A Drive Down Highway 16

The greatest thing about publishing this magazine is that you never know who is going to come forward with a true and amazing experience. Case in point: For over six years I had been attending various conventions. It was at one of these conventions, while promoting my magazine and selling some of my own collectibles, that Mike, another dealer to whom I had often spken over the years, told me something remarkable. With respect, he has asked me to keep his last name confidential. It was in 1997; I was promoting the second issue of Unknown Magazine, when Mike came over to my table, glanced at my magazine cover, and then walked casually away. After a few steps, he stopped, took a few tentative steps towards me again, and then moved quickly to my table. I was wondering, "What the heck is he doing?" It was obvious he wanted to say something-what it was, I had no idea. He asked me, as he pointed to my magazine, "Do you believe this stuff?" "Yes and no," I said. "Yes, I believe there are things that exist that we don't fully understand. No, in the sense that people have experiences dealing with these things each and every day, but each case has to be judged on its own merits." He nodded and looked quizzically at me again and asked, "Has anyone ever talked to you about Bigfoot?" I tried to think if anyone had. Wanting to say yes, what I said was, "No, not really." Little did I know that he was about to share his own experience with me. He nervously said he would like to tell me a story about what had happened to him, quickly adding, "I'm not crazy." As he began his story, I noticed his arms shaking nervously, and the forearm hairs standing on end. I realized that what this guy was telling me had scared him so badly that his fear could still evoke a physical reaction. My interest was piqued. When someone tells you their story, and you see them getting excited andworked up in the telling, you realize how eager they are to have someone to listen to them: Someone who can relate to their story, a story they are afraid to tell anyone else. I recently called Mike and asked him to relate his experience to me again so that I could share it with my readers. i have told his story as he relayed it to me. I thank Mike for deciding to tell this amazing story. With respect to his wishes, he has asked that I keep his last name confidential. -forward and transcription by Chris Fleming
Back in 1981 when I was 19, I was driving to Savannah, Georgia to visit my brother, with whom I was going to stay for a few months. I was living in Michigan, and felt it was time to get away from it all and pay my brother a visit. I was doing about 45-50 mph, headed down Route 75, towards Highway 16 going east to Savannah. It was 2 p.m. Driving down 16 east, the road was pretty desolate. I hadn't seen any cars for awhile. The drive was actually nice and peaceful. As I was driving, a movement up ahead on the side of the road caught my eye. It was a clear bright day, and I squinted, trying to get a better look, wondering what it was I had seen. Then I thought, "Wow, that looks like a huge bear. Wow, cool...a bear on the side of the road. Here's something I don't ever get to see in Michigan." As the excitement built, I began to slow down, because...I just had to check out this bear. As I approached it, slowing down to about 5 mph, the darn thing stood up. I was startled. I thought, "Cool! The bear is standing up. I have got to see this!" Then all of a sudden this bear, or so I thought, turned around and looked at me. I slowed down even more as I watched this thing on the right side of the road stare at me. Then I began to wonder. My mind raced. I never heard of a bear like this. This bear had odd characteristics. Then I realized, as I got closer, it didn't look like a bear anymore. The next thing the "bear" did was start walking across the road. I watched in disbelief, realizing that this was no damn bear. It walked upright, swinging its arms back and forth like a man. My hair stood up on my arms and I was like, "Shit!" As I got closer, it walked further to the other side of the road, still looking over its shoulder at me. I tell you this was in broad daylight, 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and my eyes never came off of it. I had my windows down, it being nice out and all. By this time I was driving at a snail's pace, about 5 mph, in my 1980 Spirit. As I continued on a slow coast we kept looking at each other. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. A Spirit is a very small car, and this thing was only 3-4 car lengths away from me. So you can imagine how scared I was. The only things moving were the wheels of my car. It had black fur with a reddish brown mix to it. It made no sound, but just kept glancing back at me, slowly taking its time as it crossed the road. I watched-completely paralyzed. This thing finally walked into the woods. I was amazed, and remember thinking to myself, "Oh, my God, that looks like...like a Bigfoot." But I kept saying to myself, second guessing myself, "No, it can't be, it can't be." To this day I wish I could have had a camera with me. I would have taken some pictures. This was on Highway 16, southeast of Atlanta, 3/4 of the way between Atlanta and Savannah. This incident reminded me of an accident scene, when you slow down to check it out. As you drive past it you are like, "Wow." Once you have passed it by, you quickly drive away. In this case, I flew out of there, because I got nervous when I began to realize what I had actually seen. When I got to Savannah, I ended up telling my brother what had happened. He is 5 years older than me, about 24-25 at the time. I casually said to him, "Ya know, you are going to think I am stupid or that I have been drinking (which I never do, nor have I ever done drugs, so I know I wasn't hallucinating), "but I think I saw Bigfoot." He started laughing and said, "Mike, you are not the only one, because I think I saw one too." I was astonished, "What? How?" And to my amazement he told me his story. We discussed the Bigfoot creature. We both had seen a creature that was the same height-about 7 feet tall, and moved slowly, with a weird gait. This thing was pretty identical to the one I had seen in movie clips and described on TV. My brother, who was in the service, and had moved down to Savannah a year prior to our visit, had seen the same thing, on the same road, in the same area, just 4-5 months before I did. His description and mine were the same. I was relieved to know that I wasn't the only one to see this thing, but I was also dumbfounded.