I received the following information from former BTE co-host Joe Biello:
Hey Lon,
Your last email about the lemur like like sightings reminded me of an old report from the BFRO database that had a drawing of a wierd lemur like creature. The witness descirbed it as sloth like and orangutan like.
I am so glad Joe reminded me of this sighting...is this what witnesses are reporting?
Report # 2405 (Class A)
Submitted by witness on Sunday, May 06, 2001.
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Dusk sighting on shoreline of Lake George at Deer Leap
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YEAR: 1990
SEASON: Spring
DATE: Spring
STATE: New York
COUNTY: Warren County
LOCATION DETAILS: Just south of the Tongue Mt.Lookout on Route 9N.
NEAREST TOWN: Sabbath Day Point
NEAREST ROAD: Route 9N
OBSERVED: My brother and I were canoeing on Lake George, in N.Y state at about sunset. We headed south for 10 minutes to an area known as Deer Leap. At lake side it is a boulder strewn area with cliffs rising 600 feet above the shoreline. As we were begining to come on to this area we saw something standing on shore. It was brownish in color and standing straight up with it's arms at it's side. It was about the size of a small man and very thin. Its body was facing south, looking down the shorline when it suddenly turned its head directly towards us and looked very intently. We whispered to each other and watched it while it watched us. We were 2 grown men paddling parallel to the shore and about 200 feet out but we could not summon up the courage to go in closer. This thing had a strange look, almost a crazed grin. Like a giant Lemur. The sun was set now as we continued to watch it in the shadows of the mountain. As it was standing next to an old, dead pine tree, it turned and climbed, sloth-like up the tree about 20 feet to the first and only large limb and onto the crook of a branch. We paddled back around and as we approached it again cocked its head directly at us, after a minute or so it turned its face downward into its body and became as if it were a part of the tree. Just a lump on the crook of the branch. You would not know it was there unless you saw it move. I have been in this area all my life and have never seen anything like this and have not seen it since.
In my searchings I have found reference to a creature found in the woods of New Hampshire. Back in the 30's they called it the "Wood devil or Stick Men". The one thing incommon is they are able to blend into trees to avoid being seen.
ALSO NOTICED: It did not make any sounds.
OTHER WITNESSES: 2 witnesses, 30 and 35 years old. Canoeing. Swimming.
OTHER STORIES: I have not heard of another story like this one but I did submit a "bigfoot sound" report that I heard near this location back in 92 and 93.
Also there is mentioned way back in the 1700's, in a report by Roger and his Rangers that "as they were traveling in Vermont from an attack on a French Fort in Canada, they were followed by a thing they called Old Slippery Skin ( a skinny thing) which threw rocks and branches down on them from the ridges above the valley floor they were traveling on. It did't make much of an impression on them , it seemed to be just a pest.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: sunset
ENVIRONMENT: Boulders, lakeside. towering cliffs near by deep water and pine trees.
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Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kevin Withers:
The witness described the animal as about five feet tall and extremely skinny, like "a teenaged boy." It appeared to be covered with reddish brown hair and had a pale face, expressive eyes and mouth, and a "deranged" smile or smirk on its face. Unlike a bear, its arms were long and it lacked a pronounced snout.
The witness supplied these two drawings:
When it first spotted them, it turned its head and looked down its shoulder at them. It was standing ten to fifteen feet away from a dead pine tree that was about thirty-five feet tall and devoid of pine needles; the lowest branch was about fifteen feet above the ground.
Once the witnesses had passed the animal and turned their aluminum canoe around, it had already begun climbing the tree. It was ten feet up the trunk near the lowest branch, moving slowly like a sloth. It crawled onto the branch and moved its head to look at them again. Then it tucked its chin down into its chest and appeared to blend in with the reddish brown bark on the tree. The witness said that, once it blended into the tree, "The shape didn't have any definition to it."
The witness described it again to me in writing: "As soon as it put it's head down into it's underbelly, it looked like a large bump on the branch. If you hadn't seen it move it's head you would not know it was anything but a large branch. When it bent over on the branch blending in with the bark of the tree, it's fur had a pine bark look too."
During this sighting the witness felt no fear, however he did feel that there was a "boundary line," or a certain area between him and the animal that should not be encroached upon.
The witness' brother was contacted and he corroborated his brother's story, although his recollection of the sighting was not as detailed. He said that the creature was about four feet tall, and both sloth-like and orangutan-like in appearance, although he did not see its face. He doesn't remember seeing the creature standing on the shore before it climbed the tree; nor does he remember seeing it tuck its head down and "blend in" with the tree as his brother did.
According to the witness, several years later two girls, one of which is a lifeguard at a nearby YMCA camp, saw something they called "Monkey Boy" jumping on and off a wall. Attempts to locate and contact these witnesses have thus far been unsuccessful.
Update 11/7/2009: Another witness may have seen the same or another one of these creatures. See the email sent to the BFRO below. [Mike Aragona, BFRO Investigator New Jersey]
To whom it concerns: My girlfriend told me of an experience she had at Lake George 11 years ago when she saw a "monkey boy" at Lake George. I immediately searched for "monkey boy lake george" and found your case #2405:http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=2405 The description there is a striking match with her story, and in the same area. In fact, she worked at Silver Bay (the "YMCA camp" referenced in the report) and that is where she had her sighting. Her physical description is downright identical to the one provided by the witnesses in #2405. She saw the picture in the report and said, "That's him." The one difference is that she remembers the animal having a short tail. She doesn't want to contact you but I told her I would anyway. There's even a chance that she is one of the two girls mentioned in your report in reference to the YMCA camp, though her experience did not occur with another girl but with her boyfriend at the time.
Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter
Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting
