Report 70692: Delivery driver has close up encounter with a Bigfoot near bridge 18 miles SW of Charleston

First of all thank you for taking my story.  I watch your program often and find them very enjoyable. I was born in Clay County Kentucky and have lived in several states since: Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and now in West Virginia.  My story takes place  while living on the Kentucky and West Virginia border in 2008. The Coal industry is a very important part of the economy in that area. Underground mining requires battery operated equipment due to the exhaust of internal combustion engines. I was working for a company that rebuilt the batteries that ran the equipment. These batteries weighed one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds each. I picked up some batteries for one of the mines in our area and started on my route. I went to Charleston West Virginia and turned down route #5, which led  me into a very rural area. The road went from black top to gravel and then to dirt. It was about 5:00 P.M. and being in the fall of the year the day began to wane and evening began to fall. I had my head lights on as I made my way along the dirt road. I was traveling at about fifteen miles per hour and was going along a small river that ran along on my left.  I rounded a turn and found a low water bridge crossing the stream. A low water bridge is made of some pipe that allows the water to flow through them and concrete is poured over them to make a roadway. These are always one lane wide and usually close to the water. Lining up with the bridge I noticed three of four deer off to my right along with some birds and on the left side of the bridge was a bear. I have seen many bear down where I worked but only black bears, some three to four hundred pounds. This one however was brown and very shaggy!  I thought, how odd, I’ve never seen a brown bear in that area and certainly not one that big. It was sitting on its haunches looking down into the water. I had the window about half way down on my drivers side as I approached it. As I got closer I thought, “That's not a bear!” When I got to within about five yards of it, it stood up and turned to look at me. It must have been at least eight feet tall and four feet wide at the shoulders and no neck that I could see. I have never been this close to an animal that size in my life. It was a brindle color, brown, black and gray all mingled together. It’s head was kind of pointed and no hair on its face which looked almost human. It didn’t look angry or threatening, just kind of interested in my being there. The hair, several inches long,  hung down from its arms and it’s hands were almost to its knees. Bears don’t have front legs like that, I should know, I’ve seen enough of them fairly close up  and they sure don’t have hands! As I drove by, it looked down at me in my pick up and  I realized just how large it was. I was within five feet of it and I was maybe going three to five miles per hour as I passed it. There was no foul smell that I can remember and I have heard that that seems to come with them. Approaching the end of the bridge I looked in my outside mirror and it turned and stepped off the bridge into what must have been four feet of water which didn’t even come to its waist. I remember saying to myself, “That wasn’t a bear!” I watched as it crossed the stream and climbed up the opposite bank with a hand over hand motion, holding onto trees as it went. Coming back that way after my delivery, it was dark and I saw no sign of it anywhere.  Several years have gone by and I am now 71 years old. I had not told anyone about what I saw until recently. I shared my story with my father in law and told him I would understand if he didn’t believe me. But to my surprise he had worked in that area and said, “There’s something down there people claimed to have seen for years.” ____________________________________ Note from Matt Moneymaker: I discussed the bridge location with Russ Jones. The Google Maps pin at beginning of report is the only spot where it could have been but the road is all paved now. It is the only place where the creek passes under the road, necessitating the culverts described by the witness.