Fayette Bigfoot: Investigative Photos

Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 22nd, 2009


The Fayette Bigfoot: This drawing was completed under the supervision of the eyewitness by an artist.

As a followup to the Fayette Bigfoot report and the posting of the drawings earlier, overnight the photographs of the area and poor images of the car scratch marks were received at Cryptomundo, via investigator Eric Altman. I thank him for sharing these with the readers here.

These photos are to assist with insights into the lay of the land, the terrain where the creature was seen, the feel of the setting, and are not presented here, needless to say, as definitive proof of the sighting. They may be an investigative tool for on-site examinations, or an attempt at understanding the populated nature of the setting, as mentioned by some of the people looking into this matter.

The Fayette Bigfoot, Present Settings.

The captions are those attached to each image by Eric Altman, to describe what is being shown in the photo, with my slight editorial adjustments for smoother reading. Please refer to the Fayette Bigfoot report to match the sighting and other locale specifics.


This is the angle and direction from which the creature came.


Represents the eyewitness view from where the creature came from, on the left.


The image shows where the creature entered the roadway.


Shown is the parking lot through which the creature ran.


Here are the store parking lot and, in the background, the road towards which the creature headed.


This is the street where the creature ran down before disappearing from sight.

The School’s Wood Lot & Nearby Cemetery


The wooded area is pictured, from behind the school.


Another view of the wooded area behind the school is shown.


This is a picture of the wooded hillside behind the school.


The abandoned cemetery behind the school is captured in this photo.


Yet another view of the abandoned cemetery behind the school is shared.

The Historic Sighting Site.


Chestnut Ridge – Jumonville, Pennsylvania, is the location where the historical sighting took place, and is shown here, five blocks from the present sighting location.


This is a view of the open field and Chestnut Ridge, in the distance, five blocks from the sighting.


Again, another image is given of Chestnut Ridge and Jumonville, Pennsylvania, five blocks from the modern sighting location.

The Scratch Marks.


This is the drawing of the car scratch marks.


Hardly visible in this photograph, an investigator tries to take a picture of the scratches on the driver side quarter panel, as well as draw the marks.


Another attempt is made to give a photographic view of the scratches on the driver side quarter panel. Photography of these scratch marks reportedly was very difficult.


A photo of the scratches on the rear quarter panel is tried.


Measurements taken were 8.5 inches long by 2.5 inches wide.

The delay in the posting of the photographs did not involved anything sinister, btw, as suggested in a couple impolite emails, but merely was an artifact of investigators’ work schedules, transmitting images, downloading availability from a field camera with a home computer vs not being able to use work time/facilities. Life happens.

Be constructive in your comments if you have suggestions, in addition to insights into what you see.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


27 Responses to “Fayette Bigfoot: Investigative Photos”

  1. bigfootboy_2000 responds:

    A few additions, if I may add:

    As you can see, the location is why I was amazed at where this sighting took place. However, the area becomes rural within a mile from the sighting location.

    The Chestnut Ridge is on the western edge of the Allegheny mountain range and it runs from Indiana county to Preston, West Virginia. It is over 100 miles long and quite rugged in some locations.

    Jumonville, as well as Fayette county, have had numerous sightings over the years, especially during the 1970s.

    Although difficult to conceive that this area would be a prime location for a sighting of any type of wildlife, the wilderness, as mentioned, begins within a mile of the sighting location.

    The car was a newer Ford 500 model, with a very glossy finish and with the glare and reflection, it made it difficult to take photos of the scratches. They were visible to the eye, but we could not get good photos of them. They are barely visible in the photos.

    Finally, I must apologize for not getting the photos to Loren sooner to be posted. The story was released to Loren yesterday morning. I did not arrive home from work until late last evening, and then I had to resize the photos in order to send them to Loren for uploading. I got them to Loren later last night. As Loren commented, nothing sinister or coverups going on, just work, and getting the photos resized and uploaded. Thank you.

    Eric Altman

  2. DWA responds:

    “Although difficult to conceive that this area would be a prime location for a sighting of any type of wildlife, the wilderness, as mentioned, begins within a mile of the sighting location.”

    heh heh. Well, all I can say is that, in recent years, we’ve seen footage of bear, moose, deer and bobcat – at a minimum – WALKING INSIDE PUBLIC BUILDINGS in areas much like this one. So, Eric, don’t discount this one on that alone (although it doesn’t sound as if you are).

    And the alleged preternatural elusiveness of the sasquatch need not be invoked here. Anyone with a good acquaintance with the evidence knows that these animals have been seen knocking over garbage cans; stealing livestock; robbing campers’ stores; entering people’s barns; and staring in people’s windows; and even going so far as working their doorknobs, although it’s quite debatable whether they know what knobs are for. Although if they’re apes, they’re smart, and they learn by observing. The “elusiveness” of the sasquatch is quite obviously – when one has read up – the “elusiveness” of getting science to focus on anything that makes it uncomfortable; and the “elusiveness” of getting people to understand that normal folks don’t just suddenly go wooey to all report consistent accounts of a giant ape.

    Just tossing that in there. 😉

  3. CryptoInformant 2.0 responds:

    Okay, looking one way – into town – I had my doubts. Then I saw the pictures of how close the forest was to where the sighting took place, and now I feel that this is no less believable than it was before we got the pictures.

  4. odingirl responds:

    Well, Loren, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m only now realizing, just over 24 hours after I read the first report, that we’re dealing with the familiar name ‘Fayette’…..it’s the Name Game rearing its ugly (and hairy) head again.

    I’ll blame this ‘duh’ moment on this new high-fiber diet I’m on…..I think the lack of french fries and chocolate is causing brain damage. 🙂

  5. Terrell H King responds:

    Hmm,

    Strange one (aren’t they all?).

    The description of a longish, slender neck is definately not what we are used to hearing in BF reports. Also the excessive hairiness, even to the covering of the nose? The pale skin, rather than dark skin…

    I have not researched other Fayette county sightings – are the descriptions similar, or more typical?

    Maybe we’re looking at a sub-species endemic to this area…

  6. Kronprinz_adam responds:

    Amazing!! A sighting in a town!!
    The creature is disturbing, specially the neck…(most Sasquatch reports that I have read describe a very muscular creature, also at the shoulders, with no visible neck).
    Greetings.
    K.A

  7. LeCope responds:

    Interesting, thanks for getting the photographs uploaded. Based on the location, and the atypical description of the creature, including its lack of car fear, perhaps it was very sick. I recently read an article about a 6+ foot tall man being attacked by a starving mountain lion (very rare behavior for a healthy lion). Lack of food, loss of habitat, etc can certainly lead animals into towns, and malnutrition or illness can alter their appearance. The hairy nose is hard to explain, but a curious sighting for sure. Thanks for the investigation.

  8. proriter responds:

    Sorry; this one has to go in the New Jersey Devil pile, with no resolution one way or the other likely.

  9. cryptidsrus responds:

    VERY interesting the name of the location of the sighting. Odingirl—I’m guilty of the “same thing” as you. Did not realize the significance of the name until a day after reading the original posts. So you’re not alone in this. I think in my case it is Plain Ole Stress. And maybe a “High-Fiber Diet,” like you. 🙂

    And DWA is right about the increase in animals brazenly going into populated areas. So there’s nothing necessarily “unusual” about the location of the sighting.

    I still think Odingirl is on to something here. “Interdimensional being,” maybe???

    If not—maybe a wounded/hungry “being” (can’t call it Sasquatch yet) who felt his/her habitat encroached by civilization? Who knows???

    Regardless—I would like to second DWA in saying that either the witness is lying or she is telling the truth. I go with telling the truth.
    Great eyewitness and great “sighting.”

  10. airforce47 responds:

    Greetings,

    Thanks to Loren and Eric Altman for the post and pictures. The witness does indeed appear credible.

    Given the location of the sighting and the description by the witness of the specimen her view of the neck may or may not reflect what was actually seen. Also, the specimen may not match a typical Bigfoot and may be more closely related to some of the other primates reported in Loren’s Field Guide.

    Please remember why the police tend to use eyewitness testimony to events as a lead in source or a back up source to forensic evidence. They consider eyewitness testimony the least reliable available to them.

    Eric might try a polarizing filter on the scratches on the car. This would reduce the glare and should bring them out more. He might have a friend who is into photography and be willing to do this for him.

    Stan Gordon’s website may have more sightings listed for this area and the BFRO has a state and county listing. I haven’t gone into it since it’s across the country from me. Good reporting and good sighting. My best,

  11. CryptoInformant 2.0 responds:

    It’s a little irritating, to be honest, that people go with “interdimensional being” just because this one ran out into the road. Opossums run out into the world too, and they’re pretty firmly rooted in the four dimensions we experience. Same with deer, foxes, dogs, cats, people, and small children chasing after balls. This ‘Squatch may have just not been paying attention to the car.

  12. DWA responds:

    proriter: No resolution is possible, ever. For this, or any other single cryptid sighting. Not unless the animal dies or is captured as an immediate result. This time? Animal’s gone. If nobody’s in hot pursuit, forget it.

    That’s not the point.

    The point is this: Is the evidence – critical among which is the volume and the consistency of encounters like this, with witnesses who appear to be reasonable people – sufficient for science to get interested in following it up, with a long-term research effort where concentrations of recent sightings occur – to see where it leads?

    I’d add this one to the pile that says: yes, it is.

  13. DWA responds:

    “It’s a little irritating, to be honest, that people go with “interdimensional being” just because this one ran out into the road.”

    Well, yeah. I have personally kiiled at least three “interdimensional beings” flitting between dimensions if that is the case.

    Animals do that. According to accounts, not even the sasquatch is 100% clear on the big hard ribbon being where the cars stay. They zig when they should zag, when you just KNOW they’re gonna zag. (All three of my confirmed kills – one of them actually a squirrel which ran, yes, ran, off the road after I hit it – did that. Hmmmm. Maybe the squirrel was interdimensional.)

    What I am trying to help the skeptics with is that you don’t try to twist what the witness saw into a “mundane” explanation that sounds, well, interdimensional. It doesn’t help to have the opposite end of the belief spectrum making similar leaps of fancy. Just sayin’.

  14. tropicalwolf responds:

    I too noticed the Fayette connection…interesting.

    While I truly find this new sighting fascinating, I am still on the fence about this one.

  15. CryptoInformant 2.0 responds:

    Funny thing I just noticed about the Squatch sketch – someone stepped on it, you can see the shoeprint and everything in the top-left portion of the page. From that, we can see that the soil the person stepped in is the same light brown as that shown in the pictures, and that the soil there is loosely packed enough that some came away with the shoe, and so a Squatch would probably make a print in the soil somewhere after it got off the road.

  16. archer1945 responds:

    How about having someone take pictures of the scratches on the car who knows how to use a camera. You don’t use a flash pointed directly at a highly reflective surface, you don’t point the flash directly at any kind of flat surface if you want to get any kind of detail. You want the light to sweep across the details you are trying to show. The more reflective the surface the closer the light should be to sweeping directly across it. In fact for some surfaces you have to use some sort of diffuser or reflector to get the required light conditions.

    In fact many times it is better not to even use any extra lighting. I learned that one the hard way because I used flash on a job when I shouldn’t have and when I discovered the pictures were no good it was too late to reshoot the job; many years before digital photography and instant checking was even thought of. Also long before I was able to afford a camera that could take a Polaroid back.

  17. MontanaMtnMan responds:

    Interesting, perhaps a ‘walk-in’ kind of being. Stranger things have happened. Hope we can get to the bottom of this, soon.

  18. museumoftheweird responds:

    The first thing that comes to mind when I see this drawing is the infamous “Minnesota Iceman.” I was fortunate enough to have gotten a glimpse of the Iceman when I was a young child in the 70’s, and it changed my life forever; it’s what got me interested in cryptozoology from the beginning (that, and “In Search Of…”). To me it always looked like a Neandertal-like caveman rather than a bigfoot (although I later came to find out the creature that I saw in the ice was supposedly the “fake” that was swapped out later).

  19. proriter responds:

    DWA, I must respectfully disagree. A pencil sketch and some scratches on a car do not constitute evidence of anything. I’m not demeaning the witness; but people do make mistakes. Remember the 2002 case of the Beltway Sniper, when multiple witnesses saw the criminals getting into a white van and driving away? Yet in fact no white van was ever involved — it was a blue Chevy sedan. As to this whatever-it-was, the sketch and the scratches wouldn’t be definitive as evidence even in a civil court case, where the burden of proof is much more relaxed than it is in criminal cases. Should cryptozoology settle for anything less, or should it withhold judgment indefinitely, pending a better quality of evidence? I’ll take the latter. And, again in my opinion, the fact that most crypto cases are never resolved says more about the cases themselves than it does about the scientific attitude toward them.

    I’m not trying to be nasty. About 10 years ago in a remote part of Steuben County here in Indiana, I saw a bird perched on the top branch of a bare old-growth oak tree that I would have sworn on a bible was five feet tall, sitting. When I saw it, I braked so hard that my car skidded partly into a ditch. I even got out to check my perspective and look at it from different angles. Being late for work, I finally had to leave — but I’ve never forgotten what I saw. Yet I have no proof of anything, so my own personal crypto sighting must also go in the Jersey Devil pile. Alas!

  20. DWA responds:

    Proriter:

    All I’m saying is this: for me to consider your take on this sighting as either likely or probable is to brand a witness I know nothing about as either a huge (and reckless) liar, or dangerously mentally or physically impaired, to the extent that she should either be in jail or in a hospital.

    I’d even use your own personal sighting as evidence for that. But that a bit later.

    Other than that you are a name that posts here, I don’t know anything about you, even if anything you post is even the truth. You have the same problem with me; and both of us do with most if not all of the other posters here. So instead of going “proriter probably lies, and come to think of it I better watch my back with everyone here,” I adopt a reasonable-person standard. I presume – until I see compelling, or at the very least highly interesting, evidence to the contrary – that the folks that post here are just folks, that their interest is legitimate, and that the things they talk about are coming from their research, knowledge, and/or experience. In other words, they are representing themselves as normal people pretty well, pretty much, and might as well treat them that way.

    I’d agree with you that the drawings and scratches don’t conclude anything for me. Heck, I might even be able to do a better drawing. But, absent any other evidence to the contrary, I have to presume that we have a person here who had a very interesting experience; that the stuff we’re looking at is an honest effort to record that experience; and that based on both the drawing and the witness’s own account, that experience doesn’t sound like an experience with anything I know about.

    Could this be one crazy lady or one big lie (or both)? Sure. My problem is that there are so many other accounts so much like this one in what was experienced that to make that presumption for this one means I’d have to make it for all of them, and I just don’t think that kind of phenomenon happens in the world I’ve been living in all these years. At least I’m aware of nothing else like it. And if it did indeed happen, folks would be picking something more exciting to be lying or hallucinating over than a giant bipedal ape. Which sounds to me pretty mundane, at least as monsters go. (And given King Kong as a template, they sure are making this a peeny little guy for a giant ape. And they’re all coming together, independently, on a range of sizes and behaviors one would expect for individuals of a species. Where are they getting that? Particularly given that very, very few of them are scientifically inclined.)

    Again: one can’t do a thing with this one single sighting but put it in a pile. But that’s one big pile, of apparently congruent experiences with something that is quite consistently described.

    As to your sighting: I have to presume you’re telling me the truth, and with yours too, you’re right, there’s nothing we can do with it. Nobody shot it, nobody caught it, and you didn’t get documentation. Que sera, sera. Doesn’t change the fact that you saw it. But how can it be followed up? I don’t think I’d say in your case that that says more about the case itself than about the scientific attitude toward it. I’d just say that cryptid sightings, as a rule, are not the kind of thing likely to get documented sufficient for proof, by amateurs (or even surprised professionals), on the spot.

    So for me and cryptid sightings I’m looking for two things: frequency and coherence. There need to be a lot of them and they need to all hang together in terms of describing a phenomenon. That might get science interested. This one seems to fit in that pile.

    And for now, that’s all I can do with this one. Other than presume that this witness wouldn’t have a particularly good reason – and several bad ones – to say she saw this, if she didn’t.

    Oh. Cryptozoology can’t go to the proof bank with this one, or with anything it has so far on this animal. All it can do is hope that sooner or later there are so damn many of these and so damn consistent that science – whom we charge with the proof – rethinks its stance and seriously follows up the evidence.

    Or that a sasquatch makes a really bad decision that drops the proof right in their laps.

  21. cryptidsrus responds:

    I have no problem visualizing a Sasquatch not watching where he/she is going and so running into a car.So yeah, it could have been that, CryptoInformant 2.0 and DWA.

    I was just “going outside the box,” so to speak. Picking up on what Odingirl said some posts ago.
    I still am not ready to call this “Bigfoot,” though.

    Until there is another sighting of IT or a similar-looking creature, I guess we’ll never know. 🙁

  22. CryptoInformant 2.0 responds:

    Cryptidsrus – I understand the desire to go out of the box, but sometimes, I think, the box contains everything you need – only if you can’t possibly see an item fitting in the box should you embark on the trek outside of the box. In short, only if the behaviors/morphology aren’t consistent with something within our world/universe should you start looking hard at the “interdimensional” option.

  23. Bigfoot73 responds:

    Could I suggest that the creature is an adolescent sasquatch? It seems leaner and fitter than usual, and most full-size biggies do seem to be prone to middle-aged spread.It’s got hair all over it’s face,like the young of lots of creatures.It might have been a bit overwhelmed by encountering a human settlement, and just didn’t have any road-sense.Being a teenager it probably had a bit of an attitude, hence the behaviour.
    The Jacobs photos, also taken in Pennsylvania,show a juvenile. There’s an intriguing YouTube thermal video showing a juvenile up a tree.Perhaps the youngsters take a while to learn to be secretive and mysterious!

  24. dave dragosin responds:

    Dave Dragosin,Assist.Dir.West.PA-PA Bigfoot Society
    Re:Fayette Co.,U’town.PA 7-10-09 Motorist avoids collision in vehicle withunkown hairy creature
    A FYI refresher-my wife Cindy and I assisted Stan Gordon & Eric Altman upon interviewing the witness and locales involved in this most recent sighting.

    Upon further review of my notes,sketches and numerous discussions with other specialists on this matter…here’s my spin-theory on the variables & circumstances that turned actions into consequences the evening of Fri. July 10’09 along the 2 lane roadway in the eastern outskirts of Uniontown,PA.
    WHAT IF…
    Given…the facts and details our witness reiterated among our researchers/investigators.
    Here is a possible scenario…everything here is purely speculative right? OK. Let’s go back 1 year to this same time last summer. It’s mid-July 2008 when a relatively young (teenage) forest person was taken on a learning walk from the family unit’s seasonal summer shelter in a remote safe-haven area along the Chestnut Ridge,not far from Jumonville. This ‘young one’ was shown the seasonal game trail by an elder that habitually followed the waterways of Shutes Run,Coolspring Run,& Rankin’s Run leading into the lowlands of Evans,Evans Mano,Bethelboro,Phillips and all points NE of Uniontown proper and Redstone Creek. The elder ‘walker-teacher’ has demonstrated to the teen creature this same route for a number of years,pointing out possible signs of demarcation and trail markers for routine passage…ultimately to obtain a seasonal source of nutrition. Fruits,plants,aquatic life,small game,etc,…the lowlands are where ‘THEY’ go to eat at this time of the warm season. Now,…let’s move ahead 1 year…same teen creature,1 year older, alone this summer because it’s his (or her ) right-of passage year of maturation. Traveling on it’s ‘food sojurn’ alone…all is well,…until it comes upon loud unnerving noise of machinery and humans,…renovating a section of the bridge overpass and roadway with a 1/10 of a mile detour for the traffic in the area of the water places where it’s ‘walker-teacher’ crossed the last road and entered the lowland areas to forage. {This area is in actuality under detour and repair,approx. 1 mile NNE from the sighting on 7-10-09} The lone forager was eventually able to safely maneuver his way around the obstacles but,only after much stealth and speed under the cover of…let’s say the dim light of the wakening morn,…systematically making it’s way and finally locating the annual food sources it now welcomed on an empty stomach. Eating it’s fill and hiding it’s whereabouts and remnants of food, he decides to lie down and rest before returning to the ridge line approx. 4 miles as the black crow flies in the direction of the early morning bright light atop the mountain.
    HOURS LATER…our teen squatch awakens,alone this time,somewhat dis-oriented and aware he has rested longer than he should have and begins to react and make his way back. He then realizes his return path to the shelter of the ridge must change because of the helter skelter of road construction at this time of day. He now decides to choose a more direct route,…a passageway unfamiliar with no trail markers and laden with potential risks. He takes off on 2 feet running at a steadfast pace in the direction his bio-compass leads him,…up a heavily wooded steep hill and into the open area where a few young humans are playing off in the distance,…across an open grassy area,…crossing the hardtop road, dodging and narrowly missing a female human in her road-mover…leaping over the last part of it as it passes him,…and up the narrow hard-top road where the human shelters are in a row. He reasons,…if he runs fast enough,…maybe he’ll not be discovered in the short ‘no-cover’ area of possible discovery. His destination is obtainable now,…he drops to all fours and races by without detection…he has covered the area of risk and comes up onto 2 legs for the remaining distance. With relief he is headed for his destination,safely and without incident. Only one human female saw him for but a brief moment. The elder ‘walker-teacher’ must know about the encounter eventually,…but,for the moment…his right-of-passage has been achieved. He comes upon the last batch of tree markers bent and woven in the direction of the big rock and he begins to whistle his signal to the ‘watchers’ that he senses already know he’s there…
    I’m just sayin’.

    I’ll bring more details re:area locales,incidents in relation to this sighting and other related specifics in the next few days. Thanx for your attention1

  25. Angie responds:

    Hello,
    I am intrigued with this story and photos though I’m wondering what the cemetery is called-does anybody know? I’m looking for the old Bronson cemetery which became Cassidy cemetery in Jumonville where my family is from. Hope I’m not related to the Bigfoot! Any help would be greatly appreciated; thank you in advance. I’m glad I found your site!

    Angie

  26. jayebird responds:

    I just saw this post and website last week and I have a comment- Although the caption under the picture of the Cross reads, “photo taken 5 blocks away” I have to say that the Cross is actually about 7 miles away from the location in downtown Uniontown where this shot was taken. It is between the LaFayette school and the Rite-Aid on Connellsville St. near Gordon St. There are several blocks of houses beyond the path of exit shown before getting to a wooded area. And there is a stone quarry on the Jumonville Rd. as well, which makes a lot of noise on a regular basis, in addition to the temporary bridge repair that was going in that summer. I don’t know anything about Bigfoot sightings, but have lived in the mountains for 29 years and have never seen anything myself. I don’t doubt that others have, but I was surprised at the level of speculation and inaccuracy of the posts and comments related to the proximity of the mountain-wooded area and the noise of the bridge repair creating a disturbance. Just sounded like a stretch to me. Thank you for your time.

  27. jayebird responds:

    @Angie,
    I have heard of a cemetery by that name on Jumonville Rd. but I have never been there. It involves a fairly steep hike from the road up to a high point near one of the towers on the mountaintop. Let me know if you plan to visit and I can share what I have been told.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

|Top | Content|


Connect with Cryptomundo

Cryptomundo FaceBook Cryptomundo Twitter Cryptomundo Instagram Cryptomundo Pinterest

Advertisers



Creatureplica Fouke Monster Sybilla Irwin



Advertisement

|Top | FarBar|



Attention: This is the end of the usable page!
The images below are preloaded standbys only.
This is helpful to those with slower Internet connections.