The Texas Sasquatch

Did you know that Big Foot, also known as Sasquatch have been reported in many different areas all over the world. Each country or continent has their own name for the beast, but the descriptions are all quite similar. As many of you already know, I’m from Texas, so I find this topic especially interesting. We’re going to focus on Lake Worth, which is on the northwest edge of Fort Worth, Texas in the United States.

The Reichart Incident

During the summer of 1969 and incident occurred that frightened a group so badly that they took their report to the police station. It was early morning, July 10, 1969 and a man by the name of John Reichart was with his wife and two other couples down at Lake Worth. Then it happened, a huge creature jumped out at them from the trees and landed on their vehicle.

This creature looked like it was covered in scales and hair too. They said it looked something like a cross between a man and goat. Now of course this isn’t something you would normally see when going on a nice outing with friends. So needless to say they were scared out of their minds.

They rushed to the police station and told the officers what had happened. All six of them were so frightened that the police had no doubt something very bizarre had been seen. Of course they weren’t quite sure at that time what it was, but they were certain the group had seen something and it was no hoax.

So immediately four police cars rushed over to where the scene had taken place but were unable to find any clues as to what had happened there. But one thing they couldn’t deny was the massive 18 inch scratch that was running down the side of the victims car. The Reicharts swore that the mark had not been there prior to this incident so they were convinced the monster must of done it.

Other Reports of the Monster

The Reichart incident was not the only report that police had received about monsters in the area. In the two months prior to that incident, police had received many other reports of this monster, but most were dismissed as pranks. So naturally when the Reicharts came forward with their report, police were quick to attribute it to a prank as well.

Even though the police suspected foul play in the Reichart incident, they couldn’t dismiss it simply because of how frightened the group had been. So this caused them to take the case a little more serious than before.

Then quite surprisingly, not 24 hours later the creature was spotted again. This time by a Mr. Jack Harris. He was driving going toward the Lake Worth Nature Center and spotted the creature crossing the road. He said it was running up and down the bluff and eventually had attracted the attention of some thirty or forty people.

This incident could not be dismissed so easily considering the attention it received. So within minutes the police were on the scene, and guess what, they saw the creature too! Some of the onlookers began getting a little too close to the creature and he got spooked. They say he grabbed an old tire and rim and threw it at them as though it were nothing. Now keep in mind a tire with a rim in it is quite heavy. Not very easy for a human to just toss at someone.

After the attempted assault by the beast, he retreated back into the underbrush and disappeared.

According to witnesses, this creature stood some seven feet tall and must of weighed at least 300 pounds. He was said to be walking on two feet and had a whitish-gray hair. His cry was said to be quite daunting and sounded almost like someone was hurting him. But one thing was for sure, that cry wasn’t something of a human nature.

The Continued Search

In the few weeks that followed all this commotion, many search parties went out looking for the creature. Many of the search parties were carrying guns and were searching all throughout the night.

Many people referred to the creature as a white ape and there were many tracks found at the scene. Unfortunately none of them were preserved. But they say the tracks were some 16 inches in length and 8 inches wide.

One of the search party members actually got a shot off at the creature and evidently wounded it. Because they followed the blood trail all the way to the lakes edge, but still no sign of the creature.

There were many other similar encounters reported over the next few weeks. Some involved him jumping on people’s cars, others said they could hear his cries and smell his foul odor, but never could get a glimpse of the creature.

One report consisted of some sheep that had been killed by having their necks broken. Of course this was said to be the fault of the creature, but no one knows for sure.

There have been many searches over the years and there are still occasional sightings reported, but the creature has never been caught.

Some of the Theories

According to Helmuth Naumer of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, she believes this creature to of been a bobcat. Now tell me that isn’t the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard. When you put the eye witness accounts together, there is nothing that remotely suggests this could of been a bobcat.

Of course the most reasonable explanation has been pranksters in a costume. Rumors tell that the police actually caught some one with a costume. But if this was in fact a prankster, then they were either very brave or quite stupid to be out there running around with an armed posse after them.

I tend to believe that if there was someone caught with a costume, then they were doing it after hearing about the real incident. Probably thought it would make a great prank since there really was something like that out there. But who knows for sure, it’s really not that hard to imagine life beyond what we’ve discovered. Just because we haven’t identified it yet, doesn’t mean it can not exist. Just look at the ocean for example. There’s tons of species we haven’t discovered yet simply because we can not survive in their environment.

Anyway, let me know your theories on this, and if you’ve sighted something similar or had such an encounter, be sure to share with us in the comments below.

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