; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Monday, July 15, 2013

Monster Encounter in Dolly Sods


I received the following narrative this morning:

Hi Phantoms & Monsters - I had a strange incident in August 2006 that continues to bother me because I have no explanation for it.

I was living in Elkins, WV at the time with my wife's parents. I used to go into the Dolly Sods Wilderness area a lot to go hiking and to just spend some alone time. I had heard stories about the Dolly Soda and that Bigfoot was in there. I never paid much mind to the stories.

One late afternoon I was in the low part of the Dolly Sods at the Red Creek. The area is really beautiful but you can wander off the trail and easily get lost. It started to rain so I was heading back toward my truck. On my way I noticed something big move out of some thickets about 50 yards to my left. I stopped to get a better look with my binoculars. I waited until I saw more movement then aimed the binoculars in that direction. What I saw actually caused me to gasp. I could see it very clearly. This monstrous creature stood at least 7 ft. and had black hair all over. It was walking on two very strong legs that looked human. The body was like that of a racing dog - in other words it had a very large chest and a small waist and hips. The arms and hands were huge and bigger than a powerful man. I couldn't see the fingers because it was carrying vegetation. The head was huge and covered in thick hair - but the face had an odd looking form. It was hard to make out since it was moving away from me but the jawline did extend out from the rest of the face.

It continued to walk swiftly away from me but in the same direction where the truck was parked. I didn't know what to do and kind of stood frozen for several minutes. I started to quietly walk towards the truck when I heard something crashing through the thicket again. I stopped and knelt down but I didn't see anything. Well, I had enough and wanted to get out of there. I started to run toward the truck and made it there in about 10 minutes. I quickly drove away and went straight home. I never went back to the Dolly Sods - I am very wary of the wilderness.

I contacted a couple of wildlife experts who probably thought I was crazy. I'd of never believed it if I hadn't have seen it. One of these guys did say that there had been a 'wolfman' reported in the area back in the 1870's and that he had personally talked to a few people who claimed to see Bigfoot. This wasn't a Bigfoot in my mind.

Not long after that incident, we moved to Morgantown, WV. I still enjoy hiking but I prefer to stay on the more pedestrian trails. Any idea what this could haqve been? Irving

-----

I posted the following in October 2009:

Searching For Bigfoot In Dolly Sods Wilderness Area

Have you ever been in the woods and wondered what could be there, lurking behind the trees? One group thinks they know.

On a cool but sunny October day, Dolly Sods is beautiful. The sun shines through the trees and off the endless boulder fields.

But in its endless wilderness, Dolly Sods is a little bit spooky, too. It’s a still, quiet place. And according to Billy Willard, it’s a great place to search for Sasquatch.

“Typically we go out and visit sites where there’s been previous sighting reports,” Willard said. “We do get encounters called in to a hotline that we have, and we go out and we’ll research those areas looking for evidence such as footprints, strange stick tree structures and that kind of thing.”

Willard is the founder of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia, a group made up of Bigfoot enthusiasts who collect information about the legendary being in their spare time.

They’re camping out in Dolly Sods, traipsing around in the wilderness area’s forests and bogs looking for signs of Sasquatch.

“As large as they claim this creature is, it’s got to have some weight to it. And if it’s walking around out here, it’s going to leave a footprint,” Willard says.

He finds something he thinks resembles a Sasquatch print in the bog, deep in the mud.

“It could be a small track right there,” he said. “We’ve got a track right here, not as big as the other one we saw over there. And again, it’s old, you can tell it’s been here since the rain. But that might actually be cast-able. There might be some toe impressions in there.”

He pulls out some plaster of Paris and makes a cast.

Some of the members of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia have actually had a sighting—where they’ve come face-to-face with a creature they believe is a Bigfoot. But even those who haven’t believe the creature exists.



Bruce Harrington is the self-described skeptic of the group.

“I think one of the biggest arguments that people have against the existence of Bigfoot is there hasn’t been any proof,” Harrington said. “From a logical standpoint, absence of proof is not proof of absence. So just because we don’t have the proof that these creatures exist doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

The men—and the group is made up solely of men—have an impressive amount of gear with them. They pull out GPS navigators, trail cameras, regular cameras, voice recorders and evidence bags.

The latter is used when a team member finds suspicious droppings. Into the bag it goes, to be sent off to a lab for testing.

Everybody has their own theories about what kind of creature Sasquatch is. Though he’s been hunting for years, Willard has never had a sighting.

“I could accept that this thing is human, whether it’s an undiscovered Native American tribe of people, I could accept that this is some kind of North American ape that just simple hasn’t been documented yet,” he said. “Those are the two main theories.

“Now you have some more out there theories, like these things are aliens and came off a UFO. That they go through dimensions and can walk through different portals. I think this thing’s flesh and blood, whether it’s human or more ape.”

Though their weekend in Dolly Sods didn’t lead to any sightings, Sasquatch Watch of Virginia is still looking for proof. They say it’s out there. - WV Pubcast

Click for MP3 link

Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in the Mountain State

West Virginia Weird and Wonderful

Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters