The Mysterious World of Bigfoot Threat Displays

Bigfoot is almost without fail always perceived as a shy, gentle giant that would rather run and hide than ever confront witnesses. Yet, like any large, potentially dangerous animal, Bigfoot has also been known to act in threatening ways, and here we will go over some that are worth knowing about the next time you are out hiking in the wilderness.

One of the most basic and quite possibly most common forms of apparent Bigfoot aggression is “wood knocking.” It entails the alleged beast banging sticks together or against trees to create loud bangs and knocks that reverberate far and wide. These knocks can be alarmingly loud, echoing throughout the wilderness, and are not something one would want to hear while alone in the woods. While there are far too many cases to discuss here, the purpose of wood knocking is not yet fully understood. At times, there seems to be more than one Sasquatch knocking back and forth, suggesting that it could serve as a sort of communication tool. However, on other occasions, reports have indicated that the wood knocking was very close and menacing, which could mean that it is a bluffing gesture or a way to scare off enemies. Whatever the case may be, it is definitely a part of perceived Bigfoot aggression tactics, and a fascinating peek into their possible behaviors.

Getting into more overtly threatening behavior, we have cases of Bigfoot throwing stones, boulders, or even logs in what seems to be without a doubt an unmistakable warning to stay away. The rock throwing is often accompanied by menacing vocalizations such as howls, grunts, or growls, and it can encompass anything from small pebbles to rocks to boulders too heavy for a human to lift, and sometimes logs or tree trunks that have been torn right from the ground.

There are numerous cases of rock-throwing behavior in Bigfoot eyewitness accounts. In one report from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), a witness going by “Ron” claims that in November of 2018, he was out on a three-day getaway with his girlfriend in the wilderness of Green Lake, in the Inyo National Forest of the Eastern Sierra Mountains of California to do some camping and fly fishing. Ron would say of what happened:

“We hiked up to Green Lake only to find it was totally frozen over. We decided to hike back down towards another lake in the area. At one point in our hike we stopped to rest and eat some snacks. While we were there I had a very eerie feeling. It caused me to feel cold and shaky and nervous. As we were sitting there, we suddenly heard a noise of something flying through the air. I looked up and saw a huge rock, which probably weighed at least 45 pounds, coming from above us. The rock landed on the trail about 25 yards away from us. It wasn’t rolling down the hillside. It’s trajectory indicated to me it had been thrown down the hillside.

At about that same instant we heard a very distinct animal-like grunting noise, but it was far louder than any animal grunt I’ve ever heard. We also detected a really foul smell. I particularly remember the foul smell because one moment we were breathing really fresh mountain air and the next moment there was this awful smell. About that time, we could hear heavy footsteps coming down the hillside towards us. The terrain in this area is steep with many tall pine trees. We couldn’t see very far above us, but we could hear something was coming towards us.

I’ve encountered many bears in that area in the past and I immediately grew concerned a bear was approaching us. I yelled something like, “It’s a (expletive) bear!” The whole thing was so frightening and unexpected that we both started running! We left my girlfriend’s jacket, my sunglasses, and our food there and just started running down the switchbacked trail. (The jacket and sunglasses each cost over $100. We never went back to get them.)

As we kept running down the switchbacks we could hear the heavy footsteps following us. Whatever it was, it didn’t stay on the trail and follow the switchbacks like we did. Instead, it cut straight down the hillside, and its movements were loud enough for us to hear it. We ran for about five minutes before realizing the thing was no longer following us. We went back to the trailhead, got in our car, and left. This was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m confused and puzzled by the whole thing. I’m not the kind of guy who believes in things like ghosts or bigfoots. But, I can’t explain what happened to us.”

In another BFRO report, a witness called only “RW” says of his own frightening rock-throwing encounter:

“It was Thursday 11/25/11 at approximately 8:20 just outside of Albion Oklahoma. I have 50-acres of mountain hunting land on K-trail mountain road. It was lightly raining and around 50 deg. I was by myself setting up a second feeder for the morning hunt. I walked approximately 30 yards off the road to move some brush and I heard a very strange howl/growl. It was just on the other side of the road by my truck. I started heading back to my truck and it howled again. I had never heard anything like this before. I yelled back at it, and it responded with a more aggressive howl. Shortly after that a large rock came up through the brush and landed in the road. This exchange of howls/growls went on for 20-minutes. I never saw anything but I can tell you it wasn't a bear or deer. I guess there is something to the sign I saw on Indian highway "Indian HWY Home of Bigfoot”.”

Even more spectacular is when Bigfoot hurls logs at people. In 2014, Bigfoot researcher and host of the Sasquatch Chronicles podcast, Wes Germer, went on an excursion to the Sam Houston National Forest, in Texas, with guide Bob Garrett and his crew into an area of the park called Piney Woods, which is particularly known for its intense Bigfoot activity. It was not a particularly eventful expedition until one evening when they were sitting around quietly in their camp. Without warning, they were assailed by a cacophony of crashing brush out in the darkness. At first, Germer thought it was one of the crew messing around out in the forest, but he soon realized that this was something else altogether. He says the sounds were from something far larger and more powerful than a human being, and that shortly after it all started, something very big and fast charged the camp. Germer would recount this:

“My heart was just pounding in my throat. We hear this thing crash through the brush. And then we hear this thing start crashing, just crash! Crash! Crash! Crash. And you can hear it walking and you can hear it breaking branches as it's going. This thing moved so fast, it probably covered 100, 150 yards like nothing.”

The mystery creature then allegedly bolted back into the trees, the noise then abruptly stopping, and the woods still and silent again, but this was not the end of the scary ordeal. Germer claims that he and Garrett picked up flashlights to go investigate, which was perhaps not the best of ideas. They estimated that the beast was still there, perhaps 30 or 40 feet off, beyond the tree line of the campsite and watching them. Garrett, who was armed with a rifle, claimed that he caught a glimpse of something very big lurking out there, but Germer didn’t see it, merely sensing that it was looming there in the gloom. They crept towards what they believed to be the location of the creature, but whatever it was did not seem to have appreciated this, as the two men heard a sound like “the beating of helicopter blades.” Germer says of what happened next:

“And I knew what it was. It was a log coming, and it was a big log, and you could hear it being thrown. And I ducked down because I thought for sure it was going to hit one of us in the head. But it hit a tree right in front of us, and I just couldn't believe that was happening. I knew what just threw that log at us. I knew what just paced us in.”

Germer claims that this wasn’t even his first experience with a log-throwing Bigfoot in the park. He says that on a previous expedition to the same spot, a log had come sailing from the woods to smash into a spot where his girlfriend had just been sitting just moments before, and on another occasion, he had cowered in his truck as it was bombarded by rocks, sticks and logs by the angry creatures. When they had finally left, he returned to his campsite to find it totally destroyed, as if a very large animal had ransacked it. That night, the aggressive displays would continue, of which he would say, “We could hear them run back and forth and the tree limbs and broken trees flew into camp, nonstop.” They also heard noises that sounded like “a monkey trying to be an owl,” or, as Germer describes it, “a freakin’ werewolf.” This was also in the same general vicinity as the other incidents, so whatever is there obviously does not seem to like company.

The BFRO has several similarly harrowing cases from the region. In the summer of 2009, a witness by the name of Stan Williams was on assignment as a photographer for Texas Highways Magazine and The Texas State Travel Guide to photograph the Sam Houston National Forest. In the late afternoon, he was west of Coldspring, hiking out with his camera looking for shots. He claims he came to a clearing about a mile to two miles into the forest, where he waited for a few minutes in the hopes of getting a shot of some wildlife. As he sat there waiting, he apparently heard some crashing noises from beyond the tree line, and a strange sequence of events would play out. The witness says:

“After a few minutes there was a loud crashing noise on the other side of the clearing that startled me, as deer make almost no noise. Before I could react, a small juvenile black bear came out of the trees, stopped in the clearing edge and put its nose up in the air sniffing. It then abruptly turned around and ran back into the woods. I started to go after it for a photo, but thought better of it as its mother would undoubtedly be nearby. I decided to go back the way I had come to give them space. I had barely turned when I saw a huge dark humanoid shape about ten to twelve feet away through some very thick yaupon brush. I’m 6’3” and I was looking up at a twenty to thirty-degree angle to its head and huge shoulders. Texas bears don’t get anywhere close to this size, more like an Alaskan Kodiak Bear in size. I froze. All of a sudden its hand moved and a 2-3” diameter tree trunk about fifteen feet long came flying toward me. I ran like a werewolf was after me, and it might have been. I was back at the car in just a few minutes, clothes torn and bleeding from cat’s claw and briars trying to stop me. I jumped in the car and peeled out, not stopping til I reached Coldspring.”

The witness would only later process what had happened and come to the conclusion that he had had a very close and dangerous encounter with a Sasquatch. Unfortunately, he was not able to get a picture of it. It might seem odd that this professional photographer, specifically waiting there in the clearing for wildlife to appear, wouldn't have been able to get a picture of the creature, but one of the BFRO researchers who followed up on the case has said of this:

“This is a classic example why we get no close photos and few distant blobsquatch photos. Here you have a trained professional photographer with professional equipment in a wooded environment. Presented with a potentially life-threatening situation, he was stricken with fear. Fearing that he might be attacked by something so close to him, there was no thought to raise the camera to get a money shot. We spoke about that. He kicks himself to this day about not raising his camera. He was all about getting the heck out of there. He reacted like virtually anyone would, especially if they had no idea what they were encountering or what to expect from it. That's what happens when someone is in self-preservation mode, even a professional photographer. Those who wonder aloud why we have no good close-range photos need only imagine his exact scenario and honestly consider what you would do.”

In many cases such as these, the rock throwing or log throwing is joined by another Bigfoot threat tactic, in which they will shake brush or trees violently. Another BFRO report gives a good example of this. In 2016, two hunters were out at the Black Stone Gap area, North West of Nordegg, Alberta, Canada, to do some bowhunting. It would be a trip they would not forget anytime soon. BFRO researcher Beckie B would say of the incident:

“At approximately 9:30pm on September 9, 2016, the witness and a trusted hunting partner arrived in the Black Stone Gap area near Nordegg, Alberta. Shortly after arriving at the site, the witness and hunting partner started a fire to prepare supper. Almost immediately, both hunters began to hear leaves crunching and ‘something big’ moving through the bush approximately 25 yards away at a nearby tree line. As experienced outdoorsmen, the witness and the hunting partner both assumed that the noises were being caused by a bear. The hunters retrieved their shot guns as a precaution. The sounds of movement, crackling leaves, and breaking of branches continued from the same location for approximately a half hour. In an attempt to scare off the presumed bear, the hunters fired off a round from the shot gun into the air.

Immediately following the shot, a spruce tree in the tree line where the noises had been coming from began to shake violently, followed closely by a soccer ball sized rock being thrown from the same area seconds later, landing close to the hunters. The tree shaking as well as the rock throwing continued for a full 20 minutes with a total of 17 rocks being thrown towards the hunters. Throughout this entire time, no vocalizations of any type, growling, huffing, or screaming, were heard.

The witness and hunting partner packed up their camp within the 20 minutes while the tree shaking and rock throwing were continuing and vacated the area. In the rush to leave the area, the witness left a cell phone on a stump in camp. Although witness is a lifetime hunter and has been into the area frequently over the past 25 years, there was extreme hesitation to return to the location to retrieve the phone. Prior to this encounter, the witness had felt the feeling of being watched in this area, but had never felt threatened like on this occasion.

A variety of alternatives and scenarios were considered by the witness such as other campers/ hunters shaking the tree and throwing rocks, however this was ruled out due to the remoteness of the location and the high level of danger to other humans still remaining concealed after a shotgun was fired into the sky approximately 25 yards away. The possibility of a bear or cougar shaking the tree was also considered and rejected due to the occurrence of prolonged rock throwing that accompanied the tree shaking.

After a number of emails and phone call with the witness, I determined that witness was credible and very familiar with the area. The witness was a lifelong hunter who was camped in a fairly remote area which he had visited frequently over a 25 year period. The hunting partner refuses to discuss the experience.”

One thing that is interesting to note about these cases and others like them is that the rocks or other objects thrown almost always miss their marks. Sure, maybe they just have incredibly bad aim, but it is almost as if the creatures do not actually want to hit their targets, but are rather just trying to scare people away so that they can be left in peace. If this is the case, it further cements the idea that Bigfoot is largely a peaceful creature that often just resorts to these threats to make people leave it alone rather than out of any malicious desire to hurt them.

Scariest of all Bigfoot threat displays is a behavior that seems very similar to gorillas, and that is what is mostly called a “bluff charge.” In the wild, adult silverback gorillas do this by rushing forward while thrashing brush and beating their chests, and this is not too different from what is reported with angry Bigfoot. In Bigfoot bluff charges, the creatures will rush loudly through the trees and brush towards the intruder, seemingly trying to make as much of a ruckus as they possibly can and often coming so close that the witness fears for their life. This may or may not be accompanied by rock throwing, tree shaking, wood knocking, or even attacking a witness’s vehicle, although it is worth noting that the person is almost never harmed.

There are many cases of Bigfoot bluff charges going way back. In as early as 1952, a man saw a Bigfoot on a dirt road north of Orleans that emerged from a spot near Bear Creek and went off into the Bear Valley. The witness kept driving but later saw the same creature and stopped his car. At this moment, Bigfoot ran forward in a very menacing manner, veered off to walk down the road, and then charged again, this time grabbing the car and refusing to let go until the man had driven a few hundred yards.

1968 has two such reports. First was when a man named Mike Gordon was camping in his Dodge truck at a place called Gray’s Falls Campground in March of that year. He woke in the middle of the night to see a Bigfoot rush towards the truck, which it proceeded to pound on and shake for around 2 hours (!) before stalking back into the trees. There is also a case from April of that same year, a man named Larry Browning sighted a female Bigfoot wading at the South Fork of the Salmon River. This Bigfoot would apparently follow him for an hour and a half before charging him and then running off. In a more recent report from the BFRO, the witness claims that in 1983 he was on a retreat in Bradenton, Florida, when he had a life-changing experience. He says of what happened:

“I woke Saturday morning while my parents and uncle were still asleep. I decided to dress and go sit on the pipe over looking the Manatee River as I have done in the past. It was about 6:30 am, I wore my Dad’s Deputy Sheriff coat because it was cold out. After sitting on the pipe for about 20 minutes, I got up and started walking towards my Uncles apartment, which was about 200 yards away through the woods.

After getting only 20 yards from the pipe I heard something walking up the river bank to my left making a lot of noise while it walked. I stopped in my tracks looking and listening, when all of the sudden out stepped in front of me this incredibly large creature which was about 30 yards away. While it was walking it was looking around and briefly looked my way. Then all the sudden it realized it had seen something and turned to look again in my direction. It stared a few seconds and then started running towards me.

I ran towards the 8 foot barred wire fence behind me, which was about 20 yards away, next to the pipe. I grabbed the top of the fence and climbed over quickly. The barbs tore my pants as I climbed over. As soon as my feet hit the ground the creature was standing face to face with me about 6 feet away with only the fence between us. The creature was at least 7 ½ feet tall, dark brown hair head to toe, dark eyes, approximately 400 to 500 lbs. and very long arms. We stood there about 3 seconds looking at each other until the creature reached over the fence toward me. That is when I took off running for my life down the fence line, with the creature running along aside of me on the other side of the fence.

To this day all I remember is the snorting and grunting sounds it made while running along side of me. As I was running up the dirt road the creature ran into a thicket and could not continue the chase. I continued running towards my Dad’s old workshop on the camp grounds until I was able to jump back over the fence. After crossing the fence I made my way back to my Uncle’s apartment very cautiously watching for the creature.

Upon arriving at my Uncle’s apartment I told my parents and uncle what had happen. All of us went over to the pipe where I had encountered the creature. We could not find the creature anywhere. I have never forgotten that day or had been so scared in my life. I really felt like the creature was attacking me for reasons unknown. I didn’t know what I had seen and I didn’t know about Big Foot/Sasquatch until years later. I never told a soul outside my parents and uncle on the day of what I had seen in fear of being laughed at, until I came across the BFRO where others had come forward with their stories. This prompted me to tell mine.”

Again, as with the rock throwing, the creatures never actually seem to lay a hand on the victims, and don’t seem to be trying to cause any harm, which they could very well easily do if they wanted. So while being charged by an 8-foot-tall, 600-pound ape-like beast might be jaw-droppingly terrifying, it doesn’t seem that any of these are actual attacks, but rather bluff displays designed to warn off intruders. In the end, despite all of these threatening gestures, is Bigfoot a real gentle giant after all? We may never know, but in the meantime, it might be better not to piss one off.