Class A First-hand BFRO #26377

Young man has a close daylight encounter while riding his bike along the Hillsborough River

January 2001 afternoon, roughly 2-3 pm Hillsborough County, Florida 1 witness

Account

The witness was riding a bike on a trail in a state park in the afternoon and stopped to look at alligators. After hearing rustling, the witness saw a large dark hairy figure standing nearby looking at them. After about 10 seconds the figure ran away on two feet, and the witness rode quickly back to camp to tell relatives.

Summary drafted by AI from the source report and checked by code before I publish it. The witness's own words remain with the publisher — read the original report .

What was reported

Every kind of observation in the account. Select one to find other encounters with it.

Sightings

Partial sighting

Described appearance

In the source's own words, field by field. Hover a field's marker to see where it was read.

Height src: at least 7 1/2 feet tall
Build src: very broad shoulders about three feet across
Hair colour src: dark, dark brown
Face src: really dark with smashed-in nose and wide dark mouth
Eyes src: very dark with no whites showing
Arms src: kept at sides, swung at sides when running
Hands src: not seen
Gait src: ran on two feet
Posture src: standing, frozen looking at witness
Other features src: elongated oval-shaped head pointed at top, no ears seen

Facts & provenance

Each value names where it came from.

Date	January 2001 Stated BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, labelled fields: Year, Month
Time of day	afternoon, roughly 2-3 pm Stated BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, “Time And Conditions” section
Place	Hillsborough County, Florida Stated BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, labelled fields: State, County, Location Details
Map point	28.15, -82.24 (± 1000 m) Stated BFRO map layer · BFRO published map layer · read with 85% confidence BFRO map layer point for report 26377 (5 decimals, no boundary)
Account type	First-hand Derived BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witnesses	1 Derived BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, “Other Witnesses” section
Figures reported	1 Derived BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witness was	riding a bike on a trail Stated BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witness's word for it	tall dark brown hairy figure Stated BFRO report #26377 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Source classification	Class A Stated BFRO report #26377 · BFRO classification label

Evidence & investigation

What the source says was found or done. Claimed evidence is listed as claimed; the Anomadex has not examined it.

Investigated by: Cathy Betz (BFRO)

Follow-up

An investigator conducted a phone interview with the witness to collect additional details.

BFRO report, “Follow-Up” section

Source timeline

Every record this entry is built from, earliest known first. Records are versioned and never edited in place.

BFRO report #26377 Primary

Published 2009-08-05 Retrieved 2026-09-25 Version 1 Hash 9455b93d20cf

BFRO - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization
BFRO map layer Reference

Retrieved 2026-09-24 Version 1 Hash cfb8a3d423b7

BFRO - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization

The report refers to

“three other sightings in the same area”
Not in the Anomadex yet