Cliff Hales
Pennsylvania, 1972
My encounter happened probably around 1972. It was in North Central Pennsylvania outside of a little town called Montoursville. I was twelve at the time and we were out in my dad’s garage playing gangster on my brother’s old Chevy as it had running boards and a bullet hole in the window. Present were my brother, my sisters and a friend.
As we played I suppose we made a lot of noise, but we lived out in the country so we didn’t care as my parents were away for the evening. At some point we noticed someone looking in the window along the back wall of the garage. Now understand my dad’s garage was built into the bank and so these windows were only about a foot or so off the ground at the bottom so whoever was looking in had to stoop down to do so or at least kneel.
We decided that maybe we should go in the house and were able to enter the basement from the garage then go upstairs. Upon thinking about it and as young people will do, we got brave once we got inside. So grabbing a big flashlight and my dad’s old Marlin 22 rifle bolt action we headed outside. I will also add that my dad kept the bullets in a separate spot and we couldn’t find them so we just had an empty rifle, but we thought that would be good enough to scare off whoever was out there.
We went around the far side of the house towards the backyard and as we did we heard a tree branch break or maybe a twig or stick break in the ditch alongside the yard next to a big old chokecherry tree. The sound was then followed by rapid footfalls headed back up towards the front of the house and stopped about midway up the ditch. Now this ditch is surrounded by woods and fields, with a small creek running through it so we actually spent a lot of time playing in this area as well. We proceeded on to the spot where it appeared that whatever was running had stopped and I say “whatever” because it did actually sound like something on two feet.
Something you should understand, at this point in our lives we knew nothing about Sasquatch. We were under the impression that a crazy person had broken loose and was trying to rob our house so we were going to put a little fear in him!
When we got up to the spot where the sound had stopped my brother worked the bolt on the 22 and announced that he was loaded & ready and that this person should come out! I then shined the flashlight into the ditch.
What we saw about six feet away, was someone crouching very tight to the ground looking up at us with red-eye shine and reddish brown hair all over his body. It was probably about 4 to 5 feet tall but it was hard say for sure. I don’t remember any clothing and the eyes were very big and looked frightened. In a flurry of expletives (mine being a very clear and concise “holyshit”, we took off running for the house! I don’t know what he did at this point.
We didn’t tell our parents that night but waited until the next day when we could investigate a little. Down by the chokecherry tree, we found a barefoot footprint in a spot of dirt above a groundhog hole and between some roots from the tree. The footprint looked human enough except it was flat-footed. It was probably about seven or eight inches long and 4 inches wide. A broken stick lay just in the middle of it so that explains that.
It was several years later that I actually started to hear things about Sasquatch and Bigfoot. I then started looking into it as I found it interesting as this all came flooding back into my mind. I knew that night we saw this creature alongside my parents home!
There was no violence, no screams, no vocalizations, no odors, no knocks (other than our hearts as we ran back to the house). There were some mud smears on the windows of the garage. Thinking back I believe it was a juvenile that had just gotten curious to see what these human juveniles were doing.
Over the last fifteen years I’ve heard there have been reports and sightings by other people around that same area. While I can’t verify them I don’t doubt them. I have been a taxidermist and sculptor for over 40 years and will be 60 this year and its memory is still as clear as if it just happened yesterday.
With my skills, I’ve done recreations of several different species, including Sasquatch and will soon (hopefully) be recreating the one that I saw.
Editor’s Note:
When Cliff completes his recreation if at all possible I will share a photo of it on this page to give you a better understanding what a twelve year old saw that night. Of course it will never match his “holyshit” moment!
You should check out Cliff’s work at “SYNANIMALS“, his work will blow you away!
