YEAR: 1977

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Thurston County

LOCATION DETAILS: In an area... called The Bald Hills, near The Deschutes Falls Park. This area is between the Southwest corner of Mt. Rainier park and the town of Yelm.

NEAREST TOWN: Yelm

OBSERVED: I will break these down into the three events, divided by the types of events. The first two are from hearing screams at night. The third is a brief sighting.

I was at the edge of a field, about a mile down the road from my grandparents' house. I had ridden my motorcycle down to a small pond by the edge of the road, where I was looking to see if I could find any frogs or salamanders. I was walking slowly around the pond again and again. I heard a loud cracking sound coming from the treeline on the other side of the field, about 100 yards away. I turned to see, very quickly, a very large dark brown shaggy form tearing-down a branch as it turned and almost instantly disappeared into the treeline. The creature I saw was on the other side of a mound, so I could not see it's legs, but it looked to be around seven feet tall. I had a strange feeling of being watched. However, I did not have the sense of being threatened, though I did get the feeling that it wanted me to know it was there, as it was likely watching me for sometime before breaking down the branch. I decided to get on my motorcycle and head for the house.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing unusual at the time. I was 12 or 13 and really didn't want to look into something that was that large. At other times, I have smelled a rotting stench coming from the swampy area, but usually I take the "logical" explanation and think that it was a dead rotting animal of some kind.

OTHER WITNESSES: Quietly walking around a pond, looking for frogs.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: This took place sometime in the afternoon.

ENVIRONMENT: I was by a pond at the North end of an open field, just by the roadway. The creature was on the South side of the field, just in the treeline of a dense forest. There is a swamp to the West of this field and the Deschutes River is just a few hundred feet South of where the creature had been.

A & G References: Pg. 47, B5