Hairy creature scares three people in Shiawassee County, Michigan. The towns folks hear about the sightings of this unknown creature and take steps to protect themselves. Many of the residents say they will start packing some type of gun in case they have a run in with this hairy creature.

A few other people actually saw this hairy creature as it ran into the shallow south branch of the Shiawassee River. Several of them called the local police and two deputies were dispatched. Once on the scene the two deputies gave chase to the creature but never saw it. They reported hearing sloshing in the river.

Now, if I stopped right there you would probably assume this was a typical bigfoot sighting, but there is more to the story.

Here is the newspaper write up of the event I just described.

"The "hairy creature" That scared some residents Wednesday has turned out to be a man dressed in a gorilla suit made for him by a friend. The friend, a Byron woman, admitted the hoax to Shiawassee County sheriff's deputies Thursday. She told them it started as a prank but developed into more than was intended.

The woman, who will not be prosecuted, said she made the hairy suit for her friend, who wanted to scare another friend. She turned the suit in to the sheriff's department.
The prank worked too well as the man wearing the suit scared at least three Byron residents about 11 p.m. Wednesday, the woman said. She acknowledged that, as witnesses said, the man ran into the shallow south branch of the Shiawassee River.As residents became aroused over the incident -- some saying they were going to carry guns to protect themselves -- the woman said she got scared and decided to turn herself in. The names of the pair involved aren't being released because they broke no law, said Detective Otis Little. There is no law against a person putting on a gorilla suit and having a little fun, he said. The problem came when several more persons than intended saw the creature and took it seriously, he said.After several persons telephoned authorities about the creature, Byron Police Chief Joseph Thomas and two deputies attempted to chase it. None of them saw it, but the deputies reported hearing something "sloshing" in the river, apparently moving south out of the village."
-Flint Michigan Journal September 1, 1978-

From what I can gather from the newspaper article, this just started out to be a scare prank on some friends. But when others saw the "creature", it took a serious turn. Of course, if it had not took a more serious turn, the "pranking"  may have continued, resulting in numerous false sighting reports.

It is somewhat dangerous to pull this type of prank. I know around here, where I live, the chances of getting shot while donning a bigfoot would be very high. People might need to think these things through more, if they are going to be joking around.

I think some of it stems from people who do not take the subject seriously at all and they think it is all a joke. While the history of bigfoot is littered with numerous incidents like this one, let me reassure you that there are many real sightings. Bigfoot is indeed a real creature of some sort.
I know because I have seen it and sometimes that is what it takes for others to know it is real.

I just wanted to share this historical "hairy creature" sighting from many years ago. While it ultimately turned out to be a hoax, maybe it can still be valuable to bigfoot research and enthusiast. It should let us know that sometimes we need to dig a little to get more information on sightings. It should also serve as a warning to hoaxers, that they could be endangering their own life by putting on a bigfoot suit.

But in any case, it is still an interesting little report of how things can sometimes get out of hand rather quickly.  


Thanks
Tom


 
This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.



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