The description sounded a little mysterious: really dark or black, very large and about 8 feet tall.
Cody Thomas, a spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said the call came in about 10:15 p.m. Saturday about a sighting of a Bigfoot along Interstate 80, roughly 20 miles east of North Platte.
The sighting has caused a bit of a stir on social media, with people making jokes about the hairy guy. But it’s also raising questions about the motives of those who reported it.
Robin Roberts, of Castle Rock, Colorado, said she is "99 percent sure" she spotted a Bigfoot as she was driving back to Colorado after spending the Thanksgiving weekend in Nebraska.
The self-described Bigfoot investigator said that less than an hour before her sighting, a deer ran across the Interstate in front of her. So as she continued driving she scanned the right shoulder in case any more deer popped out.
Roberts said she is "pretty sure" she spotted a Bigfoot standing along a fence past the shoulder. She said she was driving 75 mph, so she saw it for only a few seconds in her headlights. She estimated it was 8 feet tall and said it was dark looking.
"They can second-guess me,’’ she said of the naysayers. "But I know what I saw."
Roberts had spent part of last week checking out Nebraska locations of reported Bigfoot sightings, including in the Bellevue and Grand Island areas, with Harriett McFeely of Hastings. McFeely is a longtime "bigfooter" and organizer of an upcoming Bigfoot conference in Hastings, where Roberts is scheduled to speak.
McFeely fielded the call from her friend and then reported the furry fella to the State Patrol.
The pair said the sighting was not a hoax or an attempt to drum up interest in the Bigfoot conference scheduled for February.
"I don’t want to Hollywood things up,’’ McFeely said. "I don’t want to report things that don’t happen. If somebody is a hoaxer or liar it gives everybody a bad name. I want to be ethical and professional."
Thomas, the spokesman for the patrol, said a trooper was sent Saturday night to the spot where Roberts said she saw the creature.
He emphasized that the trooper wasn’t sent to look for a Bigfoot, but to make sure Roberts hadn’t spotted a stranded motorist or someone else who needed help.
Turned out the trooper didn’t see anyone — or anything.
"The State Patrol cannot confirm the existence of Bigfoot,’’ Thomas said, "because we didn’t find him."
