Class B First-hand BFRO #4763

Hikers find footprint in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Summer 1975 Early afternoon Swain County, North Carolina 1 witness

Account

The witness was backpacking with a companion in the Great Smoky Mountains and left the trail to bushwhack through a shallow creek. The witness found a single large bare footprint with five toes in silty sand and examined it for some time. No other prints or nearby camping spots were noted, and the witness felt familiar bear prints could not explain it.

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.

Physical traces

Facts & provenance

Each value names where it came from.

Date
Summer 1975
Stated BFRO report #4763 · BFRO report, labelled fields: Year, Season
Time of day
Early afternoon
Stated BFRO report #4763 · BFRO report, “Time And Conditions” section
Place
Swain County, North Carolina
Stated BFRO report #4763 · BFRO report, labelled fields: State, County
Map point
35.51, -83.56 (± 1000 m)
Stated BFRO map layer · BFRO published map layer · read with 85% confidence
BFRO map layer point for report 4763 (4 decimals, no boundary)
Account type
First-hand
Stated BFRO report #4763 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witnesses
1
Derived BFRO report #4763 · BFRO report, “Other Witnesses” section
Witness was
backpacking and bushwhacking in a creek
Stated BFRO report #4763 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Source classification
Class B
Stated BFRO report #4763 · 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
Stan Courtney (BFRO)
Tracks

Single distinct downstream-pointed bare primate-shaped footprint with five toes in silty sand in shallow creek.

Measurements: 12 -14 inches long by estimate; follow-up states fourteen inches long and five inches wide

BFRO report, “Observed” section
Follow-up

An investigator spoke with the witness by phone and recorded the footprint dimensions and experience with wildlife prints.

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.

  1. Published 2002-08-06 Retrieved 2026-09-25 Version 1 Hash 4eabd548753a
    BFRO - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization
  2. BFRO map layer Reference
    Retrieved 2026-09-24 Version 1 Hash cfb8a3d423b7
    BFRO - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization