YEAR: 2014

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 11/16/2014

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Pierce County

LOCATION DETAILS: I live on a semi secluded property next to a green belt that runs all the way to Mt. Rainier. Very often have deer and elk on or around the property.

NEAREST TOWN: Buckley

NEAREST ROAD: Sumner Buckley Highway

OBSERVED: I was awake and laying in bed with the window open at around sunrise. I heard two wood knocks that sounded very close in the nearby forest followed immediately by a more distant howl. It was a very deep howl. It sounded like a large animal. I have heard elk bugles and this was not what I heard. I have also heard coyotes from here so I am familiar to what they sound like. The sound seemed too deep and guttural to be from a man or any other familiar animal.

OTHER WITNESSES: no other witnesses

OTHER STORIES: Other family members claim to have heard odd howls at night.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: early morning just about sunrise. The weather was clear and cold.

ENVIRONMENT: The green belt is a pine and cedar forest that follows the White River up to the Cascade mountains

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Christina Helton:

Spoke to the witness via phone. He heard two wood knocks very close to his residence; followed by a howl in the distance. He immediately got up and closed, then locked his window.

Witness describes wood knocks as an echoing, hollowed sound. States the vocalization he heard was more of a whoop that bellowed and echoed as well. Did not hear any further noises as he closed the window. Witness did not go out in daylight to investigate for any physical/tangible signs of what may have caused these sounds.

He has lived in the Buckley area for >30yrs; and has been an avid hunter, fisher, and camper for >40yrs. He states he is able to discern different animal calls, howls, and growls related to his outdoor/hunter experience. And this whoop was a sound he had never heard before.

This region has the White River running through it. Heavily forested and with adequate food supplies, running the northern side of Rainier.

About BFRO Investigator Christina Helton:

>30yrs. as nurse. Attended numerous BFRO expeditions in WA, MT, OR. Became interested in 5th grade when my teacher told a story of when she was around 12 and went hunting w/her dad in Colorado. She saw something a way in the distance from up in her stand. When she raised her rifle and looked at it through the scope, she saw how "humanish this thing looked".

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