Bone Camp Bigfoot: April Marks 10-Year Anniversary Of Last Sighting In Tuscaloosa County

Editor's Note: This story is dedicated to my lifelong friend Matthew Wolfenbarger, who reminded me of this story and who has always shared my fascination with the unexplained.

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Whether it's a trick of the mind or the result of some powerful, unseen force of mystical attraction, Tuscaloosa County has proven itself something of a hotbed for odd happenings out in nature that simply can't be explained.

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Sure, many will remember the Tuscaloosa Python or, most recently, the Tuscaloosa Kangaroo, both of which ginned up plenty of interest even among the biggest skeptics in the community.

ALSO READ: FACT VS. FICTION | The Real Story Of The Tuscaloosa Kangaroo

Even yesterday I posted on social media this newspaper clipping from 1958 reporting that strange, unexplained lights had been seen in Northport.

But did you know that this April marks 10 years since Tuscaloosa County's last documented Bigfoot sighting?

According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization — an online group that keeps extensive nationwide records and personally investigates sightings of the elusive biped — Tuscaloosa is tied only with Morgan County in Alabama for the highest number of reports filed.

Indeed, from July 1999 to April 2014, Tuscaloosa County residents reported five sightings or odd occurrences that prompted reportedly rational individuals to seek help and insight from the BFRO.

A total of 101 reports from Alabama have been filed with the research group over the years, with the most recent being a report from near Heflin in Cleburne County in February 2023.

"We saw what looked like Bigfoot peeking around a tree at us," a woman said in the report. "We watched it for approximately 5 minutes as it appeared to look at us from the left then the right [of the tree trunk]. I dismissed it as being a distortion with the trees and wind. I turned to go into the house and looked back and distinctly saw what could only be Bigfoot running away. I yelled for my husband and he also saw it running away. It had our hearts beating wildly and the hair standing up on our arms. There was no mistaking what we saw!"

Before we get into the details of the Bone Camp Bigfoot, though, we must acknowledge both the overwhelming lack of conclusive evidence to support the existence of such a creature, while at the same time accepting that there are plenty of compelling examples that have yet to be explained.

What was the famous line from "The X-Files?"

"I want to believe."

And after all, even the real Federal Bureau of Investigation declassified its work in the hunt for proof, which consisted primarily of testing hair samples sent to Quantico in the 1970s.

Testing ultimately determined the hair sample came from a deer and still did little to deter the public interest we see to this day.

But for the sake of good-natured fun on a slow news day, and considering this author's personal willingness to suspend my own disbelief on such things, I like the viewpoint once offered up by primatologist Jane Goodall when she was asked about Bigfoot.

"Well, now you will be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist," she said. "Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist. Of course, the big, the big criticism of all this is, 'Where is the body' You know, why isn't there a body? I can't answer that, and maybe they don't exist, but I want them to."

The Bone Camp Bigfoot

Few specific details, such as the names of those reporting the sightings, along with the full name of the field researcher, have been published about a particular string of instances that reportedly occurred on Bone Camp Road in northern Tuscaloosa County around April 2014.

Click here to read the original report.

The individual filing the report claimed that it was around 9 p.m. when they turned onto Bone Camp Road from Highway 171.

Then they saw it — or at least claimed to have seen something.

Standing before them was a large figure in the brush, far too large to be a man, and, upon seeing whatever it was, the driver turned on their high beams to get a better look. As chance would have it, the figure was gone.

Easy enough to write off as a case of one's mind or eyes playing tricks on them, right?

Not so fast, my skeptical friends.

As it turned out, the individual filing the report with BFRO says this was their second time to see the creature, before mentioning that another friend who lives on Bone Camp Road had alleged a similar experience.

The report also said that the Bone Camp Road residents noticed twisted limbs and odd tree branch formations near the spot where they saw the creature standing.

Another witness claimed they were with their mother when they saw it four years earlier crossing Bone Camp Road, while yet another person supposedly pulled up to their house only to see a large figure walking into the woods.

As is the case with other BFRO reports, an in-person follow-up visit was conducted by an investigator referred to only as W. Gibson.

It's worth noting, as a quick side note, that anonymity is quite common in paranormal circles, especially when it comes to Bigfoot.

Still, unlike contemporaries like, say, space aliens, Bigfoot — as far as we know — doesn't have a flying saucer it can fly off in, nor does the unconquered creature have the murky depths of Loch Ness to retreat to when the people of Scotland get too nosey.

This is typically where critics level their focus: the lack of a body or physical proof that Bigfoot is real.

Don't tell that to Tuscaloosa County resident Mary Katherine Scruggs, though.

The founder of an online group named "Bigfooting in Alabama," Scruggs told The Crimson White in 2015 that many who had had experiences are reluctant to come forward because they fear being ridiculed. This is most likely the reason that groups like BFRO publish their reports without anything in the way of personal identifying information.

It could also be a completely fabricated crock, sure, but I don't want to embrace such a wet-blanket attitude because it would only undermine the real intention of this story.

To this day, Scruggs is publicly vocal about her experiences and embraces the strangeness in her quest for the truth. She even posted in the Facebook group in late March to recall when her journey for answers first began more than a decade ago.

"It's been 12 years ago today [March 31] about this time that the bigfoots came up to our wood line and started screaming nonstop for about 10 or 15 minutes," she recalled. "So [her husband] Martin and I thought we would say howdy. Sure enough, Martin just went out and made a yell and it answered back. I made one and it answered me, too. I heard a whoop and also some wood knocks."

As for the Bone Camp Bigfoot, W. Gibson wrote in 2014 that he interviewed both the submitter of the initial report and his mother on two occasions.

"I found their accounts to be consistent and believable," he said. "There were two sightings and the following can be added to the report: The first sighting was in 2011 at noon with the mom and son both witnessing the creature from their car. This route is driven by both witnesses daily."

The witnesses told Gibson that the creature's hair was "dark brown, long, shaggy and matted," while its legs and hips were "extremely thick and full of muscles."

"The height was estimated at seven feet and weight at 350 pounds with no fat noted," he commented. "It crossed the road and into the woods in about three seconds. It moved very fast, running left to right on two legs. It used its hands and arms to shield its face as it sprinted into the thick undergrowth and branches."

Gibson went on to mention a separate instance where the son was driving at 30 miles per hour when he hit the brakes upon seeing that the biped was about 15 feet from the bumper by the time he stopped.

"The second sighting was in April of 2014 at 9 p.m. and happened within a few feet of the first sighting," he then said. "The son was alone and driving home during the second sighting. The creature was dark in color and about the same size as the one seen in 2011 with a thick back noted. The creature dropped down low and ran away into the woods on the left side of the road when the high beams hit it."

The following day, Gibson said the two witnesses went to the location of the two sightings, where they found and photographed some possible formations made from small, twisted branches and broken branches on the ground.

Gibson concluded that after reviewing the photos, there simply wasn't enough evidence to determine whether or not they were made with hands or if the branches broke and the sticks fell that way naturally.

Still, later that year in August, the son's friend reportedly drove up to his house around 2 a.m. and a large biped could be seen walking inside a wood line behind the house.

"It stepped behind a tree when the high beams were turned on," Gibson reported. "Eye-shine was then seen peeking out to the left then right side of the tree, back and forth for about 20 minutes before the eye-shine disappeared. The eyes were determined to be about 8 feet off the ground after inspecting the area with his friend the next day. This happened about half a mile from the other two sightings."

While, for our purposes, the evidence is obviously inconclusive in trying to prove the existence of the Bone Camp Big Foot, this encounter is far from the only one reported and definite similarities can be found in the multiple reports.

What's more, a consistent theme that might explain away some unexplained occurrences can be found in the rapid development for northern Tuscaloosa County over the last couple of decades, as countless acres of timber land have been cut to make room for new subdivisions.

As a result, wildlife in these large swaths of previously untouched woodlands are left little recourse other than to relocate to unfamiliar territory.

For example: One BFRO report from Tuscaloosa County submitted in 2012 from a resident of Yellow Creek Road said instances of guttural howling and screams intensified over the course of the previous two years as "thousands" of acres of land surrounding the farm had been cut.

The woman submitting the report said her father did not have his timber cut and also pointed out that her grandfather had some abandoned gravel pits and lakes close to the property.

"There is a swamp in front of our home about 1/4 mile away," the report said. "I was also told when I was a child that back in the 1930s my grandfather went through the gravel pit one night. He saw something setting on a hill that looked like a huge hairy thing that had a face like a man."

Click here to read the full report.

She also took special care to mention that the story about her grandfather's encounter came before the media hype surrounding the Patterson–Gimlin film taken in 1967 that remains the single-most famous footage of the alleged creature.

"I need help because this thing is getting closer to our home," she wrote to BFRO. "My husband doesn't have good hearing and he said he could hear it upstairs one night and it sounded like it was in the yard."

The other three sightings reported to BFRO from Tuscaloosa County came from the Brookwood area and in the vicinity of Holt Lake between 1999 and 2003.

Indeed, in the occurrence at Holt Lake, the outdoorsman who reported it in the summer of 1999 said he and a friend were going fishing and put in at Rocky Branch before heading up river towards the upper end lock.

The man reported that, around nightfall, they started fishing back toward the launch and at about 11:30 p.m. were fishing a secluded part of the shoreline.

"We were fishing close to the bank when I heard something walking at the top of the hill," he said, after mentioning that the nearest house was roughly 2-3 miles away. "I figured it was a deer and didn't pay it any more attention. As we proceeded down the bank, the sound started down the hill towards us. There were two distinct footsteps instead of four like a deer."

Thinking his mind was playing tricks on him, the man saw that his friend had noticed the sound, too, and was also looking up toward the hill.

After getting a little "spooked," the men decided to go look for another fishing spot and started putting up their equipment to head out.

"As we were doing that, whatever it was broke into a run towards us," he said. "Before we could get the boat cranked the creature let out the most horrendous snarl and growl I had ever heard and then hit the water after us. We both love to hunt and spend a lot of time outdoors but neither of us had ever heard anything like that, nor could we duplicate it when we would tell people of our encounter."

The unnamed man said he tried to move on from the encounter but found the BFRO website, where he heard a recording of an alleged Bigfoot growl similar to what he heard at Holt Lake.

Click here to read the full report.

"That was the closest thing I have heard to the sound we heard that night," he wrote. "I've read that usually there is a strong musty smell preceding most encounters, but we didn't smell anything unusual. Perhaps this was due to the fact that we were in a crosswind with the creature. We don't know exactly what it was because we haven't gotten up the nerve to go back and look around. That was probably the last time I have been on the lake."

So, dear reader, what do you think?

If you have unreported stories of your own, we'd love to hear them, so please email me at ryan.phillips@patch.com!

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