Coon hunters observe large, hairy "monkey" in pin oak witnessed in Smith County, Texas

Open Map

Only in the past few years have I associated a previous experience with an investigative report. I presumed at the time I was not believing what I saw. I was 16 yrs old at the time and was out with my cousin and a few others "coon hunting", south of Tyler, Texas in a creek bottom known as "Marlow Bottom". We heard the dogs "on tree" and went to see what coon (raccoon) was treed. We approached with our coleman lanterns, flashlights and guns drawn. I believe there were five of us there...we saw a huge animal of some sort, covered in red fur, flaying it's arms and making a dreadful howling noise toward the dogs. One of us, I don't remember who, shot toward the animal and there was a terrifying growl that absolutely scared the wits out of all of us, including the dogs. We immediately left the area at a run. At the time we didn't think anyone would believe us, so we chalked all of it up to a disbelief and forgotten. There was no reports of a Sasquatch, Bigfoot, or anything like that in 1963..