November 13, 2006

Update: Yarram Ape or Yowie?

Do the readers of Cryptomundo remember the story about the Yarram Ape?

It was posted here on Cryptomundo on September 28, 2006 at:

Yarram Ape or Yowie? 

Aussie cryptozoologist Mike Williams sent us the original newspaper story along with a scan of the photo.

Ape Spotted in Yarram Bush

The Yarram Standard News, Wednesday, September 13, 2006, page 5

Forget the Tassie tigers, panthers and the Woodside monster, the Strzelecki ape has been spotted running about the bush just outside Yarram.

It’s big and black and walks on two legs and it’s no joke, according to Jack River resident Jeremy Gill, who saw what he thought was an ape in the bush not far from his home on Sunday, September 3.

Jeremy likes nothing better than getting in his four wheel drive and heading for the bush, a pastime he embarks on most weekends.

On this particular Sunday morning, he headed out in search of new bush tracks and creeks in the Strzelecki Ranges where he could try his luck for some fresh trout, crayfish or yabbies.

Jeremy said it was about 11.30 am, just before lunch. He couldn’t believe his eyes when along a Grand Ridge Plantations track, above the valley where the Jack River runs, about ’50 metres from his vehicle he saw what he described as the "most bizarre thing he has ever seen".

"I was driving down an old track when about 50 meters in front of me I saw this thing crossing the track at a rather fast pace. It sounds really silly but it looked kind of like a black ape. It crossed the track from left to right and was out of sight. I didn’t hear any noise," he said.

Jeremy said it did cross his mind that it could have been someone dressed up. "But I thought why would anyone want to dress up and run around in the middle of somewhere so remote," he said.

"I wasn’t nervous my first thought was to get a closer look to see what it was. I don’t really know what to think but you see something like that and you have to wonder are there more out there," he said.

Jeremy said he had his digital camera with him and managed to get some shots, but it all happened so quickly.

Yarram Ape

"I could only snap off a few quick photos. I didn’t get out of the car until it disappeared in the tree line. I then got out of the car and ran towards where I saw it disappear into the bush but it was gone. I couldn’t see it anywhere," he said.

Jeremy said he has seen and photographed many animals in the bush along with some amazing scenery on his treks but never anything like this before.

"It was all very weird and I don’t want people thinking I’m a crackpot. I went out again yesterday and had another look but didn’t see anything."

"It would be good to know if anyone else has sighted anything like this in the area," he said.

Jeremy said he hasn’t been put off going bush but he would like to think there are no panthers or anything else out there.

"I wouldn’t like to be anyone’s lunch, especially out there on my own," he said.

Well, Jeremy has now sent along the digital photos he took that day.

We received his email on Friday stating:

I have knocked back 3 interviews on TV as well as numerous others as I dont want to be in the public as a focus of rididcule but, Here’s the original photos of the yarram ape. There’s two photos as it moved across the track.

One in the middle of the track and one at the treeline when it stopped and looked up, although that one is too blurry.

Since i took the pictures a lady from madayla which is 13kms from where i saw the ape thing rang me a told me her and her husband had seen something similar.

There are two photos, one quite a bit blurrier than the other.

Yarram Ape

Click on image above for full size version

Yarram Ape

Click on image above for full size version

Well, there you go. The readers of Cryptomundo asked for them…nay, demanded them.

What do you make of them now?

About Craig Woolheater
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.

Filed under Bigfoot Report, Breaking News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, Cryptozoology, Eyewitness Accounts, Public Forum, Yowie