Stephen Wagner’s Paranormal.about.com has a personal story from a resident of Vinton, Iowa, in which they describe their encounter with what they believe to be a Sasquatch.

While going out for a walk, Dennis first noticed a foul smell in the air. Described as “a cross between a wet dog, a skunk and rotten eggs“, Dennis then soon found the source of the smell. Describing a bipedal creature of about 10 feet in height, he stood in shock as the creature stood up and walked away. Disappearing into the tree line.

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Full source: Paranormal.about.com

One late afternoon in early August of 2009, I decided that I wanted to go for a walk to enjoy the countryside of Vinton, Iowa. I grabbed my MP3 player, headphones, and a bottle of water. I left the house around 7:15 p.m. and made my way to 58th St.

Now, 58th St. is mostly pavement, but about halfway down it turns into gravel. I made my way down the road until the pavement ended. I made it to the end of the road just before it turned left onto another gravel road. At this point, it was around 8 p.m. and the sun had almost set. I figured it was getting dark so I should call it a night.

As I was walking back, I noticed a neighbor’s dog barking uncontrollably at something up the road. I brushed it off as a raccoon or opossum. As I walked further, I noticed a foul odor in the air. It smelled like a cross between a wet dog, a skunk and rotten eggs.

I neared a trailer off to my right,with a lamp post directly beside it. The light was a good hundred feet from the street so it made a very dim light as I passed. I remember the smell getting stronger and stronger as I kept walking.

I stopped in front of the dim light so I could change the song on my music player. In my peripheral vision, I noticed movement in the ditch. At the time I assumed it was just a tree, but then I noticed that this “tree” stood up!

I snapped my head to the right and what I saw, I will never forget. It had to have been at least ten feet tall and covered in reddish brown hair. It had an oval head that connected directly to very broad shoulders. It was facing away from me so I didn’t see its mug.

The creature seemed like it didn’t notice my presence. After a few seconds of staring at this thing, it walked out of the ditch on two legs and into the field. It made its way to the tree line of the surrounding wooded area and let out a blood-curdling scream.

I ran home as fast as my feet would carry me. I lived with my mother at the time. As soon as I walked through the door, my mom asked me what happened. She said that I looked like I’d seen a ghost.

I told her what I saw and she said my mind was playing tricks on me. I know that what I saw and what I heard was real! I went to bed and tried to forget what just happened.

The next day I went to the grocery store in town to pick up a few things. I overheard some of our neighbors talking about a couple down the street that had two baby cattle go missing last night. They were also talking about how the branches on the trees leading up to the cattle were all snapped in half, and three of their sapling trees were tore from the ground.

I’ve always been very skeptical about paranormal things, but I still think, to this day, that what I saw was a sasquatch. Most people I tell the story to don’t take me too seriously anymore. I’m glad I found this site with people who have similar experiences.