The Yardley Yeti
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on September 19th, 2006
An article from today’s Bucks County Courier Times mentions a strange animal seen Bucks County, PA.
They realize they will be pegged as nutty, and they insist they do not believe in things that go bump in the night. Yet, several readers claim to have spotted a weird creature roaming the Yardley/Lower Makefield area. I have nicknamed it the “Yardley Yeti.”
“Within the past year, I also have seen this "thing,’ ” a woman wrote. “Once, in my backyard at night [in Yardley.] And once while driving down Sutphin Pines. One was a tan color and the other was a grey color. The tail was long and smooth-haired, like the body hair.
“My friends and family looked at me like I had two heads when I was describing it to them. My Mom even said I must have been "hallucinating."
Others describe the animal as a fox/cougar/jackal mix. One said it had a distinctive longish, rat-like tail. Another saw “long fangs.” Another said it appeared to be wolf-like, with an oddly shaped snout.
The article can be read in its entirety at the above link. The article even mentions the Maine Mutant.
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.
Think we’re looking at some kind of weird cross breed…do not know…definitely need more pictures to get a handle on what the thing is.
Ahh this is something new – bigfoot with tail?
Why is it that the popular media loves so much to use terms that don’t fit? Like a calling a fox-like creature a yeti? The answer…simple. Sensationalism.
By the way, genetic differences make the act of intergenus “cross-breeding” Impossible. There are no actual chimaras(a mixture of different animals) that appear in nature in higher animals. Some examples of what “appear” to be chimeras spring to mind, the duck-billed platypus being the most notable, however, there is no duck DNA in the animal. Although it has a poisonous barb, lays eggs, and has webbed feet and a duck-like bill, it is not an actual chimera, just an unusual animal.
The lesser known Shoe-billed stork also comes to mind, it’s body contains many of the features found on other birds, yet it is most certainly not a cross-breed.
Whatever this animal turns out to be you can rest assured it’s NOT a fox-cougar mix, and it is certainly not a Yeti. Chances are it’s merely a mundane animal that’s been misisdentified.
What mr.inspector said…but thank goodness the maine mutant was able to stretch his 15 minutes of fame another tick or two…
Misleading a bit to use the word Yeti to describe a fox-sized mystery animal. Although it’s true I lost a Yeti-sized trout before.
What clown comes up with such a idiotic nickname. Even the most unformed individual knows what a Yeti supposedly is. I say this reporter deserves the nickname of the Yardly Yahoo.
so we have different colored animals with tails that can easily be mistaken for yetis? Um, are we talking werewolf here? I’m sorry, but in order to mistake this for yeti it would have to be huge and walking on its hind legs. Why can’t people just pay attention to their surroundings anymore? I catch the smallest movement and I can almost always tell you what it is, sometimes specifically–sometimes a little vaguely, but I know the difference between the grey fox living on the bottom acre of my property and something that would be bigger than me.
Sounds like the same animal that has been spotted a couple places in NC.
I was able to dig up a more recent article here.
Okay, it’s WAY out of place and I know this makes NO SENSE whatsoever, but forget the “yeti” stuff. Doesn’t the animal they describe sound a lot like a thylacine?
“Others describe the animal as a fox/cougar/jackal mix. One said it had a distinctive longish, rat-like tail. Another saw “long fangs.” Another said it appeared to be wolf-like, with an oddly shaped snout.”
Greetings All.
I check out this website at least once a day, but this is only my 2nd post. Yardley is about a 5 minute car ride from me. I dont usually travel in that direction and I dont have the paper delivered either. I learned about this right here on Cryptomundo.
Just when I thought I’d have the chance to do some bigfooting close to home, I was quickly dissapointed when reading this article.
My take on this? Dont even read that much into it.
This particular part of Bucks County used to be nothing but wooded farmland. As a matter of fact, when I was a kid people used horses or snowmobiles just to visit their neighbors. Nowadays, everywhere you look you will find yet another new devlopment of million dollar homes, outrageously priced specialty stores, and “plastic people” walking around with their freshly injected botox. There are a few “originals” left around here, but the truth is, some of these people probably would be shocked to know that milk comes from a cow and not a plastic jug.
Having said that, I think they are probably seeing a fox or a ‘possum.
We do have coyotes seen in some of our remaining farm and woodland and I know there are bobcats hapily residing in other parts of the state. Even though the Game commission denies it, there have been sightings of mountain lions, but again, always up in the northern counties.
Until I see a picture of this thing, I vote fox or opossum. We’ll have to see what happens. And as for the author using the name “Yardley Yeti”- I wont even dignify that grossly misleading headline with a comment.
Without more information, this really just sounds like a couple of coyotes – maybe one with mange. It could also easily be a fox (think Texas chupacabras!).
Never underestimate the ability of the human mind to turn something completely ordinary into something extraordinary!
I think reporters need some education to be frank.I read the article, he thinks it’s a feral dog and it gets dubbed a ‘yeti?’
lesson one — unless it is on two legs, standing very tall and TAILLESS! it is NO WAY a yeti, or Bigfoot.
We who have an interest in cryptozoology, and read the blogs, buy the books and visit websites are not only more able to recognise features that seem to be consistent in descriptions of yeti, sasquatch, etc, but are also also able to dismiss without a second glance most hoaxes, misidentifications and so on. Look back over the past blogs and pictures and see how rarely we have been taken in. It’s second nature to us. Journalists and non-afficianados don’t have this faculty, and can get a short thrill from this sort of garbage. And of course for journos it’s just a chance to coin another pathetically alliterative headline.
The article is just too stupid for words. Which is why they fail me utterly and completely.
If I subscribed to that paper, or paid 75 cents (or whatever it costs) for it, I’d call the editor and give him a piece of my mind….
The suburban philadelphia area was the scene of many cougar sightings a couple of years ago. The sightings were reported for a little over a month then silence. This animal was sighted by police and regular citizens but no announcement was ever made of a capture. It was thought that the animal just moved on to another area. Some months ago, cougar sightings were announced in new jersey. Whether it is the same animal is anyone’s guess. Yardley is situated close to the Delaware river which would be child’s play for a mature cougar to negotiate.
It sounds to me like a description of a Giant Monkey. They usually have tails.
In a sort of related story… I grew up and still live a few miles from Yardley/Lower Makefield. Two years ago I was driving through Lower Makefield at about midnight on a dark backroad. I caught a glimpse of animal eyes refecting my headlights in the distance and slowly brought my car to a stop as the animal up ahead did not move.
I thought it was a frightened deer, but as I drove closer it became apparent it was not a deer. It was… well I couldn’t really believe it. It had a long face, was standing on it’s hind legs, which were strong like a rabbit’s, and it had two very short ‘arms’. I was staring at a 3 foot high kangaroo. In Pennsylvania!! It was obviously terrified of my car’s high beams right in it’s face. It never moved an inch. I stared at it for a few minutes before driving off, not knowing what else to do.
No one believed me the next day. My family thought I was just making an odd joke with no punchline. However, that night I saw on the local news that a wallabee (a small kangaroo-ish animal) had escaped from a local petting zoo. It was captured within a week. A simple answer to an odd sight.
I remember the wallabee incident! If memory serves, that petting zoo was not too far from here.
I did, however, forget about that rash of cougar sightings a few years back. I also recall a black bear being captured in Southampton about 5 or 6 years ago.
I guess its possible that a bobcat or even a cougar could have made its way down here, but IMO, I still think it would be easy to mistake an opossum, fox or even malnourished coyote for something mysterious. I hope there are more sightings and that someone can photograph or video this supposed “thing”.
Last night I was watching a news report about that “thing” and got crazy goosebumps because I saw it about 10 years ago in Langhorne PA. It was 6am and it was crouched down eating roadkill. It wouldn’t move when I beeped my horn. It just sat up on it’s back legs and made a weird loud hissing noise. I know what I saw wasn’t a dog or cat or any other animal that I’ve ever seen before. I just know that I DO NOT ever want to see that “thing” again.
I was working for the local cable company about the time this article came out in the Bucks County Courier Times. A few months later while working on underground cable in a wooded area of Lower Makefield Township.Which is adjacent to Yardley Boro. I saw this animal at a distance of about 50 feet away from me. It came out of a patch of high grass into a open mowed area near a drainage ditch. This was no fox. It was too big, approx 50 pounds or more. To my suprise it was a coyote with mange on most of it’s body. Why people here have a problem identifying it was not just the mange, but the fact that coyote are very rare to see in this area of Pennsylvania. This is a suburban area with many subdivisions. However there are a lot of wooded tracts between them for such an animal to travel undetected. There is plenty of small game in those wooded areas for a coyote to live off. Not to mention small creeks and streams for a water source.