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Sunday, August 19, 2018

WHITEHALL POLICE ENCOUNTERS - Brian Gosselin

In the Whitehall saga there is a third Police Officer encounter that makes the rounds. There are slight variations in how the encounter unfolds. So let us examine the Brian Gosselin encounter.




The one thing that can be said is that Brian Gosselin saw a bigfoot. There are variations in the story, depending on which source you look at. However, I believe most of the confusion comes from the fact that there are THREE Gosselin's involved in the story. Brian, his younger brother Paul and their father Wilfred. Both Brian and Wilfred were law enforcement officers.

John Green reported the story including all three of the men. I consulted quite a few other sources and have speculated this is how the encounters happened.

The story appears to begin with Paul being out with his friend Marty Paddock. They were driving down Abair Road when they heard what they thought was a woman screaming. They stopped the car and began looking in the field for what was going on. They soon saw it was no woman. They were looking at a "large, ape-like creature between 7 and 8 foot tall."

One version states that the two returned a couple of time to look at the creature in the field; the third time bringing a friend with them, Bart Kinney. It was said that while they were looking at the creature, it began running towards the car. They scrambled back in and drove to the Whitehall Police station to report what was happening.

Paul's brother Brian was on duty and when the Paul and Paddock and their father came to tell the story, Brian knew he had to see for himself. "They were so strung out with excitement and fear."


John Green reports that after they told the police, the Whitehall police, the New York State Police and a Washington County Sheriff searched the area but "were only able to spot the creature from a distance."

Wilfred, a Whitehall Police Sgt.,  said all he was able to see of the creature was an "awful tall shadow in the field off Abair Road." He continued, after hearing what everyone else had to say, "I'm not saying this is a monster or anything else, but there is something out there, and it's no animal that belongs in the northern part of this state!" He also added that the creature had not hurt any humans but could have killed a deer that had been found in the meadow on Abair Road.


Now, back to Brian's part in the tale.

One version had Brian on night patrol just coming upon the creature as it ran across the road in front of his patrol car. When his headlights picked up the figure, it "screamed like a woman", flung it's arm over its eyes and ran into a nearby field. He stopped his car, turned his spotlight to that area and saw large reflective nocturnal eyes in the distance. He noted that the creature moved as if "heavy weights were attached to arms and legs."


Brian then said a state trooper arrived and they both saw the creature before it moved off into the woods. 

Now for the rest of the story.  Brian was out in the meadow and the state trooper was on top of the hill on Abair Road. They were communicating via radio.




It was about an hour, hour and a half when the state trooper suddenly radioed 
the other. "Brian, what the **** is that. I'm heading out of here." And he sped away, leaving Brian alone in the field.

Brian kept hearing noises. "Not twigs snapping, limbs snapping." Something made him turn around with the spotlight. 

"I turned my spotlight on it and it was now about 30-35 feet away. It was over 7 feet tall, probably around 400 pounds. When I put the spotlight on it, it raised its hands, they weren't paws, they were hands. I could see the fingers, to cover it's eyes. They were red and about the diameter of a mayonnaise cover, they didn't glow like a deer's eyes in headlights though."

Then suddenly the creature turned and walked away, making a lengthy guttural noise. "It's impossible for a human to make that noise. This thing showed no aggression though. If it wanted me it could have had me, let's put it that way."

Brian remained in the field for at least another 15 minutes trying to come to terms with what he had just witnessed. "I knew everything it wasn't, it wasn't a man, it wasn't a bear, it wasn't an ape."

Brian also added later that the body hair was shorter than the head hair. It's movements were "slow and deliberate."


Other witnesses who reported seeing this creature at that time include : Darin Lamphere of the Washington County Sheriff's Department; Arnold Mercier, two reported sightings; Tom (or Bill) Jones, two reported sightings; and a New Jersey couple who were just passing through the area.

The general description gathered from all the reported encounters  for a composite :

The creature ranged from 7 1/2 to 8 feet tall. It had shaggy dark brown fur or hair and long arms that swung like a pendulum when it walked. It had large red bulging eyes and weighed around 350 pounds.

Marty Paddock had given the description of what he saw from a distance of six feet. The eyes were either red or pink and it had a foul smell like rotten eggs. It screamed like a woman or a pig when he first saw it.  He described it as having a rugged, muscular build and said it could move very fast, while not actually running.

Paddock had a plaster cast of a footprint made by Deputy Sheriff Glen La Rose of the Washington County Sheriff's department. The cast was measured and photographed. Measurements : toe to heel 19 1/2 inches; maximum width at ball of foot 7 1/2 inches; arch instep 5 inches. The heel appeared to be rounded. There were faint impressions of toes present, the large toe was prominent.


Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."


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