Report 23691: Man recalls encounter at a cabin on Nelson Lake

This incident happened when I was 13 years old and still I remember the event and the feeling of awe mixed with fear and disbelief I had that night. Today I am 41 and my work involves public safety. I spent 21 years in the armed forces Army and Navy, a veteran of two wars and been around the world 4 times. I still have not encountered anything like that summer night in Hayward Wisconsin. I was staying with my friend Joe and his dad at their home on Nelson Lake outside Hayward WI. It was approx. 0100, July, 1981, Joe and I were in our room reading and I went to use the rest room. A short time went by when I heard Joe say “Hey Greg quit messing around out side”, I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. I returned to the room and asked him what he meant. He said he saw a shadow of me cast by the yard light from out back as I walked by the bed room window. He again asked what I was doing out back. I need to take a moment and explain two details: First, back then at 13 I had the 1980s hair band style hair going on (I had big hair), Sec we didn’t stop to think about the window being seven foot off the ground at that moment. After arguing a bit we agreed that it must be someone trying to steal tools or material from out back. We both gabbed our 22 cal rifles and flashlights and headed out the side door. Joe’s dad was asleep in his bedroom in the front and our room was in the back. As we stood on the deck and shined our flashlights around the property we heard a loud snap. The sound came from a log trail that ran from our fire wood area out into the woods. We shined our lights in that direction and we could see a huge black haired creature approx. 8’ or 9’ tall and very brawd, running upright up the path toward the woods. A moment later it was gone. I remembered being stunned and the two of us stood frozen in place for awhile. After we came in we were at a loss for words, but we were definitely scared. The following day a family friend named Randy stopped over and we looked around the back yard and the trail for tracks. It rained the night before and everything was pretty awash, but there was a limb down across the path that had a vague depression where it was broke as if what ever stepped on it snapped it in half. Randy weighed about 240 lbs and try breaking a similar piece by jumping on it with his weight, but was unsuccessful. Later that day we drove around the lake to pick up a pizza at one of the resorts. While waiting for our order I over heard some locals talking about strange sound, foot prints and broken fencing around their properties occurring the night before. I will always remember that summer.