YEAR: 2002

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: eight

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Josephine County

LOCATION DETAILS: Redwood Hwy to Helms Road

NEAREST TOWN: Grants Pass

NEAREST ROAD: Redwood Highway

OBSERVED: I am 16 years of age,and it is 4:27 and about an hour ago i was mowing a friend of the familys lawn and kept noticeing these rocks being thrown at me and so i thought that the weed eater was hitting these rocks and didn't think much and it, well about two mins later i could smell this awful B.O smell and thinking i must really have bad B.O, so i checked and i couldn't smell anything and the rocks started to come back at me again but this time i could hear laughter but like a retarded person so i keep looking around to see if anyone was around messing with me, AND NOBODY WAS THERE so i just kept mowing and smelling that awful smell and then the rocks started being thrown at me and i looked over in the woods and trees and saw this huge creature behind a tree and my hair went strait up on end and i ran like a bat out of hell and when i got to the door i looked back and it was running through the trees and the trees and bushes were moving fast like in Jurassic Park and i know it wasn't a bear it was too tall and no bear can run that fast on two legs if they can run on two legs at all. it was about 8 to 9 ft. tall. 6/8/02

OTHER WITNESSES: just me

OTHER STORIES: just my dad had a similar experience at the same area but didn't see anything. owners always feel someone is watching them.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: it was about 3:30 pm and it was cloudy and sunny off and on. lots of brush and trees.

ENVIRONMENT: out in the woods near by river is the applegate river.

Follow-up investigation report:

J.W. was using a heavy-duty brush cutter on some overgrown areas of the yard. The rocks thrown at him were six to eight inches in diameter and initally, the only explanation he could come up with was that the cutter was kicking them up.

J.W got a close enough look at the animal to note that it was not a bear. The legs were long and muscular, though not bulky. The arms were long and anatomically positioned to the animal's sides. Overall hair color was brownish-gray, long and shaggy.

The rocks thrown at him were six to eight inches in diameter.