YEAR: 1984

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: King County

LOCATION DETAILS: Logging road that connects the county road with the Weyerhauser haul road from the watershed.

NEAREST TOWN: Cumberland

NEAREST ROAD: Palmer-Cumberland road

OBSERVED: We were walking (my hunting partner and I) down the road trying to spot a grouse that we had just seen fly from the area of the swamp to the timber across the road from it. We were standing on the north side of the road looking up in the trees and trying to figure how to get off the road in the dense underbrush to get a shot at the grouse. I got a funny fealing that something was watching us and could smell a strong smell kinda like a wet elk. (That season was open too and that was basically why we were hunting). I turned around and walked to the other side of the road away from Joe and looked in at the swamp.

I didn't see anything at first, then I saw something very big move. It looked like the back of a bull elk so I spun around and gave a loud whisper to my partner (ELK)! By the time he walked the half dozen steps or so from where he was, to me the thing had stood up. I know it heard me even though I know I was pretty quiet. It scared the heel out of me when it did this. I knew right there and then it wasn't an elk.

As it stood up, it came from a position from squating between it's legs to a full stance. Just then he saw it and remarked to me, "what the hell is that thing"? I said you ain't gonna believe this but that is a Bigfoot. He was worried about our safety and said, should we shoot it? Can we kill it? I said I don't think we should, we might get in big trouble with the law and he had been there before.

So we watched it for a few minutes. It was very warry of us and kept rocking back and forth nervously. If we made any movements it would duck it's head a few inches and stare at us. He was worried about it attacking us. It made a posturing movement like it meant business so I said let's shoot into the road and see if we can scare it off, so we did and it did. It took off like a bat outta hell in the direction away fro us. He said, ain't nobody in hell gonna believe us, they'll lock us up in the nutt house if we do. We agreed right there and then to stay silent. This happened in the mid 1980's and I haven't said anything about it to anyone but the wife and kids and a few people I trust.

ALSO NOTICED: It made no noise except a grunt like a big ape and a kinda squeel when it took off. The animal, and I am sure these things are animal and not human, was about eight feet tall or a little more. It probably weighed around 400 pounds. It had a grayish colored hair that was probably 12 inches in length all over its body. It had a blackish colored face with lots of hair and almost no neck at all. Its arms extended below it's knees and were very muscular.

When it took off, it used it's arms to propell it to speed and grabbed at the vine maples in front of it then swung them behind it as it took off. I think this was as a protective manuever to cover its back as it left. It had a small butt and ran like an ape. As for sex/ I would guess male. I didn't see any breasts. It had so much hair between its legs that I couldn't make out any sex organs.

In closing, I can honestly say that they scare me. The thing is as powerful as a big bull elk and could rip your arms off easily. And their color could hide them in any woods in the northwest easily. This is a very intellegent animal by its movements, its no wonder they can hide from man so easily. Their hearing is as good as a deer's. I don't know about their sense of smell. I have one other encounter and will add that also.

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes as described above.

OTHER STORIES: My son and I were prospecting on the top of a ridge on the south side of Lake Kachess three years ago when we came across Big Foot tracks in the snow.

We had driven to the end of the Box canyon rd. Which is off the Lake Kachess rd.(gated now). I wanted to explore the big slide area along an earthquake fault along that same ridge. The old road in that area is closed because of the slide so we walked across the slide area and beyond.

I had heard from a local resident that some bluish agates could be found just beyond the slide. We found them in some darkish colored rock then walked beyond to an old clear cut. There was still snow drifts in the timber at that time and we walked up along the timber. It was this area that I got spooked. I got a feeling something was watching us and looked around for tracks. Sure enough, about 50 ft. into the timber their were these big tracks. It spooked my son and he said what are those? I said, well it looks like you are seeing your first big Foot tracks.

I could tell that they were four to five days old because the snow was melting and the tracks didn't have sharp edges on them.You could see the toe marks though. I had a hard time believing this my self. So we followed them from the timber, across the old clearcut and into the timber on the other side.

At first I thought it was some clown with snow shoes in the shape of feet but after following that far I could tell from the depth of the tracks that this thing was heavy. I weigh almost 300 lbs. and i could not imprint the snow that far. The snow was pretty hard packed.

My son was getting real uneasy so we turned around and went home. I've been a hunter most of my life and this is the first time I've ever run onto tracks like these. They were at least 18 inches long. If you send me maps of the areas, I can mark the locations and send them back.

ENVIRONMENT: The animal was standing along the edge of a swamp, only 100 ft. from the road. We were in an area just above the powerline right-of-way. This area was next to a clear cut. There is a creek not far from here and a lot of old abandoned coal mines.

A & G References: Pg. 64, B1

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness last night. He was matter-of-fact, friendly, and relaxed. He redescribed his sighting and was able to add a few addition details about the animal he watched. He described the creature he saw as about 8 to 8 1/2 feet tall when it stood up, having a flat face, with little or no neck. It looked at them by turning its body, not just it's head. He saw no sign of sex organs as the lap of the animal was covered with fur. He observed a flat, negroid-like nose and large lips, a rounded (not pointy) head, blackish colored skin that was only visible in the face and hands. Eyes were black iris against white sclera.

The creature was very aware of his presence and kept its eyes on him while it was eating skunk cabbage roots. He observed some thumb dexterity as the creature was able to peel back the leafy material on the skunk cabbage to expose the fleshy root and then eat it. He could see the upper lip pull back when it ate and he saw a row of flat teeth in the front of the upper jaw. He could not see the back teeth. The creature fled when they raised their guns to fire them but it took off before they pulled the trigger to fire warning shots.

He decided to file his report after he had seen a segment on a Seattle TV station "news magazine" show which featured the recent efforts of author and wildlife biologist John Bindernagel. He felt that there was now greater acceptance of the Bigfoot phenomenon that he was no longer as sheepish as he used to be about reporting his experience. This is the most detailed set of behavior and appearance observation that I have seen lately. It provides very useful details about this elusive creature. The witness credited the hunter training he received from his father when I asked how he managed to maintain his composure and make detailed observations when most folks are running for their lives.

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