YEAR: 2023

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 28

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Mason County

LOCATION DETAILS: [Investigator (MM) notes: The area described is near the intersection East Harstin Island Road and E McMickin Rd]

NEAREST TOWN: Shelton

NEAREST ROAD: Harstine Rd

OBSERVED: On Sunday May 28, 2023, at around 7am, myself, my husband, and my brother went for a nature walk near his parents' property. We found an old logging road near the south end of the island in the center. Manke Lumber owns pretty much the entire center of the island so its all-evergreen tree farmland.

Half of this 89-acre parcel was clear cut in about 2015 so it is new growth shrubbery. The other half is old growth evergreen forest with some wetland mixed in.

At the entrance of the logging road is an orange locked gate indicating it is a logging road. The public isn't welcome to drive through it but it is open to walk through.

When we first parked, we noticed that at the entrance of the path is multiple shot gun shells scattered around the gravel. In the brush surrounding the gravel road was one discarded women's Nike shoe, a pair of broken glasses, and some empty energy drink cans along with bundles of twigs wrapped together with what appeared to be purple leather, but on closer examination it was a very old rubber band.

We also noticed many signs I am assuming from the locals (?) that say not to pick the shrubbery. We left it all alone and started our trek up the gravel road.

For the first part of the walk, it is a fairly steep climb up a gravel road and once you turn the corner and can no longer see the bottom of the road where the car is parked it starts to even out a bit but still climb somewhat. On the left is where the trees were cleared and it's all newer growth about 7-year-old trees or so and surrounded by brush, and on the right is tall old growth trees in a dense forest. When we reached the top of the peak there was a small clearing and you could see this amazing view of the whole forest, on the clear-cut side. It was beautiful in a destruction and rebirth kind of way.

We stopped for a few minutes and took in the view. That is when we first heard the owls. Which first there was just one coming from maybe a mile or so out into the new growth forest. At first I thought it was an owl, which was weird because it was a little late/early to hear an owl considering it was well into the morning and the sun was all the way up by this point.

As we continued on our path, we found more of those bundles of twigs with really old purple rubber bands around them. And as the land fully evened out there was a sort of marsh on our right-side and the trees were broken at really odd seemingly intervals that did not appear natural at all. And the path began to get narrower because the trees began to overhang the whole path as we got further and further away from the new growth forest and started to enter the old growth land and were fully surrounded by large evergreen trees and the sun was beginning to be hidden by the cover of the treetops.

We found another small clearing on the left side the road except this one you had to walk through a narrow trail to get to and the oddly shaped broken branches were there again, seemingly placed on purpose in various arrangements surrounding this circle opening in the forest. None of us went on that trail to the clearing. This is when we decided to turn back and start heading back toward the car.

The whole time we were on the path the owl sounds never stopped. They actually got louder and seemingly closer. And there were multiple of them. Then they were coming from both sides of the trail. It seemed like they were communicating with each other. My husband stopped us every few minutes to listen as we were continuing down the path. He noticed that the owl sounds weren't coming from above us as if they were in the trees like an owl would do. They were coming from ground level.

At one point we heard what sounded like muffled voices, as if someone were in the trees but had their mouth covered and couldn't speak, followed by very loud and low-pitched growl that was maybe 20 feet into the old growth forest near us.

A feeling of dread kind of surrounded us at this point, but it didn't feel like anything wanted to hurt us per say, more like just letting us know we were not welcome there and they were watching us intently.

As soon as we started our decent down the road and could finally see the car parked at the entrance behind the locked gate, the owl sounds finally ceased but, the feeling of dread and that we were not welcome did not dissipate until we were driving down the road and finally got back to my husband's parents' property a few miles down the road.

ALSO NOTICED: Broken branches that were placed in unnatural configerations. An abandonded shoe and glasses, bundles of twigs wrapped in purple rubber bands. The owl sounds were not from owls. They were coming from the ground level and were much deeper than that of an owl. They seemed like they were communicating with eachother across the forest. They did not want us there. We heard a muffled voice, like someone had their hand over someones mouth so they couldnt speak.

OTHER WITNESSES: Myself, My husband, and My brother, and our dog.

OTHER STORIES: I have found multiple reports of Bigfoots on Harstine Island.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Bright sunny day at about 7 in the morning. Lighting conditions were clear and bright. Weather was sunny and warm. No wind, no rain, the sky had some clouds that ended up burning off as the day went on.

ENVIRONMENT: Evergreen forest with shrubland and new growth on one side and old growth evergreen on the other side. There is a few patches of marsh wetland mixed into the dense old growth wooded areas.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

I called the witness. This is what she related to me.

The witness, her husband, and her brother were visiting her parents’ home on Harstine Island. They decided to take an early walk in the woods. They drove a short distance to a gated road that led onto some timber company land. Parking at the gate, the three walked up the logging road through a clear-cut only a few years old. At the other side of the clear-cut was an older cut area where the trees are now 20-30 feet tall.

As they walked, they heard what sounded like owls. She said that there were 1 or 2 on their left side, and 3 to 4 on the right side. These “owls” called back and forth to each other and followed along with them, getting closer and closer. The further they went, the more unwelcome she said that they felt. They turned around and started walking back. When they got to the tree-line, they heard a very loud and deep growl from what seemed to be only 20 feet away. She said that she could hear the sounds of sticks breaking as whatever it was followed along with them. They could not see what was following them.

She also mentioned finding trees broken off in a way that didn’t seem natural. This was especially noticed near the marsh area that runs north-south in the middle of the island.

In talking to her, I found that she had another experience about 7-8 months ago. She was in Silverdale, Washington near the animal shelter. She said that she saw a “bear on two feet” cross the road in front of her. Her son also saw it. The creature was walking hunched over on two legs and was very fast, almost like a glide. It was dark brown or black in color. The time was around 6:00PM.

On 6/11/23, my wife and I met the witness and her husband at the gate. The time was just after noon.

We hiked the path that they had taken and I asked her to point out where they were when they heard the owls and where they were growled at. The impression I had from talking to her on the phone about how the events unfolded was different from what I saw at the scene. I may have misunderstood her, as I didn’t have the exact location correct on Google Earth when I was talking to her. It turned out that there were two possible gates that both fit the description in her report. They were only a half mile apart. We observed that that brush under the trees, mostly salal and blackberry was dense enough to hid a large animal, especially if it were on all fours. We also noted the that forest starts out as a 5–6-year-old clear-cut for a quarter mile, then transitions to the trees that were 20-30 feet high for another 300 yards, and then finally 50–60-year-old second growth with head-high brush.

There is plenty of good cover to hide an entire family of sasquatches. We explored some side roads, looking for any evidence. We did find a tree that had been bent into an upside down “U” shape and the arch was about 20 feet tall. The tree was estimated to be 12 inches in diameter. It had been there a long time. We passed through this forest to a clear-cut on the far side. At this point we turned around and started back.

I do not believe that what they first thought were owls were actually owls. First, it wa daylight. The local owls would not likely be vocalizing. Owls will not follow people. However, sasquatches are well known to mimic owls and other birds and animals and use those vocalizations to communicate with each other.

Further, if people were in an area where sasquatches were living, I would expect that they would follow, flank, and escort the people out of the area, using owl calls and growls. That is commonly reported.

Harstine Island has long been known for sasquatch encounters. There is certainly adequate forest cover, as well as access to shellfish, small animals, mushrooms and berries.

This location is only about a mile from the home where Julie Scott (Visits from the Forest People) and her family lived.

About BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

Scott Taylor is a retired aerospace manager. He lives in Mason County, Washington. He had his first bigfoot encounter in October 2005 where he was stalked and later heard vocalizations.

Scott has attended official BFRO Expeditions in the Washington Cascades in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also attended 2007 Central Oregon Cascades and 2007 Utah. He now organizes BFRO expeditions in Washington and has participated in bigfoot conferences over the past 17 years.

Scott will be leading a Washington BFRO expedition in 2025 (July 17-20) which is open to non-members. For more details and registration information for that trip click here.

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