In June of this year, I emailed famed West Coast psychic Nancy Bradley after reading a very interesting account of a Bigfoot encounter that she had as a girl while vacationing at her family’s summer cabin in Lake Owassa, NJ. For those of you who are unfamiliar with New Jersey or whose only familiarity with the Garden State is driving past the reeking factories along the northern stretch of the NJ Turnpike while passing through, you might be surprised to know that much of the fifth smallest state (and most highly populated per square mile) contains many miles of woodland and farms. The densely forested Pinelands in South Jersey actually covers about 1.1 million acres.
My family and I happen to live in the more populated and congested area of northeastern New Jersey, about 20 miles outside of New York City, but western NJ as you near Pennsylvania is another very rural and wooded part of the state, and this is where Ms. Bradley’s tale takes place. If you’d like to read her original article, here’s the link: www.trueghosttales.com/paranormal/bigfoot-of-lake-owassa-new-jersey). In my email to Ms. Bradley, I told her that I enjoyed her article very much and that my wife, Debbie, had a strange experience while in that part of the state a couple of years ago. Here is Debbie’s story as I recounted it to Ms. Bradley:
We live in the northeastern part of the state, not far from NYC. I’m a website designer and my wife, Debbie, teaches special education. Each June she accompanies her seventh-grade class for a 3-day outing at Stokes State Forest, which is in Sussex County and pretty close to Lake Owassa. Well, one night one of the students staying in the same cabin as Debbie had a severe asthma attack. The girl’s parents didn’t bother to notify the school about her condition and neglected to pack her inhaler, so my wife ran out of the cabin at about 3 AM and proceeded to cross the compound to the infirmary where the nurse slept. As she ran toward the nurse’s station she heard an awful yowling/screeching noise. It was high-pitched and very loud, and unlike anything that she’d ever heard before. It frightened her greatly. She did what she had to do, however, and alerted the nurse about the young girl’s condition and an ambulance was called (the girl recovered, fortunately).
The horrible screeching and yowling continued for several minutes after Debbie arrived at the nurse’s station, and when a NJ State Trooper arrived alongside the ambulance, my wife described the horrible sounds that she just heard and asked the officer if he’d heard them or if anyone had reported them. He looked at her and in a very serious tone said, “there have been a lot of Bigfoot reports in the area over the last few nights”. After my wife told me this, I began doing some research and found a surprisingly large number of Bigfoot reports in New Jersey.
I had always associated Bigfoot sightings with the Pacific Northwest and certainly wouldn’t have thought there would be any similar reports in such a highly populated state as ours but apparently, people in the more rural northwestern part of New Jersey are familiar with these sightings. In this part of New Jersey, the sightings are frequent enough to have garnered the big furry fellow a nick-name of “Big Red Eye“. This is because witnesses often describe the creature as having glowing red eyes (not sure if this is specific to New Jersey sightings, as I don’t recall hearing about this trait having been reported elsewhere).
Weird NJ has a couple of interesting articles about Big Red Eye that you might want to check out at weirdnj.com/stories/big-red-eye and weirdnj.com/stories/bizarre-beasts/bigfoot-and-the-big-hairy-man.
In the course of my research I also came across a couple of websites that had audio recordings of what was thought to be Bigfoot vocalizations, and when I played them for Debbie she remarked that that was exactly what it sounded like. Recently, the Discovery Channel aired the excellent “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science” and at one point they played an audio recording that was supposedly from a Sasquatch, and again my wife said that what she’d heard sounded just like that.
I just thought I’d share that experience, even though it wasn’t exactly firsthand. My wife is very level-headed and not much of a believer in anything paranormal or out of the ordinary, so I was impressed by the fact that she was so shaken by this and that she would even entertain the idea that it could have been Bigfoot.
Ms. Bradley was kind enough to respond to my email and even went so far as to invite my wife and me to explore the area around Lake Owassa with her and her husband when they visit New Jersey next year. Obviously, I said “yes” to that immediately, but my wife’s response when I told her of Nancy’s offer was predictable: “No way”, she said. Debbie does not share my interest in the unexplained and was sufficiently shaken by the experience that she has no desire to seek out whatever it was that was source of those unearthly screams. I’ll post an article after I explore the area around Lake Owassa with Nancy and her husband, and let you know if there was anything interesting to be found.
If you live in New Jersey and have had a Bigfoot encounter, I’d love to hear about it.
An unfortunate aside: I looked up Nancy Bradley at the time of reposting this article and saw that she passed away in 2015. May God rest her soul.
I wanted to tell this story for awhile now. When I was a little girl, I used to live in Elizabeth, NJ. I am still a New Jersey native but moved to Middlesex County. When I was about 5 years old, I saw something weird. I was never the type of little kid that would make up stories. On Halloween night one year, my father took me trick or treating. There was no one in sight which was very odd. It was about 9 at night and we were just about ready to head home when I told him I wanted to stop at a couple of houses. We were at a two family house that was on a busy road and I stopped there to knock on the door. I was standing there but no answer. I was leaning on the railing (which was high up because you had to climb stairs) looking at my father who was waiting for me in front of the house on the sidewalk. All of a sudden, I looked over to the right and saw something. It was a tall creature with look blackish /brown hair with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. I don’t know if it was someone in a costume but this creature was about 9 feet tall and both of his arms were up and made a growling noise like it was mad. My heart sank to my stomach and I ran down the stairs. My father was confused and ask me if everything was o.k. I told him no that I saw something weird but he never asked me what it was-and I never told him either. It was traumatizing to say the least. Till this day I still wonder what I saw.
John Keel, Chuck McCann, and the Tall Creature
Keel interviews two witnesses about a “tall creature” they saw in Elizabeth, N.J., on October 10, 1966.
https://www.johnkeel.com/?m=201207
Maybe it was an apparition but they have had encounters in Elizabeth, NJ with something called The Grinning Man.
Jenny — Kind of sounds like you encountered Big Red Eye, New Jersey’s Bigfoot, but I have to say I don’t get too many reports of it in your more urban areas like Elizabeth. But I don’t discount that there could be a metaphysical aspect to these creatures, in which case they could appear anywhere.
I’ve heard of reports of The Grinning Man coming out of Elizabeth. Those are some strange stories. Fortean writer/investigator John Keel (most famous as the author of The Mothman Prophecies) interviewed some of the Grinning Man witnesses and found their stories very consistent with each other and the witnesses very credible. There’s strange stuff out there.
Thanks for sharing your encounter! — John
All of these massive sinkholes are proving the earth is hollow.If you add weight to a hollow earth in the form of concrete and buildings,eventually it will cave in.This is what we are starting to see now.This is where bigfoot lives in the earth.
I received a report very recently that supports that theory, Squatchmeister. I’ll check with my friend to see if he wouldn’t mind me relating the details of his encounter, but the short version is that he heard a loud growling roar and when I asked where he thought it was emanating from, he said it seemed to be coming from underground. Whether that supports Hollow Earth theory or suggests that these creatures build underground lairs, I don’t know.
I think this will be stupendous.If it is not too much trouble can you please post this account in its entirety.Thanks in advance.
I’ll do that asap. I’ve recently completed the re-coding of The Paranomalist (soon to be re-branded The Paranormalist, http://www.paranormalist.com) and now I’m working on the graphic design. I was kind of waiting to get through that and relaunch the site next month before posting any new articles (got some good ones), but I’ll add add my friend’s story before doing all that. I’ll confirm some of the details with him and get that posted this week. Happened just a couple of weeks ago in the Pacific Cascades. Not a real long story, but a cool one.
I do believe this is becoming the number 1 bigfoot site on the net.
I just finished watching assault of the sasquatch.This sasquatch causes total mayhem.If you like the movie leprachaun,this is pretty similar,although nothing compares to the leprachaun movies.
Was that a SyFy Channel movie? I might have caught some of that. Gotta love those SyFy monster movies. My favorite is Sharktopus.
It was sci-fi channel.They have some excellent thriller movies.I do believe I caught parts of that shark movie one night when I was half asleep. I will have to keep an eye out for it now that it comes recommended.
It was good for a laugh — very silly. I hear they have new one coming up called “Sharknado”. Yes, that’s a tornado with killer sharks in it. Here’s a link: https://screencrush.com/sharknado/.
The scy fy channel movies reminds me of the modern version of the 80s b movies.Its a reincarnation of that era and movie mindset.
I am really looking forward to the first flight of the falcon project.The bigfoot seeking airship ship is supposed to be ready for take off by the end of spring.I have to believe that the amount of video , thermal … will be staggering.This should really deliver so much undisputed evidence of bigfoot.The great thing is as of a recent report ,this ship is set for its maiden voyage as of late spring.I would pay to watch these cameras on pay per view as they cruise over the treelines of the nations forests with the most high tech equipment surfing for squatches.The craft is helium powered , practically noiseless.This should yield impressive results.
Just ordered the book Burlington county Sasquatch off ebay.Looks really good.Peace and love to my fellow squatchers.
Squatchmeister, I am the woman in the book that was in Medford Lakes at the time visiting friends when I saw one at the bedroom window one night. My friends tried to tell me it was my imagination or I had a bad dream. I thought someone was playing a joke on me. I never knew of Bigfoot at that time or even the Jersey Devil. My husband thinks I’m nuts when I watch these programs or even try to talk about it. SO I don’t ever say anything because people just laugh at me. I know what I saw and I’ll never forget it. I believe they are out there.
Elaine,Its awesome that you saw a bigfoot up close and personal.What type of demeanor do you think this particular sasquatch had?What were the vibes you were getting.I have swam in one of those pine lakes down there.
Squatchmeister, he seemed curious. I was half asleep when I saw him and thought it was my imagination. He just keep staring. I keep my eyes at a squint so he didn’t see me looking back. I wanted to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. I was frozen to the bed. I didn’t even think to cry out. And I definately wasn’t getting up to go to the window. Thank God the window was closed. The head looked liked it took up the whole window space or else it was just so dark out I couldn’t make it all out. I pretended to be asleep and would look out every once in a while to see if it was still there. Finally I must have drifted back off to sleep. The next morning I asked my boyfriend and his parents if someone was playing a joke on me cause it looked like someone maybe had a gorilla mask on. Because the more I thought about it I thought the eyes looke human. They weren’t red like you hear about now..no eye shine. All I know is that I believe they are real. I’ve mentioned this to my husband and son and they just laugh at me. Believe me, if they saw this they wouldn’t be laughing. We use to have a hybrid RV where the ends would pop out like a tent. I would make my husband sleep on the end just incase something would reach through the screen. It was always in the back of my mind when we went camping, that is why I wouldn’t go somewhere that was really roughing it. One time camping I hear a loud scream real early in the morning…no one was up but me. My husband and daughter were both still sleeping. This happened in Virginia near Williamsburg. I use to go to Medford Lakes in the summers with a friend who use to live there and we would visit friends. Take walks in the woods and fields and boat on the lakes. No one ever mention a thing to me about Bigfoot or the Jersey Devil. I would never have taken a walk in those woods if they had.
Hi Elaine — Good to hear from you again! I’m planning to hike the Batona Trail through the Pine Barrens this summer. I’m bringing my video recorder just in case. People tend to dismiss Bigfoot sightings in the eastern US. Certainly, it’s more plausible to think of them (for those who believe they might exist) living somewhere out in the deep forests of the Pacific northwestern United States or in British Columbia, Canada.
But reports continue to come in from the more populated eastern states like ours. My friend lives in West Milford, which is a very rural area out in Passaic County, and they’ve had quite a few reports out there too. And of course Sussex and Warren Counties in the northwestern part of NJ, and in the Pine Barrens you’ll still get reports of sightings. Last year I’d gotten three separate sightings all on Stage Road down in Bass River State Park in the Pines. I also spoke with a women who was a park ranger up in High Point State Park last fall. Her dad was a career park ranger and had an encounter a number of years ago (I think it was around 1970).
Thing is, many of these reports are coming from park rangers and experienced campers and outdoorspeople (and occasionally police, although I think they are the most reluctant to say anything) — not the type of people who would mistake a black bear for something bipedal and humanoid. This always makes me wonder. I’m sure some of them are hoaxes and mistakes, but there may be many of these reports that are genuine. — John
Correction: I was just reviewing my emails and those reported sightings that I received last year were not on Stage Road, they were on E. Great Creek Road in Galloway, NJ. There’s a big unbroken area of pines off of E. Great Creek Rd called Seaview Estate, with a network of trails that go through them. I’m going to head down there to hike those soon.
Almost got caught in a microburst in 1979 on a medford cedar lake.Bigfoot hair from mount hood oregon for sale on ebay.Good luck in Galloway ,looks to be loaded with squatches all along the garden state parkway.
John, I sure hope you are able to record something on your hike. I’ve been wondering does bigfoot mainly move around at night, since I’m sure it doesn’t want to incounter people. Are the screems it lets out for the purpose of letting someone know they are around or is it just a form of communication? Are there just certain areas or can it be any wooded area? Make me think of all the parks and lakes in our states that Bigfoot could be, that people have never really thought about. In my state of MD and infact in my area (Harford Co) there have been some strange things that people have heard and seen. I know I have been in the one park where people have said they saw a bigfoot. I think they stay hidden really well. My husband hunts in our county and has been in this one area hunting for years. Just this year he said he heard a screem that he didn’t recognize, and felt it may of been some sort of bigger cat. I don’t think so myself….but what do I know. I have a feeling that one hunting season he’s going to see what I did and become a believer.
Hi Elaine — I’m not going on the hike expecting to see anything, but I won’t be without the video recorder just in case I do! You never know. I’m not sure about those screaming sounds that are sometimes associated with them. They could sometimes be a warning or a means of communication. I think bobcat are known to give off a very human-like yowl that in some cases could be attributed to Bigfoot. I wouldn’t automatically assume an unknown noise coming from the woods is a squatch, but I don’t discount the possibility either. Since I wrote this article I’ve been told a lot of interesting stories about sightings and encounters with them, so I have an open mind.
I was given a book for review (which reminds me — I still owe the author & publisher a review on my site) called Monsters of Maryland. I think you’d enjoy it. They do cover Sasquatch sightings in your state. Like New Jersey, Maryland is a state that many people wouldn’t think of as possibly having a population of Bigfoot. I had a researcher friend of mine suggest that they could be migratory and passing through the wooded regions of the US east coast on their way to the Canadian wilderness. Sounded like a plausible idea to me.
Elaine, bigfoot move by day and night.The majority of sightings occur during the daytime,because it is easier to see in the daytime.If you wanted to do a long term statistical analysis,you could refer to john greens bigfoot website,, I think if if you looked at a long term analysis, I think the data would should show that 90 percent of sasquatch sightings occur during the daylight hours that the sun is up.Correct me if this is not the case.
Its totally amazing.I have secured actual sasquatch hair from oregon from a woman who chased the bigfoot from her rabbit pen after the squatch stole two rabbits and hurdled the fence.What a completely awesome situation to have come into this windfall.
Awesome news. Are you going to have it analyzed?
I will get this analyzed in the near future.They still have 7 units of this hair for sale on ebay from mount hood oregon.There is a substantial amount of bigfoot hair in the bag.
I go into the woods here several times. a week. i have photos of footprints and stick structures. from here and. in tioga state forest both pa.i would love to be. in the pine barrens! i did live in Montana. for 7 yrs wasn’t looking for sasquatch but i am positive that they can survive there as well as here.if you guys would like photos let me know
Hi Sharon,
Absolutely! I’d welcome any photos that you’d like to share. My email is john@theparanomalist.com. Just looking at some photos of Tioga State Forest and it looks beautiful. I’ll have to do some camping and hiking there sometime in the near future. I’m guessing it’s about 4 hours west of my area of New Jersey. Lots of Bigfoot reports out of PA, and that certainly looks like an area where you might have some activity.
Thanks very much for your kind offer. I’ll look forward to hearing from you again.
John
John, if you get these photos,can you please post them here to see.
Darwins theory, survival of the fittest. Survival to gain access to this planet and the commodities it offers.There are countless contenders all wanting this beautiful planet .I think the squatch is a contender, with the abilty to live off the land. The bigfoot is proven to exist as they were introduced into different army manuals and what to do if you encounter a bigfoot.There are a few races of aliens in a small zone in space with huge ships watching us ,hence Ronald Reagans star wars program. I would love to see who is the ruling body on this planet in 100, then 100000 years. Animals ruled this earth for millions and millions of years, dinosaurs and huge birds, sea creatures… If I had to make a wager, I see three exceptional probabilities for a future ruling body of this planet. Here are my selections–not really sure if you can bet these in vegas, but here goes— number 1 dolphin– more brain capability and much smarter than human beings, will adapt to land life soon, 2-dogs, science doesn’t know much about these beautiful animals yet, but they work in amazing ways, and would be a superpower to rule this planet one day, the bigfoot species may have always been in charge here but have dwindled in numbers due to a catastrophic earth event in the recent past . Technology doesn’t matter in the least, size and strength , the ability to adapt to a planet with some very bad weather patterns along with a mindframe which is good in spirit will be the key to the next ruling body.
Wow! I can’t believe this thread is still running. John, I’ve emailed you before. This thread is awesome. I’m aware of the Livingston sighting because I too read it on the BFRO site. Amazing because the Livingston mall is so close to this location. I grew up in west orange NJ and now live in Roxbury. I’m an amateur researcher who as recently as this past Friday heard howls at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation in Jefferson while hiking with my kids. My kids were scared. (You can read my posting on NJBIGFOOT.ORG forum). BFRO has a sighting from this area on its website from spring of 2011. A man and his 2 sons saw a large squatch while camping. And I investigated an encounter in Sparta NJ. You can read about the sighting in NJBIGFOOT.ORG sightings data base. It happened in April of 2012. Anyway, I’m a huge fan of all things bigfoot but my issue is with kids, work and a family, I can’t get out enough to research. Is anyone aware that Finding Bigfoot is coming to NJ? They are looking for witnesses. If anyone is serious about telling their story to Animal Planet, please let me know. I can contact the producers for you.
Hey Larry – Good to hear from you again. That’s really interesting that there are still reports of sightings coming out of NW Jersey. I’ll read your posts on NJBIGFOOT.org. No, I hadn’t heard about Finding Bigfoot coming to New Jersey. My pal Adam Davies is a friend of Cliff Barackman from the Finding Bigfoot show. You’ve probably seen Adam on Monster Hunters, NatGeo, Animal Planet. He did the Finding Bigfoot show when they went to Sumatra to look for the orang pendek. I’ll pass along that information to Adam, or maybe he can give me Cliff’s email and I’ll let him know directly. I’m working on a website for Adam right now and we’re in touch frequently and I know he speaks with Cliff often.
Thanks for the information! Keep in touch! — John
Yes, NW jersey still has good activity. I’m still fascinated by your wife’s story. I’ve seen Adam on TV. Cool guy. Animal Planet asked me if I knew anyone with a story to tell and I knew you were into bigfoot so I figured I’d reach out to you to see if you wanted to come to the FB meeting. Thanks for replying!!
Did anyone see the Finding Bigfoot Episode on Sunday night? It featured New Jersey and the Pine Barrens. Pretty interesting that people are still seeing them there and recent too! They had the town hall meeting in Medford. It looked like the Lakes, but I haven’t been there in so long it’s hard to tell. Anyway I found it interesting.
I missed it! I’ll have to try to catch that one the next time they show it. If you read through some of the comments in this article you’ll find some interesting stories of sightings, both in the Pines and in the Highlands area of Jersey. Thanks for letting us know!
What a brutal winter here on the east coast, nothing to do but eat and watch snow not melt. I think all these recordings of North Americas Bigfoot Samarai chatter is wonderful for science. Over time it will be great to be able to break down this language and understand it.
Mountain monsters tv show is the best. The grassman episode shows them selecting an excellent location where they find a sasquatch hay bed in an abandoned house, then this behemoth bigfoot starts growling and shaking the house because he was apparently sleeping when they chased him out. So after a chase ensues, they catch a picture of him clear as day from 20 ft. They also secure a quality video and clear prints. This crew consistently delivers nothing but pictures and video every single outing. These hillbillies are quality cryptozoologists .
Hi John I enjoy this site. I would like to e mail you some photos I took this past winter. Do you have an e mail address I can send them to Thank You
Hi Don. It’s john@theparanomalist.com.
Thank you John. I sent the photos.
Thank you, Don. Sorry for the slow reply. I’ll email you.
— John
I was just wondering what anyone thought about the possibility of Sasquatch living in Wawayanda State Park. It is over 34,000 acres and has swamp land. I ask because I live in Highland Lakes on the border of the park. Behind and to the side of my house is all wooded (looking at a park map, I am not far from the Wawayanda lake and the edge of the swamp and I know there used to be a trail from here to the lake). We have deer and bear trails all through here and we see both almost daily. We have been here in this house for three years and I lived only a few miles from here the rest of my life. I ask about Sasquatch as many nights I have heard knocking on the trees around me. The nights that I have heard these sounds have all been strange nights. It is always silent on these nights and I get a feeling like something is out in the woods that shouldn’t be. You also feel as though you are being watched. Sometimes you can also here movement of something big. One of my friends and my boyfriend have also experienced this. I have also, throughout my life up here, smelt a smell that I always attributed to bears but have never actually smelt while seeing a bear. It is almost like a rotten garbage smell, but worse. Now that I have looked into the tree sounds and found that Sasquatch has indeed been seen in NJ I have to wonder. I also saw something in the woods behind my house one day sneaking from tree to tree with brownish-red hair but I can’t rule out that this was not a person (we have strange neighbors, but none that I know of with the color hair I saw). So…what do you all think??
Oh and since I have been all over Sussex County I have not a doubt in mind that there are enough forested areas to allow for hidden trails to exist connecting here to Stokes State Forest as well.
Yes, I do think Waywanda State Park is a large enough area for Sasquatch to inhabit. There is enough unbroken forest in and around Waywanda and the Highlands region of northwest New Jersey to support a breeding population of Bigfoot, in my opinion. I believe that the Highlands area may be part of a migratory route that bleeds over into Pennsylvania and continues through New York state and into Canada. I’ve received so many credible reports of vocalizations, footprints, and actual sightings in the area that I’ve come to believe that they do exist in this region of our state, and I think Waywanda State Park would be a perfect habitat for them. It’s not surprising to me that you’ve had some experiences living in and around that area.
Hi John,
What a great surprise to find this article. I have no doubt the creatures exists, and it always astounds me that people flat out deny the existence of a creature thousands upon thousands of people have seen. I grew up camping at Stokes State Forest and plan to go back this summer the begin the family tradition again, which is what lead me to type Stokes and Bigfoot into a search engine! Sussex County is a wonderful habitat for the Sasquatches to thrive!
Hi Debra,
People from out of state are often surprised at how much of New Jersey is densely forested, but I was honestly surprised by the number of Bigfoot reports that come out of the northwestern part of the state. Keep your eyes and ears open when you revisit Stokes! — John
Hi John,
We will definitely be on alert! I will let you know if any unusual sights are seen and/or sounds are heard!
Debra
dogs barking at the back huge whte grey monster coming at the propuerty.
one dog alerted to this and saw it
What town are you in, Squatchmeister?
I don’t know if anyone will read this after so much time has passed. I was born and raised in Jersey and lived there till ’76. During the early ’70s I became a member/volunteer with SITU and began to learn more about Sasquatch and other “unexplained” phenomena. Stokes State Forest was one of the places a lot of Squatchin’ was going on and I heard recordings of the bigfoot living there and saw plaster casts of the footprints taken. This is nothing new and nothing for fools to play with. Before I left Jersey, I had my own “encounter” although I never saw it or heard it but found a burial in the woods behind my home. I came to believe that Sasquatch buries it’s dead like Mountain Gorillas do and I also know now that Native Americans are spot on when they say Sasquatch can communicate with mental telepathy. Be careful, be very careful.
Swamptrotter — Thanks for sharing that! Your warning are well justified, and I agree that researching these things are indeed nothing to be played with. I am of this opinion particularly after a very bizarre and troubling encounter that I had while on a Bigfoot expedition in the northwest in June of last year. The mentally telepathy thing is something I’ve heard of before and it’s not something that I would want to experience or would encourage. To me, it’s very akin to (or perhaps even the same thing) as trying to communicate with evil spirits / demons. People who do this are playing a dangerous game with forces that they don’t understand.
I’m going to reboot this website with a new design within the next few days and begin writing regularly, and this is a subject about which I plan to write at length. I think there might be an inherent and great danger in trying to communicate with these creatures. Thanks again for submitting your experience.
I had an odd thing happen to me at Shepard lake, ring wood state park by thunder mountain. I was up there early one morning walking on the trail around the lake. I was scopeing out fishing spots along the side of the lake. I was alone. I needed to relive myself so, I went off the trail a bit. As I stood there I heard something to the left of me, just then a small tree came crashing down not far from me. Maybe 50-60 feet away. It was not a rotten tree, no wind, it had been snapped over. It was about8 inches at the base. I never actually saw anything, got the hell out of there. I had that funny feeling something was different that morning.
Oh man, So I Googled “Wawayanda mountains and growling” and this came up. I do not discredit anything I have heard here at the slightest. Here is my story…
I went to that mountain with a friend for the first time this past fall. When I got to ground zero it was around 3pm…the trooper came over and told us that if we were planning to do the entire loop it would be past dark as it would be pitch black by 5pm and that was not recommended. He then directed us to the stairway to heaven trail. Whatever, we did it no big deal.
A month later I am back there with my wife and we covered the entire loop which was somewhere around 7 miles or so. On the way there we saw folks with dogs, didn’t think anything of it. We also made contact with two guys who oddly asked us if we were locals and if we where doing the entire loop…I answered yes and quickly asked what kind of animals are out there. Yada, yada…coyotes and bears is what I remember.
Anyhow, during the last hour we got stuck in the dark. My wife started tripping about growls and to not get her nervous I said it was an ATV. Sure wasnt, and what ever it was it was closing in. The last growl sounded like it was so close my wife jumped on me like a little kid running away from the boogie man. Scared to my witts, I played it a cool as I could and told her that whatever she did NOT to run as predators feed on fear and adrenaline. Thanks GOD she was in good spirits but I must admit I was shitting bricks even with my military background. All I had on me was a knife and I was contemplating an attack and what vitals to focus on first.
In short, what ever it was it was big, closing in and definitely did not want us there. IMO if it was a coyote it would have been in a pack. If it was a bear it would have charged at us. What the hell was it I cannot say, but what ever it was had been following us for some time according to my wife. Scary shit, never again will I go into the woods without a machete!
Oh man, So I Googled “Wawayanda mountains and growling” and this came up. I do not discredit anything I have heard here at the slightest. Here is my story…
I went to that mountain with a friend for the first time this past fall. When I got to ground zero it was around 3pm…the trooper came over and told us that if we were planning to do the entire loop it would be past dark as it would be pitch black by 5pm and that was not recommended. He then directed us to the stairway to heaven trail. Whatever, we did it no big deal.
A month later I am back there with my wife and we covered the entire loop which was somewhere around 7 miles or so. On the way there we saw folks with dogs, didn’t think anything of it. We also made contact with two guys who oddly asked us if we were locals and if we where doing the entire loop…I answered yes and quickly asked what kind of animals are out there. Yada, yada…coyotes and bears is what I remember.
Anyhow, during the last hour we got stuck in the dark. My wife started tripping about growls and to not get her nervous I said it was an ATV. Sure wasnt, and what ever it was it was closing in. The last growl sounded like it was so close my wife jumped on me like a little kid running away from the boogie man. Scared to my witts, I played it a cool as I could and told her that whatever she did NOT to run as predators feed on fear and adrenaline. Thanks GOD she was in good spirits but I must admit I was shitting bricks even with my military background. All I had on me was a knife and I was contemplating an attack and what vitals to focus on first.
In short, what ever it was it was big, closing in and definitely did not want us there. IMO if it was a coyote it would have been in a pack. If it was a bear it would have charged at us. What the hell was it I cannot say, but what ever it was had been following us for some time according to my wife. Scary shit, never again will I go into the woods without a machete!