YEAR: 1982

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: June

DATE: 4

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Grays Harbor County

LOCATION DETAILS: Now called Gravatt Road, off of the Mox-Chehalis Road. At the time there was an empty field surrounded by a maturing second growth forest. The field was about a 1/3 mile off of the Mox-Chehalis, on the left side after the first hill climb.

NEAREST TOWN: Elma or McCleary

NEAREST ROAD: Now known as the Mox-Chehalis Road

OBSERVED: On the night I graduated (Elma High School, 1982), my friend Greg and I had talked a large portion of our classmates into camping in a large field in which Greg and I, while "predator hunting" with a predator call, had had some very unusual experiences the year or two prior.

To liven things up a bit, and perhaps scare a few people, he and I had decided that I would sneak to the field on foot, unbeknownst to our classmates, and give a few blows on the call, which mimics a dying rabbit, while he would tell "sasquatch" stories.

After sneaking into position, it was dark and about 10:00pm, I hid along the edge of the field and blew the call as loud as I could. After a few attempts at attracting attention and realizing that nobody could hear me over the loud music blasting, I was ready to go out and join the party when I heard a branch snap right directly behind me. Armed only with a flashlight, I turned around and shined it right directly into the face of a male sasquatch standing about 10 feet away! This creature did not act threateningly in any way, unless you count the fact that I could clearly see his teeth, I specifically remember the breadth of his chest, the smooth down, shorter, not longer hair, the funny shaped lump on top of his head (like a gorilla) and his arms/hands, which were holding some brush out of his way to see me. We stood there for perhaps five seconds before I decided to turn the flashlight off (not wanting to continue to shine it in his face and "upset" him) A moment after turning off the light I heard a noise, turned the light on and he was gone.

ALSO NOTICED: Two separate incidents in the 18 months prior, same location. First incident, after predator calling while remaining hidden, we heard a large animal run off on TWO legs after we stood up to go. Second, heard a loud screaming, similar to a cougar, but louder with more volume.

OTHER WITNESSES: None, and my friend Greg, despite our being sure we had heard sasquatch in the same area, never did believe my story.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, two sets of tracks reported to Sheriff, which he was taking cast prints of when I first went to the spot (somebody had reported a loud screaming behind their house) I took friends up to these tracks three times before they were gone, including a friend of our family who had cut timber from Northern California all the way to Yakutat, he had never seen anything like it. This incident I believe is the same one which you report in the Spring of 1982, at a place called Abbot Hill, which is only about 2.5 miles as the crow flies the field where I saw the sasquatch and we heard it prior to.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Approximately 10:00PM, A clear night. I had a flashlight.

ENVIRONMENT: A field surronded by mature second growth forest. Rural with some farms and quite a bit of merchantable sized forest left in the area.

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

I spoke with the witness on April 8, 2007 and have the following to add:

- During the encounter he was no more than “twelve feet away” from the creature.

- The animal appeared to be eight feet tall and “very heavy.” He noticed the chest was very massive and approx. 2 and ½ feet wide. It was his opinion that the creature was a male even though he could only see the figure from the waist up.

- The witness related that he could “see the pectoral muscles and chest clearly….it was a male.” He also noted that the hair was not long and was “smoothed-down.”

- Regarding the teeth, he went on to say it was almost as if the animal was grinning or smiling at him. That would be the best way to describe the position of the mouth.

- The closest animal he could compare it to was a gorilla, except the face wasn’t as flat and the head was “more elongated rather than wide, but there was a lump on top of its head like a primate….I remember that very clearly”.

- Despite his close proximity to the creature, he did not notice any unusual smell.

- He did not return to look for tracks or other evidence.

- On a previous occasion at this site, the witness encountered a very loud animal sound. He said he couldn’t quite classify the vocalization as a scream but he said whatever made it had tremendous volume and “lung power” to it.

Prior to concluding our interview the witness made reference to a footprint/track find in 1982 near Abbott Hill Road:

See Report #2599

According to the witness the prints found off Abbott Hill Road were only “a few miles as the crow flies from where we were predator calling”.

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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