Written by Chad Snyder, Pilot staff writer
The Curry Pilot
August 12, 2009 10:57 am
On Sept. 22, 2005, Brookings resident Travis Cover was driving on a remote section of US Highway 199 when he saw something that he said scared the tar out of him: a hulking 9-foot tall creature standing by the side of the road, shielding its eyes from the glare of headlights.
Cover knew exactly what is was. Based on another chance meeting with a mysterious creature when he was 12 years old, Cover was convinced it was the elusive, foul-smelling humanoid mammal called Bigfoot.
“I saw what I saw,” Cover said. “And until they prove to me different, I know what I saw.”
Now a new book documenting Bigfoot sightings from all over the U.S. – entitled Tribal Bigfoot, authored by David Paulides, executive director of North America Bigfoot Research – is lending its credibility to the Cover case.
“It’s published,” Cover said. “It kind of helps people understand that what I saw is true.”
Seven pages of Tribal focuses on Cover’s story, including his first sighting in the summer of 1982.
Cover said that during the second day of a camping trip to Siskiyou Forks campground – located five miles north of Patrick Creek Lodge on Highway 199 – he was riding his bicycle near the family campsite when he heard something moving in the brush near the road. It wasn’t very loud, Cover said, but enough to attract his attention.
“It was quiet,” he said. “You don’t hear them until you’re right up on them.”
What he saw was a 7- to 8-foot tall creature walking on two feet and pushing limbs away from its face as it lumbered through the trees only 15 feet or so from the 12-year-old Cover.
“It was just walking through the brush like a person would,” he said.
Cover said he was so close that he could see the wrinkles in the corners on the figure’s eyes. He noticed that this animal was nearly jet black, and observation that would lead Cover to believe after his second encounter that this was a young Bigfoot.
After a few seconds watching the creature moving through the roadside branches, Cover said he turned tail and sped back to the family campsite.
Once there, Cover said, he told his parents about what he had seen, but they simply laughed.
Cover said he thought about going back up the road immediately to look again, but that he was too scared.
“No way I was going up there by myself,” Cover said.
According to Cover, the image of the massive creature strolling through the forest that day is etched into his memory, and it resurfaced in vivid detail when he later saw the legendary Patterson film.
The Patterson film – also known as the Patterson-Gimlin film – is a short motion picture showing an unidentified figure walking through a section of Northern California forest on Oct. 20, 1967. Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, who shot the footage, claimed the figure was Bigfoot.
The footage has been the subject of numerous investigations, some concluding it was a hoax intended to substantiate the existence of Bigfoot; but others who examined the film claim it clearly shows an animal not previously known to science. The supporting scientists rational for their conclusion: the walk, or gait, of the animal and its muscle movements would be nearly impossible to falsify.
To Cover, the Patterson film was proof positive what he had seen as a child in the Northern California forest was, in fact, Bigfoot.
“I was shocked when I saw (the Patterson film),” he said. “I couldn’t believe someone got footage of (Bigfoot).”
The film also convinced Cover the creature he saw wasn’t just a man in an ape suit.
“It’s not. No way,” he said. To Cover, the walk seen in the Patterson film was similar to the movement of the creature he saw at 12, and in his mind no human could simulate the long, arm swinging gait.
The imagine in his mind and the Patterson footage must have flashed into consciousness, too, after the incident in 2005.
Cover was driving a company lumber truck at around 4:30 a.m. in late September when he rounded a corner with his bright lights shining.
What he saw scared him silly.
“It’s the type of thing … you never expect it,” Cover said.
Standing by the road in the pre-dawn darkness was a creature, tall, hairy and obviously standing upright. When it saw the truck coming, the figure raised an arm so as to shield its eyes from the headlights’ glare.
On the creature’s raised arm Cover reports seeing grey hairs, which he believes means this Bigfoot was older than the slightly smaller figure he witnessed as a child.
Judging by the close look he got at the alleged Bigfoot – no more than 5 or 10 feet away as he past it, Cover said – this one was at least eight feet tall.
Immediately after the incident, Cover called 911 and reported the incident to the Oregon State Police. He’s unsure if any investigation was ever made.
As Cover said, many people have asked why he didn’t just turn around right then and take a look for himself, but, as he maintained consistently when asked, he was the kind of scared that raises hairs on the back of his neck.
When he did return later the same day after traveling to Grants Pass on business, Cover inspected the spot where the creature had stood but found nothing more than some unidentifiable impression.
What he found when he arrived home, though, was a little easier to understand: harassment.
Cover said a number of people have openly heckled, called him Bigfoot, and even laughed at him because of his experience.
And maybe, if circumstances were different, the roasting he received at the hands of unbelievers might have shaken his confidence in his belief. But Cover’s confidence has been reinforced. He said he knows many other locals who have had similar experiences.
Cover relayed a story about loggers who were absolutely convinced they’d seen Bigfoot on many occasions, quietly wandering the woods near Brookings. According to Cover, one logger claims he saw Bigfoot up on a ridgeline, throwing full 55-gallon barrels down the hill hoping to scare the loggers off.
Another story Cover told was of a local man who was hunting with his dogs in an area near Hiouchi, Calif., when he came face to face with the creature. Cover said the man was scared ghost white and abruptly left the forest, leaving his camping gear and dogs behind.
Cover said the man – whom he didn’t want to identify – still won’t talk much about his encounter because he doesn’t want to think about it again.
Cover must have suffered a similar trauma. To date, he’s still hesitant to be alone in certain areas. The woods near Siskiyou Forks are included.
“It basically scared me,” he said. “I won’t go camping in the area.”
And when he’s elsewhere, he’s on alert.
“If I go up the Winchuck (River) or camping somewhere, I’m looking,” he said.
But it’s not because he fears the creature, just a chance encounter. In fact, Cover seems to regard Bigfoot as a misunderstood, kindly sort.
“It think they’re no different than us,” he said. “They’re surviving. They’re making families.
“I think they’re curious about us. They’re interested in what we do, but they’re scared of what we can do to them. And they’re not aggressive, unless you’re in their area.”
Hence the barrel throwing, according to Cover.
Paulides’ book also contains sketches made by Federal Bureau of Investigations forensic artist Harvey Pratt.
Pratt made full color and highly detailed drawings of both creatures Cover claims to have seen, and both are included in the book.
Cover said Pratt came out with Paulides on an investigation trip to Brookings and listened as he described the figures he saw 23 years apart.
“I think he did a pretty good job,” Cover said. “It wasn’t exactly what I saw, but it looked pretty close.”
The sketches may allow others a glimpse into Cover’s memory, but he said his own recollection is all he needs.
“It’s in my head,” he said. “I can’t get rid of it.”
Tribal Bigfoot is available locally at Hiouchi Hamlet in Hiouchi, Calif., or by contacting the publisher at www.hancockhouse.com.
