Overview of the Encounter

The witness, now 56 years old, recounted an incident from when he was a boy scout on a trip in the Hch Hy Wilderness. He had been on a multi-day hiking trip, where he was free and unsupervised along with other scouts.

Date: unknown

Year: 1978

Location: Hch Hy Wilderness, Northwest of Yuse

Land Managed By: Federal

Nearest Town: unknown

County: unknown

State: unknown

Nearest Landmark: Tulum River

Witness Accounts

The encounter took place during the summer of 1978 when the witness was approximately 12 or 13 years old, as part of a 50-mile Boy Scout hiking trip. The group had decided to take an off-trail route in the Hch Hy Wilderness, northwest of Yuse, after hearing from other hikers that conditions were rough due to mosquitoes. They managed to find a secluded camping area near the Tulum River, setting up their tents in a makeshift campsite. On the fourth or fifth night into the trip, the witness was sleeping in a tube tent about 40 feet away from the campfire. As the night progressed, he was awakened by the sound of heavy footsteps and crunching noises nearby, which he initially thought belonged to a scout leader making his rounds. Confused and still drowsy, he leaned out of his tent to investigate. What he saw shocked him: approximately 20 feet away, a massive creature was on all fours at the end of another scout's tent, with its head inside the tent. The creature's size was so immense that he initially assumed it was a cow or bull, rather than considering it might be a bear or a Sasquatch. As he observed it, he noted features that struck him as odd: it had no hooves, instead appearing to have feet similar to a human's, and its chest was extraordinarily broad. The creature was covered in dark brown hair, measuring 2 to 4 inches in length. The witness recalled the chest being "6 feet or more thick," and despite the fear that might be expected from such a sight, he felt curious rather than afraid. He thought about alerting the scout in the tent, but hesitated, fearing it might startle the creature. Instead, he remained quiet, watching the creature sway slightly as it inspected the tent. During this moment of observation, he locked eyes with a scout master who had been in a nearby tent, a firefighter from Oklahoma, who had also noticed the creature. The scout master gestured for him to remain quiet and return to his tent, which the witness complied with. Remarkably, he fell back asleep, despite the strange event that had just unfolded. The following morning, the witness was eager to discuss the encounter but was called aside by the scout master. The scout master reassured him, suggesting that it was just a bear that they had seen. The witness, although confused by this identification, agreed to keep the sighting quiet to avoid distressing the other scouts. The report notes that later that day, all the trout the witness had caught and left on a stringer in the river were missing, with only the heads remaining. The scout master attributed this to "well-behaved bears," which now raised questions in the witness's mind about the nature of the creature they had encountered. The rest of the trip proceeded without incident, but the encounter lingered in the witness's memory for many years. He didn't speak of it extensively until recently, when he recounted it to his family, who were surprised he had kept it to himself for so long. The witness expressed uncertainty about the scout master's true knowledge of what they had seen, pondering whether he had recognized the creature as something other than a bear. This encounter provides a detailed account of an unusual wildlife observation, highlighting a lack of fear on the part of the boys, and the fact that this sighting has remained a significant memory for the witness even decades later. The incident has sparked reflection on the nature of the creature witnessed and has remained a topic of personal exploration for the witness into the phenomenon of Sasquatch sightings.

Source

YouTube

Note: Information above was collected and summarized by A.I. Dates, name and location could be inaccurate or wrong.