had heard that some "bigfoot researchers" were parked on Clark Road and he was curious about our findings⁽¹⁾. We told officer Jones what we knew about the incident. During our conversation we learned that Jones also worked with Officer DiPietro. Jones told us that DiPietro was being hounded by the press and was keeping a low profile. However, we still asked Officer Jones if he would tell DiPietro that we needed to speak with him. Jones agreed to our request and drove away. At 3:00 PM we left the site.

As with many news stories that suggest something paranormal, suspicions were voiced that the whole affair was a hoax. With this possibility in mind, this writer called Baltimore Sun newspaper reporter, Laura Barnhardt. Ms. Barnhardt works the Anne Arundel County bureau of the Sun and was the reporter who covered the first story published on the Arundel Mills "creature" incident⁽²⁾. The purpose in talking with her was to explore the possibility of the Sun being contacted by the construction workers in an effort to generate publicity. Though Barnhardt would not reveal her source for the story, she did state that the workers did not inform her. In fact, she admitted that she never had the opportunity to speak with them at all.

On the evenings of Thursday, August 4^th and Friday, August 5^th, we continued nightly vigils of the area from 9:00 PM until 3:00 AM, while equiped with cameras, parabolic microphones, tape recorders, and a starlight scope. Unfortunately, this dedication yielded very little reward. Thursday night was uneventful except for a visit paid to us by one of the site security officers. This gentleman, an older fellow whom we had not met before, upon seeing our arrival on Clark Road, took the time to drive from the site to our position and deliver the very stern warning that if he saw any of us on the construction site property he would arrest us. Needless to say, for the remainder of the evening we were on our best behavior.

On Friday evening we were again joined by Frank Porter and his friends from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With the aid of flashlights, they made two excursions into the western edge of the site but had little to report upon returning. However, around 1:00 AM, as we surveyed the western end of the construction site with powerful floodlights from Clark Road, we detected the curious yellow-green eyeglow of some animals in the distance. With the aid of a starlight scope we were able to resolve them as young deer. A short time later a fox was spotted in the same vicinity.

On the morning of Saturday, August 5, 2000, Enigma Project investigator Tim Arcilesi spent 3 hours hiking through the woods on the western end of the Arundel Mills construction site. During that time he discovered several trails (actually remnants of an old road) that could afford passage through the woods that otherwise would be massive tangles of thorny Bull Briar and dense ground shrubs. In the areas he explored, no specific evidence was found that would support the claims made by the construction workers or Officer DiPietro. However, for the sake of thoroughness, the following photo-documentation is offered. See figures 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8.

1. Due to a minor union dispute, theft of construction materials, and the media event of the sighting itself, Arundel Mills had enlisted the aid of a number of off-duty Anne Arundel County policemen to provide round-the-clock security for the construction site.

2. Barnhardt, Laura, Baltimore Sun, "Policeman, workers track roaming, 12-foot creature," 8/1/2000.

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