BFRO #19906: Traveller observes lumbering figure along roadside near Danville

📍 Location

📝 Description

Since this happened 4 years ago you can tell I've been somewhat haunted by it. How I came to believe what I saw was Gigantopethicus or something very like it took time to develop and just tonight (June 26, 2007) after reading the news item about the expedition to the UP of Michigan, finding your site and then seeing Bill Munns model of Giganto on http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.htmlI'm convinced I saw something out of the ordinary.After driving in from our home in NY my daughter and I were staying in a cabin for a few days at the Staunton River State Park, VA with a friend of hers from VA. On the night in question I had to drive to Danville to pick up and bring back another daughter who was coming up from Greensboro to stay with us for the weekend. Her bus didn't pull in to Danville until around 11PM so I left the park around 9PM. It was a dark, rainy drive with some patchy but not heavy fog.Because of the conditions and my unfamiliarity with the road I concentrated more on driving than noticing much of the surroundings. At some point around 1/2 way I was coming around a wide bend to the left when my headlights fell upon a broadside view of what I first thought was a huge dog, just off the road moving from left to right. It simply turned it head to look at the lights and lumbered slowly but deliberately towards the treeline. It was then I realized it was no dog. Maybe a lion? It had huge eyes like a lion as well as a mane. But it wasn't shaped like a lion, it was big in the front, big head, big shoulders and chest but more streamlined to the rear. Walking on all fours but not like a dog or big cat. The front legs seemed taller than the rear. If you remember the monster in the scifi movie 'Forbidden Planet' you'll have pretty good idea of it's shape, not of course as exaggerated as that but similar. It did not appear startled or afraid, it simply walked in towards the trees while watching my car drive past.Since then I had no idea what it could have been until I read something about Gigantopethicus and saw a pic of a statue of it on all fours on a website. That statue I thought was close but no cigar. Then tonight I found the Bill Munns picture with the model in color and it clicked. It was very much the same coloring, mane, head and eyes. The only difference was the size, what I saw was huge, on all fours maybe almost the size of a Volkswagen Beetle but if it stood up not quite so tall...but then again the sighting was only seconds before I had to return my attention to navigating the rest of the turn at maybe 40 miles per hour.

🔍 Circumstances

None

🌤️ Weather Conditions

Around 9-10PM, dark, steady rain not too heavy, light misty patches of fog.

ℹ️ Additional Details

Around 9-10PM, dark, steady rain not too heavy, light misty patches of fog.

🔗 Sources (1)

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