County music singer and song writer Kris Allen, (not to be confused with the recent ‘American Idol’ contestant) has a long career of making music with bands like the Marshall Tucker Band and most recently his new band Southern Thunder. Growing up and living in the rugged terrain of West Virginia meant Allen was born an outdoorsman. He was always surrounded by deep woods and forest and the many creatures that lived within. However there is one creature that always stayed in his mind. At the time he thought it was just another woodland creature. But later in life he would discover it was more than just another animal.

       Allen’s first memory of seeing the creature was around age 8. He was in the back yard with his parents, sister, and some neighbors when they all spotted something moving in the woods. It was a big hairy beast walking on two legs at about six feet tall. It moved almost ape like in and out of the trees. The family and neighbors sat and watched the creature well into the night wondering if they should call the police. It wasn’t harming anyone and by the time police would arrive it would be dark anyway. Back then few people owned video cameras, and Allen’s family didn’t even have a camera to take photographs.

        The next morning the creature was gone and it would be many years later before Allen would meet the creature again. He was walking down a path with his girlfriend when he came upon a huge ape like creature sitting up against a tree. It stared straight into his face and the two locked eyes for a moment. Allen turned to his girlfriend to make sure she saw it but by the time he turned back the creature was already gone. It was then that Allen started doing some research and realized that the creature he was seeing was Bigfoot.

       Always an avid camper, Allen found him self even more interested in spending time in the woods hoping to encounter this beast again. But again it would be many years later before his next meeting. Allen was camping in the woods with his son during the fall at a place called Sherwood Lake. They were hiking under the moonlight near the shoreline when they heard a noise. At first it sounded like a deer racking his antlers. But when the two turned towards the noise they spotted two large ape-like creatures ripping apart some trees. It appeared as if they were eating the bark. Allen and his 8 year old son sat there in the woods for what seemed like hours just watching and observing the creatures tearing down trees and eating bark. The creatures were about 8 to 10 feet tall according to Allen’s estimation with one a foot or two shorter than the other. Suddenly a third creature, even taller than the original two, stepped out of the woods and all three quickly headed off into the darkness of the tree line.

       Throughout his life Allen believes to have had many encounters with Bigfoot. He would often have rocks being thrown at him while hiking in the middle of the woods. And he would come across signs like foot prints, scat, and what he says is a true sign of Bigfoot, stacks of rocks carefully placed in bizarre locations. Allen believes that the woods of West Virginia contain families of Bigfoot like creatures and recently he met with a team of Bigfoot hunters who ventured off to find evidence of the creatures Allen has been seeing. In November of 2009, members of SFBI (Searching For Bigfoot Inc.) drove out to West Virginia from Arizona to meet with Allen and investigate these areas. The investigators claim to have found evidence like footprints, bedding, and fur samples but nothing is conclusive. A television special or documentary is in the works on the possible existence of these Bigfoot creatures living in Kris Allen’s backyard.