YEAR: 1990

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 27

PROVINCE: Ontario

COUNTRY: Canada

NEAREST TOWN: Red Lake

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 105 & Dixie Lake Rd

OBSERVED: I lived in small mining community called Red Lake Ontario for a few years. One day in the fall of 1990 I saw something that I can't quite explain when I was hunting moose with a friend of mine. I have tried to rationalize what I was looking at on that day and I just can't explain it. I must also say, I have only told 4 other people on the planet this story for obvious reasons. Only my closest friends, who know that of course I'm not crazy, and my father have heard this story and believe what I saw.

We had driven into a trail that I had not been on before from a road that we hunted regularly. The main road was called Dixie Lake Rd. I don't know if the trail has a proper name or not. I doubt it as there are hundreds of side roads and trails out there. My friend had told me that he had been on this trail a few times and had spotted a big bull one day earlier that summer, and he said he also saw several birds (partridge - sharp-tails and ruffled grouse) when ever he rode this trail.

As a kid we would go blueberry/raspberry/Saskatoon berry picking with my family up there. As I got older my friends and I hunted this road all of the time. I had been on this road many times throughout my life, but this was the first time I had ever ventured on this particular side trail.

We were about 2 km up the trail from the main road when my friend slowed his bike (4-wheeler,ATV, or quad) down. I pulled along side of him and he said this was the area that he saw the bull a couple of months prior. I told him I was going to stop and have a snack on this straight stretch of trail (I
had packed a lunch that was in my back-pack). He said he was going to ride on ahead to the end of the trail (which he said was only about another kilometer or so further) and scout the area and look for any signs of moose. He rode ahead and I pulled to the side of the trail and turned off my bike and took off my helmet. I opened my pack and grabbed a sandwich and a pop and started snacking.

My friend rode off ahead toward the end of the trail. He was still close enough that I could hear his bike revving in the distance. I could see about 200m up the trail and about 50-75m back down the trail from where we came in. I suddenly heard some
noise up ahead about 75-100m to the right of the trail. This was right where my friend had just ridden past not more that 2 minutes prior. The sound was brush moving and I could even make out what sounded to me like the thud of footsteps over the sound of my friend's bike in the distance.

At this time I stood up, put my sandwich down on the seat of my bike, and started retrieving my 30.06 from the case stored on the back of my quad's rack. All the time I was keeping an eye on the area I was hearing the noise from. I had my gun's case open and I was just about to pick up my rifle when for no real reason I just kind of froze and waited and watched. I fully expected to see a moose or a bear come out of the bush on the side of the road. I knew by the commotion that it was going to be a fair sized animal. I
remember thinking to myself "just wait to see what it is before you pick up your gun". Suddenly the noises stopped completely and about 5 seconds later I saw it.

Initially I thought what I was seeing was another hunter. That feeling soon went away. It was definitely human-looking, but not quite. I'll always remember my initial reaction. I instantly said to myself "this jack-ass is going to get himself blown away walking through the woods dressed in black like that". Within about 2 seconds I realized I could not possibly be looking at a man. Whatever this was took a couple of steps out from the bush on to my right
onto the main trail, stopped, and looked away from me towards the area my friend had just ridden to. All I remember seeing was a massive back, very muscular arms, a little point of a head from behind and wispy black hair swaying in the breeze off of the arms. I knew for sure at this point I was not looking at a bear on its hind legs, nor was it a moose, or a man.

It then turned in my direction and looked right at me. It almost looked surprised to see me. I remember feeling a "chill" for lack of a better word coming over me and really realizing that what I was seeing was absolutely extraordinary. Amazingly enough I still did not have my gun in my hands, the case was open and it was just sitting there on the back of my bike. I was in absolute awe at what I was looking at. The creature kind of sniffed then cocked its head back, gave a couple of more sniffs and then sort of a grunt. It then calmly turned in the direction it was originally going and stepped down into the ditch, then across the little blueberry meadow and
into the thick bush, all the time walking on 2 legs making no noise
whatsoever.

I remember trying to rationalize what I was seeing, saying to myself "This has got to be some crazy old Indian who is like homeless or something living in the bush". But nothing I could say to myself or was making sense. For starters it was at least 7 feet tall. It
was covered in fine wispy black or dark brown hair 2 to 3 inches long except for its face and palms. It was muscle on muscle. I had never seen anything so powerful looking. It looked like a football player in full equipment but it didn't have that v-shape to its torso, more square and "blocky" looking. It was at the very least 400lbs but I would not be surprised if it weighed as much as 600lbs.

It was at least as heavy as the biggest black bear I have seen. I
wasn't a small kid either (6ft 200lbs) and this thing would make me look like a dwarf.

Only after it left the area is when I got this kind of scared feeling like I don't believe whatever this thing was is completely gone. It wasn't really a rational feeling as the animal I saw made no threatening movements or anything, and I had a 30.06, but I was still frightened and felt just plain weird. I then picked up my gun and started walking very cautiously up the trail towards where I saw it go into the bush never taking my eyes off of that spot. I got up to the area and just stood in the middle of the trail staring at the point where I last saw it and waited for my friend to return.

Finally after about 4 or 5 minutes I heard his bike getting louder (closer). He crested the hill about 100m from me and drove towards me. He stopped about 5 feet away from me and immediately asked me what was wrong and what
did I see. He later told me he thought I had seen or shot at a moose. I asked him if he had seen anything weird in the last few minutes. He told me no not at all. I then said I thought I saw some crazy old homeless guy. I said it kind of nervously laughing. We both kind of chuckled about it but then he asked me if I was serious. I told him yes and proceeded to tell him exactly what I saw only after swearing him to secrecy. He was a good friend and I knew not only could I trust him, but he would probably believe me.

We both agreed what I saw could not have been a naked guy running through the forest at that time of year. It was late October and the temperature was around 0C-5C. Anyone without clothes on would probably be frozen to death in a matter of hours. What struck me as odd though is the way this creature's hair was. It was wispy and not really thick or warm looking like that of a bear or moose. You could see patches of skin through the hair. It certainly didn't look like it was adequate protection against the severely cold winters that we get up there. -40C is
not uncommon throughout Jan-Feb.

I just have a hard time believing that whatever I saw could survive those extreme temps. And also the fact that we were miles from any town or campground, and there was no other vehicles on
the road or on any of the trails.

We got to Dixie Lake Rd at about 6:15am parked the truck about 20kms in and got the bikes out of the back of the truck and started riding soon after. This incident happened at about 7:30-8:00am
and we know for a fact that we were the only ones up there that morning. Even when we left for the day right after this incident there were no other vehicles parked there or driving in.

After discussing several scenarios and trying to figure out what was going on, my friend then shut off his bike and got off of it and we decided look for signs or tracks. There was a light dusting of snow on the cold ground, not even a half centimeter and it was mostly blowing around and not sticking to the surface
of the ground. We could make out some marks on the ground where something had obviously passed but nothing definitive. About 1 minute into our search for tracks we were on the side of the trail where I had seen the creature last. We were about 10 feet off the trail in the blueberry meadow. Suddenly we heard one single very loud bang coming from the area behind the tree line
where I last saw the creature. It sounded like someone smoked a tree with a baseball bat. My friend and I quickly looked at each other as if to say to each other "Did you do that?" or "Did you just throw a rock into the bush when I wasn't looking?" After that look we both realized the noise was not made by either one of us we took off. I just ran the 100m back to my bike in about 15seconds with a rifle in my hand and full hunting gear on.

By the time I reached my bike my friend had already jumped back on his quad started it and raced down beside my bike just as I got there by foot. He kept telling me to hurry up and he kept looking over his shoulder. I put my gun back in the case, knocked the pop and sandwich off my seat, threw my helmet on without the strap and started my quad and turned around and followed my
friend out of there at speeds that weren't exactly safe. We got back to his truck and loaded the quads. When we got back to my place my friend and I told the story to my father. Since that day I have only discussed it with my father 3 or 4 times and the same goes for the friend who was with me. The story you have just read is
100% accurate and truthful and not embellished in any way. The events described are exactly how they happened. I sincerely don't care if whoever reads this believes my story or not. I saw what I saw. I do not want to draw any attention to myself. This is the
reason why I haven't reported this or told anyone but a couple of my closest friends and my dad in 15 years. I hope this in someway helps you.

ALSO NOTICED: It seemed to be extremely quiet when I was sitting having a snack on my quad until I heard the animal approaching. The only sound I could here was my friends quad way off in the distance, no bird noises etc. Just eerily calm.

OTHER WITNESSES: 1 who did not see the creature but heard noises afterwards.

OTHER STORIES: Never.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Morning, complete daylight, mostly sunny with only a few clouds in the sky. Crisp and cool, 0 to -5 degrees Celcius. Slight breeze no more than 15km/h if that.

ENVIRONMENT: Side trail off of main road (Dixie Lake Rd) mostly jack pines and spruce with a few poplar and birch. Many meadows in the area with wild berries. A lot of flat bedrock areas exposed in the area. Some small marshes and ponds and a river to the north of Dixie Lake Rd that runs as long as the road goes or longer as far as I know.

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness over the phone and found him to be very credible. He added a few more important details:

Speculation: The animal must have hid itself when both the witness and his friend rode their ATV's into the area. It then came out into the open when it thought they had left. It probably heard the friend ride out of the area and did not know that one of the two guys was still there.

The witness distinctly remembers that it made a tremendous amount of noise coming out of the bush when it thought that they were gone. Once it spotted the witness it left making no sound at all.

At no time did the witness notice any smell. He viewed it for about 20 - 30 seconds. When it saw the witness it tilted its head slightly backwards and took a few sniffs of the air and then let out a loud grunt. It then calmly turned around and walked through a blueberry patch towards the thicket. As it approached the thicket it turned once more to look at the witness. Apparently when it stepped with it's right foot forward it turned it's body and head to the left to glance at the witness before using it's right hand, with a thumbs down grip, to grasp a poplar tree and pull itself up an embankment. It then disappeared into the thicket.

Later, when the witnesses friend came back, they both tried to track the creature. The ground was too hard for tracks, however, there was an obvious trail with regards to disturbed bushes and scuff marks. They both heard a loud "crack" which the witness describes like "a baseball bat hitting wood very hard". At this point both the witness and his friend became afraid and fled the area immediately.