2026-08-04 12:02:43
A couple on a hike In West Virginia were left terrified when they seemingly encountered Bigfoot after getting lost in the woods.
The witness – named only as Mark B – has revealed he had a spooky encounter with a creature that could have been Bigfoot while he was out on a hike with his wife through the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia back in 2012 – revealing they spotted a menacing-looking “shadow”, saw trees being shaken and heard “monkey” cries. He has submitted his sighting to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) and revealed he kept the sighting secret for such a long time because his wife had a high profile job.
Mark wrote: “My wife was an attorney for the Federal Government at the time, so we thought it best to keep our encounter to ourselves until now.
“At the time, we co-owned an 88 acre farm that bordered the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River. Across the river was the Monongahela National Forest.
“We are both avid outdoorspeople and spent countless hours on trails all over the Northeast, but had never hiked Otter Creek in our own backyard …
“We confidently made our way into the woods and after three hours of hiking we came to a four way intersection of trails and become disorientated.
“We pressed on for another two-three hours beginning to get a little worried as I had drastically thinned out most of the survival contents of my backpack thinking it would be a short hike.”
He then described the strange experience that has haunted them both for the last 14 years. Mark wrote: “All of the sudden, on our right side we saw a huge black shadow/silhouette on the ridge top roughly 100 yards up a steep hill.
“We then saw a tree begin to shake back and forth violently, then we heard what sounded like a monkey. I looked at my wife and I quietly said: ‘Is that a freaking monkey?’
“She was really scared and acknowledged by shaking her head yet. This lasted for about 30 seconds, and we decided to get out of there. We double fast walked out of there, keeping our eye on the ridge the entire time.”
Mark revealed the couple finally made it out of the woods and they spoke to a woman outside a farm they stumbled across and she gave them a start warning about going into the forest.
Mark added: “We finally made our way out of the woods in a place the locals call Panther Hollow. We were exhausted and came upon a farm on our right.
“We saw an older woman gardening outside and asked her if we could approach to talk.
“We told her what happened and she replied that she doesn’t go in those woods anymore because of all of the weird things that happen.
“She said her son had some encounters several years ago and won’t go in the woods without a firearm.”
The couple discovered they were miles away from the area where they had left their car and the woman kindly offered to give them a ride.
Mark added: “We asked her where we were and she advised that we were something like 17 miles from the trailhead where our car was.
“When she saw the look on our faces she generously offered to drive us back to the trailhead.”
BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker concluded: “I spoke with witness Mark B. about this incident. He is credible …
“The sounds and tree shaking have both been described in many other encounters, though usually not in the same encounter.
“Although we have not received reports previously from Otter Creek Wilderness, it is within Monongahela National Forest. There are other reports from within that National Forest so it would not be surprising if bigfoots reside temporarily or permanently in Otter Creek Wilderness.”
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