report from the TBRC site

DATE: 1970's

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Texas
COUNTY: Angelina

NEAREST TOWN: Rockland, TX just down the Neches River next to Old Aldridge/Boykin Springs State park in Angelina County.

OBSERVED: My grandfather and I were camping on the river for the summer like we always did and sitting around the fire one evening on a weekday (because we were alone, if it would have been a weekend there would have been more family there, family tradition). Papa heard something that sounded like someone walking in the river down by the boat and bait box (trot line bait) so he got up and walked down to the river over the bank. When he came back he said he didn't see anything but he said a dead cow or something must be floating in the river because it smelled like hell down there. A few minutes later there was a sound that sounded a lot like hogs rooting in the edge of the water again in the same area by the boat and bait box. I remember Pa cussing a bit as he went to the truck for the gun to scare them off. He walked over the bank again with his headlight and gun. After a second I heard the gun fire and a yell/scream that to this day I remember vividly (thinking about it still makes the hair on the back of my neck tingle). He came running back over the bank yelling for me to get in the truck. In stride he grabbed me by the arm and half carried me to the truck. In all my life I had never seen my grandfather nervous in the woods. We sat in the truck for a while I kept asking Pa what was wrong and he just told me to be quiet and listen. After a little while I fell asleep but I don't think Pa slept all night. The next morning we went down to the river, the bait box was out in the middle of the river on a sand bar and the boat had been pulled loose and was hung up on a snag down the river a bit. There were no prints on the bank but I remember him showing me some in the water where it looked like there had been someone walking in the river around were the boat and bait box were. I asked him what he shot at that night and he said it was just a wooley booger, a bush ape, but we packed up and went home, something we had never done before until usually after it got cold.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE: Only the prints in the water that appeared to me to be bigger than normal but there was really no way to tell being in the water. The bait box (4' x 4' x2' made from 2" oak slats) didn't get in the middle of the river by itself. The boat was pulled loose (rope broke not cut).

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes, my grandfather.

SOUNDS HEARD: A deep guttural sound and a extremely vocal scream on the first occurrence, nothing on the second

ODORS: I saw or smelled nothing that night.

OTHER STORIES: I had a similar incident in 1978 on the river by Old Aldridge. Myself, my ex-wife and a friend were camping on the river when my friend and I were awakened by a loud splashing in the water on the rocks below us we both took our lights and looked down at the river but when we shined our lights over the bank all we saw was a shadow that looked like someone running into the river. That seemed strange to us because the river on the other side was impossible to get to unless you went by boat. There was something eerie about it because all the normal noises were silent and usually it was loud with crickets and frogs. Again the hair stood up on the back off my neck. My friend and I stayed up the rest off the night with the guns at ready. The next day we swam the river to look at the tracks on the other side. There were tracks but the sand was loose and all you could tell where some one or something had run through it at a fast pace and didn't leave any identifying features.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 9:00 pm.

ENVIRONMENT: National Forest.

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