Kurt Stanley
Bio For: Kurt Stanley
Co-Founder Researcher/Investigator of The North Canadian River Project – N.C.R.P. Researcher/Investigator – *N.O.B.R.O., Musician (5 string Modulas bass!), computer tech, property management. Born in 1959 and raised in El Reno Oklahoma.
Primate Type Creature Sightings:
1. August 1988 fishing in Canadian County, Oklahoma.
2. December of 2014.
3. Sept 2015. Photographed.
Since having a one on one sighting in 1988 while fishing a flood control reservoir located off Uncle John’s Creek in Canadian County, I have been involved in the study of a primate type creature known as Bigfoot or Sasquatch. Growing up watching the Patterson film and movies such as The Legend of Boggy Creek, I never thought that these mammals lived in my area of the country due to the sparse trees and vegetation.
What has come out of my years of research?
Without a doubt these animals use the water systems as their main resource for travel, shelter and food source. They seem to stay hidden and refrain from frequent vocalizations that could give their locations away. They also seem to be creatures of habit, although I do believe they are opportunistic hunters and gatherers. Along with lower population numbers and less vocalization as their S.E. Oklahoma cousins, their main lifestyle consists of staying close to the rivers and streams of the North Canadian River and using the abundant foliage which only grows thick in these areas as cover for travel and hunting.
Oklahoma, 1988
(1st Sighting)
My first sighting took place in early August 15th of 1988 N.E. of El Reno Oklahoma while fishing at a flood control reservoir and without any doubt my life has changed from this encounter. Prior to this sighting I was like many baby boomers who only knew of Bigfoot from movies and the few reports that made national news such as the “Patterson Gimlin Film”, “Legend of Boggy Creek” and the “Yeti of the Himalayas”.
By 1988 several news reports of hoaxing these stories ended any thoughts I had ever had that Sasquatch might just be a reality and also any ideas that my own local childhood monster “The El Reno Chicken Man” could be a fact based report. Basically it got uploaded to the Myth Dept of my brain, along with the Loch Ness Monster and Moth Man.
So now you’re in my head seeing Bigfoot as I did over 30 years ago!
My best fishing partner (let’s call him Jake to protect his privacy) got off work at 5:00PM and we met up for some bass fishing. I was lucky to have grown up in the country and knew most of the landowners and farmers whose property these Honey Holes were located. It was slightly cloudy, very muggy and in the 80’s that day with low winds from the S.W… a good fishing day! Jake was running the trolling motor on my 2-man bass boat and had his chair swiveled to the outer channel area fishing deep water crank baits while I flipped jigs into the brush running along the bank. Moving along very slowly, something caught my eye on the bank along the side of a cottonwood tree about 12 to 13 feet from the waterline. As we rounded a small willow tree I saw it again to the right side of the cottonwood… just a quick glimpse of brownish red hair. “Squirrel… yup, it’s a squirrel hiding from me”. As we creped along slowly to the right this thing moved more to the left of the tree, but my next glance upward to watch the squirrel turned out to be a hairy knee cap!
The further we moved along the more I saw of the creature. It was running out of tree to hide behind yet it seemed entranced and fixated on watching me. I’ll describe what I witnessed now. It’s not too hard of a thing to do when you replay something in your head over and over daily for 30 years!
The Body
Its entire left side was exposed to me as it crouched down behind the tree and both hands were on the tree trunk. The first thing I noticed was the slender type muscle running throughout the entire leg. It had short hair especially on the knee cap and brow ridge. It had longer, straggly hair from wrist to elbow, as well as from the back of the knee to the ankle which was four to five inches compared to the one to two inches that covered most of its body. It had dark skin on the less hairy body areas.
It had long legs and very long arms with a slender build…could even say skinny except for the broad muscular chest and thick shoulder muscles. I don’t recall an odor coming from this thing, but I’m 100% certain it was male. Not having breasts of large size and having a small dangling, reddish colored penis, about an inch long told me it was a male.
The Head & Face
The head was proportionate to the body size. It had a slight coned shape and a very pronounced brow ridge. The skin was dark the same as the body where the hair was thin. The round eyes were brownish and had little hair surrounding them. The nose was not apelike, but more like the button nose at the end of a bear’s snout. The mouth had more lip structure than an ape. I see why some folks have reported human like features! The lips in my opinion give it that look. The rest of the face is purely primate, but not like any I’ve ever seen before. Hair was slightly longer falling from its cheeks and chin, as was the hairline in the back of head.
The Stare Off
My mental state at the time was very calm. I was not afraid and almost euphoric at the wonderful event that was happening; I’ve always had a special way with animals. Many folks have told me that their dog, cat, horse or bird usually doesn’t like new people. Not sure why, but they like me most of the time and I’m happy they do!
With this creature it was obvious we both had a super curiosity stare off going on and I’ve always thought that if I could have had more time it might have moved into some form of communication with me. Still, I never doubted for a second that I was looking at an animal, but smart with a curious look. I pretended to keep fishing while we stared at each other. It seemed like longer, but in reality was probably around 30 seconds.
The Departure
After getting my head screwed back on from the shock of what I was looking at, I then whispered to Jake “Turn around , we got us a fishing buddy.” I remember he smiled and swiveled around quickly in his chair looking for whatever it was I had seen. When he made visual contact with this thing Jake shrieked “WHAT THE F*** is THAT!
This things eyes opened up twice as big and in one movement sprang up to its feet and was running on two legs across an opening away from us. Now I could see it was about six feet two inches and had a skinny waist as it ran bipedal (amazingly fast by the way) until it came to a big pile of deadwood about four feet high. It jumped this with zero effort and landed on all fours. That’s when it shifted into high gear and was gone through the tree line within seconds.
Conclusions
I’ve always figured that it was young; probably a teen. It got caught between being spotted if it moved, being in close proximity to us and to the mesmerizing effects of curiosity.
Having had a brief sighting of an adult much later in life and from other sources I don’t see our local Bigfoot looking like Patty from the late 60’s film. I see a powerful yet slender primate type animal that has the night vision and smarts to keep humans from seeing it often and or capturing it.
Since my first sighting in 1988 I have been researching and investigating these creatures which I truly believe exist throughout most parts of the U.S. and Canada. Along with fellow researcher Evans Bailey we have created the N.C.R.P. North Canadian River Project. Our close contact with several other researchers and groups along with field research we have done is hopefully bringing the truth of these wonderful creatures to light.
Kurt is also a member of the Native Oklahoma Bigfoot Research Organization (N.O.B.R.O.)