1976 Whitehall, NY Bigfoot Sightings in Conjunction with UFO Activity
Private Notes By Richard Bonenfant, Ph.D.
At the time I was interested in a flurry of UFO activity taking place in upstate New York and on my free time would investigate some of the UFO sightings that came to my attention in my immediate vicinity. On August 25, 1976 I received a telephone call from Ray Fowler, a well known UFO investigation and author living near Boston. Ray informed me that the FAA had received reports of UFO activity near Whitehall, NY some two hours or so north of where I lived in Delmar. He asked if I would follow-up on these sighting reports. When I agreed to do so, he directed me to initiate the investigation by contacting a NY State trooper in Whitehall by the name of Donovan.
I contacted Trooper Donovan as requested. He verified the sighting of large object accompanied by two smaller red ones at Scott Lake near Whitehall by some 15 witnesses. In passing he then added that strange reports were also coming in of a “big hairy animal” around Whitehall. For further information, I was referred to a Whitehall police patrolman by the name of Brian Gosselin.
Unfortunately, I was unable to reach Patrolman Gosselin that day but left my name and telephone number for further contact. On the following day I received a call from a Whitehall Police Department desk sergeant who told me (off-the-record) that they had in fact received several reports from reliable witnesses of a large, 8 foot tall, hairy ape creature in the countryside surrounding Whitehall. He further informed me that photos and even a plaster cast of the creature’s footprints had been made. I was further told to see witness Darin Lamphere about the affair and referred to the Washington County Sherriff’s Department. When I asked if I could examine their log book for further additional references to the unusual creature, the sergeant told me that I would need clearance from Chief Williams to order do so. Unfortunately, I was never able to reach the man.
That same day, August 26, 1976, I spoke to Deputy Walter Kruger of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Kruger was only able to tell me about the UFOs sighting they had received and who to contact about these sighting but nothing was forthcoming about the hairy creature sightings in Whitehall.
On Friday, August 27, 1988, I received two collect calls from Officer Brian Gosselin. The officer confirmed the local UFO sightings but then also volunteered that he himself had encountered the strange hairy animal everyone was talking about from a distance of only 20 feet. The creature was described as being unusually tall, stood on two legs, and must have weighed about 350 pounds. Furthermore, it had large red eyes, long arms and was covered with dark brown hair.
Officer Gosselin said he came upon the creature one night while on patrol. He first detected the creature when illuminated by his headlights as it crossed the road ahead of his patrol car. When he came upon it, the creature “screamed like a woman,” flung its arm over its eyes, and ran into a nearby field. When he turned his spotlight in the area where it had departed, he saw large, reflective, nocturnal eyes off in the distance. The officer also mentioned that the creature moved as if heavy weights were attached to arms and legs. A state police patrol car happen to arrived at the scene moments later and the troopers within also spotted the creature before it departed into the deeper woods.
When questioned about a possible association of the creature with UFO sightings in the area, Officer Gosselin reported that he felt the sightings were independent of one another and went on to say that there have been several historical reports of such a creature around the area; sightings that many silent witnesses refuse to make known.
On Saturday, September 4, 1976 I went to Whitehall accompanied by my father-in-law to investigate UFO sighting in the region. While there visited Officer Gosselin at home where he filled sighting questionnaire both about UFOs and his bigfoot sighting. It was then that I learned the he had observed the bigfoot creature from his patrol car on two occasion on the night of Wednesday, August 24th. It was observed at the almost the same locating of a similar sighting the previous evening by another witness named Marty Paddock.
During the interview I learned that the creatures hair appeared to be longer about the head. Officer Gosselin also added that the creatures movements were “slow and deliberate.” He then led us to the sites where he had encountered the hairy creature. The second site was about a mile further away than the first one. While there I told by Officer Gosselin that a local man in the area had even taken a shot at the creature. This time the Officer admitted that UFOs sightings had occurred in the same general location as these bigfoot sightings..
I offer this summary because of occasional reports of bigfoot-like creatures reported in concert with, or in proximity to, UFO sightings. It is not my intention to advance the hypothesis that these two phenomena are related. Rather I feel that I would be remiss by not reporting the sighting because of personal discomfort in doing so. I hope my account and the accompanying sketch will prove useful to other researches investigating this particularly aspect of the UFO phenomenon.
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