Three Marine non-commissioned officers got more than they bargained for during a routine nighttime navigation exercise at Quantico in 2005.
Former Marine Andrew Bird recently filed a detailed report with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization about an encounter that has haunted him for two decades. What makes this case particularly compelling is the credibility of the witnesses, the multiple corroborating accounts, and the remarkable pattern of similar sightings in the exact same location spanning nearly 50 years.
A Navigation Mystery Turns Sinister
In July 2005, Bird and two fellow Marine NCOs were moving through restricted training woods on Marine Corps Base Quantico at night, navigating by compass to reach a vehicle pickup point. Despite their years of experience operating in these woods, something strange happened.
All three compasses indicated they were moving correctly, yet after what should have been a straight-line march, they somehow looped back to their starting point. The disorientation was unsettling.
They cut a new azimuth and headed toward a different pickup location. About 15 to 20 minutes into this second attempt, they heard a loud cracking sound to their left, like a tree breaking.
The Creature in the Trees
When they switched on their flashlights and looked up, they saw something that defied explanation. Bird describes what they witnessed in the official BFRO report:
“We observed two trees next to each other bending toward one another. When we looked up, approximately 20 to 30 feet above the ground, we saw a large, hairy creature with its back facing us. The creature appeared to be pulling the two trees together.”
The massive figure was covered in reddish-brown hair and measured approximately 8 feet tall, far larger than any person. Its arms were spread wide, each one gripping a separate tree trunk about 4 to 5 feet apart. The creature was using this grip to pull the trees together with enough force to make them creak and crack.
“The closest comparison, with respect to the shape and color of what he saw,” BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker later noted, “is ‘like a huge orangutan’ from behind.”
The Chase Through the Woods
The Marine in front of Bird immediately bolted. The second Marine shouted and ran. Bird turned off his flashlight and followed, but then they heard something that made their blood run cold: a heavy thud, followed by the sound of something large crashing through the brush in fast pursuit.
“There were loud crashing and breaking sounds, like something large moving rapidly through dense brush,” Bird reported. “This continued for approximately 20 to 30 seconds.”
The three Marines ran at full speed through the darkness, no longer bothering with compasses. After about five minutes of sprinting, they reached their vehicle and urgently told the driver to leave immediately.
A Pattern Emerges
What Bird didn’t know until BFRO investigators contacted him was that his 2005 encounter was the third similar incident reported from nearly the exact same location on Quantico.
In 1994, other Marines on night exercises had an encounter just 2 miles away. Even more remarkably, a 1957 incident at Camp Goettge occurred even closer to Bird’s 2005 sighting location. All three reports fall within the same two-mile radius on the base.
The pattern suggests a family group of these creatures may have been living undisturbed in this restricted military area for decades. Quantico’s plentiful deer herds and highly restricted hunting regulations create what amounts to a protected wildlife sanctuary, large enough to support such a population while ensuring sightings remain rare.
Skeptical Considerations
Could this have been a bear? Bird doesn’t think so. Black bears in the Quantico area are relatively small and don’t climb to those heights. More importantly, no bear could manipulate two separate trees with the strength and control these Marines witnessed, nor move through dense forest with the speed and power they heard pursuing them.
The three-witness corroboration and the precise location details, combined with the pattern of historical sightings, make this one of the more credible Bigfoot reports from a military installation.
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