Interesting Bigfoot Tale From New Hampshire
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 24th, 2006
I ran across this interesting story that was published by The Conway Daily Sun of North Conway, New Hampshire.
Hiking: Myth versus reality of Sasquatch in the Ossipee Range
Ed Parsons
— My friend Peter Samuelson, 65, of Fryeburg, has been prospecting in these mountains for more than 40 years. Back in the late 1960s, when I was being introduced to the area by working summers up at the AMC, he was already prospecting far and wide in the mountains, carrying heavy packs of supplies in, and heavy packs of stones out.
His many stories about the mountains — a few of which I have taken part in — have been part of my own mythology of the White Mountains. Recently, with my interest in helping to save the Ossipee Range from the burden of a private racetrack on its fragile slopes, he approached me to remind me of his Sasquatch story in the Ossipees, and lightheartedly suggested I write a third column on the Ossipee Range, which might include his story.
At first I found the idea amusing and certainly possible. But, then I realized he had honestly told me the story of what he and his friend Holly saw that day in the mountains — there is no reason to think otherwise — and an interpretation of the events should be left up to the reader. Even Samuelson himself isn’t sure at all what actually happened.
A story about the myth versus reality of the Sasquatch certainly emphasizes the wildness of the Ossipee Range, a place that should be preserved for future generations instead of irresponsibly exploited in the name of a temporary addiction to oil.
It was mid-summer, 1979. Samuelson, his dog named Kat, and his girlfriend Holly Swaffield, then of Wolfeboro, were out prospecting in the Ossipee Range.
“We drove in the Gilman Valley Road, parked at the gate and continued up the old road past the Tamworth/Ossipee town line,” he said. “Then we cut into the woods on the right and headed west up Bald Mountain.”
The ledgey Bald Mountain is taller than Mount Whittier and is located just south of it. From its open ledges, you can look directly below to Connor Pond, located in the center of the range.
“We bushwhacked in two miles, up to the ledges on Bald,” Samuelson said. “The area contains a lot of Conway granite and we were looking for contact zones, edges where two types of rock meet. Along these zones, it is possible to dig for pockets of beryls or topaz crystals.”
As the trees opened up before them, and Connor Pond became visible far below to their left, they saw a strange sight about 100 yards ahead on the ledges.
“It was a small structure, yet made of big stones, stacked on each other,” he said. “The roof was flat and made of thatched hemlock bows. There was an opening, like a rustic doorway. We saw a giant man-like creature inside, about seven feet high, and back to us. It was totally covered with tangled gray hair about three inches long.”
In the same instant that this all became visible to them, Kat began growling intensely and the creature started to make loud noises indicating it was upset.
“I can’t describe the noise,” said Samuelson. “Anyway, Holly freaked and we all felt threatened. We hightailed it out of there immediately, in the direction we had come. Only later, part way down the mountain, did we pause and ask yourselves, ‘What did we see?’”
They had both carried cameras, but in the urgency to leave never thought to take a picture.
Over the next few days, they told various acquaintances of their experience. Asked how these people reacted, Samuelson said with a smile, “You know how.”
A few months later, Holly excitedly called him and said she had been to the Wolfeboro Library and found a fascinating story. During a midwinter thaw in the 1890s, a person in a cabin on the shore of Connor Pond, located in the center of the Ossipee Range, saw an alarming thing. A dog had wandered out on the thawing pond. It fell through the ice and was floundering vainly for a long time to get out. Suddenly a large hairy human-like creature came out of the woods from the direction of Bald Mountain, reached out long arms and rescued the dog, then immediately disappeared back in the woods from the direction it first appeared.
That old story added a little continuity to their own experience, no matter how unbelievable. Still, it took Samuelson a year to get his courage and curiosity up enough to return alone to the site of their mysterious and alarming encounter on Bald Mountain. Holly wouldn’t go with him. As he walked out onto to the ledges, he was struck again, this time because there was absolutely no sign of the structure they had seen the year before. He picked over the area thoroughly, looking for the slightest dent in the ledges where the big stones might have rested, stones that would normally take two or three people to move.
There was nothing.
Did these prospectors in fact encounter a Sasquatch that had built a stone structure?
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I backpacked through that area a couple of times years ago, probably when I was in my early twenties a few years after the above experience. It was wild and beautiful back then and hopefully is still today. It reminded me a lot of the Endless Mountains of North Central PA and I could see how the big guy could go unnoticed for years in some of these very remote areas. I’ve heard many stories of sightings in the Endless Mts. and have had some experiences of my own.
hey craig & everyone this is a very interesting informative new article about the new hampshire sasquatch. im sure we will start seeing people from that state reporting sightings , footprints etc soon. thanks bill. please keep me informed ok updates on this nh sasquatch activity situation. 🙂
When the day comes that sasquatch moves from mystery to reality I would hope that photographs of the animal will increase also. When the public fully accepts the creatures exsistence people won’t act with such shock and disbelief when encounters happen in the wild. Maybe then people will think more quickly about reaching for their camera and getting pictures instead of running.
This is a very intriguing and interesting story. A real shame they were unable to take a picture of it, but I don’t think I would have stuck around after it started making a noise like that either. I haven’t heard of bigfoot creatures building structures like this before!
I wonder how many more similar encounters go untold and unreported. Very interesting.
It is only assumed that the Bigfoot built the “house”. Possibly it was only curious and looking around. It may have growled only because it felt trapped inside with strangers approaching. Cornered creatures, as everyone knows, can be very dangerous.
I am a bit curious as to why we think the Bigfoot is so human. It seems to me that he is not terribly social, appears to have no language except grunts and groans, and does not use or make tools; unless, perhaps, he might throw the occasional stone or maybe use a makeshift club. There is no indications of anything but animal intelligence here and walking on two feet and being clever enough to evade humans is not necessarily an indicator of high intelligence. I’ve even seen some people post the idea that killing one would be murder. I would hate to see one harmed, but murder? I really think were dealing with an animal not a primitive human.
I believe the worst thing that could happen for Sasquatch is the validation of its existence. Man has always exploited earth’s creatures and Bigfoot would be no exception. We all know the pencil pushing scientists will get off their collective pompous rears and take credit for something that we true believers have had a love affair and connection with whether it be through our own strong belief or encounters. Once you have experienced one of these encounters it doesn’t need any validation. It is truly a life changing experience.
I’ve always felt Bigfoot, if it exists, (and I think unless it becomes known to science or I personally have an unambiguous sighting of one myself can’t completely be confident in its existence), was much more animal than human. That’s why it was interesting to hear a report that one may have constructed a “house”. It could have simply been created by humans for some unknown purpose and then later dismantled though. Does the animal possess high intelligence to be able to evade discovery for so long, or is it more down to the remoteness of the terrain it habitats and the lack of enthusiasm for research from mainstream science? Or maybe it is a bit of both.
Rillo777 – if you can, google “samurai chatter”. Its a reported recording of two Bigfeet “talking” to each other. Turns out its an old American Indian dialect not used for hundreds of years.
I’ve read a few stories of seeing a Sasquatch wearing deer skin, or something akin to that.
Lots of old stone structures in the New England woods, quite a few are pre-colonial. Don’t see why a sasquatch wouldn’t use one if its convenient, I have.
Rillo777, I think it is a bit rash to go and say that Bigfoot is just a mindless animal. There is no strong evidence for that. Just because we do not understand any grunts they may emit does not mean that they are not communicating. We can not hold them to our own standards of language and behavior and then proclaim them unintelligent when they do not fit into our preconceived notions of what constitutes intelligence. And why would being solitary and unsocial automatically make them an unintelligent species? And do we have any real evidence that they do not use any tools whatsoever? Also, the fact that they have not been found to me indicates some degree of intelligence. Animals are being found and pushed to the brink of extinction in even remote areas all over the world, least of all in New Hampshire or the American Northwest, or any of the places Bigfoot is said to inhabit. Yet we have not recovered so much as the remains of a Bigfoot and only minimal decent photographic evidence, even as we continue to move into their habitat. Now if Bigfoot exist, wouldn’t that kind of total ability to elude detection suggest at least a rudimentary intellect? I am not saying that they are of human like intelligence, but I do not feel that we know enough about them to dismiss them as purely instinct driven animals either.
Good points all mystery_man. That was just my wondering and general thoughts subject to change. Thanks.
I have been up this mountain numerous times as I grew up in the Ossipees. Let me know if you really find a sasquatch. I never did, but I wasn’t really looking either. What a story.
I wish we saw something on one of our enhanced adventures on Bald Mountain. Bear and moose frequent the area and I know some locals used to motor trials bikes up the technical trail in the mid-late 80’s. Probably scared the creature away… But if people want to know more, go ask Dr. Glick or the guy named Cleveland (who lives Colonial style on Dr. Glick’s land) if they’ve ever seen anything…
I found a link to this story while checking out my old stomping grounds on Google Earth… freaking weird.