Mystery of Bigfoot in Montgomery County

It was recently suggested that I do an article on the sighting of “Bigfoot” that allegedly took place in Montgomery County in 1920.  The person who asked, apparently a Bigfoot believer,  cited what he feels to be a reliable source who claims a Tarzan-like creature of about 28 to 30 years of age, muscular, naked, with a matted beard and deep sun-tan, was seen swinging from tree branches by a number of people in the northern part of our county.  His appearance was likened to that of an orange baboon.  The account goes on to say the thing made signs, jabbered, and grimaced.  It concludes by telling us 250 carloads of people converged on an area known as Seeley’s Mill and conducted a search, but found nothing.            

Although skeptical, I agreed to look into the matter.  I was curious.  Today a naked, bearded character jabbering and swinging from tree branches would hardly be noticed at an Elliott picnic.  But, if the sighting actually did take place, what was the reaction in 1920?      

After a bit of digging I found a newspaper article on the incident, which appeared on the front page of the June 18, 1920 edition.  Below the headline “No Wild Man Found in Hunt,” here’s the story:

It is estimated there were 500 people at Seeley’s mill north of here on Sunday morning to assist Sheriff C.E. Peterson in the hunt for the alleged wild man which, it is claimed by several of the residents of that neighborhood, has been seen several times lately in that vicinity.  However, about 150 acres of ground was gone over carefully Sunday morning by the man-hunters but no trace was found of the stranger who is said to appear along the river with no clothing on except for a small cap on his head.     

That’s it.  No reference is made in the article to swinging from branches, a matted beard, jabbering, or making signs.  To call this a “Bigfoot sighting” is a stretch.  

We do wonder, though, who was spending the summer running around in the buff up towards Elliott, and why?  Might he have been a shy fore-runner of the streaker?  Rehearsing for a part in “Back to Nature,” a silent movie on nudism that played to a packed house of progressive liberals at the Grand?  Or was he just one of those full-of-fun Elliott cut-ups that used to make our paper more often than parents cared to see?   Unfortunately, unless one of you has the answer, we’ll probably never know.           

Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com