Jeff Powers was making his routine Monday morning commute to work on August 4th when he spotted something extraordinary wading through the Canadian River southwest of Oklahoma City. “The wake through the water was the first thing that caught my eye,” the 62-year-old maintenance supervisor recalled, describing what would become one of Oklahoma’s most recent Bigfoot encounters.
Powers, a former Army sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Division who later worked construction for many years, brings decades of outdoor experience to his account. His familiarity with the Canadian River crossing on Highway 4 makes this sighting particularly compelling. “I’ve driven across this bridge at the same time of day, Monday through Friday, for the past three years,” he explained to BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker. “This was the only occasion when I saw a bigfoot while crossing the bridge.”
The veteran’s military background and years of deer hunting since age twelve have given him confidence in making distance estimates and identifying wildlife. “I’ve hunted deer since I was twelve years old,” Powers noted, emphasizing his experience with judging sizes and movements in outdoor settings. On several occasions over the past three years, he had spotted deer along these same riverbanks, with herds ranging from a few individuals to as many as seven animals.
The 8:15 AM Encounter
The morning of August 4, 2025, began like any other workday for Powers as he traveled north on Highway 4 from Tuttle toward Mustang, Oklahoma. Clear skies provided perfect visibility as he approached the Canadian River bridge, a crossing that had become routine over his three years of commuting. “I always look up or down the river when crossing the bridge,” he explained, a habit that would prove crucial that morning.
“Looking to the east I saw a very large black figure walking across the river,” Powers reported. The sighting occurred at approximately 8:15 AM under full daylight conditions, with the creature positioned roughly 80 to 120 yards from his vantage point on the bridge. “The day was clear and the sighting was at a distance of 80-120 yards,” he confirmed, providing ideal conditions for observation.
What struck Powers immediately was the creature’s massive size and distinctive movement pattern. “The figure was huge and headed north to the bank,” he described. “It was completely black. I could make out the wake in the water from its passage.” The bipedal nature of the creature was unmistakable, even at distance. “I could not make out any details of the figure other than the size was massive and it was walking on two legs.”
The water level provided an important reference point for estimating the creature’s height. “I am not sure of the depth of the water there but the water surface appeared to reach to about the knee level of the figure,” Powers observed. This detail would later prove crucial for investigators attempting to gauge the creature’s overall dimensions.
Realizing the significance of what he was witnessing, Powers made a quick decision to get a second look. “I crossed over the river and turned around and made a complete loop back to look again,” he recounted. Unfortunately, the brief time it took to execute this maneuver proved too long. “The figure was no longer in view” when he returned to the observation point.
Physical Description and Behavior
During his follow-up investigation, BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker pressed Powers for specific details about the creature’s appearance and behavior. The witness provided several compelling observations despite the distance involved in the sighting.
“Jeff is adamant that the figure was ‘huge’ but he couldn’t give a exact number as to its height,” Moneymaker noted in his report. However, Powers did offer one specific comparison that helps establish the creature’s impressive build: “He said the torso was definitely ‘wider than 50 gallon drum.'” For reference, a standard 55-gallon drum measures approximately 23 inches in diameter, suggesting an exceptionally broad-shouldered creature.
The creature’s movement through the water particularly impressed Powers. “The bigfoot was walking through the water at that point briskly enough to leave a noticeable wake in the water behind it,” according to the investigator’s notes. This wake pattern was actually what first drew Powers’ attention to the creature, demonstrating the force and speed of its movement through the river.
Powers described the creature as “completely black” and noted specific details about its fur coverage. “It was definitely covered with fur that was very dark or black in direct sunlight,” he reported. Interestingly, “the dark fur was not shaggy but rather laying down,” suggesting either naturally groomed fur or fur that had been flattened by water. “Jeff said the fur may have been wet as if the figure may have been submerged in the river just before he saw it.”
The creature’s destination appeared purposeful as it moved toward the north bank of the river. Powers observed it was “roughly 75 feet from the north bank when he first spotted it” and “had almost reached the north bank of the river at the point when he lost sight of it.” The strategic location provided perfect cover for the creature’s exit. “There are trees right up to the edge of the river where the figure was going to exit the water. It would have only needed to take one step to be out of view in those trees after stepping out of the water.”
The Canadian River Corridor
The location of Powers’ sighting sits within an ideal habitat for unknown primates. The Canadian River in this area flows through extensive wooded corridors that provide both cover and abundant wildlife. “Jeff says there is a lot of wildlife in the woods along the river in this section, and for a long distance downstream,” investigator Moneymaker noted.
This particular stretch of the Canadian River, approximately 15 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, represents a significant wildlife corridor connecting larger wilderness areas. The river’s meandering path through Grady County creates isolated pockets of dense forest that could theoretically support large, elusive animals. The presence of regular deer populations, as observed by Powers during his three years of commuting, indicates a healthy ecosystem capable of supporting substantial wildlife.
The timing of the encounter—early morning hours when many large animals are most active—adds credibility to the account. Most experienced outdoorsmen know that dawn and dusk represent peak activity periods for wildlife, making Powers’ 8:15 AM observation time particularly significant.
The area has generated at least one other Bigfoot report in the BFRO database, suggesting a pattern of encounters rather than an isolated incident. Oklahoma’s location at the intersection of multiple ecological regions—Great Plains, Cross Timbers, and Ouachita Mountains—creates diverse habitats that could theoretically support unknown primate populations.
Investigator Assessment
BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker conducted an extensive follow-up interview with Powers, ultimately classifying the encounter as a reliable Class A sighting. “I spoke at length by phone with witness Jeff Powers. He is a credible witness. This is a reliable Class A sighting of a bigfoot,” Moneymaker concluded.
The investigator’s assessment took into account several factors that enhanced the credibility of Powers’ account. His military service, construction background, and decades of hunting experience provided a foundation of outdoor knowledge that would help him accurately assess what he observed. The consistency of his daily commute over three years established his familiarity with the area and normal wildlife patterns.
Moneymaker also noted the practical aspects of the observation conditions that supported the reliability of the sighting. The clear morning light, extended observation period, and Powers’ decision to return for a second look all indicate a witness genuinely trying to understand what he had encountered rather than someone prone to quick assumptions or exaggeration.
The geographic positioning provided additional validation. Powers’ location in the right northbound lane of Highway 4 gave him an optimal viewing angle of the river, better than what would be captured in standard street view images of the bridge. This detail demonstrates the investigator’s thorough approach to understanding the sighting conditions.
A Veteran’s Conclusion
Nearly a week after his encounter, Powers remained convinced of what he had witnessed that August morning. His military training and years of outdoor experience had not prepared him for observing something that challenged conventional understanding of wildlife in central Oklahoma.
“This was the only occasion when I saw a bigfoot while crossing the bridge,” Powers stated matter-of-factly, acknowledging both the uniqueness of his experience and the certainty of his identification. His practical approach to the encounter—including his decision to loop back for confirmation—demonstrates a witness more concerned with understanding what he saw than sensationalizing it.
The Canadian River corridor continues to flow past Highway 4, carrying with it the same wildlife populations that have sustained the area for decades. For Powers, however, his Monday morning commute will forever be marked by those few crucial seconds when he witnessed something extraordinary moving purposefully through the waters below. The wake in the water may have disappeared within moments, but the memory of that massive, dark figure remains vivid in the mind of one very credible witness.
Whether the creature Powers observed will make another appearance in this stretch of the Canadian River remains unknown. What is certain is that on August 4, 2025, an experienced outdoorsman encountered something in those waters that was unlike any animal in his extensive knowledge of Oklahoma wildlife.
