Big Red Eye

There is a Bigfoot variant native to northwestern New Jersey  called "Big Red Eye"; Big Red Eye takes its name, obviously, from its red eyes—glowing red eyes.

An eyewitness from 1991 had this to say about their Big Red Eye encounter:

I knew it wasn’t a bear, it was too lean and upright; it was humanoid. It had been there the whole time, watching our approach. There was no noise, otherwise we would have heard something big crashing through all the underbrush. It was tall and shaggy with red eyes. The eyes were glowing red from reflected light, not glowing like LED lights. It just stood there motionless, arms hanging limply at its sides. It didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, it was just creepy. Then of course, we ran and did not look back. I don’t care what anybody says, I know what I saw. That is something you don’t forget, I definitely did not go back to that spot anytime soon.1

Big Red Eye, as we know it today, seems to have gotten its start in the 1970s along New Jersey’s Kittatinny Ridge. This is when former forest ranger Tom Card had his encounter. Card said: “I’ve spent my whole life in the woods and I’ve never heard anything like it. When I first heard it, I thought it was a siren in the distance but then I heard it again. I saw two guys running down the road. I was like, ‘This isn’t good.’”2

During a 2-week span in 1977, an area in Sussex County experienced frightening sounds that began around 2:00am and lasted until about daybreak. Also, there were a rash of occurrences in which pet rabbits were inexplicably killed. Police blamed bears for the attacks, but the local newspaper pushed a “monster on the loose” narrative. Maybe the newspaper was right; perhaps Big Red Eye is still on the prowl.

Notes:

1 .http://weirdnj.com/stories/big-red-eye/

2. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/as_bigfoot_sasquatch_or_njs_bi.html

Big Red Eye is briefly mentioned in my book Detours into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip.

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