Bigfoot allegedly sighted in Mississippi woods. Pic credit: Josh Highcliff/YouTube
Skeptics have hailed old footage allegedly showing a Bigfoot roaming the woods in Mississippi, the “best and most convincing footage” of the cryptid ever captured.
The footage, first uploaded to YouTube nearly a decade ago, is capturing attention after recently going viral. Many Bigfoot enthusiasts are saying it is the best Sasquatch evidence so far.
Bigfoot filmed in 2013
YouTuber Josh Highcliff first shared the strange footage on YouTube on October 28, 2013, when it received only a few thousand views, the Daily Star reported.
However, the footage recently drew attention, and it went viral, receiving hundreds of thousands of views.
As of August 23, it had received 1.15 million views on YouTube alone.
YouTuber was hunting hogs when the sighting occurred
According to the video description, Highcliffe was hunting hogs on his wooded property in Mississippi on Oct 24, 2013, when he encountered the strange creature.
Four days later (October 24, 2013), he shared the video on YouTube under the title “I think I saw a skunk ape – please help.”
The YouTuber appealed to viewers to help solve the mystery of the sighting. He explained that the video showed what he saw deep in the woods, but he had no idea what it was.
While many viewers thought it was a Bigfoot, the witness suggested it might be a skunk ape or the Honey Island swamp monster.
He said he had previously heard about humanoid cryptids but never thought they were real.
He inquired whether any of his viewers with experience in video analysis could help. He also expressed regret that he was too scared to film the alleged Bigfoot longer.
“I got scared and ran away. I wish I stayed to keep taking the movie,” he wrote.
Besides Bigfoot, the skunk ape and the Honey Island swamp monster, other humanoid monsters allegedly roaming the swamps and forests in the U.S. include the Mogollon Monster from Arizona and the Lake Worth Monster, allegedly native to Lake Worth and Greer Island in Tarrant County, Texas.
The Agogwe is native to East Africa, while the Hibagon is a Bigfoot-like cryptid from Japan.
Bigfoot sighting occurred near Tunica, Mississippi
Highcliff reported that the Bigfoot sighting occurred in a swampy section of his wooded property about 9 miles west of Tunica.
He was sitting still on a tree, dressed in hunting camo. He had his gun ready and was waiting for hogs to come out when he heard a noise behind him.
At first, he thought it was the hogs coming out at dusk. But when he looked, he spotted something strange about 50 yards away. It was a black creature crouched near the stump of a dead cypress tree.
After watching for a while, he realized it had humanoid features, including big shoulders, a big human-like head, and a pair of hands. The Bigfoot creature seemed to be trying to uproot the tree stump by digging around it with its bare hands.
Highcliff was so scared that it did not occur to him to shoot. He only felt a strong urge to run. But he knew no one would believe him without evidence, so he took out his iPhone to film it.
While filming, he heard the distant noise of a truck. The Bigfoot also heard it and stood up alert.
Highcliff got up as quietly as he could, terrified the creature would see him. Finally, he lost his nerve and ran. All he wanted was to be as far away from it as possible.
It stood at least 7 feet tall, and he knew he did not stand a chance if it attacked.
It wasn’t a bear!
Skeptics have often argued that most alleged Sasquatch sightings were due to people mistaking bears standing on their hind feet for a furry humanoid creature.
Anticipating that skeptics would dismiss the incident as a bear sighting, Highcliff insisted he was an experienced hunter and knew the creature was not a bear.
“That’s no bear!” he wrote.
But he admitted that it might have been someone trying to play a prank on him and asked for help analyzing the video.
He said that since the incident happened, he was afraid to go back to the place.
Reactions on social media
Many viewers found the video convincing and said it was the best Bigfoot footage ever.
“Honestly, this is probably the best footage ever recorded,” one YouTube user said. “Amazing that it’s not talked about more.”
“I’m usually a huge skeptic, which pisses my friends off to no end,” a second YouTuber wrote. “But I have to say that this is by far the best and most convincing footage I have ever seen.
A third user declared the video was genuine and said it was the best they had seen in years.
“The beast is just sitting there ripping apart tree trunks. You certainly did it and recorded the beast,” a third YouTuber chipped in. “It’s a good thing you ran away in the proper time before it hurt you.”