered slowly beside the gate while looking down at the ground as if he was looking for something in specific. He was slightly hunched over, but still tall although I wouldn't guess as tall as other Bigfoot that have been seen. I would have to go back to the fence and see for myself, because I was up higher than it and that may have caused it to appear shorter to me. However, at least 3 feet of it was above the fence. I would say between 5'5" and 6 feet tall. Also, I would guess that the deck was about 30 feet away from the fence and I might have been about 6 feet further back being that I was inside the trailer. Still, I consider that very close and feel blessed that our encounter lasted for at least 3 minutes, maybe longer. 

The most distinguishing characteristic of the Bigfoot was the brilliant white long hair that it had. It seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. I have to say that it was beautiful and very clean. The photo on the right reflects much of what the hair of the Bigfoot looked like -->>

The details of the Bigfoot are fuzzy for me, as my mind was just constantly reeling as to what in the world I was seeing. I do remember being able to visibly see a face at this point because his head was sideways (I was seeing his profile) this whole time. Also, something about it gave me the impression that it was old. Maybe it was the white hair, maybe the slow way it was walking, maybe the hunch? I just felt it to be my elder.
 

As he continued to walk alongside the fence, I realized that he would soon be out of my sight and on the other side of the detached garage if he continued walking in that direction. I wanted to keep watching it so badly, didn't want to lose sight of it, and I also wanted to see it without the glass interfering. So, I opened the screen door (which swung out to the right, which was the direction he was walking) very slightly, in fact just enough to squeeze my head through, and had to turn my head to the right and sort of on the outside of the door in order to see him again. He was still beside the fence.  

The next thing that happened still brings tears to my eyes and covers me in goosebumps. I know he must have heard the screen door squeak open, because as I was turning my head to look at him, he was turning his head to look at me. This was the first time that he had acknowledged that we were even there and he was looking me directly in the eyes, nonetheless! It was an amazing moment and I will never forget the feeling of peace and calm that washed over me while I stared back into his eyes.  

His eyes were big and round and black, but they had emotion within them. I saw a sort of sadness in his eyes and also a sort of kindness. I knew while we were staring at each other that he would not hurt me and was not aggressive, but rather seemed very calm and peaceful. To this day, I wish I could go back to that day, that very moment, and step out on to that deck. I wish I would've offered him a friendly, "Hello". Instead, he seemed to wait to see what I was going to do and when he realized I wasn't moving, he turned his head back to the ground and continued walking in the same direction. In a few steps, he was on the other side of the garage and out of my sight. So, I ran as fast as I could toward that end of the trailer and into my mother's bedroom, where she was still sleeping, and nearly tore the curtains off the window trying to find him again. My mother was not happy with being woke up in this manner and asked what was going on and I didn't even know what to say. I didn't really know what was going on either, lol. My son was also looking out the window trying to catch a glimpse of the Bigfoot, but we didn't see him.  

I was hyped and rattling things off to my mother about what I had just seen and she asked me, "What was it?" and I said I didn't know. She asked if it was a bear and I said no, "It was definitely not a bear and it was walking on two legs like we do!". She asked if it was a dog and I told her no, "It didn't look at all like a dog and it was way too big to be a dog!". I couldn't answer her questions because they were my questions, too.

I can't remember much that happened directly following our conversation, such as if we stayed inside or went out on the deck, or what we did to pass the time until my dad got home. I was very anxious to relay to him what I had seen and hopefully get some answers from him, as he worked outside on this land for a living (as a farm hand) and I figured he had to have seen it too.
 
I still find it strange that my dad didn't seem shocked when I described what I had seen, yet he claimed to have never seen anything like it. He kind of acted like he didn't believe me, but he's a really laid back type of guy and not much gets him excited so that might have been the case. I'm really not sure and he won't participate in conversations that my mother and I have about that day and the Bigfoot I saw when we talk about it in front of him. Speaking of those conversations between my mother and I, she recalls that I was terrified to go outside on the deck alone anymore. I don't remember that, but I don't remember any more of that visit at all. I'm thankful that Buddy was there to confirm what I was seeing, as well as my son (although he doesn't remember this encounter, but does remember an encounter that I don't remember!).  

Another thing of interest is that on one of my visits before the visit in which I saw Bigfoot, I was sitting on that same deck at night. I was very sick with a cold and sinus infection and had taken Nyquil, which made me groggy. My dad had just gotten done grilling steaks on the grill, on the deck, and then he and my mom and my son all ate inside while I remained outside alone to eat my steak. (My parent's smoke so the air outside was easy to breathe than inside.)  

I should note that the stairs to the deck were located between the trailer and the garage, from which a path about 10 ft. wide led between the trailer and garage and then about 40 ft. away to a pond stocked with fish and home to the landowner's swans. While I was sitting on the deck, trying to eat my steak with a stuffy nose, I got this incredibly overwhelming feeling of being watched from the direction of the pathway between the trailer and garage. There were no lights back there and it was very dark, but I kept looking over there and peering into the darkness. I didn't see anything, but felt uncomfortable to the point that I had to go inside. From that night on, I always sat far away from the part of the deck that was nearest the stairs and pathway. I also need to add that I was completely unaware of the fact that many people feel they are being watched when a Bigfoot in nearby and it was years later that I was able to connect that night and feeling of being watched to my Bigfoot encounter.  

Lastly, I mentioned my son recalls a sighting that I do not. One day when he and I were excitedly talking about seeing Bigfoot, as we like to do because only we both experienced it together, he mentioned that he could see the Bigfoot's hand and he even told me it had long fingernails that were very dirty. I thought it strange that he remembered such good details and so I asked him more questions about what he saw. Then, he said he could see him dig in the snow like he was looking for something. Snow??? That didn't make any sense, so I asked my son to tell me what happened from the beginning. This is what he said and still says each time I ask him to tell me,

"You were in the kitchen doing dishes and I was playing with my toys in the living room. You said, "Clayton come here!" but I didn't want to because I was playing, so I kept playing. Then you said, "Clayton, hurry up! Come here!" and I ran over to you and you picked me up so I could see out the kitchen window, pointed to a white hairy man in the trees, and asked, "What is that?!". I said, "I don't know,". I then asked Clayton to tell me what he saw the Bigfoot doing. Clayton replied, "He was digging in the snow with his hands like he was looking for something. Then, he would pick up grass and eat it.". I asked Clayton how big he was and he said, "Probably about 10 feet tall, but he was bent down so I don't know for sure.". I asked Clayton what happened next. He said, "I said I wanted to get down because I was really scared. I went back in the living room and played with my toys, but I was still really scared by it." I asked Clayton what I did after that and he said I just kept doing dishes.  

Again, I do not remember any of that sighting at all, but I clearly remember that kitchen window and the view of the pine trees that Clayton said the Bigfoot was knelt down in. I often did dishes for my mother because she couldn't, so that made sense. However, I didn't remember ever being down there when there was snow on the ground. I wasn't sure what to make of Clayton's sighting.  

Months later, as I was going through all of my photos that had needed to be put in photo albums for years, I came across pictures of some of the visits we had in Lonedell. Sure enough, many of the pictures had snow on the ground and we had even put a Christmas tree up while there! There were pictures of Buddy, their dog, and even some of the pine trees in the yard (though I'm not sure if they are the same group of pine trees that he saw the Bigfoot in). 

Ok, I know this is a lot of information, but I have more to share. I feel this is important. It had to have been at least a year later after my sighting that I was playing Zoo Tycoon and one of the animals I could put in my zoo was a Yeti. I didn't even know what a Yeti was, so I placed one in an exhibit and saw a large white hairy ape-like man appear. That was the first time since my sighting that I really gave much thought to it and also the first time that anything I saw or heard about resembled what I had seen that day. I quickly exited the game and started searching on the Internet for Yeti. I felt like it was unlikely that what I saw was a Yeti because the Yeti in Zoo Tycoon needed to have a hilly, mountainous, cold, and snowy environment and where I saw what I saw didn't match. After searching, I noticed that Yetis were the same thing as Bigfoot and that led me to learn more about Bigfoot. Within minutes, I knew that I had seen a Bigfoot that day because many of the sketches and eye-witness descriptions matched what I had seen. It was a moment of relief to finally know what I had seen, but also a moment of "Woah! I saw a Bigfoot!". :) I was intrigued, but went about life as normal... what else could I do? :) 

We moved to Michigan in the summer of 2006 and it was either that year or 2007 that I started searching for Bigfoot again online and found the BFRO website. I became addicted, read every report for Missouri and Michigan, learned a great deal about Bigfoot, and it all just made me want to have that moment to do all over again. How differently I would've have reacted! I submitted my report to the BFRO not long after, but, unfortunately, never heard back from them. Maybe my phone number changed or maybe they just didn't contact me? I'm not sure.  

Today, after looking at the BFRO website some more and watching videos on the BFRO youtube website, I decided to search for other websites regarding Bigfoot as I had read and visited almost every page on both sites and wanted to know more. The search results contained this website and, after reading your home page remarks, I knew this was a website that I could trust. I've read many of the sightings you have listed, many of which are completely new to me. I watched some of the videos, and even read pages and pages of stories and information, such as the numerous names Bigfoot is called by all different Indian tribes. I also read your review of "Tribal Bigfoot" by David Paulides and purchased it as well as "Hoopa Project" from Amazon.com today. Can't wait to read those! I appreciate all of the information you share and the credibility of your website. Thank you. 

By the way, as I've been writing this message, I've been mentally debating on whether or not to include things that I saw when I was a child or not. Everyone always thought I was either lying or crazy when I would tell them as a child, so I find talking about what happened and I what I saw difficult. however, as I mentioned, I've read many of the stories and sightings here and realize that stranger things have happened. :) I'd like to say that these things may have absolutely nothing to do with Bigfoot, but after having learned what I have I find that the similarities make this worth mentioning. 

I was 9 (possibly 10) years old and was laying in my bed one night, trying to fall asleep but I kept hearing things that scared me so I had one eye open until I could no longer keep it open and I must have fallen asleep. On this night, like many others, one of my babysitters was spending the night because my mother was, at this time, an RN who worked 12 hour night shifts. I woke up to the sound of scratching on my closet door, which was shut, and immediately assumed my cat, Lacey Bell, had been shut in there. This really doesn't make sense at to why I thought that though because she very seldom went into closets. I got up, without thought or fear, and opened my closet door. I was looking into the bottom of the closet and Lacey wasn't in there, but something else was. I looked up and way above my head were two large red eyes just staring back at me. The rest of my closet seemed to be pitch black and never-ending. I stood there frozen, terribly scared, and then took off running out of my room and toward the kitchen just screaming. My babysitter ran into the kitchen not long after and was frightened by my reaction. I told her that I saw two big red eyes in my closet and she was not convinced. However, she did let me sleep with her for the rest of the night.  

Another incident occurred after that but I'm not sure how long after. I was, again, sleeping in my bed in my room. I had a daybed that was against a wall that had a window on it. The window was above my waist when I was laying down. The window was closed, but not curtains on it or blinds. I was sleeping when, for some strange reason, I sat straight up and looked out the window. There, again, were two big red eyes staring at me. I remember thinking that it wasn't possible for anything to be able to stand there and see in because my window was so high off the ground. I don't remember anything else that happened on that night, not even if I went back to sleep or got up to sleep with either my brother, mother, or babysitter. I do remember not feeling like I could tell anyone about this incident because of the ridicule I got from the first, so I kept it to myself. I may have told my best friend at that time, though. I remember she believed me about seeing the eyes in my closet. She told me it was the grim reaper, which I had never heard of. I cannot honestly tell you how high the window was from the ground, but I think it was possibly 15 feet from the ground. I also think I was slightly looking down at the eyes that I saw, but can't say with certainty.  

Ok, as if I haven't already written a novel here, I have more to add. I don't want to leave anything out as it can't hurt anything and it may be of help.

Two years ago, in Michigan where I now live, during the summer time I awoke to the most haunting sounds I have ever heard. I had my bed pushed up against the window, as it was hot and we don't have a/c, and my husband and I were sleeping. I remember hearing the noise and slowly waking up and becoming aware of it as it grew louder and higher. My eyes went wide and my whole body tensed up and I just lay there stiff as a board, unable to speak, unable to move. The noise would go off and was fairly lengthy, stop for about 10-20 seconds, and then repeat. I would go back and forth between thinking a woman was being murdered in my front yard, to a little girl being murdered in my front yard, to a ghost. Those three kept rotating in my head as the noise/scream/howl/cry continued to repeat and slightly change. I remember thinking that the sound seemed to be coming from our garden, which was and is about 300-500 feet straight out from our house and my bedroom window. Believe it or not, I began to fall back asleep after not having heard the sound for a long time, but woke up in a panic again when the sound started again. This time, I started to shake my husband in an attempt to wake him up and said his name, quietly, at the same time. He was halfway awake and grumbled, "What?!" and I said something like, "Someone is being hurt in our front yard. Listen!". We laid there and listened, but the noise didn't happen again. So, I told my husband what the noise sounded like and how scared I was and he told me it was probably a rabbit being killed. Well, I don't claim to be accustomed to the sounds animals make, other than the typical noises that everyone knows, so I don't know what a rabbit being killed sounds like, but I can say that I know this noise could not have come from a rabbit. It was too loud, much too loud, and sounded human at times and then sounded spooky, for lack of a better word that really describes it.  

It didn't cross my mind that it was a Bigfoot at that time. It wasn't until I read that Bigfoot howls and screams, which was later on, that I put the two together. I've listened to the vocal recordings of Bigfoot since then, but none of them sound exactly like what I heard. The audio recordings sound more animal like than what this did. 

Last thing. It was winter of that same year and there was at least 2 feet of snow on the ground. I noticed footprints in the side yard of our house while looking out a window and checked to see where they came from and where they went to. I was concerned that they went alongside our house and came right up to the basement windows, which are tall ground-level windows. I can see into them without bending over when standing outside. I asked my husband when he got home if he walked around the side of the house and he said no. I told him there are footprints out there that come right up to the basement windows. So, he said he would go look and I went with him. One thing I noticed was the size of the prints. They seemed very long and I told my husband this. He disagreed and put his boot into one. It was shorter than the print by a couple inches, at least. The second thing I noticed was that there was no drag in the snow between the footprints. I wondered how anyone could walk in that deep of snow and only leave impressions of where the feet came down. The third thing I noticed is that the stride was of good measure as well. It looked like someone would have had to lean really far over and then take a step in order to make a stride that long, but how could someone do that without leaving drags in the snow? I was very concerned because it was apparent that someone has been walking next to our basement windows on purpose. The last thing I noticed was that the footprints had no determinable beginning or end. The first one I found was in between some pine trees at the front of our house, then they continued on all along the side of the house, only to stop near the back deck, which is right around the corner of the house. My husband had no comment on that either. He did call his dad though, who lives just behind our back yard and a little down a hill, and asked if he had walked around our house. His dad said no. No one had been out there that we knew of. Not me, my husband, or my children, and it was not prints made by my dog or cats. My husband concluded it must have been the meter man. I've never been able to convince myself of that.  

Now, I've listed six incidents that have happened in my lifetime. I know without a single doubt that the summer time sighting was a Bigfoot. The other five I am not able to say with such conviction that they are related to Bigfoot. However, I do wholeheartedly believe my son about seeing the Bigfoot in the snow, but I can't say with certainty that I saw a Bigfoot that day because I don't even remember that at all. I feel foolish to even suggest that all of these could be Bigfoot related, as two occurred in Smithville, MO, two occurred in Lonedell, MO, and two occurred in Michigan. Has anyone ever been so lucky as to see and hear Bigfoot or evidence of Bigfoot that many times and in such dispersed locations? Part of me wonders if there is any such thing as Bigfoots being drawn to certain people and if I may be one of those people? I don't mean that to sound arrogant at all, so please don't take it that way. I'm just curious if anything has ever been mentioned or studied or noticed like that before? I suppose if something like that has happened and is a possibility, I'd really like to know so I can prepare myself for more memorable moments with the big guy. :) 

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read all of this. Thank you, especially, for being a "safe place" that I and others who have been blessed to see the Bigfoot can recount our experiences without ridicule and judgment. Please keep this wonderful website up and running! I'll be a regular follower, for sure! 

Sincerely, Amber



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