Kerry Arnold
May 6, 1973 – September 13, 2022
Mississippi, 2006
Leading up to my encounter I had put myself in a box as I’d lost a lot of people that were close to me in a short period of time. For years I was really introverted and didn’t want to socialize and made hunting my life aside from work. A guy I worked with, his grandfather owned some land that he leased to me. I had the place to myself. In the seven years I hunted it no one ever went out there which was perfect for what I needed at that time. With this I spent a lot of time out there clearing shooting lanes, building shooting houses, planting food plots…I mean I had five game cameras up. I was serious about hunting.
I hunted nothing, but deer. I tried turkey hunting in there once, but I didn’t think there were any turkeys in there at all! So I stuck with deer. But one day in 2006 late in the season I’d gone off the backside into the bottoms trying to catch some bucks coming in out of their bedding areas while it was still daylight. So I’m back there and a flock of turkeys start to roost right besides me and scared the hell out of me! So with this I had a light bulb moment as a hunter now knowing where there were turkeys I could plan a hunt.
I looked for a good month for a good spot to set up before I found one. I started setting up my spot up on a hill where a creek bottom wrapped all around it. This is in south Mississippi and up on the ridges is pine trees, which is why they call it the pine belt and in the bottoms is your hardwood deciduous trees. I setup on this clearing had maybe a couple of small pine trees in it and maybe 25 by 40 yards. If you look at it like a football field the side lines would be north/south and the end zones would be east/west. The road, a four-wheeler path comes into the west end zone and I got setup in the northwest corner by this big pine tree with Gallberry bushes that I’d cut and put where I couldn’t be seen. Turkeys may not be the smartest bird they do pick up movement including the blink of an eye and you have to hide from them.
Three months later on March 10, 2007 I’d gotten to lease before daylight. All camo’d out I off loaded my four-wheeler and parked it in the front. Usually I’d drive it in, but on this particular day I decided to walk the half mile to get to my spot. As I was getting setup behind the Gallberry bushes you could just see the sun starting to come up over the trees and I waited until I could see pretty good before I started calling. I had three calls that I used; a mouth call (reed or chirp), a box call and shaker locator call (gobble call). I’d worked these calls for at least two hours as the sun was up pretty good and it was a beautiful day.
I started to get some action, but I could tell it was young jakes and not mature gobblers as they just half-assed finished their calls back to me. So I’m thinking I’ve got some action and maybe fifteen minutes later I could see turkeys. What I could see is this really wide game trail down to my left which would be the north sideline line and the center east end zone then it just fades off down the hill. I could see turkeys coming up that and I could see turkeys all through the woods…I mean it was a bunch of turkeys!
I didn’t see any big gobblers, but I’m starting to get excited as I’m beginning to see the most of the body of the turkeys in the front. But about 40 feet before coming into the clearing they stopped, perked their head up and gone! I mean they just exploded out of there and I could tell then it was a flock of no less than thirty birds.
So I’m thinking there’s no way they saw me and I’m totally aggravated thinking “what clued them in” and as things started to quiet down I heard what sounded like somebody walking straight out in front of me down through the south from west to east down by that drop off…it was footsteps in the leaves. So I stood up…I don’t remember if I heard them the whole time, but when I finally did get to see who it was (I could only see from the shoulders up) it was a black guy. It made perfect sense as the property I lease is owned by a black family and the whole family lives up on the road…the grandfather, all their sons and daughter, their nieces and nephews, their sons and daughters…a bunch of people. So I’m thinking it’s one of them.
I’m watching him and what I think he was doing was coming up kind of close to look at me then back to where he was going and repeating that. I didn’t notice until later that he wasn’t standing fully up right. So I’m standing up there looking at him and it’s not hitting me how he knew where I was, especially considering how hidden I was. He was looking at me so I naturally waved my hand at him as in; I’m right here, don’t shoot me and I won’t shoot you.
Then I couldn’t see him anymore and I couldn’t understand why he didn’t come straight up. I thought maybe he was tired because he was lumbering along as he walked. This made more since when I finally got to see all of him as he looked like a 400 pound fat dude with a set of coveralls on, but before he stepped into the clearing I was leaned up against the pine tree behind me with my shotgun in a non-aggressive manner with my right hand over the butt and my left down by my side.
So at this point he was about 150 feet away and I could see him going through the thickets and I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to him, but it did look like he was wearing a camouflaged vest. That really upset me. If he’s wearing a camouflage vest then he is in fact hunting on my leased property and all these things are going through my head like what I’m going to say to this guy…he’s lost…he’s an amateur none the less, etc. and he was obviously going to come out in this opening in front of me. So I’m watching him through the thicket and something doesn’t look quite right, but nothing is registering because I’m still upset.
There was two 10 inch pines trees about 25 foot tall about 3-4 feet apart, just down the grade about 8-10 feet in a little opening, a gap that’s 4-5 foot wide almost directly in the corner of the south sideline, east end zone area. He probably got about 10 feet away from there and reached his hand out to grab it and I could see skin. It didn’t really register what I was looking at and I could also see hair hanging down from his arm. At the time I’m just thinking he’s wearing something weird. Then I noticed his forearm. It was so huge, the size of a football and dis-proportioned to his bicep. Then he pulled himself to the tree right into his shoulder and stood up or squared up. This was the moment of transition and I began to realize this was not a person, but at the same time there was so much disbelief I was waffling back and forth until it opened its mouth.
He started making the most ungodly sounds I’ve ever heard in my life. It sounded like he had multiple sets of vocal chords, like something you should hear on a demon movie like the Exorcist, Black Mass or something like that (this sound is near impossible to put in writing, but I’ll put a link and go to 15:40). It just overwhelmed me and I could feel the rush like someone poured cold water over my head. I knew immediately what is was then; this was a Sasquatch like everybody has been seeing and calling a Sasquatch. It’s real! But it all comes on you so quick and it’s so unbelievable I started questioning what I was seeing thinking it has to be a dude messing with me. It was a see-saw ride of a flood of thoughts and emotions.
For the record I was totally indifferent to the thought of Sasquatch. Yes I had watched “In Search Of” and the “Patterson Gilim Film”, but it wasn’t an interest. I may have thought it was possible to exist, I don’t know, but it was reserved for the mountains and the Northwest and certainly no where around here!
While this account seemed really long, only a few seconds have taken place. At this point I’m completely and totally mortified and petrified. I’ve got one foot on the tree I’m leaned against essentially standing on one leg and I finally got the nerve to move my hand on the grip of my shotgun. He immediately saw as I started moving my hand and must have been really upset as he rocked back and forth two or three times. As my hand got near the grip he blew or huffed at me and it’s was so powerful it was like standing in front of a big speaker. It actually hit me like a wave and although it was loud (not incredibly loud), but powerful enough to startle me. In after thought I think he was saying; “No! Don’t touch that gun!”
That snapped me out it enough to take a few steps forward bringing me out from under the limbs of the tree I was leaning against enabling me to see the top of the 10” x 25’ pine tree he was holding on to. I could now see how hard he was whipping it back and forth, enough so that three or four people could not have done what he was doing. In seeing this it really scared me and even though I stand 6’ 5” with little to fear (normally), I realized at that very moment I might not make it out of here. At the very least I’m going to have to fight this thing all the way out with a Benelli 3 ½” automatic shotgun and a handful of turkey loads. While this could blow a man’s head off it was no match for this thing.
I was certain I was going to have to shoot him and that it would be close up. Even though my gun wasn’t pointed at him I was ready as I could be. He’s still rocking back and forth and again this is all happening in microseconds. I could now hear the “whoosh” of the tree whipping back and forth and the whole thing was very powerful.
About this time is when he stopped rocking the tree and I notice he had about 4” long hair, but it was sparse and I could see his skin which was grey, but his face was black and much darker than his skin. I also saw what looked like mud all along his right side and front which is why I confused it for a camouflage vest. Apparently he had been lying in the mud, because he had leaves and sticks matted in his hair as well. It was a mess. At this point I’m almost positive this thing is going to come at me at some point.
So I’m standing here and my mind’s going through different scenarios and something kept telling me to look to my left. To my right was open, but to my left was still pretty thick. I guess it was just to make sure. Anyway, when he stopped rocking back and forth and he rolled his lips and showed all of his teeth and I could see he had a gap in his teeth and long canines, not really long but longer than his other teeth on he had them on top and on bottom, which was another terrifying moment! With this he stuck his tongue straight out like a point through the gap in his teeth not really at me, but like he was tasting the air.
Then he went back to making that growling noise which I think was words, because there were pauses or formed sentences to it like he was using some sort of language. He seemed to be talking slowly so I could better understand it, though I didn’t and to be clear I wasn’t trying to understand him. I’m just trying to survive and was thinking where I should shoot him when he rushes me. Will it stop him if I fire three quick rounds to his head or would it be better to shoot him in the leg and try to out run him? None the less I don’t think what I’ve got is going to do any of this. He may die later or it may slow him down, but these are probably my last moments. My four-wheeler was a half mile away and I’ve stumbled into a nightmare.
He stopped growling and immediately let go of the tree, turned his body to the right and cocked his head. He didn’t turn his head, because it was sitting down in front of his shoulders which were up above it. He cocked his head aside and still looking at me and took probably two or three steps toward the game trail, quartered away from me then turned and walk dead away from me through the thickest stuff out there. I could hear him go through the leaves. He wasn’t trying to sneak off. He was very intently taking big, loud steps and I heard him all the way until he got into the bottom and that’s when he yelled. It was loud and powerful, but it wasn’t like you would think as it was like a baboon. When you hear baboons do that thing they do, kind of a build up and snapped at the end…OHHHWAHHH! When he did that everything was quiet.
I could hear the wind was blowing just a little bit and noticed little things like how tall the grass was and stood there for a good while, maybe another minute. All of a sudden I could feel myself breathing and noticed my heart pounding and I’m taking long deep breaths. I’m not really breathing fast, but I’m breathing hard taking long deep breaths and that’s when I decided to get out of there! I turned around and picked up my backpack (which I still have) and left everything else laying there; the calls, the chair, etc. which probably remained for many years.
So I walked out and went probably about twenty feet and decided if I wanted to take the plug out of the shotgun and put two more in it, but decided against it not wanting to get caught with a disable gun while doing that. Instead I put three shells in my hand and I walked three really quick steps going 40-60 feet and listen to see if anything was coming up behind me. I continued this pattern for a while before walking.
Again it is a half mile walk back to my four-wheeler. At one point the road curves and goes up a hill to a little side road that people travel a lot and I get to that hill and it starts to open up and I feel really good cause I’m about to make it out of here. I could see my four-wheeler which was a view of heaven from a seat in hell! I stopped and turned around to look and just then heard a tree break…small tree, limb I don’t know, but it had that distinctive cracking sound…kik, kik, kik, bam! It was like a rifle going off and that’s when I ran!
I ran and got on my four-wheeler and experienced the most terrifying moment of this event. The way I parked I had to back up towards the tree break and had to put my gun down and I’m thinking he’s coming…he’s right behind me! I got it backed up and just hauled ass to the house where my truck was parked. I didn’t load my four-wheeler I just pushed it up to the house and got my 7mm mag rifle…made sure it was loaded and I sat there in the front watching the tree line. I don’t know how long exactly, maybe twenty minutes. Long enough I felt I could drive and even then I was driving only forty miles per hour deep in thought. I was thinking about being out there for that long and of all these things that have happened come back to me, all these strange things that I attributed to something else.
I heard knocking almost every time I went out, but it sounded like someone was building a roof. I didn’t think how it never lasted very long. It would only last about twenty minutes and it was rhythmic… pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. I would hear it a lot when I’d get off the four-wheeler and think somebody’s working on their house and not really think about how close it was. You kind of fool yourself thinking it’s just carrying through the hollow or whatever. I’d hear it at night when I was camping. It would be far off over to the right and then I’d hear off to the left. I would write the weird stuff off to deer, other animals or that people were coming in there sometimes when I was there. There were lots of clues, but I just didn’t take note.
In hind sight I think it was my turkey hunting that caused this event. For seven years I hunted only deer, meaning that even though I was out there all year long after the season was over I didn’t carry a gun after deer season was over. Suddenly, in their eyes I was pushing the limits and I guess it was time for us to talk!
To say the least, the experience changed my whole way of viewing the world. I didn’t go back in any woods for 10 years, sold all my gear and didn’t even fish. For months I would lie in my bed and watch my closet door till I fell asleep. Here’s this 34 year old man afraid to go outside at night and only thought of what else could be real.
I began researching from the safety of my computer screen until the weight of holding this truth I knew in, got to be too much to bare. It was finding its way out in other ways; nightmares, sleep paralysis and acute anxiety attacks. I could just look into the woods while driving and get that cold washed over feeling, a true feeling of dread.
I’ve since gone back to that place and found a strange sense of piece about it. I still have the occasional episode of anxiety, but have learned to deal with it. I believe the best weapon anyone can have in any wooded area is awareness. Even if you don’t believe, just consider it possible when you hear that loud knock or strange voice in the bushes because it just might be a Sasquatch and it just might step out on you!
You can listen to Kerry being interviewed and recounting his sighting on the following links:
Editor’s Note:
Kerry has a channel that features the “Researcher’s Report” live show as well as many documentary short’s with firsthand eye witness accounts. See them all on Bigfoot Odyssey. Also this spring of 2020 he will team up with Mark Zaskey to lead a hand picked group of researchers on expedition to Florida. With boots on the ground and camera’s running 24/7 they will dedicating 168 solid hours to filming in hopes of capturing video evidence and more of a bipedal hominoid called the Skunk Ape. You’ll find all of Kerry’s links under Bigfoot Odyssey on the “B” page.