The Hebbardsville Hillbillies part 2 – Bigfoot and Cherokee by Bart Nunnelly

BIGFOOT AND THE CHEROKEE HILL

(IN CASE YOU MISSED PART 1, HERE IS THE LINK.)

http://www.kickacts.com/2010/01/04/the-hebbardsville-hillbillies-part-1-by-bart-nunnelly/

(Note: The names of the locations in this report have been intentionally altered)

After learning from a local paranormal investigator friend of mine about an old
Cherokee fellow who also claimed to be a Hebbardsville, KY. bigfoot witness a phone
interview was arranged and conducted in Nov., 2006. The information proved correct.
Not only did the witness describe repeated, often at will, sightings of groups of
these hairy creatures since his childhood, he also claimed to be in possession of
what he was convinced was an actual tooth, which he described as a canine, from one
of these creatures. Moreover, he could describe, in great detail, the physiological
features, general attitudes and predictable behavior of these mysterious
“Hillbillies’, known to the rest of the world as ‘Bigfoot’. After several more phone
interviews a meeting was arranged and, under the promise of strict anonymity, M.F.
(not his real initials) agreed to allow me to photograph the alleged bigfoot canine
for possible identification. M. F. Lived only a short drive from the Hebbardsville
area, only a twenty minute drive from my own doorstep. And so it was that, after my
initial investigation of the Pleasant Hill site, I drove Greg back home, turned
around and continued on to M.F.’s home. My heart sank at the sight of the closed and
locked gate in front of the house. No one was home. He had warned me that he and his
wife were taking a trip out of town that particular weekend, but expected to be back
home the previous night. Evidently they had not made it. I had tried phoning him
that morning and his answering machine had picked up. I had hoped, in vain as it
turned out, that he would be back before our 2 p.m. appointment. I waited for a few
moments, then turned around and drove away, feeling somewhat defeated and tired from
the morning’s excursion.

I arrived back home around 3 p.m. and kicked off my shoes, wincing at the dime-sized
blister the rubber boot had left on my right heel. I was sore and nearly exhausted
from all the walking. After reviewing the digital photos of the Pleasant Hill
sighting area I decided a short nap would be in order, so I turned on the rotating
fan and lay down on the sofa. No sooner had I closed my eyes when the phone rang. It
was M.F. He explained that his wife had took ill on their trip, forcing them to stay
away an extra night. They had only just arrived back home. He was still willing to
meet with me, he said, if I didn’t mind driving back out to Hebbardsville. I looked
at the clock. It was well after 3 already with less than 2 hours of daylight left. I
told him that I was on my way.

I found the gentleman to be pleasant, friendly, down to earth and of obvious
intelligence. He immediately pulled the tooth out of his pocket. It did resemble a
human canine, or eye-tooth, only about three times as large.. I examined it and
noted the obvious authenticity and great antiquity of the object, taking several
photographs. It was complete with most of the root system still intact. The outer
edges were very slightly serrated, almost imperceptibly, which I found most unusual.
He viewed the tooth as a scared object, he had told me during one of our previous
phone conversations, and he would consent to no DNA testing because to do this would
mean that at least a partial destruction of the tooth would occur. He could never
allow that to happen. Nor would he allow it to depart his possession in any way or
for any length of time. As a matter of fact, he had informed me, he didn’t really
care at all to try and prove the existence of these creatures to anyone. They had
always been a fact of life to his own people. Evidence of his Cherokee heritage was
strewn about his yard, flower beds and doorsteps, and worn proudly around his neck.
They were the ‘Old People of the Forest’, he told me, and their reality caused no
controversy except to the whites. It would be amusing if not for the fact that, in
their ignorance, the logging and mining of the white man was causing the rapid
desecration and destruction of the bigfoot’s habitat. Land considered sacred by the
Indians since the beginning of history.

“Can you show me where they lived?” I asked.
There was daylight left. He asked me if I cared to take a ride.

M. F.’s story was an interesting one. He had first been exposed to the creatures
while growing up in the Spottsville, Reed areas, although at least two earlier
generations of his family had their own tales of sightings and strange happenings.
He remembered his great grandfather recounting how he had run outside one night
after he’d heard some kind of commotion to see one of the ‘old people’ carrying off
two of his full grown sows, one under each arm, like they were piglets. It swiftly
made its escape even though the pigs weighed about 200 lbs. each! Around the time of
the “Spottsville Monster” events of 1975 his brother was finding strangely mutilated
dead cattle. He had lost six head that year. Literally. All six carcasses were found
with their heads torn off and missing. They only found one head, he claimed, and it
was stripped to the bone and missing
the lower mandible. None of the other meat on the carcasses was consumed or even
disturbed. When the family moved across the Green River to Hebbardsville the
sightings continued. In fact, he claimed that from the late 1960’s until the early
to mid 70’s hardly any weekend went by when he and a car load of friends didn’t park
near the intersection of Ash Flats and Old Bell roads and observe groups of these
creatures, ranging in number from four individuals up to as many as fifteen or
better, engaged in the act of eating bitter roots and grass. Countless sightings, he
claimed, by dozens of different individuals.
“Were they hairy Indians?” I asked.
“No”, he said. They were not Indians of any type. They had black skin and an
average size of eight to ten feet tall, although he had seen one awhile back that
was at least a twelve footer. Their eyes were a dark brown color with no visible
whites or irises. They were bearded, had thin lips, a weak chin and a flat, wide
nose like individuals of African descent. They had normal looking hands of a large
size with pale colored palms, but their feet had an opposing toe sticking out at an
angle away from the other four toes, like an ape’s or chimp’s. They had extremely
long arms which hung down past their knees and could run quadrupedally 35 to 40 mph.
The females also possessed beards, though shorter than the males. They were of more
stocky build, had furry breasts and carried their young beneath them clinging to
their bellies. He described the males as being covered with short, straight, usually
dark hair, with longer areas of about six inches at the beard, backs of the head and
genital areas.

“Pull over here”, he said as we approached a medium sized muddy creek at the Old
Bell, Ash Flats location. I pulled over and we got out. This was the place, he told
me, that he and scores of friends had witnessed these creatures feeding countless
times. According to him, they didn’t seem to mind being watched. Unless someone got
out of the car. Then they would all rush into the creek and be gone in an instant.
They traveled the creeks, he claimed. The water would wash away the tracks and they
were excellent swimmers if the water was up. After photographing the location I
asked him if he could take me to the place where he found the tooth. He said nothing
for several seconds as he carefully considered the request. I was beginning to think
that I had overstepped my bounds, as it were, when he looked up. He would take me
there, he answered, if I promised never to disclose the location. It was a sacred
place, he explained. A burial place of the Cherokee people and home to other
powerful legendary beings as well as the ‘old people’. I agreed and we got back into
the truck.

We traveled a short distance from the Ash Flats area and stopped. “Follow me…” he
said, and started up a thickly forested ridge. Although he was nearly 60 years old
he ascended the steep terrain as nimbly as a jack rabbit and, after a short but
vigorous trek, we crested another large hill and stopped.

“Look freely.” he said. “Take pictures, but nothing else”.

I looked around. We stood at the rim of a forested ridge which wound around the area
like a dark circle, forming an impressive natural amphitheater. The bottom of the
‘bowl’ formation was mostly clear and somehow comfortable looking even now. All
around me were graves, stacked in layers. Some ancient beyond reckoning. Many were
marked with stones onto which Cherokee petroglyphs and letters were carved. I had
hunted Indian artifacts nearly all my life but had never seen a single stone in
Henderson county bearing intact Native American images or writing. Now I was
surrounded by them.

“This place is called “The Great Hill” by my people.”

The Great Hill. Here was buried the bodies of the famous Cherokee chieftain, Double
Head, his daughter, Corn Blossom and countless others. I snapped pictures one after
another while the sunlight faded much too swiftly. Daniel Boone, pioneer hero of
old, had written of this place.
Twice he was taken prisoner by the Shawnee just across the Green river. Twice his
freedom was bartered for and obtained by the friendly Cherokee. Two heavily
weathered stones still bore his name and short messages, carved by Boone’s own hand
during his stay there over 200 years ago. Still other stones were carven with images
of corn stalks, deer and sun. Three stones displayed the likenesses of strange
faces. No one knew who most of the graves belonged to. This was the final resting
place of the ‘Great Chiefs’ of antiquity whose names were lost forever. Stone
circles were present. Raking back the dead leaves revealed a wealth of stone
artifacts still lying where their makers had placed them so many generations ago.
This was also the sacred home of other mythical beings from tribal lore, he told me.
They were called ‘The Little People’, tiny humanoids standing only 2 ft. tall who
could be either friendly or malignant depending on the contents of one’s heart.

During heavy rains some of the graves would wash out, I was informed, and he had
needed to re-inter some of the bones on occasion. He had found the tooth several
years ago here, in 2004, at the foot of the hill, washed up by the rushing water. No
other creature native to this area had teeth like it, he felt sure. The claim was
intriguing but not unprecedented. There are many 19th and early 20th century reports
of the unearthing of giant human, or humanlike, skeletal remains in the bluegrass
state. Most were said to have been taken from Indian burial grounds but not all. M.
F.’s own mother had told him how she had witnessed the excavation of one such
skeleton in Beals, Ky. back in the 1920’s. Workmen had unearthed the skeleton while
trying to bridge a creek. She said it was measured and found to be 12 ft. tall! As
with all the old reports, the remains fell into the hands of private owners and out
of common knowledge. Admittedly, this was the first time that I had been able to
personally view an alleged tooth from one of these giants.

“The whites don’t know about this place”, he said. “If they were to find out…”

He didn’t need to finish the statement. I knew exactly what would happen if the
location was ever made public. Hordes of relict hunters would descend upon the
location and have it stripped clean, all 15 acres of it, within a week.

“Can you keep this secret, Bart?” he asked.

I looked squarely into his wizened, intelligent eyes. “You can trust me.” I said.

He smiled good-naturedly. “I know.” he said.

As the last feeble rays of the sun disappeared and we were left standing in the
darkness surrounded by trees and human graves, I knew it was time to take my leave.
I vowed to return again soon, however, for better pictures and more conversation if
he’d have me.’Anytime’ was his reply. I had made a new friend, it seemed, one who
struck me as being perhaps the most knowledgeable person regarding bigfoot that I
had ever met. I had obtained both the story and the pictures that I sought. And much
more.

I took many photographs of this extraordinary location both out of my own
fascination regarding the history of the site and the significance of the fact that
the giant tooth had been found there, and I am indebted to M.F. for the opportunity
to do so. With his help I was also able to sketch a facial study of these particular
humanoid’s features for all to view. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
this man for agreeing to speak with me, sharing some secrets and showing me such an
interesting and historically significant location. A location unlike any other that
I have ever personally witnessed.