We assume Bigfoot crossed the road to get to the other side, as the old joke goes, but with the enigmatic hominid, nobody knows for sure. Here's what we do know: On June 22, 2009, at around 6:30 p.m., a 19-year-old college student was driving on a curvy back road near Rhinebeck, N.Y., on the way to a rehearsal at a nearby performing arts center, according to the BFRO report. As he swerved to miss an object on the road — a shopping bag containing, oddly, an open cereal box and a small log — he glanced in his rearview mirror and saw someone or something darting behind his car, apparently to retrieve the bag.

A moment later, the student stopped and turned his car around, and got a three-to-four second glimpse of "something walking on two feet" about 50 feet (15.24 meters) away. He described the creature, which he saw from the rear and side profile, as being between 7 and 7.5 feet (2.1 and 2.2 meters) tall, covered with black hair, and possessing broad, muscular shoulders with arms that swung in an exaggerated fashion and palms that faced upwards. The witness recalled that he felt "nervous, confused, and excited at the same time" during his brief encounter.