Quantico, Va. (API) – Some Marine sentry’s standing guard here late at night are seeing some strange sights and hearing strange sounds. Is it a “Bigfoot?” Well, that’s what some of them think.

The “thing” has made its presence known in the dark shadows of a tree line outside an ammunition storage area at the Quantico Marine Base in northern Virginia, said Sgt. Alan Pultz of base’s public information office. Marines who have seen or heard it have dubbed it the “Asa Monster.”

A few Marines claim to have seen “brown things” walking on two legs. Others say they have heard strange shrieking screams, and some claim they’ve heard something climbing a fence.

“I remember the night I saw it very well,” said a Marine who asked that his name not be used. “It was about 2 a.m., I was walking my post when I heard something in the woods. I stopped and looked in the direction of the noise.

I could see a dark figure beyond the fence just in front of the tree line, so I shined my flashlight at it. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was some type of creature that looked like a cross between an ape and a bear”.

“The first thing I noticed was its large glaring eyes. Then I noticed it had arms and was covered with dark brown hair.”

The Marine said he went for help but when he and the sergeant of the guard searched the area, “we found nothing except some very large tracks with a pattern that resembled those of a dog.”

He estimated that the creature was between 6 and 8 feet tall and resembled an artist’s conception of a “Sasquatch” or “Bigfoot”.

Noises heard by Marine sentry’s usually occur in the summer, said St. Kris N. Stolpa, sergeant of the guard of the physical security platoon.

He said the noises have developed a pattern. “Occurring between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., the noises will be there for two days and then go away for two days, in a continuous cycle.”

Stolpa said one night one of his men reported a loud screaming noise but when he investigated, he heard nothing until nearly a half hour later. “It sounded as if someone were being mutilated.”

Many of the Marines who claim they have heard strange noises are hesitant to believe there is no logical explanation for them. They believe the noises must be coming from housing or recreation areas, although they are some distance away, Pultz said.

Source: The Sunday Times, Delmarva’s Sunday Newspaper, Salisbury, Maryland, Sunday February 6, 1977

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