03/16/2026
The Bugaboo Scrub Fire and a Bigfoot Sighting
Written 3/16/2026
This encounter story is from a Georgia resident named Connie Wheeler. I met Connie while researching the Dixon Memorial WMA in Waycross, Georgia. The Dixon Memorial Check Station campsite is the location where I, and three others had a possible encounter in 2022.
Hearing Miss Connie’s story and a few others within just a few mile radius has really helped to validate what happened to us that night. Thank you Miss Connie and I cannot wait to meet up around a campfire and hear more about what you learned after your encounter. The following is her story as she explained it to me.
“It was during the great wildfire of 2007. We are prone to wildfires here, but that fire was one of the most devasting fires we have ever had. People were babysitting kids for families they hardly knew because so many people were doing everything they could to fight those fires. People were being evacuated all over and it was a very scary time. When we have a drought here, it’s not uncommon for us to have wildfires, but this fire ended up burning thousands and thousands of acres.
I remember it was early spring, and I had a child in bed sick with chickenpox, who also has asthma. It was about 1:30 in the morning and I heard a loud keening noise, almost like a train horn and I rushed out of bed thinking it was my daughter possibly having an asthma attack.
As I was headed to my daughter’s room, I realized that loud high-pitched sound was coming from the backyard, and I could hear my dog scratching and trying to come in the back door. I walked over and flipped on the back porch light and immediately saw where my dog had peed and been scratching for a while and I was quite confused because that was highly out of character for her. I couldn’t see anything in the yard because I couldn’t turn the flood lights on from where I was standing. Then I heard another loud sorrowful sound coming from the backyard and I could tell it was something big, so I let her in and walked to another rear door where I could turn on the flood lights.
I had to open the door to turn on the flood lights, and when I did the first thing I saw was amber colored eyeshine and movement about 25 feet away from me at our water spigot. Once I flipped on the floodlight, my first thought was that I was looking at a person in a Ghillie suit, but then a huge dark hairy creature stood up. It was about nine feet tall, walked about 2 steps and stepped over our five-foot chain link fence and walked off into the pine thicket. I was in shock. I ran screaming to my husband, ‘there’s a Bigfoot in the backyard.’
The next morning, I found a footprint that was 15.5” long and 9” wide. I did take pictures and I will try to find the pictures, but we have since divorced and moved. Hopefully, I can locate the pictures. After this encounter, I began to really investigate as much as I could about Bigfoot and I believe they stayed in that area for several years because we had a few other incidents that occurred.
It is my opinion, based on what I saw and heard that night, but I believe it was a female that was possibly burned or had lost a child in the fires. The drought had been so bad, the water was dried up everywhere, and where it wasn’t dried up, it was stagnant. I still get chills remembering how sad and sorrowful those cries were from the creature. I could just feel the sadness coming from it. I believe it came into our backyard to drink the fresh water from our pet’s watering bowl where we keep fresh water in for the dog and the outdoor cats.
My family pretty much didn’t believe me, but then one night a few years later my daughter became a believer when she saw one run across the driveway in front of her. She also claimed she saw a small one on top of our house one night. I went outside with a flashlight to look. I didn’t see anything, but I did hear something thump across the roof.
I set up trail cameras, and I captured some very interesting pictures. I really hope I can locate all the pictures, but that was 19 years ago and prior to our divorce. I also met a few others with some interesting stories once I started doing my own research and have some other interesting stories to share. I can tell you that all of this happened in Schlatterville, which is just a few miles through the woods from the Dixon Memorial WMA Check Station, where you guys had your encounter, so its highly possible these could have been from the same clan.”
The wildfire she is referring to has been named “The Bugaboo Scrub Fire.” According to a Google AI overview, it lasted from April to June 2007 and burned 564,000 acres following a lightning strike. It began on Bugaboo Scrub Island in the Okefenokee Swamp and eventually spread into the Osceola National Forest in Florida after merging with another wildfire. Heavy rains eventually helped to contain the fires after leading to evacuations and heavy smoke in areas across the region.
If you enjoyed this report, please be sure to like and follow my page “Angie Goes Squatching” on Facebook, where I post my eyewitness reports. After another trip to the Okefenokee this weekend, I have several more reports coming soon so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading,
Angie Williamson
