Another FW Monkey From Kentucky? "Gravedigger"

http://www.kentuckybigfoot.com/counties/kryptids.htm

The GRAVEDIGGER

Boyle County, 1970

Report from actual witness, T.W. (real name on file)

Me and a friend went fishing one morning. It was in the spring about 1970. We had to walk a few miles east on the L&N Railroad tracks from Shelby City Ky. It is now Junction City Ky. We would sneak in this pond to Bass fish. I had to be home before noon one day so I started back by myself and left my friend fishing the pond. On the way back down the tracks this creature landed on the tracks in front of me. when I say landed I mean jumped, because all I saw was a blurr and then there it was. It stood about 4 feet tall and stood or squatted on two legs. It was covered with real fine fur on its fat body. It had a little round head that moved like an owls head almost in circles. It had little round eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Its teeth were almost transparent, kinda like a bats. It sorta favored a bat in the face. It had small ears and a small nose. the thing didn't have any lips just teeth. It arms looked like they came out of its chest and they were spindly. It had long fingers and a thumb on each hand with long claws. Its arms didn't have any hair or fur on them.They were slick and oily looking. The thing couldn't see good in the daylight, because it squinted a lot and it never did see me when it landed in front of me. It acted like it was watching for the trains. It would rub it's tiny head on its arm every now and then. It looked right at me and couldn't see me and I was only about 30 or 40 feet from it. I could see its fur moving. The creature never made a sound. I was dumb founded. I'd never saw anything like it before and haven't since. I wasn't scared at first, but I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had a tackle box in one hand and a fishing rod in the other,but I did have my hunting knife with me. As I tried to switch my fishing rod over to my other hand so I could get to my hunting knife, I rattled my tackle box and that's when this thing heard me. It leaned forward and squinted its eyes and when it saw me it reared back and kinda puffed up. I thought it was going to attack me, so I jerked my knife out. When I did this thing took off so fast it was like a blurr. In one leap or jump it cleared a fence about 40 feet away and was gone. I shook my head because I couldn't believe how fast this thing could move. I took off running up to where it leaped the fence but I never saw it again. I never did see this things legs, because it squatted all the time, but they sure were powerful. This thing could have easily gotten me if it wanted to. I believe it only comes out at night and just by chance I got to see it. Maybe it was headed to its home or den after a night of hunting or whatever it does. I have thought about it and I believe it burroughs in the ground like a groundhog. Because not far from where I saw this thing is an old family cemetery plot with slab graves and a rock wall around it. There are huge holes all in this cemetery under the graves. If a groundhog had dug these they couldn't see anything sneaking up on them because of the wall around them, but it could still be ground hogs I guess.My grandmother told me of a thing the old people call a Gravedigger and it moves real fast and digs in graveyards but I don't know. I know I saw this strange creature and it has to stay somewhere. Another man I know saw it one night run across the raod in front of him and it only paused for a second to look at him and then it was gone. The way he described it, it was just like what I saw. He said he's never seen anything move so fast in his life especially, on two legs. This was also on the L&N Railroad tracks about 12 miles from where i saw it. It was in Parksville Ky. where he saw it. The strange thing, it was near a cemetery as a matter of fact. That's where it came from when it ran in front of him. When I saw this creature it was a beautiful spring morning, the sun was shining and I watched it for what seemed to be 10 minutes or more, I could have watched it longer if I hadn't made any noise. If I'd only had a camera.

Follow-Up Phone Interview by Bigfoot Investigator Bart Nunnelly:

I spoke to T.W. on March 31st, 2006, over the course of a couple of hours. He is sure of what he saw and, with further correspondence, I was able to produce a sketch of the animal under his close direction. Although the legs and feet rendered are purely speculative as the witness' view of the lower portions of the creature was blocked by a length of railroad tracks, the upper portions of the body are exact. When I pressed for more details he was very quick to supply them... "The creature's arms looked like they came right out of it's chest, it didn't have shoulders. I couldn't see its legs because it was squatted and its feet and legs were hidden by the rail. When it landed in front of me it just crouched down. Its legs couldn't have been very long, but they sure were powerful, to move like it did. It didn't have a tail. I couldn't make out the pupils of its eyes, its eyes were very small and round and they were very dark, maybe not completely black but almost. Its face looked mean and curious. The thing blinked a lot, it would squint its eyes as if it couldn't see very good in the daylight. Its snout or nose didn't protrude, it had a pug nose and was dark brown, no fur on it. It did favor a bat in the face. Its teeth were razor sharp and very close together. It had perfect teeth and a bunch of them. They were almost clear. I guess they looked like that because they were so sharp and thin. Like a bats teeth. It looked like they were all the same length, but the upper teeth almost covered the lower ones up. It had a fat body, its head looked too small for its body and there was no neck. When it finally saw me it leaned forward quite a bit and squinted at me like it was trying to make out what I was, then it was gone like a speeding bullet. This things head turned like an owl's head almost in a complete circle. It had long slender arms and very long fingers with long black sharp claws, actually thy looked like finger nails. It had knuckles on its fingers. There were three fingers and a thumb. Its skin on its arms looked oily and real dark brown, about the color of used motor oil. Its fingers moved constantly. Its fur was real fine I could see it moving when the wind blowed. Every now and then it would raise its arm and rub the side of its head like it was scratching, but it always moved its head towards its arm, it never would move its arm very far, it always kept them straight out in front of it.Its ears were little and short.I could barely see them above the fur. Its fur was darker on the ends and the closer it got to the body the lighter it got.Some places were grayish in color.It looked like it didn't have any lips at all. Just mostly upper teeth in a straight line and extremely sharp.Its nose was just a small button like nose with two nose holes. It didn't have a chin. This will be hard to describe, but its thumbs were on the bottom on both hands, it almost looked like it had two right hands, its fingers were on the top and it looked like its arms came out of its chest, and they were closer together. I guess its hands looked like they were backwards, but it had long slender fingers on top of each hand and a thumb on the bottom and both thumbs were on the same side if you know what I mean.One of the strange things about it... It could lean forward almost vertical and never use its arms to hold itself up. I got really worried when it leaned forward to look at me and then when it did see me it leaned way back, almost like it swelled up and then it was gone in a flash."

His parents and grandparents knew of this thing as well, he told me, and believed it to survive by eating the flesh of dead bodies.It was an extremely rare occasion to see one, his parents told him, and they also believed them to be nocturnal animals. Though it may sound a bit folkloric, there is often some truth in much folklore. Perhaps creatures such as these are responsible for the 'ghoul' legends of old. There is no doubt, however, that with such sharp teeth and lightning quickness these things could eat pretty much whatever they chose to. Good thing for us then, that they are content with their unsavory practice of merely consuming the flesh of cadavers. This investigation is ongoing. More information will be posted as it is obtained and any readers who may have seen such animals, or know of anyone who has, are urged to contact this site with information.

-It is not unusual for scavengers to dig up graves and eat dead bodies: in this case, though, that part was merely an inferrance, it may have been after the groundhogs. Also it seemed to be squinting and avoiding the light: probably the witness did not realise how big the eyes were because the lids were mostly shut the whole time; the witness did not see the eyes well enough to even make out any pupils. And the slicked-down arms seeming not to have hair could be the effect of digging in muddy ground or even having its arms in the water shortly before. Actually I would also say the artist did a fair job of drawing the hands and feet, except the artist has drawn the right foot on the left, big toe on the outside. I imagine the artist was guessing the feet based on the shape of the hands and the witness did say the thumb seemed on the wrong side on one of the hands (which is probably a mistaken observation). Its behaviour is definitely like one of the Freshwater Monkeys. especially the part about it moving off very swiftly an leaping the fence.

Best Wishes, Dale D.