Watch this: Skeptic Biologist Turned Bigfoot Believer John Mionczynsk Talks About His Bigfoot Encounter

In 1972, John Mionczynski went camping in the Wind River Mountains and he had a strange encountered with the creature known as Sasquatch. He was camping alone when he awoke to a large hand pressing on the top of his 6-foot-high tent. At first he thought it was a bear but could distinguish fingers rather than a clawed paw. The creature collapsed the tent and fell across Mionczynski’s legs. He scrambled out of the tent as the animal disappeared into the forest nearby. Mionczynski started a fire and stayed awake next to it through the night. He said he could hear the animal breathing and moving nearby for two and a half hours. For 45 minutes it threw pine cones at him, as if it wanted him to leave.

He reported the incident to the Game and Fish Department. Several others also reported sightings in the Wind River area that summer. People were going to the Game and Fish asking for information about the sightings in hopes of finding the creature and shooting it. At first the agency suspected someone in a monkey suit was in danger of getting shot and wanted more information, Mionczynski says, but as things simmered down they dropped the investigation. Since this event, he’s searched for further evidence of these Hominoids in the forests of western North America.