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Oregonbigfoot.com Photo Research Journal
June 18, 2002
Lane County, Oregon
Bohemia Mines
Bohemia Mountain |
Locally,
Bob and I have been concentrating our bigfoot-related field
jaunts in an area near Cottage Grove called Bohemia Mines.
I've known about the Bigfoot activity in this area for about
10 years and recently received a request from the BFRO to
follow up on this report:
WHERE:
BOHEMIA MINING DISTRICT, ABOUT 15 MILES E. OF COTTAGE GROVE,
OR
OBSERVED:
MY COUSIN AND I WERE ON A CAMPING TRIP TO THE BOHEMIA MINE
AREA LIKE WE DO AT LEAST TWO TIMES A YEAR. THIS WAS IN 1992
OR 1993 I BELIEVE IN AUGUST. WE SETUP CAMP AND THEN HIKED
AROUND UNTIL EVENING THEN CAME BACK AND MADE DINNER. AFTER
DINNER IT WAS DARK SO WE WENT UP TO A LOOKOUT TOWER WHICH,
BESIDES BOHEMIA MOUNTAIN ITSELF WAS THE HIGHEST PEAK ABOUT
6000 FT. THERE WAS A METEIOR SHOWER THAT WEEKEND AND WE
WENT UP TO WATCH IT. WE STAYED UP THERE TILL ABOUT 2100
I THINK AND THEN WENT BACK TO OUR CAMP. WE STAYED UP FOR
ABOUT A HALF OF AN HOUR THEN WENT TO BED. WE HAD A 3 MAN
CAMP TENT TO SLEEP IN. AT ABOUT 2200-2230 I WAS JUST ABOUT
TO FALL ASLEEP WHEN I STARTED HEARING BRANCHES BREAKING
LIKE SOMETHING WALKING THROUGH THE WOODS TWARD US. IT STARTED
A WAYS AWAY FROM OUR CAMP AND KEPT GETTING CLOSER. MY COUSIN
WAS CALLING MY NAME AND ASKING ME IF I HAD HEARD THE SOUNDS
BUT I WAS CONSENTRATING ON LISTENING TO THEM AND TO SCARED
TO ANSWER HIM SO I JUST LAY THERE LIKE I WAS ASLEEP. WE
HAD TAKEN HIS CAR UP THERE AND WE PARKED IT ABOUT 100 FT.
AWAY FROM OUR TENT BECAUSE THERE WAS TO MANY BRANCHES AND
STUFF TO DRIVE IT ALL THE WAY UP TO THE TENT. THE NOISES
STOPPED AND ALL THE SUDDEN THERE WAS THIS HIGH PITCHED AND
FAST "WOOP, WOOP, WOOP THAT CAME FROM ABOUT WHERE HIS CAR
WAS PARKED. MY COUSIN ASKED WHAT THAT NOISE WAS AND SAID
NOTHING BECAUSE IT SCARED ME TO DEATH. THEN IT STARTED WALKING
OUR WAY AND WE JUST LAYED THERE AND LISTENED AND IT GOT
CLOSER AND CLOSER TO OUR TENT UNTIL IT CAME ABOUT A COUPLE
OF FT. AWAY. WE WERE SO SCARED WE JUST LAYED THERE AND DIDNT
MOVE A MUSTLE BECAUSE WHATEVER IT WAS HAD BEEN WALKING ON
TWO FEET NOT FOUR. IT STOPPED MAKING NOISE A COUPLE OF FT.
AWAY AND WE COULDNT HEAR ANY WALKING UNTIL WE COULD HERE
IT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE TENT IT HAD SNUCK UP REAL QUIET
WE COULD HEAR IT BREATHING, WHEN MY COUSIN MOVED A LEG IT
SCARED WHATEVER WAS OUTSIDE OUR TENT AND IT TOOK OFF RUNNING
AND WE COULD HEAR THE INDIVIDUAL STEPS THAT HIT THE GROUND
LIKE THUNDER, IT SOUNDED VERY HEAVY. IT RAN OFF ABOUT 50FT.
AND STOPPED. THEN IT WOULD START WALKING BACK TWARD US,
GOT WITHIN ABOUT 10 FT. THEN WE COULNT HEAR IT ANYMORE.
THEN ALL THE SUDDEN IT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE TENT. IT HAD
SNUCK UP REAL QUIET AGAIN TO OUR TENT; IT COULD MOVE VERY
QUIET WHEN IT CHOSE TO, IT MOVE FROM ONE SIDE OF THE TENT
TO THE OTHER QUIETLY AND FAST, IT WOULD BE ON ONE SIDE AND
THEN THE OTHER BEFORE WE NEW IT. IT DID THIS PRETTY MUCH
ALL NIGHT. IT HAD LEFT ONCE THEN CAME BACK. FINALLY WE FELL
ASLEEP OFF AND ON. IN THE MORNING WE LOOKED FOR TRACKS BUT
THERE WAS TO MUCH FOREST LITTER TO SEE ANY. WE DID NOT HAVE
ANY PROTECTION WITH US AT THE TIME AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN
SO SCARED IN MY LIFE. I HAVE BELIEVED IN SASQUATCH PRETTY
MUCH ALL MY LIFE, MY COUSINAND I GO UP THERE A COUPLE OF
TIMES A YEAR TO LOOK FOR EVIDENCE AND HOPE TO HAVE ANOTHER
ENCOUNTER, BUT HAVE NOT. I HAVE HUNTED SINCE I WAS A LITTLE
BOY WITH MY FATHER AND CONTINUE TO HUNT TODAY AND I KNOW
THE SOUNDS DEER, ELK AND OTHER FOUR LEGGED CREATURES MAKE
WHEN WALKING AND THIS CREATURE DEFINETLY WAS WALKING ON
TWO LEGS. DEER USUALLY VISIT OUR CAMP WHEN WE GO UP THERE
AND WE CAN HERE THEM COMING IN THE DARK, THEY GET CLOSE
AND WE CAN SEE THEM IN THE FLASHLIGHT. I HAVE READ OTHER
ACCOUNTS IN BOOKS AFTER OURS AND HAVE FOUND A FEW SIMULARITYS,
LIKE THE HEAVY FOOTSTEPS WHEN IT RAN, THE "WOOP,WOOP,WOOP
WE HEARD IS ALSO IN ROOSEVELTS ACCOUNT I BELIEVE AS WELL
AS OTHERS. MY COUSIN AND I HAVE READ BOOKS ABOUT THE MINING
THAT WENT ON HERE IN THE FOURTYS AND SOME OF THE MINERS
REPORTED SEEING BIGFOOT, THERE IS ALSO OTHER REPORTS FROM
THE COTTAGE GROVE AREA THAT I HAVE FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS.
I RESENTLY BECAME A VOLUNTEER RESEARCHER FOR THE BFRO AND
HAVE READ ALOT OF REPORTS AND MY COUSIN AND I HAVE GONE
OVER THIS IN OUR HEADS TO MAKE SURE THAT IT COULNT HAVE
BEEN ANOTHER ANIMAL THAT VIVSITED US AND WE KNOW THAT IT
WAS A SASQUATCH. ENVIRONMENT: TYPICAL PACFIC NORTHWEST FOREST,
NEXT TO AN OLD RANGER STATION THAT STILL IS USED FOR CAMPERS.
[MUSIC MINE RANGER STATION APPRX. 5000 FT. ELEVATION.
I contacted Steve via telephone.He relayed his entire story
to me once again and was very cooperative in describing
the exact location so that Bob and I can find it in the
spring. He struck me as a very honest and reliable witness,
and also just a generally nice and helpful guy. He said
that prior to that he had an interest in Bigfoot and related
the following additional details to the report: He and his
cousin were camped next to an old ranger station building.
During the preceding day, they found some ribbon markers
leading off into the woods which marked the trail to different
mines. They followed these and were led deep into the woods
and past a 20' deep mine entrance before finally coming
back out onto the access road. Then they continued down
the small road and at the end was a steep drop-off. Down
below were more woods and the river. Steve and his cousin,
being familiar with reports of Bigfoot throwing rocks, thought
it would be "funny" to throw some rocks down in the ravine
and "wake Bigfoot up". :) He said he left that part of the
story out because he thought it may make the rest of his
story seem suspect... like they "wanted" it to happen. (I
have to chuckle here, just because it's funny as hell to
me that they may have gotten exactly what they wanted!)
He related the rest of the story to me as it was in the
report, though in a bit more detail and with more emphasis
on the fear they felt (I had asked him specifically about
this due to my nearly identical experience in Washington
State). He again stated that he heard the sound of breathing
outside the tent, and when I asked whether it was up high
or down low he said he didn't know. There was no smell (there
wasn't when this happened to me either) and he said "whatever"
it was didn't mess with anything in the camp but rather
stayed to the back and the sides of the tent. He didn't
think it ever approached the "front", or flap-side of the
tent. He also explained the "whooping" noise to me; I had
assumed it was three, long whoops, beginning low and ending
high. He said, no, it was three SHORT whoops, very fast
and high-pitched. The one thing that Steve emphasized most
in the telling was that he would hear the footsteps far
away, and then suddenly they would be right next to the
tent, with no noise in between. Then it would walk away,
stomping and being "deliberately" noisy.... and then it
would be right up next to the tent again. He mentioned several
times that that was baffling to him. He said perhaps there
were two of them outside the tent, but it still didn't explain
what he was hearing. The entire ground around the tent was
surrounded with branches and duff. He also mentioned that
it was the weekend of Bohemia Mining Days, which would put
it more toward July, and that there were other people around
that weekend, though not many. Steve related another story
to me that he thought might be relevant. He said that a
couple of years prior to this incident he and several other
friends and friends' dads were camped in this same spot
(in 89 or 90). They heard walking - loud bipedal crunching
- down in the ravine. Steve and his friend's father shined
a flashlight down in the ravine and saw eyes reflecting
back about 30' down the hillside. The father, being a skeptic,
passed it off as a deer, but Steve noticed that every time
the light would hit the eyes, the thing would move behind
a tree. He said he felt "spooked". This is the primary area
for Bigfoot reports in the Cottage Grove vicinity. In the
ten years I've been researching here, I've had two separate
reports come out of that area of a Bigfoot-looking creature
with a "pig-like" nose. (I know that's uncommon, but the
two men who described their sightings to me did not know
one another. That's quite a coincidence!) In 1997, a friend
had an experience hearing large boulders being moved behind
her while she was gold panning and her friend saw a Sas
walking up a steep clear-cut hill. In the 70's, a group
of bikers who were refurbishing a building in the old ghost
town had an experience similar to the Ape Canyon story;
they were in the building and the things were pounding on
the walls and dragging their equipment off into the woods.
Friends tell of finding tracks up there while hunting when
they were kids. There are miners up there who claim to "see
them all the time". Bob and I camped up there several times
last summer and on one hike we could swear we were being
followed. There are huge boulders which have been overturned,
but many have been rolled uphill or simply picked up and
placed to the side. These were too heavy for Bob to lift.
At any rate, it looks like a good area and we were already
planning to concentrate our efforts there this summer. Perhaps
we'll get a chance to speak with some of the miners.
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06/18/00:
We found the location, drove up via Noonday Ridge Rd. While
we were there, two men came up to see about renting the
Musick Ranger Station. When asked about Bigfoot, one of
the guys (a local historian) told of a friend of his who,
in fall during the early 1980's, was hunting along the main
through-road from his truck and had a BF cross the road
in front of him less than 100 yards away. It was traveling
down the mountain. He also told of a man in Disston, "Leebo",
who runs an active mining camp up there that can be seen
from Fairview Lookout. He said Leebo would be a good person
to talk to about Bigfoot.
Do
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us a line!
Text
by Autumn Williams | Photos by Bob Williams
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