A listener writes “I had an experience in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) when I was living there as a child. The year was 1973 and I was 11 years old. I was very fit and athletic for my age, having great get up and go energy.
I lived in the southern city called Bulawayo and we spent a lot of weekends in the Matopos National park area. The park is unique in being struen with round bolders that form what’s called a “kopije”.
I spend an afternoon climbing one to find caves and what’s in them. I was pretty good at rock climbing and was almost as good as a baboon, in fact I often tried to catch a troop of them with my cousin, running up the rocks but they were always 100 meters ahead of us. We were young and stupid and didn’t know how dangerous the baboons were but that often got us quickly to areas where we found caves. One afternoon I was by myself and had spent a lot of energy getting to a rock height, I noticed that there was a wonderful cave concealed back from the bolder face. In fact I smelt the cave long before I saw it. When I entered it, it was a treasure trove of old bones of all types of animals. There were no rock painting, in fact no human signs, ( normal in these caves). I found an intact leopard skull after only a minute of looking through the bones. All of a sudden I became acutely scared.
I backed out and then set about getting down this high Rocky outcrop. It was about 4pm in the afternoon, and I got really scared. I sensed some thing out of the corner of my eye. I though it was a big cat, like a leopard, but this thing was dark and hid in the shadows. I then leapt and bound down to the base of the Rocky outcrop and this thing followed me. It kept pace with me but every time I looked around I noticed a dark shadow that seemed to melt into the trees. I got the feeling that I was the prey, and as I ran through the long grass back to the dirt road I wondered why I wasn’t attacked. The musky smell followed me all the way till I was 1/2 a mile away from our lake side camp. I can’t put it down to any animal I know, all I know is that I was scared, and annoyed that I’d dropped the leopard skull with the impressive canines. Does Africa have a type of Sasquatch? Who knows, I met with something and I got into it’s territory and it played with me till I was out of there. I tried to get back to that cave because I really wanted that huge leopard skull, but I was never that bold about going into caves after that.”
Denise F
I would have fell out.
Alan Y
I have a old friend that lives in MI He regularly goes fishing with his canoe in remote parts of MI. He told me some strange things that happened around him and large shadowy movements he seen out the corner of his eyes. Needless to say he is packing now when he goes fishing. Believe me they are around more than we think. Thank you for sharing
Jay Carlsen
……… I Found ya ! Kinda a Diagonal Bearing ?
Well in the Manistee Huron National Forest maybe 5 miles northeast of the Hodenpyle Dam on the Manistee River Something picked up walking beside me about 2:30 am – but just on the Other side of the Undergrowth of the Forest growing along the Road. I was walking against the Flow of traffic off on the Shoulder. And by the Third Footfall , I stopped. And it stopped dead in its Tracks. And I stood there waiting to be Addressed….. ( Since I was out in the Open – not sneaking around in the Bushes ) But when nothing was said ? I started Walking , AND THERE IT IS AGAIN ! So I stop again , and it also stops ; And I said Loudly so everyone could hear ‘ Ahhh , You do know that I can Hear you walking in there plain as Day don’t You ? So why don’t You C’mon out here and walk on the Road with me ? ‘ and I stood there and got no reply. And I thought that was Pretty Flipping RUDE ! I knew they could Hear me – they were just right There ? And so after standing there to long , I started walking while Lock Step With me There it is again ! And still walking against Traffic ( were there any ) over on the Shoulder of the Road I stopped & turned to the Side of the Road and demanded
‘ I said to get yer ……….’ When this thing put its GRAVITY onto me. I Knew I was in Trouble for my very Life ! And I did not want to Turn my Back on this Thing and walk the 75 feet back to the Pavement. A Voice inside my Head told me ‘ Do not Run – Because it will chase you ‘ So I walked out to the center of the Road , and started walking to the Next Intersection a mile Away. I knew that Confidence was KEY. So I kept my Chin Up. And no matter how hard I strained my Eyes , I couldn’t get a Bead on this Thing….
The Woods end like 500 Feet before this 2 Track I had planned on taking , and again after it ; were planted with 7 – 8 inch Tall White Pine Seedlings ; and since they were so small ? It was more or less Open. And I soon noticed that my Escort stopped at the Edge of the woods , and waited for me to Make up my Mind. And I had a change of Heart , for I knew that 1/2 way down it runs up close to the Woods. And I didn’t want to give up the 30 feet of Gravel on each side of me.
Sooner than I hoped for , There it was again. Walking in the Woods on my left. I knew we were walking up on a 2 Acre Property that had been Clear Cut for Lumber just 2 years Prior. And it was THICK W/ Maple Saplings , Tag Alders , Blackberry Briers , and Deadfall. I couldn’t Imagine ANYTHING Keeping Pace with me walking against No Obstruction on the Road – but walking through all THAT. But even as I step over the Property Line from the Road – whatever this was never even faltered a single Step ! And the Report of the Violence taking place in there was more than enough to make my Knees weak as I walk. Trees snapping in 2 Like Gunshots ! Branches Breaking & Sticks snapping ! And by Willpower alone , I walked out to the next Paved “T” Intersection. And I turned around and Smoked a Cigarette in Defiance. And my Escort stood back inside the Trees and watched me. ( I JUST KNEW IT !) Since I was 1/2 a mile Beyond where I planned on Turning South ( & back Home ) would only put me in Thicker Woods than I had just walked through ? I turned North and started walking towards Copemish , kicking my Feet as I went for I knew that sooner or later I would have to turn Back……
Then I see the Sun coming up in the east ! And I thought ‘ WHAT ? I have been walking all Night ?’ and the Brighter it got Outside , the more my Confidence would return. Until still in the Grey Twilight of Morning ( but when I could clearly see ) I said to myself ‘ What are ya ? Scared of Deer walking in the Ditch at Night ? Like some kind of Little Girl ? ‘ That was it.
I turned and started Cross Country back to that Road I should have taken earlier. I walked through some Tall Grass , then some Woods , Across a Farm Road , through a Cow Pasture , and into a Christmass Tree Field that runs along this Road I should have Taken. I knew the Field Access was on the other side , So I chose a Fire Lane to walk that climbed a slight grade to the 3/4 point , then dropped down a little Hill to the Access to the Pavement , Then Home.
1/2 way up this Fire Lane I get a Cigarette and I put it in my Mouth as I am walking. As I am coming up on the 3/4 Point that would make for a good Spot for a deer Blind if it wasn’t for the Road so close ? As I am climbing in top of this Hill I reach in my Other Pocket and grab my Liter. when I get on Top I stop and turn form the Wind to lite my Cigarette …… And in the next Lane Over is a 10 foot Tall Gorilla ! Looking above the Direction I had just come from. Facing Me Square , with its Head looking to the Extreme Right. So I had a Perfect left Side Profile of this Things Massive Conical shaped Skull , Heavy Brow Ridge , Sloping Forehead , Protruding Face underneath the Nasal Passage , its Face had black Wrinkly Hide like Skin on it , and it was covered all over with Black Hair !
I had the Feeling that I had caught it Off Guard ? That It had not anticipated me stopping where I did ? And it only had enough time to avet its Gaze as not to Draw My Attention ? ( But as soon as I seen it I asked myself ‘ You gotta be kidding me ‘ ……… Like I couldn’t see it , if it wasn’t looking at me ?
When I seen it was trying to be Sneaky ? It dawned on me that maybe it might not be to wise to rouse this Things Attention ?
( even though I was sure that Deep Set Shiny Black Orb the size of a Baseball was fixed on me waiting for my reaction ?) And just as it looked away , I dropped my gaze down. ( And maybe this was where I was going into SHOCK ? Because I can only remember from here forward ” Tunnel Vision Style ” ) I seem the 2 Ligaments that attach to the Top of the Breastbone , I couldn’t see its Neck because the Lower Jaw was so Large. But when I got to this Things Pectoral Muscles they were Nothing But Phenomenal ! And could only be compared to 2 – 46 Inch Truck Tires And RIMS Hanging off the Front of this Thing ! And I stood there like a Gaping Fool , Holding a Unlit Liter , to a Unlit Cigarette , hanging from my Open Mouth……
Until I hear a Stick break in 2 Pieces just behind me ? But when I swing around to see who is trying to sneak up on me ? There was Nothing There ?
When I turned back to get me a better look at this Gorilla ? And it was Gone without a Sound ? I ran like a Terrified Child out to the Pavement. Then Home , looking over my Shoulders the whole Way !
When it all began that Night ? I was within 10 feet of it. After I seen it , I realized it could have reached over the Undergrowth and Picked me up by my Head if it had wanted to do so. And I wouldn’t have been the Wiser. Because when I was Straining my Eyes – I was looking at the 6 Foot Plain. When I would have been looking at this Things Belly Button.
I stared at it long enough to ask Myself ‘ how can Something be that BIG ?’ …… Then Snap behind me.
When I got Home everyone was already gone at Work. So I crashed out until late Afternoon. When I woke up , Nobody ask How my walk had went the Night Before ? So I didn’t tell them. ( Because everyone knows Michigan doesn’t support Apes or Monkeys – and there is no such Thing as 10 foot Tall Apes ) I never even considered Patty ? Because this Thing was a Flipping MONSTER.
If Someone ever asked if I had ever seen a Giant Sized Gorilla in Northern Michigan ? Yeah Sure ! I could go on all day about it !
But until I heard the Young Man who was Sneaking off for a Cigarette with his Friend , and kept hearing someone following them from just inside the Woods ! ( when I thought HEY ! That has happened to ME ! ) Isn’t that Crazy ?
Kathy K
All I can say is …WOW!
( contact Wes and come on SC!) I was on the edge of my seat reading your encounter and terrified for you all in the same breath! So glad you’re alright and made it home safely, do you still go into the woods?
Charles R
I agree Jay. I know you have had some harrowing experiences as you have expressed over the years. Come on the show. We would love to hear from you.
As for the listener, it was a few mile from Glennie where I took my 3 nephews ( all 20 years old or more ) out for the night in the Huron Forest to camp in a metal 3 sided shelter to try and call a Sasquatch in. They had a great time and drank a lot of beer ( not me, I promised my sisters to look after their sons ) and whooped and tree knocked. Then sometime after midnight a rock came clanking off the side of shelter just above our heads. It got more serious for them after that, and they realized that their Uncle Chuck was right all along. The Huron National Forest, and Manistee National Forest that Jay speaks off, really has it going on.
Pink Rose
I was glued to this . Thank you for sharing.
Renee S
Jay, it would be great to hear your stories on the show.
lyonflyin
What a wonderful harrowing way you have with your style of telling what happened to you!
I was right there with you.
I wonder if you have a hard time going near the woods at dark? I know I do, even during the day, and it was not because I (only) saw one run in front of my friend and I in his car…because I KNEW they existed even before I saw one, but I’m too scared to go alone in the Bush because of all the near miss and aggressive and sometimes deadly incidents told by witnesses and reporters, AND I had even seen one. Its one thing to know they exist, and hear all these sightings and such, but quite something else when you actually see one, however slight or harmless the sighting may be.
Something happens when you REally know they are out there, and the true stories just make it so much worse,
somehow. My health has gone downhill because hiking, fishing and hunting or exploring off-trail is my temple and how I used to stay in shape. I work nights and all the weekends so can’t seem to find anyone to go with, also I am not so stupid to realize that even with my 44 Redhawk Ruger with 400 grain Bear load, or my 45/70 copilot, and the ability to stop one of these things if not to rattled….that there are always more than one and so smart and able to rush you and come from behind in a group effort totally enraged if I even wound one……………………
I just don’t know what to do anymore about my achingly missed wilds……..I’m no longer alive spiritually and
emotionally as before: something crucial inside me has been lost. I can’t even go prospecting or panning, or even do my artwork out there because it is so absorbing I would not hear one walk up on me. But I must trust that my body will tell me…then what do I do???
The more I read and hear, the more I realize that noise in Minnesota on our farm when my kids were very young, and allowed to run and play as they wished; that noise that I mistook of a Black Bear crashing through the forest next to the pasture like a freight train….may not have been a bear….was not a bear…it was so loud, but how was I to know. My whole family had seen Patty on the Ed Sullivan show that night it aired so long ago, and I knew it was real, But. And. But it faded and did not dictate MY Life and was forgotten until Bobbie Shorts listings all over the U.S. …And. Then realized my Father, who was a god to me was wrong, that the bear track we saw that day fishing on the Rice Fork River that was longer than his size 13 foot with human toes, no claws, was not a bear. even though he told me it was. Even my Father had no concept…EVEN after we had seen the Patty film together…not a word was mentioned about that day he and I turned around in the middle of our fishing that hot day, after rocks kept tumbling down the high river bank as we had worked our way upstream. I kept looking up to say to Father as I trailed behind, that “that’ bear’ is following above us Father, he’s bumping rocks loose, but I can’t seem him”. He never said a word…we just went back downstream to the boat and ran the lake back to camp.
Some of the howls in the Sierras as a teen and young adult, or in Oregon where I finished High school in the forest behind Corvallis, that I mistook for howling dogs way off….may not have been dogs. I always wondered why they were different. The thing walking around my tent on a northern Oregon beach in the night at age 18, I thought was a bear or elk, now I know the stealthy sound was not, for I did not have a concept in those days for all of it. Or. That day I hiked for miles far up the Downie River on the old Sailor’s Flat dirt steep Road in the middle of nowhere…I had always thought I was having a heart attack cuz all of a sudden I felt faint, uncomfortable, sweaty and had to sit down right there on the remote trail. Slowly the feeling went away. I remember not feeling at ease. I went a bit further, but the discomfort and lack of feeling safe did not leave so I turned around and started back. I never realized until recently there was nothing wrong with me, it was SOmething there. There are more memories that are dredged up as I learn and fully comprehend more and more, often to my dismay. Its no fun.
Michael S
I know a person that moved to Glennie, Michigan a couple years ago on a 50 acre parcel. Pristine, quiet and full of wildlife. Just waiting for a first person sighting report.