2-18-05 - Most of America has heard the legends of Bigfoot - but some of those legends were born in southeast Oklahoma. In fact, the tiny community of Honobia is a hotbed of Bigfoot research and activity.

Some residents say they've seen the creatures up close - giant beasts standing on two feet, yet covered with hair. More man-like than ape, witnesses say they stand taller than eight feet and leave footprints more than fifteen inches long.

In 1951, Billy Ludlow says he came face to face with bigfoot. It was a warm summer day, and the 11-year-old was playing with friends at the bridge over the Little River. "When I turned around it was a big, old hairy person, or a thing with what looked like broad shoulders," Billy says.

He and his cousins ran away. But they're not alone when it comes to sighting in these woods along the Pushmataha and Leflore county lines, nestled in the Kiamichi Mountains.

Brothers Rick and Charles Branson have been in Honobia all their lives. They've worked these woods as loggers and know the woods like the back of their hands. They're believers. "We found brushes broke off as high as you could reach. That's part of their territory marking procedure, you see."

And on of the most famous stories happened back in 2000. The Humphreys family was terrorized by the creatures, who would knock on their windows and take venison from the freezer on their porch.

Others tell of hearing strange noises in the woods at night - screeching noises, and the sounds of boulders being tossed.

Forest rangers have taken countless reports about the rock phenomenon. Laugh if you will, but even the Associated Press wrote an article about the Humphreys encounter. Bigfoot experts tell us there have been more sightings in recent years
because more and more of the woods have been cut down and the creatures habitat has been invaded.