YEAR: 1991

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Klickitat County

LOCATION DETAILS: Silva Creek drainage, 3 miles north of Lyle, WA, on the north bank of the Columbia River (which seperates WA from OR).

NEAREST TOWN: Lyle

OBSERVED: 8 years ago my father and I were turkey hunting in Klickatat County Washington. About 25 minutes prior to dark we were both watching a the edge of a clearing next to an old homestead site. There were no houses or dwellings within about 5 miles at that time, just south of Mt Adams wilderness. As we called with a turkey gobble lacator call an image of what I thought was another hunter, stepped out of the timber approximately 200 yards away. The figure was sneaking towards us, thinking this was a hunter trying to get a late shot at a Gobbler my father stood up and gestured to the "Hunter" with a wave, and in a low voice said have you seen anything today. The shape, which now was about 100 yards away bolted down the slope away from us just inside the tree line. Both of us looked at each other in dissmay as the figure dissapeared into the dark timber. We both walked down to the area that the figure had been standing, thinking that maybe we were tresspassing on private land connected to USFS land and the guy was running back somewhere to get help and run us off. As we arrived where the figurer was standing I already found that I had missjudged the distance we walked about 350 yards to a group of scrub oak trees where the figure had been standing. The figures head was about even with limbs that were a foot or so over my head, I'm six foot tall. From our estimates the figure probably 6'6" to 7'foot tall. Thinking it was just a hermit or outdoor enthusiast we headed back for camp in the dusky light, I didn't think anything more of it. We arrived back in camp settled in for dinner and went to bed, still not thinking anything about what had happend. At about 10:30 pm we awoke to what I thought sounded like a fire alarm some distance away at, you know something like what is used to get volunteer fire fighters to come to the station, but in the direction of the clearing not any berg or town.

I have spent all my life in the woods and have been a avid outdoorsman racking up alot of hiking miles in the Olympics, the Cascades and the Rockies, but I have never had an experience such as the likes of this one. I have told very few people this story and my father still says it makes his skin crawl to think of it. TO this day we still hunt in the same local area but the houses have grown in and so has civilization. I stumbled across this site the other day and searched the sounds available none of them sound like the one we heard. It was more of a siren or horn that lasted longer than I can holler.

OTHER WITNESSES: Father

ENVIRONMENT: The area that the figure was heading for had no roads and was borderd by slopes in excess of 45 degrees strewn with rocks and boulders down to a ragging creek some mile down and then he would have had to climb up the other side in the same topography, and walk another 2 miles out to the nearest unimproved USFS road.

A & G References: Pg. 25, C6

Follow-up investigation report:

A. The witness has been an outdoor enthusiast all of his life, with travels in many rugged areas. He has also hunted most large game animals, and is familiar with the sounds of elk, deer, bear, cougar, turkey, and coyotes.

B. The witness is an Environmental Scientist.

C. The witness has degrees in both Anthropology and Geology.

D. The witness is very hesitant to conclude that what he saw was in fact a Sasquatch. Upon further investigation, it appears that this event took place in the Silva Creek drainage, 3 miles north of Lyle, WA, on the north bank of the Columbia River (which seperates WA from OR).

This is a very rugged area, with extreme topographic changes.

I myself live only 10 miles from this area, and was unfortunate enough to sprain my ankle in the bottom of this particular canyon about 11 years ago. I can vouch for the steepness of the slopes. Most of the trees in this area are pine and oak, with some fir mixed in.

The sighting occured during the spring turkey season, which would place it in mid-April. There were still patches of snow on the ground in the vicinity. The witness stated that it was getting dark when the subject appeared. It was very dark colored, and they initially took it for being a hunter in camouflage clothing. After identifying themselves to the subject, it immediately turned around and headed down into the canyon very quickly. The witness stated that he was in awe at how quickly the subject went down into the canyon, considering the amount of brush and the degree of declination. He mentioned that this was the first sign that maybe the subject was not a hunter, or a person for that matter. He and his father crossed the clearing over to where the subject had been, about 350 yards away. As they approached the tree that the subject had passed under on its way over the edge, they realized that the tree was taller than they had thought. The subject's head had almost brushed one of the limbs as it passed under it. The witness, who stands right at 6 feet tall, stated that this limb was about a foot taller than he was, placing the subject at close to 7 feet tall. If the subject was in fact a hunter headed back across the canyon to his vehicle located on the next closest road, he would have had to hike about 1.5 miles, and traverse a canyon which went down about 1000 feet further, and then up the other side about 1500 feet. Not an unacheivable feat, but definitely an unlikely one considering the onset of darkness. What makes this more of a challenge is the fact that the normally mild creek that flows through the bottom of the canyon is usually a raging river in the spring due to heavy rains and the snow melt-off. The witnesses returned to their camp, which was located just a few hundred yards from where the sighting occured. They were maintaining contact with a tom (male turkey) that was responding to their calls from camp, hoping to "put him to bed" (a method hunters use to get a male interested enough to just bed down close to where it believes a female turkey is bedding down. This way the hunters can keep him close and try to get him at first light).They finally went to bed around 10 PM. At 10:30 PM, they were startled by what they first thought was a fire alarm siren, coming from the direction of the clearing they had been in. They soon realized it was too close to be a siren, as the closest town in that direction was 10 miles away and in the bottom of a deep canyon. The witness stated that it sounded like some one yelling "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH" at the top of there lungs, except it was far longer and louder than any person could muster. It started off in a lower tone, and then preceeded to crescendo at a higher tone that lasted several seconds, before fading off into a gutteral tone at the end. They briefly wondered what it was, and had proceeded to settle back down when it happened again, just before 11 PM. It sounded identical to the first yell, except it appeared to originate from further up the canyon than the first one had. At this point, the witnesses had become rather nervous, and the son proceeded to get up out of their camper and place some extra wood on the fire, in hopes of keeping whatever it was at bay. The witness says that what he heard was unlike anything he had ever heard before or since. He continues to hunt the same area, and has not had any more experiences of this nature.

Below is an email I sent to the witness, and his reply. I attached a couple of WAV files. Do either of them sound close to what you heard? -- Jeff the sounds you sent me are more like a scream. The sound that I heard was almost like someone saying AHHHHHHHH very loud and ending with a very gut like sound. All except I tried to mimc it the next day and couldn't muster enough lung to keep going. I've heard elk, deer, cows, cougars, owls, turkeys and so on and this didn't sound like any of that. There were no warning sounds, however everything was very quite after the call or whatever went off. It happened twice that night the second time it was off in the distance. I just don't know what the heck it was but I saw it and heard it, and it was real.