BFRO #26888: Man recalls his encounter after riding his dirt bike as a young man near Bradford

📍 Location

📝 Description

My encounter happened at the end of summer in 1973, or 1974. It was late August/early September, as it was the time the blackberries were ripening.I was 15 or 16 years old, and had a dirt bike that I rode on the many lease roads in the hills surrounding Bradford. The bike had an expansion chamber, which is an extremely loud exhaust system. I generally rode it every day on the hill behind our house in Bradford, so I knew all the roads and trails. My grandfather had built a lot of the roads with a bulldozer, years back, working for the Kendall Oil Company. We had also hiked this area extensively when my friends and I were kids, sometimes camping for the night. On one occasion when we were about 9 or 10, we were chased home by a frightening screeching in the late morning from the top of this hill. (Just two of us) We didn�t know what the noise was, only that we had to run from it. I only mention this as it was very close to the same area as where I had my encounter, and in my mind, the same animal.The day of the encounter, I had ridden up to the road at the ridgeline of the hill, and about a mile and a half towards the hospital area. I didn�t turn that way and instead went straight, towards the pipeline, which is a cleared area that runs straight up and down the mountain. I stopped there for a second, and turned back around about 1/4 mile to a group of blackberry bushes. I shut off the bike and started picking the berries, until the bees got to me, and I took my handful of berries and walked away.I walked back to the pipeline, stopping right before the clearing, hoping to catch some sort of animal crossing the clearing. I had been a hunter since I was very young, which is the custom in the area, and was very good at walking quietly in the woods. As I looked down the hill from the top of the clearing, I could see what looked like a bear, digging into the log that had been placed across the pipeline to keep people from using the cleared area as a road. I reasoned that he heard the noise of my bike going away, so he figured I was out of the area. The stink of the 2-cycle engine also probably masked the smell of me, as well.I was young enough to think I should get a closer look, so I got myself to a point about 50 yards away and uphill from the animal, and about 25 yards from the ridgeline road. I stood there and ate the berries and watched what I thought was the butt of the bear visible above the log. Remember; the log was about 50 yards down a steep hill, and the log was about 3 feet tall, and crossing the pipeline. The bear would have to be very large for me to see as much as I did, which was a good foot or more above the log, and he was on the other side of it.He seemed to be digging for bugs or something in the log. After a few minutes of me standing still watching him, he suddenly realized I was there. He stopped, tried to remain still for a minute, and all the time I still thought I was watching a bear.Then he stood up. This was no bear. It was the most surreal moment in my life, either then or now, and I�m 52 years old. He was tall, at least 7 feet, as his knees were just barely covered by the log. He had hair like that of a black bear�s fur that time of year, basically the same color and length, which obscured a lot of the features of his face.We both stood there frozen for a minute, staring at each other. My thought was to get out of there, but the only movement I could muster was to drop the few berries I had left. I started dropping berries, and he just turned and �walked� to the far side of the pipeline and into the woods, down a trail just to his side of the log.I say �walked�, because it was so smooth and graceful across that terrain, that I was completely overwhelmed. As I said, I thought I was pretty good at getting around in this terrain, and I am. The movement he used was so economical and efficient that I still see it in my mind and marvel. There was very little or no �bobbing� up and down; his arms swung, but not wildly, like you would expect with an ape. The arm swing wasn�t like a tight-rope walker either, as I may have needed to do, to walk across the area he walked. It was just smooth, amazing.I stood for a few seconds after he disappeared, then decided to get myself out of there. I ran back to my bike and headed the other way as fast as I could. Then I started thinking I should go see where he went. I turned around and headed back and down that pipeline to the tree. I got the bike to the trail he used, which is a trail that immediately takes you from light to deep shade, and stays perpetually muddy. I have tried that trail a few other times (with the same friend who was chased with me, years earlier) and have only been able to go a few yards before I had to get off the bike and push. I started to get bogged down, so I got back out as quick as I could.I don�t know what I was thinking, I guess I thought the noise would keep him away, but when I hit the mud I remembered that I couldn�t take

🔍 Circumstances

No other witness.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

Afternoon, around 4:00. Sunny and hot.

ℹ️ Additional Details

Afternoon, around 4:00. Sunny and hot.

🔗 Sources (1)

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