Geographical Index > United States > Montana > Lincoln County > Report # 10260
(Class B)
Submitted by witness on Friday, January 14, 2005.
Four climbers report repeated vocalizations
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YEAR: 1978
SEASON: Summer MONTH: July DATE: 4 STATE: Montana COUNTY: Lincoln County LOCATION DETAILS: Go east from Libby Mt. city center on Hwy. 2
Turn south on Golf Course Road and follow Granite Creek Road 6 miles to Lukens-Hazel Mine.
Turn right, proceed to Old Mine-owners cabinHorse Cree NEAREST TOWN: Libby Montana NEAREST ROAD: Granite Creek Road OBSERVED: Four friends and I were climbing in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness of N.W. Montana on
4th of July weekend of 1978. After making basecamp at 6500 ft. on Mt. Snowy, we built a fire and proceded to watch the fireworks 10 miles away in Libby.
A call(scream) began and rose and fell over the length of about 10 seconds that silenced all
5 of us and everything in that forest. The hair on my neck stood up. Then it repeated. A few minutes later, we heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the ridge above us. Starting like the growl of a bear, it rose slowly in pitch and strength over the 10 seconds until it peaked in a howling high-pitched scream.
A survey was taken and no answers were to be found as to its origin.
The next day, we summited and on the descent
we discovered a cave only about 15 feet deep and lined with dead pine needles.
No discussion was ever made by any of our party until a few years ago.
Last summer while car camping with my son not far from the first incident, we heard rocks being
pounded together just after dusk. It went on all
night and even the next morning before we could get out of bed. I looked around and couldn't even find the rocks they had been using. The dog barked when the rocks were being used, but wouldn't go to investigate. OTHER WITNESSES: My son, Ryan, was sleeping that night but the next morning he heard the rocks being used. TIME AND CONDITIONS: 10pm to 8am
very dark no moon
cool and slightly overcast ENVIRONMENT: Horse Creek drainage just above confluence with Granite Creek. Thick creek bottom with ferns,
devil's clubs, aspen and cedar.
Follow-up investigation report:
The phone interview with the witness (in April of 2005), occured nearly 27 years after the 1978 incident. The witness was quite surprised to hear directly from me. Upon relating the incident to me, the memories of the event flowed freely and accurately from the witness. I found him to be an articulate and intelligent individual, and believe him and his story to be credible.
The witness and four friends were camped at the foot of Mt. Snowy in northwestern Montana, just SW of the town of Libby. The four men were planning to climb and summit Mt. Snowy the following morning. Sometime between 12:00 AM and 1:00 AM, they were sitting around the campfire swapping stories and telling jokes. Suddenly, from beyond the ridge behind them (to the west), a long sound began and lasted between 8-12 seconds in duration. The vocalization began as a "very low growl, and progressively got higher in pitch, to a real high whine, then fell back down" in pitch. The witness described his reaction to the beginning of the call as thinking it was a bear. But, he had to quickly change his thought to that of a cougar as the pitch rose. However, he had to adjust his thoughts again to that of an elk as it reached a much higher range. After hearing the full length and range of the call, the men agreed it was not from any of these animals. The vocalization occured four to five times at 10-15 minutes intervals over the course of the next 90 minutes. The calls seemed to emanate further from the camp each time it was heard, as if the animal making the calls was moving away from the men. The initial vocalization began on top of a ridge on which the four men had been walking earlier that day.
The four witnesses were perplexed as to what could possibly be making the sound. All four men were experienced "woodsmen" and had spent countless hours in the forests, being familiar with most sounds emanating from the wilderness. The terrain surrounding this area is quite remote, "very brushy" with heavy pine forest, and even too thick to allow horses to travel through. The witness was sure there were no other people anywhere near this area at the time of the incident. The next morning the four men searched the area for signs of any animal but found none. There was no snow, nor was the ground wet to allow any quality tracking to occur.
In the years following the event, the four men seemingly chose not to discuss the incident. This unspoken idea continues to this day. It was only after seeing a television show about bigfoot that the witness chose to investigate the subject online, thus leading him to the BFRO website, and his subsequent report submission.
Note: An additional unusual experience had by the same witness and his son occured in the same vicinity as the initial incident. The witness described the "distinct sound of rocks being banged together" while camping in August of 2004. He claimed the sound continued through most of the night. The witness does not claim to know what could have made these particular sounds, only that he wanted to report it and that it was clearly recognizable as rocks being struck together.
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