A listener writes “On November 1st I went to Isabella Lake, near Shelton, Washington an old homestead preserve of old pastures and orchards surrounded by woods. There is a large circular trail that loops around the open pastures which I entered on the right side of the parking lot at about 9:30 a.m. I saw some mushrooms and when I got to the curve of the loop decided to go straight into the woods a ways instead of staying on the pasture loop to see if I could see some chanterelles.
I was mucking about in the woods not very far at all off the trail, took a couple pictures of some mushrooms but found nothing edible. On my way back to the main trail I went pee in the woods and I used a Kleenex in my pocket to wipe with and I remember feeling a little guilty for leaving it in the woods. (I covered it with a leaf.)
As I started walking back to the main trail I was overcome quite suddenly with a powerful sick feeling. I felt completely depleted even though I hadn’t walked very far and felt fine the whole way in. It was sort of a queasiness but also a heavy feeling in my head and all my limbs like I might not make it back to the car. I thought I probably just overdid it after Feeling sick for a few days but it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before it was very intense.
I walked onto the main trail and deliberated on whether I should go back the way I came or continue on the loop; it seemed to be about Equal distance either way. I noticed a couple with a dog walking up from the parking lot the way I had to come. Deciding to avoid them I went onward the other way. When I got to the top of the loop, you can go straight into a small orchard or turn left and continue on the loop, I turned left and walked a few yards when I noticed I was suddenly feeling much better.
It was about 10 AM and the bright winter sun was up over the pasture. I stood there for a moment with my eyes closed enjoying the sun on my face and grateful to be feeling better. I noticed the people with the dog were now in about the same spot that I had re-joined the trail below and while I stood there with my eyes closed I was calculating about how long I could stay in there before I have to go so as not to meet up with them especially since I didn’t have a mask with me.
I closed my eyes again and I heard the woman scream a very startled scream like something had threatened her terribly and suddenly. At the same time the dog howled and yelped as if it were in pain or fear or both. And the man let out a sound that sounded like “whoa”.
When I opened my eyes they were about 100 yards away but I could see very plainly the woman, the man and the dog. About 10 feet in front of them was a much taller figure which bounced sideways very very quickly into the woods right at the same spot that I had re-joined the trail earlier feeling so horrible.
I stood there for a minute watching the couple and the dog and they weren’t moving or making any noise. They just stood there perfectly still. I didn’t think that much of it other than wow that’s kind of odd that the ‘brown man’ (which is how my mind registered things,) moved off the trail like that so quickly. I continued on the loop and when I got parallel from where I had last seen the couple and dog across the pasture I couldn’t see them anymore. I assumed they were coming up behind me and I planned on waiting in the car for them to see what that was that scared them. However when I got to the car the couple were walking very quickly towards their truck which was parked right next to me – they had doubled back the way they had gone in.
The woman was carrying the dog which was not small and the man was walking very quickly with his keys out trying to get to the truck as fast as possible. It’s hard to describe the look on the woman’s face; she looked absolutely traumatized and just completely wrecked. It reminded me of when I came upon a car crash when I was in college and there was a fatality and the woman who was severely injured but not dead looked at me from the crumpled up car. It was the same kind of vacant traumatized expression mixed with disbelief and terror.
I was sitting in the car and they were parked on my right side so I rolled down the passenger side window and hollered at the man he was getting in the driver side of his truck. I said “hey did you all see a bear over there?” He wouldn’t look at me as he hastily opened the truck door, and all he said was, “that wuddn’t no bear.”
That’s when it fully hit me that the “brown man” was not an animal. I hollered again and said “hold up please?” but he just jumped in his truck and shut the door. The woman meanwhile had put the dog on the ground and when it ran around the back I could see it was fine, wasn’t limping or injured there was no reason for her to be carrying it like she was. She opened The side door of the truck and it jumped in. I felt weird sitting there, like these people need some space right now so I just started my engine and pulled out and they pulled out right behind me. They followed me all the way to the 101 on ramp that I got on but they kept coming straight into Shelton.
When I got home I told my husband what had happened and we went back together and retraced my steps. We saw some broken trees that were cracked off pretty high but no footprints, though the forest floor and pine needle path wouldn’t really show prints. We never got that ill feeling walking back in the woods where I had peed.
I continued on to the top of the loop where I had been standing with my eyes closed and my husband stayed down below where the people were with the dog so that I could get an idea of the scale. My husband looked to be quite a bit shorter than the brown figure had been standing in the same spot. I would say the brown figure was probably 8 to 9 feet tall easily, with a blocky head and upper body that was much bigger proportionally than the legs. It was too far away to tell the texture of the figure, but there was no differentiation like from pants to shirt to head etc. it was just a big brown figure that bounced unnaturally quickly sideways into the woods.
This encounter has affected me greatly, and as you can likely understand, I am very keen to speak with the couple if at all possible. I would very much appreciate any advice you may have on how I might approach finding them. I thought about putting up a sign at the trailhead board.
I’m also very curious to understand that powerful sick feeling that overcame me and vanished just as quickly.
Thanks very much for your time.”