Strange animal encounter! What was it?

I arrived home from my second job on Wed, July 18th around 2:20am to find that my roomate had locked the front door. While unlocking it I was thinking to myself how unusual it was for the door to be locked when my roomate knew I was coming home. I head inside the house to find my roomate and her friend(a fully grown man!) on the couch with a weird look on their face. My immediate reaction was "why is the door locked?" They mumbled a response with what I heard to be "Bigfoot was outside."

Naturally, I thought they were joking and were just yanking my chain. They seemed completely convinced that a large strange animal was outside our house about 1 1/2 hours before I came home.

My questions to them were as follows:

What were you doing when you encountered this?
They wanted to have a cigarette outside, they turned the driveway light on and went out the door. They said that they were on the front deck next to the driveway when they heard rustling in the grass next to the house(about 20-30 feet away) and became aware of somthing large enough to move the tall grass(about 3 feet tall) around.

Did you see anything?
They said they only saw the surrounding vegetation move.

Why do you think its Bigfoot?
They said they weren't sure if it was Bigfoot. However they mentioned that they heard "grunting" sounds.
I asked them to demonstrate what they heard. To me, their mimik sounded more like a breathy grunting sound. Similar to what a deer or bear would sound like.
They said they tried to communicate with it! My roomate's guy friend was bold enough to echo the grunting sound back to this animal. They got a response! He said that when he made the grunting sound the beast made it back as if trying to communicate.

After this reponse both of them got scared and ran back inside the house. Thus, locking the door


What do I make of this?

Okay, first of all it was dark out and I couldn't verify anything until the sun came up.
I pulled up a site that had simulated deer vocalizations and had my roomate listen to what they had for recordings. She said that none of them sounded like what they heard.
Morning came and I was excited to find out if there was any evidence where they said they had heard this thing. To my surprise there was evidence of something huge in the tall grass next to my house.

Let me give you an idea of what my side yard looks like.
I live in a town called Waterbury in the state of Vermont. We live on top of a hill. We have a slanted back and side yard that leads into the woods. The woods near my house goes along side the intersate for about 2 miles then opens up to lush mountains and forest land.

What I saw that morning was as follows:
A very distinct singular trail about 2 feet wide originating from the woods. The trail lead to a "flattened" portion of grass about 20-30 feet away from our front door. This flattened area looked like whatever animal this was just sat there and rolled around for a bit. Picture 3 fully grown men sitting indian-style in 3-4 foot grass, take away the men and you are left with a rather large flattened area. This intrigued me to say the least. I was convinced that since the ground was soft enough, even though it had not rained for 2 days, whatever was big enough to leave this flattened area with a trail leading from the woods would have left a print of some kind. I pushed the grass aside to examine the ground. I didn't see anything at all! The only thing of interest to an animal was a crap apple tree. I did see some reminants of apples on the ground as well.

If this were a bear or a dear or even a moose, it would have left a distinct footprint in the ground. Dear have hoofs, and even in grass their weight generally wouldn't be displaced. With that being said, a deer with an average weight of 150 pounds would have about 38 pounds of pressure for each leg to support. 40 pounds with a hoof attached to it would have left a print in the ground regardless if the ground is dry or wet. This would similarly be the case with a moose or a bear(bears haveing claws would at least leave their claw marks).

I saw NOTHING! All I saw was the bushwhacked trail leading from the woods, and the flattened area with no evidence of a dear or other animal.

Now even if this were somehow a deer, bear or moose. As soon as my roomate originally turned the lights on, any deer, bear or moose would have been completely startled. A deer would have jolted from the scene in about .25 seconds and never be seen or heard from again. I dont know about a moose or a bear since I have never met one close up before, but I would assume that they would do something similar but a bit slower.

Since Bigfoot has soft feet, and would be able to displace a lot of his weight when steping through grass, he would most likely not leave a print.

I am not saying this was Bigfoot, all I am saything is that what my friends heard was not a bear or a deer.

Question left unanswered:
What could have left a trail and a big open flattened area in the grass?
What can make a breathy grunting sound as my friends described?
What can do all this and leave no footprints?

I forget what site this was on and when but there was a sighting in Vermont about 40 miles away from me of a 10 foot tall bigfoot!

Anyways, I just wanted to post this like I told my friends I would do.

What to ATS'ers think?

Thanks

I might not be much help, but you might try the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization www.bfro.net... They list sightings by state. In fact, if you click on the date you can read the Report that was filed. Their home page has a Link to Bigfoot and Sasquatch sound recordings. Perhaps your friends may recognize something there.
There is also the NEBFRO ( New England Bigfoot Field Research Organization) which I found not long ago. www.nebigfoot.com... The site seems to be under construction, but if you register it says you can enter the Forums. I live in the Midwest, so I never registered .

Hey thanks!
I will check out the NEBFRO as I have never even heard of it. As for the BFRO original site, I have been there, I aslo had my friends listen to what they had for recordings. Nothing really applied to what they experienced.
All the recordings to date are of really horrible quality. However, they do depict strange and unknown animal sounds that can easily be attributed to a Bigfoot. These were close quarters grunting sounds (about 20-30 feet away) not a scream heard from miles away or whistling. Pretty unique case as I have never heard of anything unafriad of humans and able to grunt back to my friend as if trying to communicate. I could be reading too far into things but all the evidence points to a large animal that most likely enjoys a crab apple or two.

Maybe not Bigfoot, but what?

I like believing its the B-man cause its more fun that way!!! Plus I never deny the existance of anything, BECAUSE ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

Nice story.


If your friends were as afraid as you mentioned, why didn't they try to warn you of the possible BF outside the house, knowing you would be coming home? ( nice friends LOL ).

Also, you didn't mention if the outside light was still on when you came home, if your friends turned it off when they hurried back inside.

If afraid, I would think leaving the light on would offer some comfort to the situation IMO., people do some strange things when they are frightened but this seems like an obvious reaction to leave the light ON.

Wild hogs? Look for split hoof tracks.

Roper

[edit on 20-7-2007 by Roper]

I would think they would leave the outside lights on and the inside lights off. I would think they would look for something to protect themselves. I would think they would have called the police to come search the area and last but not least that they would have tried to get in touch with you in anyway possible to warn you what was going on.

Did the path just stop that you couldn't follow it? Did you look for any hair samples or did you smell anything bad? I would also tell you to get in touch with the Bigfoot Society in your area ASAP.

If I thought it was Bigfoot I would invest on putting a camera on the outside of my house and I would bait that particle area to draw it in and capture a pitcure, it could make you a very rich person.

Ok. Here's what you do.

Leave the head of a gundark hanging by a rope from a tree. Everyone knows Bigfoot is always thinking with his stomach. When Bigfoot returns he will try to take the head and that will set off the trap (did I mention the trap? You have to set up a trap beforehand) snagging him in a bundle of rope leaving him dangling in the air. Now, unless he has a lightsaber or a buzzsaw he should be stuck and you can start charging for people to see him.

Originally posted by Grailkeeper
If your friends were as afraid as you mentioned, why didn't they try to warn you of the possible BF outside the house, knowing you would be coming home? ( nice friends LOL ).

I usually keep my cell phone off when I am at my second job, the job is pretty loud so its pointless to keep it on. So if they tried to call I wouldnt answer. They didn't seem 100% certain that what they encountered was threatening them. That being the case, I dont think that they would have phoned me because I would have called them crazy! Even though I 100% believe that Bigfoot exists........."UMM...I think Bigfoot is outside the house." I would have laughed at them. Nor would I be afriad of him if he was actually there.

Also, you didn't mention if the outside light was still on when you came home, if your friends turned it off when they hurried back inside.

The light was off when I came home. I remember unlocking the door in the dark. They must have wanted whatever it was to go back to whatever it was doing.

If afraid, I would think leaving the light on would offer some comfort to the situation IMO.

, people do some strange things when they are frightened but this seems like an obvious reaction to leave the light ON.

You are right! I would have gotten my camera straight away and started to take as many pictures as possible. And left the light on!!!
I dont know what they were thinking.

We even have a bedroom in the house that overlooks the the exact spot where they thought it was. It would have been at a perfect angle to catch whatever it was on film and lay this to rest. You can be sure that if this happens again I will be ready for it. I even have a camera that shoots movie clips and nightvision shots, so I think thats all I need. Also I will be sure not to shake my arms about, thus making the sasquatch a blobsquatch on film. Maybe one night I will play some cleaned up version of some Bigfoot vocalizatoins and blast them from my car stereo, this may attract him back.

Thanks for the replies!

Originally posted by observe50
I would think they would leave the outside lights on and the inside lights off. I would think they would look for something to protect themselves. I would think they would have called the police to come search the area and last but not least that they would have tried to get in touch with you in anyway possible to warn you what was going on.

They didnt feel threatened, they were scared and confused. I dont know why, if they thought it was Bigfoot, they would lock the doors, like Bigfoot or any other animal knows how to use modern devices

Did the path just stop that you couldn't follow it? Did you look for any hair samples or did you smell anything bad? I would also tell you to get in touch with the Bigfoot Society in your area ASAP.

I didnt go into the woods only because I didnt see any footprints, If I saw a footprint of anything I would have looked in the woods carefully, plus the path just stoped as the tall grass ended where the woods began. This was about 7 hours later when I examined the area, there was no smell, and I distinctly remember looking for hair samples, but none were found. I will not contact any Bigfoot research organization simply because I didn't witness this. If this thing comes back I will indeed write a full report along with posting pictures of the beast.

If I thought it was Bigfoot I would invest on putting a camera on the outside of my house and I would bait that particle area to draw it in and capture a pitcure, it could make you a very rich person.

Your right! I have a camera that will suffice quite nicely. I will try the sasquatch vocalization through my car stereo when I have some time. I wll let everyone know when I plan on doing this.

If I capture Bigfoot on film it WILL NOT be for monetary gain. This creature deservers more than that. If his presence could be documented then it could shed new light on many other cryptids. In other words....It will be a scientific discovery, not a media stunt.


Thanks

Originally posted by Roper
Wild hogs? Look for split hoof tracks.

Forgot about those, I believe there are a very small amount of them in Vermont as I have never ever heard of a case of them being seen or shot. I did a simple google search and couln't find anything on the pigs in Vermont besides a breif mention of them. As I said before, there were NO tracks whatsoever to be found. But I will not rule out this possibility.

Thanks

Good thread, as I've found out Bigfoot is not a creature of habit but, maybe if your lucky, he might return. I would recommend getting some blood hounds and run with them if you can. If not, maybe your friends could come up with something else, to help in our quest, as I am also with you in trying to find, "The Beast of the woods". The trap idea is good but, don't you think its been tried before? It might work if the net is made of wire, a rope net might not be strong enough to hold him. I wish you well, and if you capture him please let me know. I will spend the rest of my life, trying to find the one, who has eluded capture for as long as there have been reports of
him. "Bigfoot".

GeneralT:
Hello again!
Thanks for replying to my thread. Did you read about my idea to blast audio of vocalizations. This may be heard for a mile or so depending on how sensative their ears are. I have never heard of anyone trying to clean up the auido of the original recordings you hear on BFRO and other sites. I am willing to take the time to clean up some of the the background noise and see if I can get a clear vocalization from it. If I am sucessful in my attempt then I will share it with others for they might have better luck than I.

Thanks GeneralT

Hey again, there was pretty good audio on the Discovery channel about Bigfoot vocals and little bigfoot. It was on about 6-8 months ago sorry I can't remember the name of the show. Maybe someone here at ATS can help with the name.

Originally posted by GeneralT.
Hey again, there was pretty good audio on the Discovery channel about Bigfoot vocals and little bigfoot. It was on about 6-8 months ago sorry I can't remember the name of the show. Maybe someone here at ATS can help with the name.

OOO really
Nice, I will get on that ASAP. I will let you know what I find.

Thanks

IMA:

Here in Texas, the 'intruder' you described would have probably been a wild hog. The way you described the grunting sound and the size of the area of the flattened grass reminds me of various encounters that I have had over the years with these nasty beasts.

Believe me, I can understand your friends being spooked if it was a hog; they can be intimidating if they so choose.

You might want to see if you can find anyone you know who hunts who might have a 'game camera' that you could attach to a tree outside your home. These are motion activated. I have a couple at the ranch and they are very good at capturing wildlife pics.

Great story; looking forward to hearing some more info!

Originally posted by Txhunter67
Here in Texas, the 'intruder' you described would have probably been a wild hog. The way you described the grunting sound and the size of the area of the flattened grass reminds me of various encounters that I have had over the years with these nasty beasts.

Thanks for the reply TX!
I have discussed this the male that was there... He said, "No was that was a wild hog,"
He has heard grunting of pigs and boars on nature shows, and said this wasn't what he heard.

Again, I have found no evidence of wild pigs in Vermont, even though a few site claim they are here. The fish and game website of Vermont has no mention of wild hogs in their hunting section, nor any mention of them period.......
www.vtfishandwildlife.com...
Check it out for youself.

I seriously doubt we even have wild pigs in VT.

Thanks for the info, I will not reject this as a possibility!

They are lighter, therfore wouldnt leave a print like you would think

Thanks

Have you tried The Texas Bigfoot Research Center? There is a page there that explains the Sasquatch vocalizations and even has some sound clips I believe. Last time I heard of this group (on a TV special last year) they placed speakers up into trees that played sounds similar to an orangutans, supposedly Bigfoot(s) make a similar sound, to try and attract it to their camp. If this site doesn't have examples maybe some research on orangutans could bring up sound clips to help compare to what your friends heard. Not that you had an orangutan in your yard but ya know to see if that is what your "Bigfoot" sounded like also

Also maybe you could look close at the ground some more, there could be some hair or fur left behind. Being the summer time and it being hot all over you would think a Bigfoot would shed a little

Good luck and I hope your bedroom window isn't next to those bushes
Bzzzzzzz

Hi, It's me again. Your mystery creature has me intrigued. I did some Internet Hunting. If the BFRO and NEBFRO weren't much help, it may have been something else.
If the critter was small enough to be possibly considered a Hog by some ATSers, could it have been a Coonigator ?
www.americanmonsters.com...
The article says they "hail from the rural, woodland regions surrounding Mount Pelier, Vermont." I know Vermont is not a huge state, but are you close to Montpelier? Sorry, but I live in Ohio and really do not know where Waterbury is located.
Okay, I'll admit that I never heard of a Coonigator before, but who knows?
Edited to correct Hypoerlinked URL


[edit on 21-7-2007 by rawiea]

Originally posted by rawiea
Hi, It's me again. Your mystery creature has me intrigued. I did some Internet Hunting. If the BFRO and NEBFRO weren't much help, it may have been something else.
If the critter was small enough to be possibly considered a Hog by some ATSers, could it have been a Coonigator ?
www.americanmonsters.com...
The article says they "hail from the rural, woodland regions surrounding Mount Pelier, Vermont." I know Vermont is not a huge state, but are you close to Montpelier? Sorry, but I live in Ohio and really do not know where Waterbury is located.
Okay, I'll admit that I never heard of a Coonigator before, but who knows?
Edited to correct Hypoerlinked URL

I am extremely close to Montpelier, about 7-10 mins in fact. I have never heard of this animal. This is quite fascinating indeed. Thanks for your time.

Great stuff people. Thanks for the replies!

[edit on 21-7-2007 by IMAdamnALIEN]

[edit on 21-7-2007 by IMAdamnALIEN]

*UPDATE*

Ok something weird is going on!

Up until now I was leaning toward deer. Yesturday (July 31st) at around 2:30AM, I was actually in my house when this happened..........

The same two people that had the original encounter with whatever it was were downstairs, as I was playing Battlefield 2 on my PC upstairs.

This is what my roomate and her/my friend told me...

They went out to have a cigarrette at around 2:30. The front light was on and they both sat down to enjoy a few drags. They both heard in the same spot as the previous encounter what they thought was a rustleing in the woods. Now they both said it sounded really small, like a rabbit or something. The male picked up a few dime sized rocks and threw them into the woods where he heard the sound. The rustleing stopped and they didn't think anything of it and went back inside. Now this is where it gets wierd.
They both went back inside and pressed play on the Tivo to continue what they were watching. About 2 minutes later they said, they started to hear what sounded like little rocks hitting our metal roof awning! They muted the TV and strained to hear the sounds again. They did, and they could clearly hear little rocks hitting our metal roof covering the front area of house. They said it was pretty distinct as the windows were open and they could clearly narrow down the location of the noise.
"Tink"......."Tink", is what they said it sounded like. They were wierded out when they heard this, because they knew what was being hit (our metal roof) and that there are absolutlely no trees over our roof. Not to mention that there are no acorn trees or or any other hard shelled seed trees around our whole property! Ok with that being said, there is only one source of a sound like this. Pebbles or another hard small object were being thrown onto our roof.

Can a deer throw things? No. Can a bear throw things? No. Can pigs throw things? No. Can a rabbit throw things? No.

Now what has the capability of throwing objects? You would have to say a hand of some sort, yes?

Can anyone come up with an explaination as to what happened? I am simply boggled. Now I thought original thing was proabaly a deer, but a deer cannot throw any objects.

So to sum it up......

*Roomate and friend had a cigarette.
*Heard small rustleing in the woods, in same spot as previous encounter.
*The male threw about 5-6 small dime to quarter size rocks into woods in direction of sound.
*Went back inside, and heard about 2-3 mins later the "Tink"...."Tink" sound on the metal roof overhang in front of house. Lasted for about a minute.

Questions:
What can throw small objects?
If there was no hail, or small seed like things falling from trees, what could be a natual reason for this?

Now I would like to note as well, we have never heard anything like this, not once. This, they said, sounded like little pebbles being tossed onto our roof.

Its really too bad I was gaming at the time, I had my headphones on geeking it out hardcore. I will take pictures of my house and the surrounding area if people want me to. I just want to hear someones logical reasoning behind something like this. I am convinced that whatever threw these objects was letting my friends know that it was still there, in the woods, watching......

I thought the timing was very weird, as 2 mins passed and they heard the same objects being thrown as my friend threw into the woods. If this were any weirder, they would be the same rocks!!!!!!!!!

Any ATS thoughts?

[edit on 1-8-2007 by IMAdamnALIEN]