DATE:           December 12, 1977

TIME:             Early Morning, about 9:00 A.M.

LOCATION:    California up in the mountains above Fresno, Fresno County,
                        around Court Wright Lake.
                        I remember that they were building a tunnel through the mountain at
                        Lost Canyon around Yellow Creek. My dad worked as a carpenter there.
                        Somewhere on the highway between yellow creek and cortwright lake.

TERRAIN:      Mountains

OBSERVED:  We had gotten there a little late. My dad always wanted to be in the woods very early. On past trips we would be up in the stand around 4:30. The morning in question we had gotten to the woods at around 8:30. We had a good sun up and could see really well. I remember that I had my Marlin 30-30 lever action with me and well for a 12 year old boy, thought that I was real bad.

While walking in ahead we saw two small bucks.  Looked like a spike and maybe a 4 point about 150 yards off.  We watched them for a little while then decided to get sat down somewhere.  Well my dad had set me off down the little ridge with a little granite boulder on it which was ok with me. I could see good all around and being on the side of a mountain up about 8000 to 10000 feet I had great views in front of me.  The day went well. I saw more little animals than I had ever seen back in Tennessee and Mississippi where I grew up. That day chipmunks, squirrels, you name it, and I am sure that it was out there.

I also remember the wind was blowing well up on that mountain. It was then that I noticed that they sky seem to darken just a little like maybe a cloud went over or something. The wind blew just a little cool for a second then it stopped. I looked for the wild animals that had been running all over, on trees, through the leaves, and making more noise than three people could have playing football, not finding a one.

It was then that I started to feel like I was not the only one in the woods. Now I knew that my dad had gone down a different way but not really that far away, but that would not be dad. He never has come out of the woods before the sun went down ever. So I thought that it was someone.  Well I can tell you the hair on my neck was really getting it.  I almost felt electric.  I did not know what to do or what to think. Suddenly this area that was so open before was now closing in on me and that is when I smelled it. I swear on my life that I smelled the funkiest smell that I had ever smelled. You know like when you go to the zoo and you get a whiff of that crap there.

Well cats, this was nothing like what I got a hold of there. The smell was so funk and Ithink it is almost a warm smell.  I could feel something moving but could not hear anything.  What I felt was inside me.  I could just feel something going around me. I never saw a thing.  I never heard a sound.  I did for sure know that I was not alone. It was then that I was standing up on the boulder trying to get a good look that I started talking to the "whatever" was out there.

I said "Hey I dont know what the hell is going on but I am getting readying to blow the shit out of some damn thing right the f__K now if you dont get out of here". Well in about 5 minutes it was gone I guess and the smell had almost gone.

In my whole life I have never smelled anything that smelled like that. I was raised down in Mississippi. In the part that I was raised in I had heard lots of stories back when I was a child back in the late 60's and early 70's. That was around Hernando, Coldwater, and Senetobia Ms.

The local people would come into the bait shops and talk about all the fishing and about the one that  got away.  But what I remember was that you were not supposed to go out into Coldwater bottoms at night or be on the canal just east of Coldwater going toward Arkobutler (spelling) Lake after dark.

I remember hearing the old black men talking about wooly. I do remember this one story where this old man was out in the swamp at night in a pedro boat with his lantern hanging up. He had told some that he was going deer hunting? Oh well on his trip he said that the swamp was real quiet. Then all of a sudden this hairy thing took off running out across the front of the boat. The old man said that he could not see good but he said that it looked hairy and like a man.  He did not shoot.  He said that he just got the hell out and was not going back to dem parts agin.

             Here is a story that was told to me not all that long ago. Must have happend down close to Tullahoma Tennessee during a hunting trip or while scouting some woods for hunting that season. Well the guy was walking in the woods that bordered a big field. Well after coming across the field the guy starts down through this thicket. I understand that he was walking real slow and listening to every little thing.  I will say here this guy sneaks up on stuff for a living so he knows what he is doing.  I would say what he does but that would give him away to the locals.  Anyway, at this time he started feeling very uneasy that he was not alone. He would walk and stop and walk and stop, changing positions each time. He did not see anything yet. He said that he crouched down to the ground to make as little target as possible trying to see what all was around him.  He then heard a loud snap from above him.  With his gun already coming up almost in position he saw what looked like hair, long hair on the big shape that was flying over him coming down out of the tree beside him.  He said that the shape hit the ground with a thud making a sound something like a person would make when the breath gets knocked out of them just much deeper. It was then that only a few seconds went by that he thought that he could hear something like a cough or two. Then the guy said that the hairy thing ran off faster through the woods than any deer could have. He said that the six million dollar man did not have anything on this thing. He said that the thing ran off out of sight and he could hear the noise stop. He said that thing was making some more noise going off down through the trees. Once it got out away from the man it let out a few moans but that was all that he heard. He said that he did not hear any screams ever and only caught a little light hint of a smell or something from it. One thing that this guy could not get over was the god awful speed at which the creature could navigate the woods. He said that not even a deer would have
caught that thing.  He does not go back there today to hunt or to do anything else. He ask that his name not be given.

         Well I hope that you enjoy this reading. It is the truth.
 

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):  Hunting