YEAR: 2005

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 12

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: King County

LOCATION DETAILS: Neighborhood is near Marymoor Park (640 acre county park), which is linked by sparsely populated, wooded areas to the Cascade foothills about 10 miles away.

NEAREST TOWN: Redmond

NEAREST ROAD: [Road specifics removed]

OBSERVED: I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep, when I heard an unusual sound from outside through my partly-opened window. It sounded like a cross between a person moaning, a dog howling, and a cat growling (the timbre was human-like and in human vocal range, it was a high-to-low pitch sound like a howl, and there was a hint of growliness underneath that sounded like an angry cat, but much larger). It sounded almost like someone moaning "booooooo". The "b" sound was faint, but definitely present. Each vocalization was about 5-6 seconds in length, with about 5 seconds between each. It didn't seem very loud, but it also was not faint.

I listened for several seconds, then got out of bed to peek out the window. My front yard is well-lit by a streetlight, but I didn't see anything. I have very bad eyesight, though, so after looking and listening for a minute and seeing nothing obvious, I went to get my glasses. I noticed my cat was staring at the window very intently, not moving. Normally when he hears a noise outside he will ignore it, glance over casually, or watch intently with his tail switching. He didn't move a muscle.

I looked out the window, through the blinds, with my glasses on but still saw nothing. Being very familiar with the noises of dogs, cats, and coyotes (howling, fighting, mating, growling, etc.), I was spooked when I could not place the sound. The next day I also looked up sounds for different types of owls, bears, and large cats--no matches.

I went to my parents' bedroom to wake up my mom. My bedroom is at the front of the house, and theirs is at the back (both on the 2nd floor). I was shocked to hear the noise just as clearly from their room, echoing around the neighborhood. From my room it just didn't seem that loud. This makes me wonder if whatever was making the noise was really at the front of the house, or if it was elsewhere in the neighborhood and the sound carried.

By the time I awakened my mom I had been hearing the sound for about 4-5 minutes, at fairly regular intervals of no more than 10 seconds. When she got up I told her to listen to the noise and asked her to come to my room (since I still thought the creature might be visible from my window). She went to the window and quickly pulled up the blinds and opened the window (which made quite a bit of racket). We saw nothing, and the noise immediately stopped. I never heard it again that night, or any night after.

It was somewhat simliar to the Mississippi recording. If my neighborhood were in a more sparsely populated area, I would probably be much more certain of the possibility that it was a sasquatch.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing

OTHER WITNESSES: My mom, whom I awakened to listen to the sound. Also my cat, if he counts as a witness.

OTHER STORIES: None in the immediate vicinity

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Late at night, 12 or 1am. Overcast, no wind, and cool (45-50 degrees). The neighborhood was well lit by several streetlights.

ENVIRONMENT: Suburb surrounded by patches of woods. Wildlife are occasionally seen in the area or within a few miles, including coyotes and deer (occasional), black bear (rare), and cougar (extremely rare). Trees are mostly Douglas fir, with some cedar, maple, and cottonwood. Many blackberry bushes. Nearby Marymoor Park has extensive grassy fields, a few cottonwood trees, and an extensive swampy area that is at the north end of Lake Sammammish.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator John G. Callender:

I spoke with the witness for approximately twenty minutes about the incident. She struck me as honest and sincere. She is not certain of the exact date she heard the howls, but she is positive that it was sometime during October 2005.

She described the sound as a “moaning howl” somewhat similar to the "Mississippi Howl". When I asked if it was possible that she could have mistaken the sound for that of a coyote, she was certain that what she heard was not a coyote as the sound was lower in pitch than that of a coyote. While she’s heard some low-pitched coyote howls, she believes that what she heard could not have been a coyote due to “the power behind it and the depth of the howl”.

Each howl lasted only five to ten seconds but the witness estimated that the animal vocalized close to thirty times in a ten minute period.

Her initial impression was that whatever was making the noise could have been as close as her front yard, but as she moved to another part of the house, she could hear the howls “echoing” around the neighborhood, so it was coming from much further away.

Despite the fact that the witness lives in a developed area, there are patches of woods bordering her neighborhood. While she finds it hard to believe that a sasquatch would travel into a relatively populated area such as her neighborhood, she did say that she has seen various types of wild animals, as well as their signs, around her neighborhood, due to its proximity to the Cascade Mountains.

About BFRO Investigator John G. Callender:

John Callender hails from Mississippi where he received a BA degree in Accounting from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). He spent 26 years in the Seattle area flying for a major airline before retiring and relocating to Middle Tennessee in 2017. John quickly found that he missed flying and he’s now on his second career as a pilot for a major airline. He has done extensive field work in the Pacific Northwest, as well as Mississippi and he has attended the following expeditions: WA - Oly Pen (Aug. '04); New Mexico (Jicarilla Apache SEP '04); WA - Oly Pen (October '04); CA - Redwoods (May '05); WA -Oly Pen -3, (AUG '05 ); WA Cascades Expedition (AUG '06); Central Oregon Expedition (JUNE '07), BC, Vancouver Island Expedition (SEPT 2007), WA Cascades Expedition (June '09), 2009 Washington Olympic Peninsula Expedition.

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