His first thought was, "Who is this tired, dirty old man?" But within seconds he realized this was not human. It's feet were pointed across the path, it inhaled a deep slow breath, and turned it's entire torso to face him. It's eyes were closed and then slowly opened as it faced him down. Their eyes met. There was annoyance in it's brow line.
He didn't wait to see what it was going to do next, he blazed his own path, straight down the mountain, not bothering to use the switchback trail. He fell multiple times, injuring his hand, with branches tearing at him... Till eventually he fell on his knees at the bottom of the trailhead ...In utter shock. In his life of 55 years, he'd broken his back twice, ridden motorcycles at 200 miles an hour, faced boxers and kick fighters in the ring, and even had his thumb almost shot-off while wrestling a mugger ..... But he had never experienced fear. Until that day.
He drove to the Sasquatch Outpost, swung the door open loudly and demanded to see the owner. Customers in the store stepped back...and some left. John was furious. He needed to know right now if Jim had posted people in Bigfoot costumes on the trail to drum-up business. He was telling Jim what an irresponsible thing it was, and that he was going to get someone shot doing that because he was carrying a 357 magnum sidearm.
It took time to calm John down and convince him that there were no people in costume on the trails around Bailey. Then John began to tell his story. Jim immediately picked up the phone and called Dennis and Shannon Pfohl, Colorado BFRO investigators.
They met John at the trailhead. The following are Dennis Pfohl's observations:
I think it's important to note that after his sighting in April, John needed time away, so he drove to Alaska and spent two weeks there. He said he needed to process what he'd seen. Our first interview was by phone. I asked him all the normal questions that I do in order to build an image in my head. Then I drew a preliminary facial and body sketch. Some stats on the Sasquatch:
Height: 6.5 to 7 ft Hair length: Shorter on top, growing longer down the body
Hair color: Auburn Age: Old female
Weight: 325-350 lbs She was standing in the trail possibly to protect those above.
I met with John, Thursday August 18th in the afternoon. It was an amazing experience to be in the presence of a witness who is seeing his sketch develop before his eyes. John experienced a roller coaster of emotions in the span of the two hours we worked together. He repeatedly got visible goosebumps. Multiple times he had to get up from his chair and walk away. He eventually had to put a winter jacket on, (in August), because he had chills up his spine. Not only is his dealing with the knowledge that what he saw was not human, he is also struggling with his reaction to what he saw. Being a man's man, and having used the 'fight' response all his life, I believe it's the first time he's ever experienced the 'Flight' response, and it is obviously shaken him to his core. He told me that in those moments he never once thought of the gun on his hip.
No one could ever convince me, that this man was not confronted with a living, breathing, Sasquatch. No one. I could see it in his eyes when he talked about it's features, I could feel it when he shared with me how he's never been afraid of anything in his life, until that day. Then there is his body's reaction.,,, Not only when he was working with me, but on that day of the sighting... This man''s body moved him down the mountain that day, it wasn't a choice...it was a reaction to seeing something that shouldn't exist and it terrified him.
This is what he saw.....
Thank you 'John', for working with me to recreate what you saw. I know it wasn't an easy experience to go through. You did a great job of describing what you witnessed. And in time I hope it get's easier to look at these images.