A man and his younger cousin take a hike in the north part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan when they encounter what they believe was a Bigfoot.
I grew up in a northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in a fishing village. Our family was from a state south of Michigan so it was a good day long drive to them and vice versa. The house that we lived in at the time was on the edge of a state forest and I loved to just hike around. I felt like I knew the area pretty well. I’m familiar with being in the woods. I’ve dealt with wild animals before. I’ve been to parts of northern Canada where there are no roads so you have to fly in. I’ve chased wild bears and gotten way too close to moose than I ever should have. I’m no Bear Grylls but I’m also no city slicker.
The day this happened was the same day that my older sister was graduating from high school. My cousin and I were about the same age. All the other kids in the extended family were at least 4 years older or younger than us so we were default friends during family gatherings.
We decided to go on a hike. I wanted to show her what real woods looked like since she was from a much more urban area. So we went off. I forget what time we left but we had to be back by like 5 pm or so to make it to the graduation. We were hiking around, up and down hills, noticing the half buried barbed wire fences from when it used to be grazing country. I’m telling her about that and that’s why not all of the trees are huge. They were all planted a few decades earlier so they aren’t fully mature yet. And then...
I forgot where I was.
I wasn’t sure how to get back. So we turn and head where I think I should be going to get back but that doesn’t take us there. It’s been a while. We need to get back to make the graduation. I know that we are in state forest territory so if we walk in the wrong direction we won’t see any civilization for dozens of miles. Can’t hear any cars since we are so far away from roads otherwise that would help.
After what seemed like forever we stumble into a clearing. Like, mowed grass. It’s on a hill that looks like it would be good for sledding in the winter. The hill has a drop off on either side that has plenty of trees. So there would be trees rooted in the drop off area that would have branches at ankle level on the hill depending on how high up the hill you were.
And that’s when it happened.
We heard this sound like when you are close to a horse that’s breathing heavily and it stopped us in our tracks. It seemed unnatural. It was not the kind of sound that you would expect to hear in that moment. It was creepy. We were not close to any animals that we knew of. We were in a clearing.
And then we saw it.
About a 1/4 way up the hill one of the tree branches from the drop off lifted up and I saw it. It saw us. It was just the head but it was plain as day. Large, hairy and snorting. And just like that it went away.
We were terrified so we ran. The mowed hill was a part of a farm and we found the driveway which lead to a road which lead to another road that I knew and we got back to my home in time for the graduation.
Nobody believed us. To this day, nobody believes me.
I know that old farmers and hairy old hippies are just a part of the tapestry of culture in that area. I know them. I’ve spent time sitting around their fires while drinking and telling stories to each other. This was not them. This was not a person. This was not a bear or any other animal that I know. This was something that I’ve never seen before and I hope to someday see again.
And that is why I believe in bigfoot." RM
