Hey folks, welcome to Seneca Lake Mysteries,
the podcast where we explore the unusual, strange,
and unexplained on New York's largest finger
lake. I'm so glad to have you here. Thanks for
listening and thanks for all the support. For
this episode, I've got three really great and
very different types of stories that I'm excited
to share with you. lithographer and mountaineer
from Dresden, New York, who lived in the late
19th and early 20th century, who had a very offbeat
and curious connection with Seneca Lake. Next
is the story of a 2011 UFO sighting that took
place near Burnt Hill in Hector, near the Finger
Lakes National Forest. It is the most incredible
sighting I've ever heard from the Seneca Lake
area. involving an up -close encounter with an
orb, plenty of high strangeness aspects, five
witnesses, and eventually an astonishing eight
orbs at once. I've got detailed firsthand accounts,
including some parts I pulled from an interview
I conducted with a witness a couple of years
ago, and it's truly a breathtaking and wild ride.
And finally, we'll hear the story of a rare Bigfoot
sighting. in the Seneca Lake area along Catherine
Creek south of Montour Falls that took place
in 1962. As always, I want to thank everyone
for listening, commenting, sharing, donating,
and supporting the podcast in so many ways. And
before we get to the stories, I want to tell
you a quick rundown. about the last couple of
weeks that I've had. So I've been asking you
all for a while to be sure and go to SenecaLakeMysteries
.com and subscribe on the website so you don't
miss any updates or news. And I've also been
promising to post some added stuff on the site,
not just the podcasts, for all my subscribers.
So last week, I finally made my way out to a
very special location. near Seneca Lake so I
could do a little video tour for my subscribers,
which I would then post on the website and only
the website. However, my first attempt at recording,
which was hampered a little bit by some rainy
weather, didn't work out because after I recorded
for about 30 to 40 minutes, the video file apparently
failed to save correctly or something and was
lost, a fact that I didn't discover until I had
gotten home. It was annoying and it was frustrating.
But I decided I'd go back the next day and record
again. So on the second day, it was perfect weather.
And I recorded first a short test video to make
sure everything was working correctly. The test
video came out perfect. So again, I recorded
a 30 to 40 minute narrated video. When I was
done, I briefly checked the file, which looked
like it recorded properly, the proper length,
everything. So I was happy and satisfied. And
I headed home to review and edit the video. Then
on the drive home, one of my dashboard warning
lights popped on. So when I got back home, I
had to call my mechanic and set up an appointment.
And after the technical issues I had recording
the interview with Rick for my last podcast,
the interview that I recorded on July 17th, Then
having the technical issues recording the video
tour on the previous day, and then the technical
issues with my car, I was kind of feeling like
the universe was messing with me a little bit.
So anyway, I got home, I loaded the video onto
my PC, and it turns out that for some unknown
reason, it inexplicably recorded the entire video
at a very low frame rate. I think like... 10
or 11 frames per second something like that so
the video was so choppy and jerky that it was
totally unusable then i double checked the short
test video i had recorded just before i recorded
that video tour and it was perfect perfect frame
rate perfect audio everything so at this point
i'm chalking it up to some kind of cosmic energetic
disturbance that's been annoying me since july
17th i'm gonna wait a few more days until maybe
august 12th and i'll go and record the video
tour again and i trust that it will come out
just fine this time anyhow i just want to let
you know that i am working on getting you website
subscribers some entering interesting content
to enjoy and it will be coming soon if the universe
is willing so Thanks again for listening. I'm
so glad you're here, and let's get to it. So
while much of the discussion on the Seneca Lake
Mysteries podcast relates to strange and unexplained
phenomena, I'm also intrigued by the unusual
history and people from around the lake. Specifically,
I wonder about the possibility that somehow...
The landscape has some sort of indescribable
energy that creates an environment or an atmosphere
that can inspire and impact the thoughts of the
people who live in the area. With this in mind,
I've spent time looking into the lives of well
-known and influential artists, scientists, and
others who've either come from the Seneca Lake
area or spent a significant amount of time in
the area and pondering whether the land itself
has guided or affected the minds and souls of
these individuals in some way. One of the larger
-than -life figures of the Seneca Lake area is
an artist, painter, lithographer, and mountaineer
named Bolton Coit Brown. While Bolton Coit Brown's
life was deeply fascinating and he left a legacy
that is felt in a variety of fields to this day,
it's his very strange connection to the lake
itself that I find very thought -provoking. So
Bolton Brown was born in 1864 in Dresden, New
York, on the western shore of Seneca Lake, where
he lived throughout his childhood and into his
teenage years. From his earliest days, Bolton
was a free spirit and a hardcore anti -authoritarian.
As a youngster, Bolton came to the conclusion
that Satan didn't exist and was an intellectual
inconvenience, in his words. And when Bolton
began explaining these beliefs on Satan to his
siblings, his father, the Reverend Edmund Woodward
Brown, was not happy. The Reverend then tried
and convicted his young son of heresy, telling
Bolton what he would and would not believe for
the remainder of his life. Now, Bolton didn't
take kindly to anyone, including his own minister
father, telling him what to think. And years
later, he would remark, Authority might stop
my mouth, but not my brains. Young Bolton was
not only a deep, free -thinking boy, he also
enjoyed spending the hours wandering the woods
and exploring the creeks around Dresden with
his friends. He also loved it when the weather
turned stormy and the wind would cause Seneca
Lake to become filled with large waves that would
crash to the shore. And Bolton even had his own
unique ritual when the lake turned restless.
He would strip naked, walk into the water, and
hook his toes to the lake bottom. He would then
let the four -foot -tall waves crash over him,
keeping his eyes open while holding his breath
so he could watch the shimmering sheet of water
behind the wave fall over his face. He would
then take another breath and wait for the next
wave, over and over and over again. At age 16,
Bolton began attending Syracuse University, one
of the few schools offering art instruction at
the time, eventually graduating with a bachelor's
degree in painting. He then took a job teaching
freehand drawing to architecture students at
Cornell University and began pushing Cornell
to create its own art curriculum. But Bolton
was known as being often arrogant and sensitive
to criticism, and he eventually left Cornell.
and after working at a few other schools and
traveling in Europe for a handful of years, Bolton
received an offer in 1891 to join the staff at
the newly founded Stanford University in California,
which he accepted. His job was to instruct students
in painting and drawing. Upon arriving in California,
Bolton was drawn to the Sierra Nevada mountains,
where he spent years climbing and drawing the
surrounding wilderness. The mountains became
his favorite subject for his art, using ink,
pencils, and oils to capture the scenery. And
in the following years, he met and married his
wife, Lucy, and even named a mountain after his
university, which he labeled Mount Stanford.
He soon became one of the most accomplished and
storied mountaineers in California during his
era. Now, eventually, Bolton started battling
with the university's founder, Jane Stanford,
over his use of nude models in his drawing classes.
And he referred to Jane Stanford's complaints
as Mrs. Stanford's Victorian ideals. And in 1902,
he was fired from the university. However, 20
years later, he would have a mountain in California
named after him, Mount Bolton Brown, which stood...
and stands 13 ,538 feet high in the southern
palisades. Now Bolton, his wife, and two children
moved back east, and Lucy, his wife, would divorce
him a few years later, primarily due to his stubborn
and argumentative nature. Their separation, however,
was kept secret for years as they continued to
live in the same house, but eventually Bolton
began living in what is called today Off the
Grid, in a house without electricity or running
water, heated by a wood stove, lit by lanterns,
and with a hand -pumped well. So for the next
20 years or so, Bolton dedicated his life to
lithography. He would cart 100 -pound blocks
of flat limestone in a wheelbarrow to his home
in the woods, where he would first sketch them
with grease crayons before washing the surface
with acid. to create the lithographs. He became
known in the art world as one of the foremost
lithographers in America. And meanwhile, he also
became the co -founder of the Birdcliff Arts
Colony near Woodstock, New York. And now Birdcliff
continues to be the longest operating arts and
crafts colony in America today. Eventually, though,
Bolton Brown once again had trouble maintaining
a working relationship with one of Birdcliff's
founders. who was also responsible for much of
the funding of the endeavor, Ralph Radcliffe
Whitehead. And Whitehead fired Bolton Brown.
Now, Bolton Brown spent the remainder of his
life doing a remarkable amount of lithography,
living in New York City and in England for some
time. Then in 1936, he became sick with cancer
and was told by doctors it was fatal. So he hiked
in the woods around Woodstock, eventually finding
a large boulder. in a dry stream bed. He hired
a crew to move the stone to his backyard, and
he engraved it with his name and the year of
his birth and death, leaving the last number
blank to be carved after his passing. That boulder
is still there today. Now, although he died with...
Very little money and a humble home with no modern
amenities. Bolton Brown left a remarkable legacy.
He instructed numerous young artists at Cornell
and Stanford University, had a mountain named
after him, co -founded an arts community that
still exists today, and created more than 400
lithography pieces along with countless other
examples of his art. But did his youth on Seneca
Lake help inspire and create his path? that would
impact so many people? When that young, free
-thinking, rebellious son of a minister would
stand naked as the storm -whipped waves of Seneca
Lake crashed over his face in a strange sort
of ritualistic self -baptism, did that spark
something deep within him that would lead to
his extraordinary life of consequence? Among
the dozens of UFO reports I've reviewed while
researching the mysteries of Seneca Lake, there
is one I've found to be the most gripping, detailed,
and jaw -dropping of them all. I first learned
of Eileen and her family's story on the National
UFO Reporting Center website. Three different
witnesses, Eileen, her sister, and her niece,
each submitted their own report, which took place
one summer evening in 2011. and not far from
Burnt Hill, the highest elevation in the Seneca
Lake area, and ended near Ithaca. Eileen was
driving alone while her sister, niece, son, and
nephew were in a second vehicle a few miles behind,
bringing the total number of witnesses to five.
Eventually, I got in touch with Eileen, and she
graciously agreed to tell me her story for my
upcoming book, also titled Seneca Lake Mysteries.
She also generously provided me with her own
minute -by -minute written account of the events
of that night in 2011. So using the NUFORC report
and interview from another podcast, her self
-written description, and her conversation with
me, I've pieced together a detailed telling of
the event entirely in Eileen's own words, as
well as the words of her sister and niece. In
recent months, I've reached out to Eileen to
have her on the podcast, but for reasons I won't
disclose, she's been unable to be a guest, and
I'm not sure if or when she'll be available in
the future. So please keep in mind that Eileen
has been nothing short of gracious and kind in
sharing her story, and I'm still hopeful that
she will come on and tell the story herself.
But in the meantime, I will retell her story,
as I said, in her own words. On the evening of
July 13, 2011, Eileen left an annual family reunion
in Watkins Glen around 9 .30 p .m. She was traveling
alone for the hour -long drive east to her home
south of Cortland, New York. Eileen made her
way from Watkins Glen north on New York State
Route 414 before heading east on New York 79
towards the village of Burdette, located about
a mile from the southeast shore of Seneca Lake.
Eileen drove on for a few more miles, remembering
to keep an eye out for the intersection with
New York 277 near the top of a hill where she
would need to bear right and stay on New York
79 towards Ithaca. Quote, I got to the top of
the hill and I saw in the distance this big golden
ball in the sky. It just hung there and it was
glowing gold, yellow, and yellow -white. I thought,
what could that be? Is there a playing field
here? Is that one of those things that's hanging
on a line that keeps the planes from hitting
it? I'm trying to give it a category because
I had no frame of reference for it. But it was
so big, I didn't know what it was. I'm a retired
reporter, and I'm just a naturally curious person,
so I decided I would go check it out. Instead
of turning right like I normally would, I went
straight toward where the ball was. I wasn't
really paying attention, but I didn't feel like
there were a lot of houses around. I pulled off
to the side of the road. and got out of my car,
but left the engine running, and looked at it.
It was just hanging there, about three telephone
poles high in the air. I'm not very good at measurements,
but it was maybe 25 feet away from where my car
was parked, if you just go straight along the
ground and then straight up. I wasn't far away
from it at all. It was about five feet in diameter,
maybe a little more, just motionless. It was
glowing, very subtly, kind of pulsing, this sort
of golden glow. like a disco ball. I was staring
at it for I don't know how long, and it stayed
there, and I thought, well, what the heck is
this? I thought maybe somebody had some sort
of strange aerial device. People have drones
and things like that. And then it started to
slowly move to the right towards Route 79, and
as it moved, it pulsed. And the faster that it
moved, the faster the pulsing would be. So I
thought, It's got to be some kind of propulsion
thing. Then I realized, oh my God, it's a UFO.
I got in my car and screeched out of there and
followed it. It was going quite quickly and I
was barreling down the road, following it and
madly calling my son who was at the reunion.
I wanted to tell him what I was seeing and he
didn't answer. I finally reached my sister's
phone and she got him on the phone and I said,
UFO, UFO, UFO. And he's like, oh my God, are
you okay? And I said, yeah, I'm fine. I'm following
it. The object flickered as it moved. The faster
it moved, the more rapidly it flickered yellow,
white, and gold. Suddenly, it went up quickly,
and I noticed that there were other orbs higher
up. It was joining these three or four other
orbs high up in the sky, and they were kind of
hanging out with each other, kind of twirling
around each other. Some of them had flares coming
out of them. like strange red flares or orange
flares. I stopped my car, got out and was just
standing there. Lower down in the horizon, I
saw a few more rising up and there was one that
was coming right at me. The orb came right at
me. Then it rose up to join the other ones and
they were just kind of hanging out and careening
across the sky. I counted eight of them. Then
I got back in my car and followed them. As I
was following them, I thought, is this going
to take me on board? But I didn't know if it
was big enough. They seemed to be about five
feet in diameter, maybe a little more, but they
weren't that big. And I said, well, how's it
going to get me on there? I hope it doesn't take
me, you know, and it didn't. End quote. As she
spoke on the phone with her family and followed
the lights, Eileen suddenly had to swerve to
miss a deer standing in the road. Moments later,
A station wagon rapidly backed up to the end
of a driveway with tires squealing when it abruptly
stopped then sped straight back into the driveway.
Quote, It was so weird. First the deer, then
the station wagon backed up and then they went
right back in. It was really odd, like the landscape
had gone insane. It felt like the whole atmosphere
was almost electrified. Everything was just agitated.
As I got closer to the city of Ithaca, I could
still see them, but they were getting very high
up and the lights of the city were starting to
encroach my view. So when I finally got somewhere
to stop and told my family where I was, I was
looking up and I wasn't seeing anything anymore.
And I was, you know, a little disappointed. My
family showed up and we all stared at the sky
for a while, hoping to see something. And there
was nothing except, you know, planes with their
red, blue and white lights. But when they were
following me, they saw a few of the orbs. They
didn't see all eight of them. They saw like three
of them. And my son said that he saw a big, like
a large, some kind of ship or a huge thing that
was blocking the stars. And the orbs were kind
of going into it. I did not see that, but he
said that he did see it. And I guess his cousin
saw it as well. End quote. After receiving the
call from Eileen and leaving Watkins Glen, Eileen's
family first saw the orbs in the sky on Route
79. shortly after passing the Route 227 intersection.
Eileen's sister. Quote, Once we reached the top
of the ridge, my son who was driving and our
nephew who was in the front seat of the van started
yelling that they were seeing something, and
my sister's son joined them in the front and
also started spotting these lights. I am older
and don't see as well at night as they do, but
I did move to the front of the van to see. I
could make out three lights moving much faster
and more erratically than any plane or helicopter
could, traveling first in the sky over Ithaca
ahead of us due east, and then whipping around
to swing in the sky to our left, which would
be northeast. Their movements were unpredictable,
very swift, and jerky. The lights I saw seemed
to have a reddish -amber cast alternating with
a yellow -white color. They were very far away
and very high in the sky. End quote. Eileen's
niece, quote, As we crested the first hill, I
saw two lights over the trees at a high altitude
to my right, south, pulsing, and alerted my cousins
and my mother. We watched these lights for a
few moments, debating on whether or not they
were stars at first. Both lights were blinking
and pulsing very rapidly, and then they moved
across the highway to our north and joined with
a third blinking light. During this transition,
there were a few aircraft flying toward Ithaca
and we were able to compare these lights to the
light of a commercial aircraft and the two were
definitely not the same. We observed these lights
for nearly 10 minutes and our movement during
this time resulted in the lights slowly shifting
to the north of us so that I could no longer
see them from my position in the driver's seat
without completely ignoring the road. At this
point, my cousins my mother was in the backseat
talking with my aunt on the phone and no longer
actively observing, began to get very excited,
saying there was a fourth object that joined
the other three, which had maneuvered into a
triangle formation at that point. My aunt's son
said that if he observed the three lights that
were in the triangle formation through the tinted
rear windows of our van, that he could make out
a huge, dark triangle shape with the lights at
its corners. He also reported that the fourth
object flashed and disappeared. As we entered
Ithaca, we lost sight of the objects and met
up with my aunt and observed local air traffic
for nearly 20 minutes so that we could confirm
none of us could see the objects we had previously
seen any longer." The next day, Eileen saw her
nephew, who lived in Odessa, New York, and told
him about her experience. Her nephew said that,
Sightings of the lights were common in the area,
including reports of the objects diving into
Seneca Lake, and that police and media were uninterested
in the phenomenon. Quote, he said, oh yeah, we
see them all the time. People see them disappear
into the lake all the time. I asked him, well,
does anyone have any curiosity about this? And
he said, we tried reporting it. Nobody wants
to know. Then I wanted to report what I had seen.
First, I called the police and they wanted nothing
to do with it. They said, we don't handle that
stuff. Try the paper. I tried the local paper.
The paper wanted nothing to do with it and said
they weren't interested in that kind of thing.
End quote. Eileen and her family's experience
included a number of details that would be categorized
as high strangeness, a term coined by famed UFO
researcher J. Allen Hynek in the late 60s to
describe UFO sightings that include other anomalous
events. in conjunction with the appearance of
the UFO. A low strangeness sighting would be
someone witnessing unusual lights in the sky
at a distance. Eileen's close proximity and detailed
description of the orb, the number of orbs and
their movement, the behavior of the deer in the
station wagon, and the observation through a
tinted glass window of a large triangular flying
object interacting with the orbs all fall under
the high strangeness umbrella. as does the following
detail shared by Eileen. Quote, I know this is
going to sound weird, but I sort of felt connected
to it. It was like it had an intelligence, a
consciousness of some kind. I felt some sort
of connection, but at the same time, I was really
scared. I thought, don't take me. I don't think
I want to go anywhere with you. But I was intrigued
because it didn't just feel like something else
was piloting it. It felt like... The orb had
intelligence and consciousness, which was weird.
It wasn't talking to me or anything, but I felt
like somehow it was connecting with me. I felt
close to it. It was hanging in the air like it
was saying, yes, I'm going to let you see me.
Here I am. And I'm just going to hang here. And
now I'm going to go. But you can come along.
I'm not just going to zip away. I'm going to
flow. And it just started to move slowly away.
almost like it was drawing me with it, end quote.
I asked Eileen why she didn't take any photos
during the event. Quote, you know, I was just
in a complete state of awe. I was so excited
and in disbelief about what I was seeing. And
then when it started to pulse and move and I
jumped in my car and followed it, there really
wasn't any real time to take a photo. It was
always moving. They rose up very quickly and
I was so busy chasing them and trying to keep
up with them. I was so shocked and just in awe
of what I was seeing, I didn't even think of
it, and later I thought, oh God, why didn't I?
End quote. The Burnt Hill encounter in 2011 was
actually Eileen's second UFO sighting. The first
was on Long Island in the early 1980s, which
prompted a deeper interest in the subject for
her. Quote, it wasn't very long after I saw it
in the 80s that it really spurred me on to read
up on UFOs, you know. Bud Hopkins and Whitley
Streber and watched all these UFO programs and
Project Blue Book and Hynek and all that because
I wanted to understand what it was that I might
have seen. And I found that there were a lot
of people in the Hudson Valley that saw these
giant things, so I felt somewhat vindicated but
very curious about what they could possibly be.
Something that's that big and makes no noise
at all. So bizarre. End quote. Eileen said the
experience in 2011 had a profound effect on her
life. Quote, I'm a journalist, a writer. I got
into my research thing and discovered all of
these sightings all over the world. A lot of
orbs, a lot of different shaped things, big,
small, you name it. And just this lack of interest
from governments and police and newspapers. In
my research, I actually saw videos that were
done of the orbs near Seneca Lake, you know.
in the same basic area where I had seen them.
So they are quite common there, and I guess they're
fairly common in upstate New York. Yeah, I've
got to say it's still pretty fresh. I think about
it every day. I'm immersed in it since it happened
to me. If somebody could just say, this is what
this is, this is where it's from, you know, this
is what it's made of, this is why it's here,
but no one can tell you. I have theories, but
you know, everybody's got a theory. That's the
thing. I have no idea what they are. I mean,
every day I think about it and I try to make
sense of it. And it just kind of woke me up in
a sense to like, whoa, there's some stuff out
there that we cannot explain. And I think that's
amazing. I'm sort of conditioned now that any
time I look up and see something I can't identify,
I'm like, is that one? You know, I'd like to
see another one. I would. But you can look at
the sky forever. It doesn't work that way. I
gave up on seeing another one after seeing the
first one in the 80s. I said, that's it for me.
And then this showed up. And I'm hoping to see
another. End quote. So that's Eileen's story.
I'm hoping you guys can see why I find this sighting
to be maybe the most incredible UFO or UAP story
from the Seneca Lake area that I've ever come
across. Eileen's description is so dense with
details throughout the entire recounting, I found
her to be open and authentic and very believable.
I found many of the details, as strange as they
were, provided another layer of credibility.
Her initial reaction to seeing the lighted area
ahead of her on the road when she thought it
was some type of outdoor stadium lighting would
be something many of us would think in that moment.
while trying to make sense of it. The way she
thought that the glowing ball might be a visibility
marker on a power line to warn planes and helicopters.
Again, a detail that sounds like a very human
response. The way she stood and looked at the
object while her mind went into overdrive, trying
to explain it away as a drone or some type of
hobbyist device. And then once her mind ran out
of logical explanations for the... for the phenomenon,
and she realized it was a UFO, she began wondering
if and how the craft might have occupants looking
to abduct her. I've heard or read Eileen telling
the story several times, and aside from very
minor details, all the main details remain consistent
throughout each telling. And the fact that there
were multiple witnesses adds another layer of
credibility. Although Eileen had a longtime interest
in UFOs, which might lead some people to believe
she was exaggerating or misinterpreting a more
explainable event, but she had four family members
who also witnessed the orbs at the same time.
And two of those family members were so impacted
by the event that they also submitted reports
to the National UFO Reporting Center. But for
me, the elements of high strangeness make this...
Story truly astonishing. It's not uncommon for
witnesses who see orbs to report that they believe
the orbs knew they were being watched or that
the orbs somehow had consciousness. And in recent
months, purported government whistleblowers have
described secret teams of people within the government
called psionics who interact telepathically with
unidentified aerial objects. which, when I heard
that, it immediately reminded me of Eileen's
story. Then the moment with the deer and the
road and the truck and the driveway being driven
erratically and the feeling of electricity in
the air or that the landscape had gone insane
also falls into the high strangeness category,
with similar reports of unusual behavior by animals
and people during a UFO sighting being fairly
common around the world. I also find it very
interesting that the spot where the first orb
was hovering was almost directly above a spot
where several branches of Hector Falls Creek
converge, not far from the high peak of Burnt
Hill, which is part of the Finger Lakes National
Forest and a place where reports of unusual and
strange and the paranormal have happened over
the years. So could there be a connection between
the landscape? and the appearance of these aerial
objects. Now personally, I believe Eileen and
her family, and I believe that this event happened
to them as they described. I just can't think
of any reasons all of them would fabricate or
exaggerate such a story. And then coincidentally,
in early 2024, shortly after I had completed
writing about Eileen's experience near Burnt
Hill, I learned about a new sighting. on the
National UFO Reporting Center website. And this
sighting strongly echoed Eileen and her family's
observations, except none of the three witnesses
in this new sighting were on the ground. So on
January 14th, 2024, around 9 .10 p .m., an aircraft
was in flight over an area approximately nine
miles southwest of Ithaca and headed northwest
to Toronto. and over Seneca Lake when the pilot
spotted something unusual. And here's what the
pilot had to say. Quote, I was the pilot of a
flight over the area of Ithaca, New York at 28
,000 feet. Another pilot was talking about strange
lights on the radio. I began seeing a single
white, pale yellow light at 12 o 'clock at around
40 ,000 feet at very long range. The other aircraft
who was behind us at a higher altitude on the
same route reported two lights, one estimated
at 80 ,000 feet. The light tracked north at a
high rate of speed before dimming, disappearing
briefly, then reappearing, tracking south. This
was reported to ATC, who asked further details
and began requesting reports from other pilots
in the area. Several other aircraft reported
the lights. The aircraft behind us reported five
lights. moving in varying patterns, including
orbiting each other. He began reporting them
as primarily white, but that he had also seen
it as red and purple. As we descended into Toronto,
one of the lights appeared to be below us. I
have seen these lights on other occasions, but
never have seen one appear below us. It rapidly
climbed from approximately 20 ,000 feet to 40
,000 feet in about five seconds. So it would
seem that around Seneca Lake, the appearance
of numerous orbs in the sky, orbs that seem to
move and dance and interact, just might be more
common than we think. So the source for this
story is a bit unusual compared to others. I've
covered on this podcast. A couple of years ago,
I was searching online for Seneca Lake area cryptid
sightings and came across an episode of a podcast
in which a Bigfoot encounter near Watkins Glen
was spotlighted. The podcast is called Bigfoot
Terror in the Woods. It's a fantastic podcast
that highlights Bigfoot sightings from all around
the world with many firsthand accounts that were
submitted. to the podcast by the witnesses themselves.
If you're interested in Bigfoot stories, I strongly
recommend this podcast. The hosts are William
J. Sheehan, a longtime Bigfoot researcher and
author of the book, Bigfoot Terror in the Woods,
Sightings and Encounters, who has appeared on
numerous podcasts and radio shows, along with
his co -host, K .J. Sheehan. You can visit bigfootterrorinthewoods
.com for more information on Bill, his podcast,
and his other work. The story comes from episode
number 155 of Bigfoot Terror in the Woods entitled
Cool Cars in Watkins Glen and a Bigfoot Encounter.
Does it get any better? Which was released on
June 16th, 2022. Now the story was submitted
to that podcast by an avid auto racing fan named
Henry who had visited Watkins Glen in 1962 for
a race and ended up seeing what he believed.
was Bigfoot at a fishing area on Catherine Creek,
south of the village of Watkins Glen. I attempted
to locate the witness, but was unsuccessful.
But the story is so compelling and so strange,
and there have been so few Bigfoot reports from
the Seneca Lake area over the years, I decided
I would share it here. Now, the following is
the emailed report from the eyewitness. I've
edited out just some of the first portion of
the... of the email from the witness, which has
like background and his interest in auto racing.
So I'm just going to read the section which describes
the sighting in great detail. Quote, there was
a time in my life when I wouldn't consider sharing
what I saw that day with you or anyone else.
But the older I get, the less and less I care
about what anyone thinks. Anyway, it was June
in 1962 when I went to the Glen. as it was then
known to watch the Glenn Classic sports car road
races. There is a spot just below a small waterfall
in a place called Catherine Creek. Well, whenever
I was there, I used to cast a fly. This little
waterfall appeared like it was emerging from
a stack of slate slabs and dropped into a beautiful
little pool with a creek traveling away from
it. Now, usually... There would be a line of
men fishing along the creek, but on the day I
was there, it was drizzling slightly and there
was nobody around but me. I had been casting
the fly, working this pool, when I decided to
walk downstream a little bit in pursuit of some
better fishing. It was then, as I was standing
on one side of the creek, that I swore I saw
something moving in the bushes on the other side.
but it moved so quickly that I wasn't sure what
I had seen. Just a few moments later, the upper
half of an enormous black fur -covered body was
standing diagonally to me on the other side,
looking directly at me. I couldn't believe my
eyes, yet there it was. If I didn't know any
better, I would have told you it was a giant
gorilla, though. The reality was that it didn't
look like a gorilla. It was much too tall and
stood very erect. It just stood there kind of
swaying back and forth looking at me and was
in no way trying to hide from my view. I remember
that it kept playing with the leaves on a branch
next to it as it was swaying. It appeared, as
we used to say many years ago, that it had ants
in its pants. In other words, it looked nervous.
I would also add something that I hadn't... really
thought much about until many years later, which
is the creature which I now know was a Bigfoot
had breasts. So I believe what I was seeing at
the time was in fact a female. The other thing
was this. I've heard others describing a weightlifter
type of physique, but what I saw was nothing
of the sort at the waist. The Bigfoot was maybe
three feet wide and maintained that width throughout
the entire chest. Of course, the shoulders were
marginally wider, which they would be. And although
it didn't appear fat, it didn't look particularly
virile either. Kind of like when you see a bear
walking. Now, please don't get me wrong. The
thing was maybe close to eight feet tall and
had to have weighed a thousand pounds. I'm certain
that such a beast has incredible strength and
abilities. I'm just saying it didn't appear to
be of superhero stature, if that makes any sense
to you. I was face to face with it for almost
five minutes when it simply turned and walked
away. The face was also the giveaway that it
wasn't a gorilla because yes, it was big and
hairy, but that's it. If anything, the face actually
looked more human than it did ape. End quote.
So I'm not 100 % certain of the exact location
of the sighting, but going off of the description
by the witness, it sounds like it took place
at maybe one of the two Catherine Creek fishing
access sites south of Montour Falls. And while
Bigfoot sightings are relatively rare in this
part of the country, there have been sightings
over the years. in the Catskills and Allegheny
Mountains in the southern tier and the south
-southern part of New York State. And the location
of this sighting is right on the border of those
areas. Plus, it's flanked to the west and east
by miles of forested land. And other sightings
around the country have also described creatures
that looked physically very similar to this one.
And it's not uncommon for witnesses to describe
being watched by the creature from afar. So what
do you think? Did Henry see the legendary Sasquatch
on the banks of Catherine Creek just south of
Seneca Lake? Let me know what you think and be
sure to subscribe to the podcast because I'll
be covering another interesting Bigfoot sighting
not too far from Catherine Creek in a future
episode. Well, that's it for this time around.
I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for listening.
And if you have any thoughts on any of the topics
in this episode, please let me know. And remember
to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
and get over to SenecaLakeMysteries .com and
subscribe to the email list so you don't miss
anything. A new podcast comes out every month
on the sevens. I'll talk to you then.