A Pennsylvania Bigfoot Encounter?

My research into the phenomenon we call Bigfoot today has brought to light a good many stories and articles of what used to be called :wild men." Most of these occasions were most likely simply human beings living apart from normal society, but every now and again I come across a story where the description  isn't so clear as to what it was, and then there are some that plainly do not fit the normal human description.

One such story comes from the Carroll Herald newspaper of June 16, 1909. Bylined from Westfield PA, on the 11th of that same month, it describes an encounter two men had with a rather peculiar beast at a woodlot on the property belonging to one of the men.

Charles Decker, the property owner, and another man named Horace Mays came within about thirty rods, or about 500 feet from the creature. According to the story, the two men at first thought the creature was bear, but the identification was discarded as the creature raised it arms to a limb on a tree, and pulled itself up into it. A few minutes later, the beast lowered itself from the tree and walked off on two legs, just like a human would.

Waiting a short while to make sure the beast was gone, the two men went over to the tree, and found large footprints that resembles a bears track. The earth was soft, so there was no trouble reading the spoor, especially since the men would be familiar with the animals of the area.

While the men were not certain as to what it was they saw, local opinion was that it may have been a gorilla. However, there are some problems with this assumption in that there were no records of any escaped menagerie animals of the ape sort. The usual wrecked circus train excuse was offered, but there were no validated reports of any circus train wrecks in the area.

This leaves us with supposition in the matter, but I would say that considering the men's report, it is quite probable that this was another historic Bigfoot encounter. But that's just my opinion. Remember, we cannot go back in time and interview these men so we are left with simply the newspaper article with which to study.

What do you think?

Until next time on Bigfoot Tales, thanks for the visit and happy Squatching!