Man Fires Gun in a Kentucky National Park After Claiming to See Bigfoot

A few campers in Kentucky got the scare of a lifetime this week when Bigfoot reportedly attacked their campsite, leading to a late-night shootout.

Yes, you read that sentence correctly.

According to reports, Madelyn Durand and her boyfriend Brad Ginn were camping in Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park when a man approached their tent in the middle of the night. Flustered, the man reportedly told the couple that Bigfoot made his way through their camp and destroyed a few tents.

"He said 'I hope you have weapons' and then he flashed his gun at us and was like 'I have this so if anything happens to you then just yell and I'll come,'" Durand told WBKO-TV. Durand added that the man was also accompanied by his young son.

The couple went back inside their tent. However, after just a few moments the couple heard gun shots. They called the police and decided to make the five-mile hike out of the campsite to meet park officials.

"Mammoth Cave Law Enforcement Rangers responded to an incident involving an individual with a firearm at one of the park's backcountry campsites at approximately 2 a.m on Sunday, July 28,” Molly Schroer, a spokesperson for the park, told the Courier Journal. "Park rangers made contact with all parties involved and no injuries occurred."

According to Schroer, the man was within his legal rights to have his gun within the park boundaries. However, discharging a weapon in the park is “strictly prohibited.”

But, the couple explained they didn’t care that the man had a gun, or even that he thought he was shooting a mythical creature, merely the fact that he shot into “total darkness.”

"We saw the flash from his gun, and he shot maybe 20 yards from the side of our tent into the pitch-black darkness,” Durand said.

While it may seem far-fetched that the man saw Bigfoot, he wouldn’t be alone in thinking he had. As USA Today noted, the Kentucky Bigfoot Research Organization reports there have been about 400 alleged Bigfoot sightings in Kentucky over the years. So, maybe this guy really did save this couple, or maybe he just saw a really big animal. Either way, probably a good idea to scare it off, but maybe next time he can do so with loud noises rather than using a deadly weapon.