YEAR: 2022

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 5

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Skamania County

LOCATION DETAILS: Forlorn Lakes, campsite number 1

Investigator (MM) Notes:
GPS for location of Camp site #1, where this incident occurred: 45.9628237, -121.7345741

NEAREST TOWN: Trout Lake

OBSERVED: Aug. 5th 2022
Aprox 2am?
Forlorn Lakes
Campsite #1

Sleeping in my tent and woke up abruptly for seemingly no reason. Woke up to an unexplained adrenaline rush. Laying there I began to hear sounds coming from probably no more than 50 to 100 feet behind our tent.

5 or so sounds, like grunting whoops, alhough I'm not sure how to exactly describe the noise. It was like nothing I have ever heard before. This was not a human or regular animal noise. They were not screams. They were loud, but somewhat low pitch if that makes sense.

There seemed to be two of these beings making these sounds at each other, not just one.

After the grunting whoops, came several loud wood knocks. It was either wood on wood, or a very heavy fist on wood. It sounded like one of the beings knocked a few times, and another one responded with more knocks from down the way.

I knew what I was hearing was unexplainable and I was terrified. I Iaid awake for about an hour of silence and was able to fall back asleep.

OTHER WITNESSES: Everyone else stayed asleep

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Pitch black
About 2am
Dry and about 50 degrees outside.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

.
.












I spoke with witness Brooke Laughlin by phone. She is a stay-at-home mom with five children. Her husband drives a fuel delivery truck in Washington.

The family has camped at Forlorn Lakes three times previously. Nothing strange happened on those previous trips.

The father says his own family, along with him, had a possible incident there when he was a child. They heard something large walk through their camp in the early AM which they thought was not a regular animal.

The combination of big grunting whoops and loud wood knocks in the early AM makes this an opportune place to get sound recordings. It may not be difficult to do. No hiking involved. The campsite itself is a good bet for recordings or an encounter if you can be a night owl for a night or two during remaining warm months of 2022. Stay up as late as possible into the AM, sit quietly in a camp chair in the shadows of trees at a distance from the campfire. Meld into the darkness with a good recorder rolling on a stump nearby. Be able to note down the time when you hear interesting sounds, so it will be easier to find them in the audio recording later on. Be patient because things might not start happening until 2.30 AM or so.

________________________________________________



Forlorn Lakes are within Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The area is 10 miles from Skookum Meadows and 12 miles from "the Dark Divide" (the river chasm at the base of the west flank of Mt. Adams).

Brooke noted that some of the camp sites of Forlorn Lakes Campground, like the one her family stayed at, are set widely apart. For example, camp site #1 is a full *mile* from camp site #2. These sites are spaced out for solitude and privacy.

Because sound recordings are the primary opportunity here, it probably won't matter which of the camp sites you stay at. The sasquatches probably walk the whole area on their nightly circuit and can probably be heard from almost any camp site if they are making loud enough sounds.

Forlorn Lakes is among the most remote driveable campgrounds in the Cascades. This campground is "developed" only to the extent that there is a picnic table and fire ring at each site. There is also a vault toilet at the main lake.

The campground does not provide drinking water. It does not get much use even at the height of the season, according to Brooke. It is not a tourist destination like the Mt. Rainier area. It is not generally known to anyone other than lifelong Washingtonians. If you go up there you may not see any other campers, espeically during week days.

A technique I would recommend you try, to make your campsite more attractive to sasquatches: Bring a small propane stove and a frying pan and spatula. At around 10pm start frying up a few packets of maple-syrup-infused breakfast sausage. Very common item. You can get them at any big grocery store, or at Walmart.

The purpose for frying maple sausages is to release a chum line of scent into the forest. Let that fatty pork and maple syrup smell gradually waft through the area until midnight or so.

It would be a long side note to lay out all the annecdotal evidence (including personal experiences) for why I think maple syrup in particular will be irresistable to sasquatches if they catch that scent.

Do not leave the cooked sausages out as bait when you go to sleep in your tent. That's against the law, and it's not a good idea for other various other reasons (bears, cougars, wolves, coyotes, etc.). But there's no law against frying whatever food you desire at camp to eat or bring home.

Here is a photo of Camp site #1 where the incident occurred.

If you go up there and get some results, please submit a report to BFRO.net and we will be in touch.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net