Field Researcher and Jessica Encounter Chimpanzee-like Creature on Rural Road

Posted Wednesday, August 12, 2026

By Squatchable.com staff

There's something about a calm Monday night drive that can turn into the story you tell for the rest of your life, and that's exactly what happened to a field researcher and his houseguest on a quiet Farm to Market Road in Texas. Over on the YouTube channel Creek Devil, host William Jevning — a two-time witness with more than four decades of experience in the field — shared a hair-raising account from a recent evening that left both him and his companion, Jessica, completely rattled. Jessica, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan and can outshoot just about anyone, was staying with William at his trailer after some unsettling activity on his property. The two had driven into Burnett to do laundry and were heading back home along the familiar stretch of road that curves along the front of William's land. It was right at the edge of his property, near an old deer crossing sign, that everything changed. William was glancing at the sign — someone had shot a hole through it — when something caught his eye in the middle of the road. About a foot inside the center line, there was a figure. Squatted down. Pitch black. Head averted from the headlights. Both of them saw it at the same time, and both of them later described it the same way: it looked like a chimpanzee crouched in the road, only far too large and far too still to be anything familiar. The size estimate came later, after they made it back to the house and tried to calm their nerves. William figured around three feet tall in that squatting position, while Jessica put it closer to three or four. But here's the part that really got under their skin — the thought that kept nagging at both of them was that if this was a juvenile, where were the adults? They turned the truck around to get another look. The road was empty. Then, as they slowly cruised back, Jessica spotted it again — this time running on all fours down the culvert, directly in front of William's property, before vanishing over the fence. It had come from the direction of Post Oak Ranch across the road, where a heavy stand of woods stretches back into territory nobody seems to know the depth of. What followed was a scene that anyone who's had a close encounter can probably relate to. They sat at the gate for a full two minutes, neither one wanting to get out of the truck. Jessica — a woman who has been in combat zones — was visibly shaken behind the wheel. When she finally did jump out to open the gate, she moved faster than William had ever seen her move before. She even grabbed his spotlight on the way out, something she'd never done in all the times she'd opened that gate. Once inside, they paced around the trailer like, well, you know the saying. Shaking. Gibber-jabbing. Trying to convince themselves they'd actually seen what they thought they'd seen. Even Humphrey, William's Himalayan cat who usually sleeps in a high tree branch at night, refused to come down until they coaxed him with a can of soft food — and even then, something about the whole scene felt off. Encounters like this one are a good reminder of how often these experiences happen on the most ordinary nights. A quick trip to town for laundry. A familiar road. A deer crossing sign with a bullet hole in it. And then, just like that, the world looks completely different. The wooded areas around ranches like Post Oak are exactly the kind of habitat that researchers have long pointed to as ideal territory — thick cover, water sources, and plenty of distance from heavy human activity. The full account, including William and Jessica's reactions in the moment, is worth catching over on Creek Devil's channel. It's one of those stories that sticks with you long after the video ends.