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Geographical Index > United States > Washington > Jefferson County > Report # 40378
 
Report # 40378  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Friday, March 15, 2013.
Fishermen recount having large rocks thrown at them while fishing Steelhead on the Duckabush River

YEAR: 1982

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 23rd

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Jefferson County

LOCATION DETAILS: Near the mouth of a creek, approx four miles above hwy 101. There are two small houses nearby, down a dirt road, the only way into this spot. There is an old abandoned fish hatchery from the 30s there.

NEAREST TOWN: Brinnon, WA

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 101

OBSERVED: Here is something I've wanted to tell for years, but frankly my professional career as a writer would be in question, here it is... my-self and two lifelong friends were fishing at night on the Duckabush River in a canyon on the Olympic Peninsula. We were a quarter mile from the road, it was 1 am and we were standing on a large log, all three of us a few feet apart, casting. The river is approx. 100 feet across, the other side very steep, devils club, etc, going up into wilderness of the O.N.P. (Olympic National Park). The river erupted ten feet in front of us, a thunderous crack and then a soaking, knocking over one of our three lanterns. We each though one of us did it, then two more close together, "crack-crack", wall of water, soaking us. Then in the dim lantern light comes two watermelon sized rocks (how far could you throw one??) from the other side, two more thunderous splashes. My friend Mark said "Look across the river!! What the @@#$ is that!! With just enough light we could see two huge figures standing on the ledge rock on the other side, swaying back and forth, eyes glowing turquoise green in the lantern light. The river was high and uncross-able from rainfall.
We ran like hell, blindly down the thin fishing path downstream to one of the few gravel bars in the area. The instant we popped out on the bar, another huge rock lands in the water a few feet away.
We ran out frightened to death, dove into my friends’ truck and sped home; we never spoke of this for years. It was the most scared I've ever been, my friend had just got out of the Navy, he was a bad a** and he was frozen in his tracks scared. This was January 23rd, 1982. You never forget the day this @#$% happens.

ALSO NOTICED: We have fished there dozens of times during the daytime, and we have on several occasions smelled "wet dog/cardboard/sourish" strong smell in the same area. Ask Mark what happened when he returned to the same area with a non-believer that June 1st at night, shortly after midnight (The time rivers opening day) The rocks started again, they ran the heck out! They did not see anything, just the rocks being thrown from the other side.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three of us, my lifelong friends from Bremerton. We were fishing the river, casting glowing lures for steel-head, standing a few feet apart on a huge downed log on the river bank.

OTHER STORIES: No, but my friend and I have heard howling, not coyotes but a long, guttural howl many mornings while upstream in the canyon proper while hiking and fishing summer steelhead in June and July. Freaky.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: one am, dark as could be, overcast and rainy

ENVIRONMENT: Olympic national rain forest, bottom of where the Duckabush River canyoun begins to open up into river bottom. The river is now closed to fishing. It occured at the bottom of a very long, step hillside across the river.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Ghee Bouche':

Bill noted that the figures were very large and appeared to be swaying back and forth after the first set of rocks landed in front of the group. He estimated that the rocks they were throwing were the size of watermelons as they saw several thrown through the air at them. As the first set of rocks hit in front of them and they noticed that there were figures on the other side of the river, they began to yell at the dark individuals to stop throwing the rocks. Initially believing they were a couple of men (people). One of the subjects then turned and threw another rock, as Bill recounted, seeing the individual turn, whipping its body around. He noted that their eyes reflected an aquatic green color in the lantern light after they placed the lanterns behind themselves to get a closer look at the figures. Bill physically showed us the location in the daylight, yet stipulated that he would not return to the location at night. The location is a spawning ground for a variety of salmon species and upon reaching the river we noted that there were well over one hundred salmon swimming in front of us, which were mixes of Kings, Coho, Pink and Chum. A small team of us went that night to the road directly above the incident and camped. When it was roughly 12am we walked the road without lights to make ourselves more approachable. We noted that we were not alone as we slowly made our way up the forest service road in the inky darkness. We could hear walking and movement in the forest at one point and we all stopped to listen. It was unclear exactly what was walking around us, however the habitat we were in, and where the incident took place, is a prime location for their existence to flourish. In recounting the experience, Bill remarked that their group was so frightened that they ran the entire distance back to their vehicle, which I estimated was roughly half a mile.


About BFRO Investigator Ghee Bouche':

An avid back country hiker and outdoors man, Ghee Bouche' has experienced Sasquatch behavior and worked with expeditions in the northwest to collect data on this species for their future protection and increased cultural awareness. He is the author of "The Night Tribe" and co-lead in the 2013 BFRO expedition of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.