As fast as the news report broke, it has since ebbed. The Alabama Hale County Sheriff’s Office just released a statement on the “gorilla” that supposedly was spotted in a remote area of highway 61.

STATEMENT REGARDING ALLEGED GORILLA SIGHTING IN HALE COUNTY

On Saturday March 10, 2012 at approximately 7:33 p.m Hale County E-911 received a call from Perry County Dispatch advising several children on a school bus returning to Uniontown from a sporting event had seen what they believed to be a gorilla at AL Hwy 61 and Hale Co Rd 20 in the Town of Newbern. Deputies responded and checked the area. NO gorilla or other large primate was located.

The Hale County Sheriff’s Office answers all calls for service in a professional and serious manner. This call, like all others, was investigated and until further evidence is discovered we consider this matter to be unfounded. –source: ABC news

So far, nothing concrete has surfaced from the initial reports that flooded the Sheriff’s office. Alabama has had a long history of Bigfoot sightings. BFRO has an interactive map that shows some of the most recent reports of the elusive creature near the area.

I think our good friend Sharon Hill summarized the whole situation best:

Kids prank? Mistaken identity? Fortean phenomena? Bigfoot? This will probably be memorialized as a Bigfoot sighting. Thus is the nature of this kind of evidence. Unverified. —Doubtful News