Hope this finds you and yours well.

A number of anomalous events seem to occur around railroad tracks. Among these are spooklights (ghost lights) and various strange creature encounters. Not only is seeing not believing, it isn’t even close to understanding.

My best to you and yours in 2011.

Yours in research,
Robert A. Goerman

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
–Theodore Roosevelt

I’m only 17, but I have done some investigating, and what I’ve been told is an unhealthy amount of reading about cryptozoology in general; my biggest focuses are on bigfoot and related species.

I was at this library lecture done by the great Wisconsin cryptozoologist and anomalist Chad Lewis, when a woman told us (the collective group) about a sighting she and her ten year old son had. In basic they where on the Eisenbahn trail, the german word for railroad, which used to be a railroad. They where biking, and saw a large hairy black animal on hind legs that seemed to be watching them when they scared it off, and it ran into a clearing and up a hill at highspeeds. They seemed genuine, and it was only a year after a rash of sightings around the same area (a state forest).

Here is some more info on the trail and surrounding areas.

You live next to a railroad track? Didn’t think so; not a whole lot of folks do, and railroads aren’t exactly laid out to keep the maximum number of people up at night getting rumbled and whistle-blasted out of bed. Translation: they tend to be pretty remote, along significant stretches, from concentrations of observers, while still allowing straight-line travel at good speed over generally cooperative terrain.

This report from the TBRC talks about several things that might make railways appealing to an animal that covers a wide range in search of food:

Second thing to consider regarding “black wildman sightings” in 1856. Slaves were held in the north and the obvious route to Canada is north. Railroad tracks are also natural navigation aids; much more predictable than rivers since they always lead to human habitation.

I hope the large, hair-covered figure had done the right thing and purchased a ticket (sorry…).

In addition, while being easier to travel, the actual privacy is good too–a lot of miles of track don’t go anywhere near human populations, making it good ground to travel unmolested.

And having walked tracks hunting in my youth, there’s often other animals in the vicinity, and I often came upon bushes of berries in a wide variety (whether this was incidental to my area, or my environment, or typical of growth, I don’t know, but I’ve observed it here).

I’d say the same was true of creeks and rivers. A good source of easy travel, relative security, and food, all make the railroad tracks seem pretty logical as a place to gravitate to. Who knows, perhaps the BFs are curious about the trains and people too–they could watch from the relative safety of the woods.

I will keep that in mind when I get to hunting for BF…with a camera and binoculars.

SHJ

However, the BFRO has an interesting account of a 2009 sighting by a hunter, who was riding in a train at the time.

It is entitled, “Man sees large, hair-covered figure while riding on train near the Cascade Tunnel.”

(The sighting occurred in Washington State.)

Here is the link:

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=26403