YEAR: 1992

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Mason County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was Division 17 near lot 27 down the hill by the lake. My parents no longer own the property but I do know a lot of homes have been built there since.

NEAREST TOWN: Hoodsport

NEAREST ROAD: Division17 lot 27 Lake Cushman properties

OBSERVED: When I was 16, I was at my parents' cabin near the Olympic National Park (Lake Kokanee). My friend Sean and I went down to the rope swing which was about 200 yards down hill from the house. We had decided to call it a day and were putting our shoes and shirts on for the short hike back up the hill. As we got ready to go, we could hear something approaching from the north of us. This all happened in a short period of time but it seemed like an eternity. Immediately we could tell it was on two feet; assuming that it was a person, I thought they were jumping from foot to foot. The strides were very far apart. I called out twice (who's there? who's there?). There was no reply. As it got closer I could hear branches breaking underfoot. Looking back, this thing was very large. The brush there is very dense, on the side of the hill, so we could not see what was coming. When it was no more than 40 yards away I could see it. It swept back a vine maple, and looked at us like it was surprised. It's very hard to explain but it looked like a person in a way. It was not as tall as I had heard that they were, maybe 7'0" at the most. It had very wide shoulders, and was very muscular. I did not smell a foul odor. Its face did look somewhat human - I think it's the way it looked at us. Anyway, almost as soon as we had seen it, we both turned and ran up the hill, grabbing branches to pull our way up. I never looked back but I thought I could hear it chasing us for a short distance.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing, and I never went down the hill again.

OTHER WITNESSES: Sean and I, swimming and playing on a rope swing.

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About noon

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest, very steep hill side, a lot of animal paths zig zag across the slope. Very dense brush from the thin trees, letting light to the forest floor (most the forest in the park is not like that).

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Dr. Wolf H. Fahrenbach:

The slope down to Lake Kokanee was extremely steep at this location, but evidently used by elk, since the witnesses used these elk trails to get to and from their swimming spot. The approaching steps of the animal were unusually solid sounding. It parted the last remaining bushes (vine maple thicket) with one black hand, revealing its entire head and torso. The witness described its skin as nearly black, with relatively thin, dark brown hair. The face had the overall appearance of that of a gorilla, but with a very broad nose with downward directed nostrils. The shoulders were instantly obvious as being unusually broad and muscular, but beyond these details, imprinted on the observer's mind virtually in a second, no additional observations were made.

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