Connecticut Man's Bigfoot Sighting Earns BFRO's Highest Credibility Rating

A Connecticut man is making national headlines after a jaw-dropping encounter on a dark, rural road that has researchers taking notice. The story, recently covered by the Kudzu Cast YouTube channel, involves a witness whose account earned the highest credibility rating from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) — a classification they almost never hand out. **The Encounter** Kevin Kleas, a Rhode Island resident, was driving home shortly before 2 a.m. on July 4th after visiting a friend at a cabin near Beach Pond in Voluntown, Connecticut. The area backs up to Pachaug State Forest, the largest state forest in Connecticut with over 26,000 acres of dense, remote woods. It was an overcast night with no moon, and Kevin's headlights were essentially the only light around. While creeping along at 15 to 25 mph, with Google Maps open on his phone, something massive stepped into the road from his right side. Kevin slammed his brakes. In the beam of his high beams, he saw a creature walking upright on two legs — roughly eight feet tall, with shoulders about four feet wide, arms hanging down to its knees, and brown, matted, wet-looking fur covering its body. The face had less hair than the rest of the body, enough for Kevin to clearly see its profile, including a jawline he described as something any prize fighter would envy. The creature never stopped, never turned toward the car, and never acknowledged Kevin at all. It took two enormous strides across the pavement and vanished into the trees on the opposite side of the road. Kevin sat there, stopped in the middle of the road, for a full minute or more, just shaking. **Why This One Matters** What makes this report stand out isn't just the description — it's the classification. The BFRO rates sightings on a scale, and Class A is reserved for clear sightings at close range under conditions where common animals can be ruled out with greater confidence. Class B covers distant observations, strange sounds, and situations with plenty of room for honest mistakes. Kevin's encounter earned a Class A because he reported seeing the creature at close range, fully lit by his headlights, walking across open pavement. BFRO investigator Mike Young met Kevin at the site on July 8th, just three days after the encounter, and said his account appeared accurate and honest. BFRO founder Matt Moneymaker also spoke with Kevin multiple times and said he believed Kevin was telling the truth about what he experienced. **The Skeptical Side** Of course, the rational brain has questions. It was 1:44 a.m., pitch dark, overcast, and the whole thing lasted only a few seconds. Kevin had just opened a navigation app, meaning his attention was split right before the creature appeared. There's no photo, no video, no footprint, and no second witness. Rain on July 4th and in the days after blanketed the ground in pine needles, making footprint preservation nearly impossible. Much of the surrounding property was privately owned, limiting where investigators could even search. Neighbors interviewed by local media offered mixed reactions — some said the area has bears, bobcats, and raccoons, so anything is possible. Others suggested it might just be someone in a costume. **An Interesting Theory** Moneymaker offered one genuinely intriguing idea: the Fourth of July fireworks around Beach Pond may have attracted the creature. If a Sasquatch associates the sound of explosions with distant gunfire — and gunfire with hunters cleaning a deer — it might have come toward the sound expecting an easy meal. It's pure speculation, but it's a fascinating thought experiment about how these creatures might navigate a world full of human noise. **Kevin's Transformation** Perhaps the most compelling part of the story is Kevin himself. He describes himself as a former skeptic — someone who wanted to believe but figured there would be more evidence by now. He doesn't drink, doesn't party, and hadn't seen anything like this in over 15 years of driving through those woods. After this encounter, he's no longer on the fence. As he put it, once you see it, you can't unsee it. The BFRO has tallied 22 reports of sightings in Connecticut, with 11 of those in Litchfield County alone. Whether Kevin's encounter becomes number 23 or remains a one-off mystery, it's a reminder that the woods still hold secrets — and that sometimes, the people who encounter them are the ones least expecting to. The full breakdown of this sighting, including Kevin's own words and the investigators' analysis, is worth checking out over on the Kudzu Cast channel. It's a fascinating look at how researchers evaluate these reports and why this particular one earned such a rare classification.