Bigfoot Musings From the Lowcountry


The Lowcountry of South Carolina is a great destination. The food and the beaches are amazing. Cities such as Beaufort and Charleston are full of history, stunning architecture, and antebellum homes with manicured lawns that embody the deep South. Large oak trees draped with Spanish moss form canopies along narrow streets and side roads. And of course, there is Bigfoot.

Visits to Lowcountry

I spent a week in the Lowcountry in the summer of 2020 and again in January 2022. But I was a good hour’s drive from Hilton Head; thirty minutes away from Beaufort; and around forty-five minutes from Charleston. I stayed at a campground “in the middle of nowhere.” The nearest town was Yemassee—a small community whose roads leading in were riddled with potholes the size of kitchen sinks.

The point of this post is not potholes, Spanish moss, or antebellum homes—Bigfoot is the star here. As I usually do when I arrive in a new place, I began thinking of the elusive beast. I checked the Bigfoot Field Researcher Organization (BFRO) database for credible sightings in the area. I was not disappointed.

A Hunter Hears Bigfoot

A feral hog hunter heard noises that may have come from a Bigfoot. Report #10623 states:

At about 5:30 pm I started hearing several great horned owls calling back and forth in the area behind me which is swamp. My stand was located on a dike between a oak ridge and the water. There was a large gator hole about 100 yrds away. As the owls started calling I heard what sounded like a noise an ape would make but very loud. The "ooow, ooow" sound was very quick and repetetive. All the animal noises stopped suddenly and it was very still. The wood ducks and squirrels that we feed took flight in a sudden burst of movement. After the calls none returned and the area was very quiet, even the songbirds.

Relic Hunters Hear Bigfoot

In BFRO report # 20523, a group of Civil War relic hunters may have had a Bigfoot encounter:

Well after hunting for about 2 hours I heard a boar grunt which I’m very familiar with from hunting in remote places , I ignored it and kept hunting.

A few min later I meet up with one of my partners and I asked him where Pete was so he got on the radio. Pete replied he was left of our position about a mile. He went looking for new spots to hunt, I looked at Dennis and decided to take a 5 min break because of the intense heat, but sitting still we were swarmed with skeeters.

Dennis went to check out some large oaks on a hill. So I went right in some pines where the slave cabins were, about ten minutes later I heard a loud " WOOP". I took my headphones off and ducked thinking first instinct that someone else was out there, but again I heard it load as day "WOOP", it was definitely—repeat—definitely ape sounding. Then I heard a large stick hit a tree three times about 100 yards away. Then about 15 to 20 seconds later I heard it again hitting another tree. This time it was further off towards the river. Before I heard anything I smelled a foul stench in the breeze but that’s not concrete evidence because of the dead boar I found in the past. I do believe in Bigfoot and was happy this happened to me. I was not scared one bit but did get goose bumps.

I could see someone's mind play tricks on them if they were actually out looking for them but I was concentrating on finding relics.

I just can’t fully describe the sound it was so deep and DEFINATELY APE.

A “Big Man” Crosses the Road

Report #25915 tells of a really “big man” that crossed the road near the Edisto River:

I saw what I perceived as a man walking up to the side of the road. The sun was up high enough that I had put the visor back into normal position, but it back lit the man so all I could see was a silhouette. I assumed it was a man going to cross the road to a mailbox. He was far enough ahead that I did not take my foot of the gas pedal, but watched him cross the road. As I approached I was concerned he may step back into the road without looking so I let off the gas and looked for him. He was gone! There was no mailbox, no man, not even a house. Both sides of the road were thick woods. I slowed way down to look for him but I could not find hide nor hair of anyone. He was nowhere to be found.

Now I began thinking about what I had really seen. He had walked up to the road from the right in a leisurely manner, what I call a mosie. When he stepped into the road his first stride put him in the center of my lane. His second step put him at the center line. He crossed the road in four steps and at no time during this did the sun show between his legs above the knee. This was a big man. His hands had swung in front and behind his body as he walked. There was nothing in his hands. A hunter would have had a gun or a bow with him. I could see no color distinction between any parts of his body. Why would a man be crossing the road from one patch of wood to another at 8:10 AM? A really big man.

I went on to where I was headed but noted a few landmarks so I could find the place again that afternoon on my return trip. Which I did. I stopped and walked up and down that spot in the road. I crossed the road in ten steps or six hard strides, but I did not find anything to tell me what I seen that morning.

Not All That Different

Not to cast doubt on any of these reports, but truthfully, these stories and others like it are a dime-a-dozen. They come from every state in the United States and every province in Canada. But nonetheless, reading of them in a place I am visiting always fascinates me.

I ended up putting thoughts of Bigfoot sighting aside and went about my business in the area. You know, sightseeing, visiting historic landmarks, hiking, fishing, wildlife viewing and that sort of thing. But on a trip to the Post Office in Yemassee on a Saturday morning in January 2022, I spotted something that hit me like a freight train.

Behind the Fence

“What is that?” my wife asked.

“Not sure. Maybe it a jail.” I replied.

“There’s a bunch of small buildings though. No big building and it doesn’t look like a jail, really.”

“I don’t know. Weird. Probably some government facility.”

“Maybe.”

“Usually they try being a little more discreet, though. Most don’t have razor wire running along areas that are already within a fence.”

The fenced in area in the woods had rows of small buildings. There were a couple of larger  buildings across from them that looked like they might have been administrative buildings. The whole set up was tucked back in the woods beneath tall pine trees and large oaks draped in Spanish moss. What was this place?

We slowed down as we drove past, and my wife noticed a sign. She didn’t have time to read the whole thing, but she caught enough. It was a primate research facility.

On our way back from the Post Office, we drove by the facility again. We couldn’t see much. We took a few pictures and went on our way.

Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center

Later that evening, I went on the internet and learned the nearby primate facility was the Alpha Genesis (AGI) Primate Research Center. While many think the benefits of primate research outweigh the cruelty involved, thinking of that place and what goes on inside gave me a sick feeling.

I learned that a nonprofit group had recently filed a lawsuit against AGI for the mistreatment of its animals. Moreover, AGI paid $12,600 in federal fines in 2017 after 28 of its primates escaped and three died.

Well, of course, thinking of Bigfoot sightings and having a primate research facility nearby, my brain automatically tried linking the two. For a while, at least, I thought I might be onto something. Maybe at least some area Bigfoot sightings could be traced to escapees from the lab, I thought. But it seems—publicly, at least—that the facility specializes in monkeys. It seems unlikely that escaped monkeys would be mistaken for a 7 ½-foot-tall Bigfoot. But I still couldn’t help but wonder.

I also wondered if there is more taking place inside this facility and others like it than what is publicly acknowledged. What really goes on in these places? Are weird experiments taking place? Do more animals escape than we are led to believe? Who can say?

If you would like to read about the places I visit in my travels, consider checking out my Detours Into the Paranormal series of books. In the sixth installment of the series, I ask if these primate research facilities are a piece of Florida's Skunk Ape puzzle. 

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