Hideous Wild Man Terrorizes NY Town (1869)


Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Bigfoot Chicks, Melissa Adair. As serious researchers, the Bigfoot Chicks are commited to seeking the truth regarding the Bigfoot mystery. Assuming that Bigfoots exist, they want to help ensure their surival and hope for an opportunity to observe them in their natural habitat. You can visit their blog at bigfootchicks.blogspot.com.

An extremely detailed account of a sighting in New York state in 1869. It is interesting to note that the creature was reported as wearing "soldier pants". This is not the first account of a sighting where a creature was seen wearing some sort of clothing. As they are said to be covered with fur all over their bodies, I have to wonder about the wearing of clothing. Are they concerned about modesty? If so, that would indicate a higher, and very human level of thinking in these beings...

THE EVENING GAZETTE. 1869 A wild man, a hideous monster roaming about in the neighborhood of Woodhull and Troupsburgh, N.Y. A correspondent of Hornellsville paper tells the following veracious story: For the very strange story I am about to relate I scarcely expect, nor do I solicit belief. Indeed, were it not that hundreds of reliable men and women in the county of Steuben are ready and willing to vouch for its truthfulness, I would never ask you to put :it in print. The facts are, as follows:

During the four weeks last past a wild man has been prowling around the woods in the towns of Woodhull and Troupsburgh, in the southern part of this county, coming frequently into the highways and cleared fields, to the intense terror of women and children,and even strong men. So great is the excitement in some parts of the towns mentioned, that schools have been broken up—parents not daring to send their little ones along the public highways to the schoolhouses. At first the whole thing was considered by most people as a hoax, intended merely to frighten old women and children; but as many of the most prominent citizens vouched for the actual existence of the wild man, and fit disturbance of the schools was making it a matter of public importance, the people of Woodhull and Troupsburgh determined to do all in their power to :ferret the matter out. Accordingly, on the12th inst., about 200 men assembled at the residence of Mr. S. G. Brown, and proceeded to search the woods in that immediate locality. Under the leadership of Capt. J. J. Buchanan and the writer of this article, crowds searched the woods for hours. but with no success, further than the finding a camp fire and the track of a barefooted man imprinted in the soft soil of a marshy part of the forest; and the whole party, at about 3:00 P. M., returned to Mr. Brown's house, and getting ready their teams, started back to Woodhull. The party had proceeded scarcely fifty rods from Mr. Brown's, when on the outskirts of the wood, and within twenty rods of the band of searchers appeared the veritable wild man of the woods: Myself, Capt. Buchanan, and others immediately started in full pursuit. We approached within six or eight rods this strange being without attracting his notice, when suddenly, with a wild, unearthly shriek, he notified us that we were perceived. I drew my rifle, intending to halt him or send a bullet crashing through his skull. I ordered him to halt, when he sprang with the agility of a deer toward the woods. I did not fire, because on second thought I doubted my right to take the life of any human being, however wild, until he had at least violated some law.

So far as I have related facts, which will be vouched for by at least 100 persons, I will now give you a perfect description of this wild man—or animal—or "What is it”--as he, she, or it appeared to me. He was bare-footed, bareheaded, and wore no clothing except an old pair of' soldier's pants; his hair, which was black, sprinkled with gray, was :from two to three foot long, frizzly and matted, hanging over his neck, face, shoulders, and back, reaching half way to the ground; his beard reached to the waistband of his pants, and was jet black; this, together with a springing, jerking hitch his gait, gave him more the appearance of a wild animal than a human being, and though I am not of a nervous temperament, may all the saints in Heaven shield and defend me from ever meeting; such a fiendish looking being face to faec again! The long, matted hair; the thick, black, uncombed beard; the wild, glaring, bloodshot, eyeballs, which seemed bursting from their sockets; the savage, haggard, unearthly countenance; the wild, beastly appearance of this thing, whether man or animal, has haunted me continually by day and night; and I do not wonder that when this strangebeing rapped on the school house windows, children were frightened half out of their sense, and refused to be pacified; for although I have seen the chiefs of fifty different tribes of Rocky Mountain Indians, painted for the war path. and have looked with wonder on the stuffed gorilla, Barnum's "What is it," the man monkey, etc., I never beheld anything in the human form half as hideous as the wild man of Woodhull woods.

I will close by saying that twenty-five years ago a man named William Little suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from Woodhull, and has never been heard of since; and as the farm on which the wild man spends most of his time was formerly owned by the absentee, it is supposed by some that the wild man is none other than William Little himself, returned in this disguise to the home of his youth. But I hardly think this theory the true one. I do believe, however, that a woman and a baby are somewhat mixed up in matter.

Comments

  1. Great article and a good read.

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    Replies
    1. Poor schizophrenic dude before modern therapy...thats all. The pants-wearing gave it away.

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    2. Timmy, you are imagining things again.

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    3. "wild, unearthly shriek", "agility of a deer", and so hideous that it scared even strong men. Yeah, sounds like a simple case of a schizophrenic dude before modern therapy. Never mind all those qualities mentioned match sasquatch perfectly. Timmy, you are grasping at straws to confirm your predetermined worldview. Why are you so frightened of confronting the possibility of this thing being real?

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    4. Don't forget, they didn't have movies or tv back then. So a bit embellishment on stories like that make things a bit more interesting.

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  2. Nice find Mellisa. Do you have any more of these.

    Chuck

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  3. Replies
    1. I agree, they are interesting, even if they can't really be much use as evidence today.

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  4. I have read a few of these older articles from the 1800's on her website and they are a good read.The thing that I always think about is back then even the most traveled roads were usually in some very thick forest so the chances of seeing a Sasquatch I would think would be greater, also there were alot of mountain men trappers and such that lived off of the land.In the case of a hairy long bearded,trouser wearing, screeching man that doesn't surprise me since mentally ill or even hearing impaired were looked at a lot differently back then and some times chased out of populated areas at a young age and lived in the forest .These stories are a great read and thanks to Melissa.

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  5. Yep you too can be a bonafide BF researcher just trawl around the net and copy and paste what you find.

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    1. Always the non optimist poor attitude jerk Anon 5:57. You must be a lot of fun in your family!

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    2. Here is a tip for you Mr/Mrs Jerk, sorry for the formality I try and be polite, the opposite of optimist is pessimist so you can always save yourself a little time when typing instead of just putting non in front of that word.
      I am sorry you think my attitude is poor, I prefer the word cynical but I do stand by my original opinion that reprinting old stories does not help move research along, that does not preclude them being interesting of course.
      And it depends what you mean by fun I have always preferred my family laughing with me as opposed to at me but maybe I am just old fashioned.
      Thank you for your time.

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    3. That kinda is what research means, dumbass. People do research in libraries or online all the time, in many subjects of study. If you think running off in the woods today will help research bigfoot sightings of yesteryear though, by all means, give it a try.

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    4. Cynical family ? Nice . Not old fashioned , just a troll. Save yourself time by not going through the whole lecture on grammar ! Old stories provide a great resource to any research. That's way the world works ! I guess we can throw away all the history books, law books, and past research. Who needs it folks ! Here's something cynical- your an idiot!

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    5. To ignore history is to repeat it's mistakes- to mister cynical! Maybe they do laugh at you because you don't understand the learning process!

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    6. Anon 5:57 must have not graduated. Didn't ever pick up a book? Thinks researchers can't also include some past articles? Melissa does do research work in the field along with old research. She is well rounded. U must just troll Bigfoot sites with your cynical personality! Everything is one big joke to you? Well have some educated backing when u make comments about people.

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    7. Still have not got it have you, old stories are by definition old and of course anecdotal they do not bring anything new to the table and comparing history books to old stories is ridiculous and where law books fit into your argument is anyones guess but since you seem to be coming up empty as illustrated by your frustrated name calling I can't be to surprised.
      As far as saving myself time is concerned it's ok it was no bother and your welcome.

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    8. Doesn't old fashioned mean reading old history and living it's ways anon 5:57? WTF! Hypocrite !

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    9. Hey anon 10:59 it's you that doesn't get it! It's a story and your making some dumbass claim that this is what bigfoot researchers do to make them bonifide researchers! The person who posted it wanted to just put up an old story-that's it ! A story to read! Because your cynical you make crap up to antagonize then try to act all polite! I guess when your cynical everything is stupid and a joke! What happens when the historical society posts old clippings to your local paper . Do you tell them they are not bonafide journalists? Moron! U come on here criticizing researchers then all of a sudden your taken back by criticism ? U don't get it!!!!! ITS A STORY!

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    10. Yeah your right I should have stuck to the original wordage serious bigfoot researchers as opposed to bonafide because when it comes to bigfoot there does not seem to be any definitives only expectations clearly I was expecting to much when it was posted on a blog called Bigfoot Evidence.
      And yes I agree it is a story

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  6. Don't be a dickhead ! It was a great read .

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    Replies
    1. Sure it was, but only a dickhead could miss the point I was making.

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    2. What that your a cynical Dickhead?

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    3. That's a whole lot of dickheads.

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  7. Love the older articles - keep em coming, Melissa!

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  8. Troupsburg is about 20 miles South of where a friend of mine spotted a possible bigfoot two months ago, and in a very interesting part of the state. I've hunted the woods around this area, they can be very deep, though lately the wind turbines have been put up, which aside from ruining the view, seems to be forcing the modern world into every square inch of realestate.

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    1. That's too bad. Gas wells and sand frac pits are everywhere in the woods now. Look on google earth and u can see the spider web of wells now everywhere in the forested areas of central and eastern states. Shrinking habitat!

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  9. Please dont post anything from the bigfoot biches.
    They suck and they fool around behind their husbands backs!

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    Replies
    1. Please shut up, this is not the place for such things.

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    2. Anon 9:38 - your an idiot ! Probably a wife beater who should be in jail u prick!

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    3. What dont both you anonymous turds suck my wang.

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    4. That's what your cell mate is for! Moron

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  10. I hate to say it, but it's a known fact that older newspapers would sometimes post hoaxes/pranks for the entertainment value. There were no televisions, etc. then, and people enjoyed getting a laugh or even being fooled by such stories (today the paper would probably have outraged readers if not lawsuits). The problem we have now when researching past sightings of things like bigfoot is telling which stories were real and which might have been made up. Maybe this one is real, then again, maybe not.

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  11. Uh, this story is horseshit....Newspapers had a habit of running bullcrap to keep the reader purchasing their rag. Bigfoot wearing soldiers pants. Good effing grief. Dumb.

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    Replies
    1. Pants thing did seem dumb! Embellishment by the newspaper.

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    2. Have seem chimps imitate humans and try to dress themselves when clothing was given to them ( non tame ones) . Pretty smart, but is a stretch . No pun intended!

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  12. This is also not Bigfoot. People back then weren't stupid. They would know the difference between an animal and a human. He describes this being as being a man with long hair and a beard. He didn't say anything about hair all over the body or anything like that. This was (if even true) a guy crazier than a shit-house rat.

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  13. OK BFchicks, how about some original material? I can and have read all of this in books and websites. How about your own stories and encounters instead of regurgitating publicly available information.

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  14. Strange, when Beckjord said this for years that they wear clothes and got arse raped. NOW????????????

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  15. Mellisa makes my peepee hurt. I new I should have double wrapped it!
    Keith McClain

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  16. Spreading VD is serious .stay away from prostitutes!

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    Replies
    1. Sooooo what you're saying is stay away from whores on Valentines Day?

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