YEAR: 1994

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Snohomish County

LOCATION DETAILS: Heading east out of Gold Bar towards Stevens Pass turned left onto paved road which was to take us to a lake in the mountains. not sure exactly how far back we were, at least a few miles

NEAREST TOWN: Gold Bar

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 2

OBSERVED: It was in mid-late April 1994 when my 7 year old son and I went to find a fishing lake we had heard about in the mountains north of Gold Bar. Being a new residence to Washington at the time I had no knowledge of any ape-like creatures in the woods. I can remember it was an early Wednesday morning and heavy overcast with snow still clinging to the shaded areas. We ended up first on a black-top road which gave way to gravel that became extremely narrow and twisting as we climbed higher into the mountains.

With my son grumbling and my dog needing to lift a leg along with me being not sure we were even on the right road I decided to turn around and go back to let him drop his line in a stream we passed by. Parking the car we proceed to walk a ways downstream some 150-200 yards. With our dog out ahead I had my hands full half carrying my son and equipment through the brush. It was when stream made a sharp turn that I first caught wind of a foul smell, a bad odor which is hard to explain. At about the same moment our dog came whimpering back all nervous acting and hanging under my feet.

I looked in the direction which the dog just came and by my estimates no more than 30-35 yards away was "something" hunched down and apparently ripping apart the carcus of an animal. It was hairy and extremely large. Upon seeing us it rose and looked right at us. It did not show fear and for the life of me I don't remember seeing its eyes, yet my son who was starting to cry kept saying "look at its eyes". Dropping everything except my son I made a hasty retreat back towards the car. We could not have made more than 20 feet when it let out a scream that to this day still sends chills through me. I have never heard anything or want to hear anything like it again. I have never been one to get overly jarred about things but that encounter unnerved me. I thought for sure we were going to be attacked. It made several of these screams and once atop a little ridge I looked back and could still see it standing there near the water. Except to my wife, I have never told this story to any one. Needless to say we never again went fishing in Washington

ALSO NOTICED: smell

OTHER WITNESSES: 6 yr. old son

TIME AND CONDITIONS: approx. 0600-0645, overcast, cool weather, raining off and on

ENVIRONMENT: parked just off gravel road, walked a couple hundred yards down towards stream. trees had been cut some years before new growth. bigger trees near stream

Follow-up investigation report:

The witness, John, in a telephone interview was able to give more detail of what he observed.

John grew up in the tropics and had heard of bigfoot, but had no interest in the subject. John surfed, dove and fished in the ocean in the tropics and was developing an interest in fresh water fishing once he moved to the Seattle area. He was looking for a lake he had heard about from a friend that was supposed to be an excellent fishing spot. It turned out to be harder to find than he had anticipated so he stopped by one of the streams he had crossed.

As John and his son approached the stream, his cocker spaniel came slinking back to him. By the stream he saw what he thought was a "big man" that was squatting. The color was grayish with some brown. When the animal saw him, it stood up from its hunched position and straightened. John was amazed at the size of the animal. He estimated the height to be a little over 7 feet. John has been courtside at professional basketball games and said the size of the creature was similar to the biggest ball players. The animal had long hair dangling off its arms and the same long hair covering its torso. John said he remembers seeing that the hands of the sasquatch were red with what he assumed to be blood & that it looked like it was pulling at the skin of a dead animal when he came upon it. John's impression was that he was in the animal's territory and that it was "standing its ground." He said he felt threatened.

At the sight of this, John fell backward, hurting his leg. He and his son beat a hasty retreat back to his car - without his fishing gear. The animal then proceeded to scream at John, which he described as a shrill and piercing sound. John grew up in the out of doors, but after this incident he was "bothered for weeks."

John had previously been in the woods near Gold Bar when everything went deathly quiet. He said it distinctly reminded him of when he was diving in the tropics. John said that when a shark comes near, all the marine life departs the area or hides and there is no question that an apex predator has entered the scene.