I recently received the following narrative:
Hello Sir - I recently started reading your site after looking for information on Bigfoot in South Dakota. You asked for real-life encounters. I hope this fits the bill.
My family had a scary confrontation in 1992 while RVing. We camped near Wind Cave National Park several times while I was a boy, but stopped going in that part of South Dakota after our experience with something unknown.
We normally camped in the early Summer, but for whatever reason my Father decided we'd go a few weeks before I went back to school. We always enjoyed going into Wind Cave and would spend a full day there. We'd then spend the rest of the week around the RV campground. This particular year we camped further away from Wind Cave in the vicinity of Hill City, not far from Mt. Rushmore. The area was surrounded by thick pine forest and very rugged.
It was a Saturday night and very calm around our campsite. Many people had left during the day, so there were few kids running around. Around 10:30 PM I decided to go to bed. I was bored and my parents were entertaining another couple. I laid down and turned the radio on while I drifted to sleep.
The only thing I remember next is my Mother making lots of noise while inside the RV. I sat up and watched my Father looking for something in a storage bin. The next thing I noticed was him holding his pistol. I was wide awake now, wondering what was going on. I started to ask but was quickly told to be quiet by both of them. They were standing by the door when suddenly something slammed into the back of the RV. I thought someone had hit us with a vehicle. The window in the back was smashed and the curtain was on the floor. I moved towards my parents when again something slammed into the back of the RV, at the same time a deep rumbling sound came from the same direction. I never thought my Mother could scream so loud. My Father raised the pistol and fired through the window opening. We waited quietly for something to happen. Whatever it was must have run off.
By that time, someone was yelling from outside wanting to know what was going on. I think it was someone from the campground. My Father went outside to talk to whoever it was. My Mother was very scared and was visibly shaking. She just grabbed me and squeezed me tight. My Father came back into the RV and said that we were leaving. He grabbed whatever gear was outside, threw it in the RV and we were off. None of us talked much as we drove home, which was about a 4 hour drive.
A few days later my Mother told me what happened that night. My parents were just about ready to go to bed. She said it was about 11:45 PM and she was cleaning up outside when she noticed something large on 2 legs run from behind the RV into the forest. My Father told her that it was probably a bear. Then he saw it duck out and then back into the woods. There wasn't much light other than that from a lantern and the back window from inside the RV. He told her that it was no bear. By that time they were in the RV and heard deep guttural grunts coming from the creature. My Father then slowly opened the door. It was standing no more than 10 ft. away looking directly at him. He quickly slammed the door shut and went looking for the pistol.
My Father has never said much about whatever it was, but from his later descriptions I believe he confronted a Bigfoot.
He described it as covered head to toe with thick dark hair with a wide nose and piercing yellow eyes that glowed in the light. He estimated the height at over 6 ft. and that it weighed over 400 lbs with huge arms and legs. That's basically all he ever said. He refuses to talk to anyone else about it.
We continued camping over the years but we never went back to that area.
I was looking for Bigfoot reports from South Dakota and specially around the Mt. Rushmore area. David M.
Voice in the Wilderness (The Bigfoot Files)
When Bigfoot Attacks
Visits from the Forest People: An Eyewitness Report of Extended Encounters with Bigfoot
