They accuse ­authorities of a cover-up after reports of military ­helicopters swooping – possibly to remove the body

The existence of the legendary Bigfoot is one of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries, but even after his reported death, he remains an enigma.

Amid rumours a turkey hunter had shot and killed the 10ft beast, a resident in rural Pennsylvania called 911 and claimed he had evidence the sasquatch was real after finding a huge footprint near his home.

Now hundreds of conspiracy theorists have accused ­authorities of a cover-up after reports of military ­helicopters swooping on the area – possibly to remove the Bigfoot’s body – and the fact local police dismissed the footprint as a bear’s.

Thomas Rogers, who has followed reports of Bigfoot for 24 years, said: “This stinks to high heaven.

“They clearly know something but they are keeping us in the dark. With all sightings we have to take them seriously and this is no different.

“Sadly for us though, until a body is found, the question of whether Bigfoot exists or not is still a mystery.”

The rumour mill started on May 14, when police took an emergency call from John Winesickle – the resident who found the footprint, in Paint Township, Somerset County.

 

 

A 911 operator tipped off local officers who agreed to investigate.

Within hours, Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society received an email from an enthusiast who said he had overheard chatter on a police scanner after an unidentified hunter claimed to have shot a Bigfoot.

The message read: “Officers confirmed there was an unidentified animal shot and killed. Details are a bit fuzzy at this time.”

Just 40 minutes later, the society received an even more bizarre email.

It read: “Hello, YES, this is legit, a strange report came over the scanner here in Somerset, PA, just a few miles from Flight 93 memorial.”

The message also told of how a follower monitoring a scanner heard police joking about the shooting claim.

It said: “It was about 20 minutes later that he said he heard a police officer radio back and state, ‘There was a body’.

“He said the next radio transmission to the officer was, ‘Call the centre’.”

The email also mentions a “large helicopter” in the area.

 

 

It added: “The sound was so loud it shook his house, so he went outside to take a look.

“It was then that he observed a formation of four Army Apache helicopters moving in the direction of Somerset.”

The official police log tells how officer Christopher Swartz inspected the footprints found by John Winesickle.

He concluded they belonged to a bear.

Officer Swartz wrote” “I advised John this. He was not happy with the answer.

“He said he could definitely tell the ­difference between a bear footprint and a Bigfoot footprint. I decided not to argue.”

Last night John hit back. He fumed: “No, no, no. A bear can’t go down a steep bank on all twos. That’s proven this is a Bigfoot.”

Previous witnesses have described the beast as having large eyes, a pronounced brow, low-set forehead and a crested gorilla-type crown.

He is commonly reported to have a bad smell and feet up to two foot long.

Taken from Daily Mirror