Class A First-hand BFRO #5369

Man recalls childhood evening encounter in Johnathon Dickenson State Park

July 1978 approximately 7:00 P.M. Jupiter, Martin County, Florida 1 witness

Account

The witness was camping with family and jogged alone to an observation tower in the evening. After resting on top, the witness climbed down, slipped and landed noisily in brush. A hair-covered animal about 25 yards away raised its head, stared briefly, then ran across the clearing, rising to two legs before crossing the road and vanishing into woods. The witness ran back to camp, where family dismissed the account.

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

Full-body sighting Road crossing

Described appearance

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

Height src: about 6-7' tall
Build src: very large frame from the hips up
Hair colour src: silvery-gray
Hair length src: short on head, shaggy on body
Face src: seemed human with a flat nose
Eyes src: small and dark
Gait src: ran, starting on all fours then upright on two legs
Posture src: upright on two legs when fleeing
Other features src: head rounded at bottom, elongated towards top

Facts & provenance

Each value names where it came from.

Date	July 1978 Stated BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, labelled fields: Year, Month
Time of day	approximately 7:00 P.M. Stated BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, “Time And Conditions” section
Place	Jupiter, Martin County, Florida Stated BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, labelled fields: State, County, Nearest Town, Location Details, Nearest Road
Map point	27.01, -80.13 (± 4 km) Stated BFRO map layer · BFRO published map layer · read with 85% confidence BFRO map layer point for report 5369 with published boundary
Account type	First-hand Derived BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witnesses	1 Stated BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, “Other Witnesses” section
Figures reported	1 Derived BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witness was	camping and jogging to observation tower Stated BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witness's word for it	definitely an animal Stated BFRO report #5369 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Source classification	Class A Stated BFRO report #5369 · 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.

Follow-up

An investigator and a co-investigator visited the tower area to cross-reference places and geographic locales.

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 #5369 Primary

Published 2002-11-25 Retrieved 2026-09-25 Version 1 Hash f96b1aba805e

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

“stories of a bigfoot-like creature called a skunk-ape”
Not in the Anomadex yet