Yowie Exclusive: “It Was Bloody Scary!”

Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 28th, 2009

Two of my mates (Australian for “friends”) are all over the media today, in conjunction with Yowie news.

Of course, a quick read of the media headlines out of Australia might make you think that Tim the Yowie Man (shown above, investigating) has gone mano-a-mano (Spanish for “hand-to-hand,” as in combat) with the Big Hairy Guys from Oz. But just to clarify things, Tim emailed me moments ago: “I’ve never had any physical contact with a Yowie!!”


Meanwhile another bushman from down under, Dean Harrison (shown above, investigating) certainly has, and he gives me this exclusive:

“The event was one that I shall never forget.

Unfortunately I had [with me] a first timer, who wasn’t present during the attack…, who is trying to call the entire incident a hoax….

It was certainly not [a hoax]. The bruising I received he says was caused by a rock that I repetitively struck myself with.

The rest of the crew tailed the creature for quite some time.

I got hit hard enough to send me back landing in a rock pool.

I’ve been around too long to make things up. I have no need to.

All I can say, is that it was bloody scary. Especially the way it ran at me.”
Dean Harrison
May 28th his time, and May 27, 2009, mine.


Dean Harrison, during Animal Planet’s Lost World documentary.


Tim the Yowie Man, clowning around while giving one of his wildlife tours.

Here’s what the papers are saying about it all.

It never rains but it pours – in this case, improbable events.

Hot on the heels of last week’s wild weather in southeast Queensland comes a hunter of mythological beasts – Tim the Yowie Man.

Tim – who uses no surname and can be almost as elusive as his quarry – says there is a direct correlation between significant rain events and sightings of the yowie.

“The soaked soil and muddy bogs created by the heavy rain are more conducive to animals, including yowies, leaving their footprints,” Tim said.

He said last week’s rain could make “a large hairy bipedal hominoid creature” uncomfortable and force it from deep jungle canyons into the open.

So Tim has rushed from that other capital of strange mysteries – Canberra – to Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland, a village he describes as the yowie capital of Australia for its many sightings.

So far he’s seen nothing – but that hasn’t put him off.

“I’m quietly confident of finding some sort of evidence such as hair or footprints of the mystery beast,” he said.

“If I’m really lucky I may even get to see one.”

Dean Harrison of Australian Yowie Research says he has just returned from Springbrook, bearing photographs of footprints he believes are of a female yowie and her young trailing along behind.

“They seem to be quite passive around that area compared to other areas that we’ve been to,” Mr Harrison said.

He said tales of yowies near Springbrook date back to before European settlement.

Mr Harrison said on his latest expedition he was rugby-tackled by a yowie at 3am near Gympie.

“This one knocked me flying backwards. I landed in a rockpool,” he said.

AAP

What do Yowies look like? Images below from The Yowie: In Search of Australia’s Bigfoot.

Yowie

Yowie

Yowie

Yowie

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


21 Responses to “Yowie Exclusive: “It Was Bloody Scary!””

  1. shumway10973 responds:

    Did you get the license plate number of that train?? Glad to hear you are alive. One thing all these creatures have in common is their strength. Are there any anthills around that area for the new guy calling all this a hoax? Sorry, but when you call your boss a liar there should be a price to pay. Hopefully next time there will be actual proof.

  2. graybear responds:

    As Dean Harrison says, he has no reason to invent his encounter, and he is an experienced bushman; he knows what should and what should not be there. This is the kind of event, an eye witness account by an experienced individual, which would be good enough to convict someone if it were presented as evidence in a criminal trial. Unfortunately it also is the type of event which leaves the scoftics musing about how unreliable humans are as witnesses. Bruises too, I suppose.
    As the Mythbusters might say, this one is Plausible.

  3. YowieLover responds:

    Loren,

    I was on the expedition with Dean. Then banned from the website because I refused to sit back and watch him write things that were not true. I have a sound file of the entire night that I am waiting for Dean’s permission to put online. The inconsistencies between what has been written and what is on the sound recording is alarming. I wonder if I will ever get that permission.

    Dean’s email is a damage control effort because we (the banished ones) have begun to talk on a BF forum. A lot of rubbish was written about me on his site after I was banned and I feel it necessary to have the truth told and my name cleared.

    Neil Douglas

  4. Ceroill responds:

    Well said, Greybear. Hey…guys and gals…anyone know where to go to get certification as a ‘trained observer’? You know, that mysterious qualification so often cited by ‘scofftics’? (is that with one f or two, Loren?) Which brings to my mind another question about ‘trained observers’. Going for the moment on the assumption that such a credential actually exists, would you need to be certified separately for different situations and environments? Would a person well trained for laboratory observations be equally qualified for making good observations in the field, or is it a set of general skills that apply at all times?

  5. tropicalwolf responds:

    Be careful posting that first picture. The para-nuts out there are going to claim they captured an apparition moving in from the left side of the frame (i.e. purple image).

    Great story.

  6. cryptidsrus responds:

    He must have a PRETTY strong arm to knock himself into a rockpool all by his lonesome. Jeez.

    Did this “first timer” actually SEE Harrison hit himself with a rock?
    If not—how does he know that Harrison did this himself???

    Some things just amaze me.

  7. cryptidsrus responds:

    Great article, BTW. Thanks for all you do. “Mate.”

  8. korollocke responds:

    This sounds completely bogus, if such a thing as strong and powerful as it’s claimed to be actually attacked this dude he wouldn’t be around too shoot the bull about it. There should be foot prints, signs of a struggle ect..

  9. DWA responds:

    Ceroill: actually, in the case of the sasquatch at least, proponents pull the trained-observer card as often as scoftics (I generally see it with the single f) as lending legitimacy to what was seen.

    Not saying that it isn’t legitimate. Not saying that you’d have to be a scientist. Law enforcement officer, seasoned hunter or naturalist, medical professional (including RN/paramedic), firefighter/smoke jumper, pilot: these and many more are cited as lending credence to sasquatch sightings.

    I’m not sure how technical one wants – or needs – to get with this. Many motorists (a fine motor skill requiring pretty fair powers of observation, something we generally underrate ourselves on) have provided very detailed descriptions of what they saw, which fit very well into the overall sasquatch profile.

    I think it’s in the interests of scofitcs to make sure that “trained observer” is an always-receding ideal, something to which they can always say sorry, not trained ENOUGH! Fact is, there are many, many people whose credibility in sightings really shouldn’t be questioned the way it is. If that many mentally or chemically-impaired people are carrying guns or driving – two of the most common activities associated with encounters – both activities should be flat outlawed, soonest, no questions asked.

    korollocke: not necessarily. I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see either of the signs you mention (much depends on where it happened and how), and I would never expect more than minor injuries in an encounter with an animal that really never seems interested in inflicting any. That said: I can see how eye-rolling happens in cases like this. I’m pretty sure that one of mine did, at least.

  10. raisinsofwrath responds:

    I get the distinct impression that this Dean guy is FOS. Where would a “first timer” come up with a story like that (Dean hit himself in the face with rock)? To me it sounds too obscure to be made up. Sounds to me like Dean is covering his A and his (alleged) lies.

    Furthermore, what reason would a Yowie have to physically assault someone unless it felt severely threatened? From all I’ve read over the years these creatures will avoid contact and vacate the area whenever possible. Again, I don’t believe a Yowie assaulted Dean unless Dean did something crazy to cause the creature to feel the need to protect itself or its young.

    IMO, Dean likely never encountered a Yowie at all.

  11. cryptidsrus responds:

    Ok, Neil:

    DID you actually see Harrison hit himself with a rock???

    If he did hit himself and you did not see it—by what method did you arrive at the conclusion that he hit himself with a rock???

    Did Harrison go into a rockpool or not???

    Look—
    I’m not saying necessarily that Harrison is telling the truth. Just trying to sift the truth from all the “he said, this other guy said” pickle we are in.
    Ultimately when all the permission is given for Dean to give you the sound recording you can then maybe come around to answering questions like th above. Dean too.

  12. Averagefoot responds:

    I smell too much fish in this to give it a second thought…

  13. YowieLover responds:

    cryptidsrus

    It would seem you know more about this than myself. Where have I said Dean hit himself with a rock? That is a statement made by Dean about a first timer. There was no first timers on the expedition and there is no forum record showing someone saying that, that I am aware of.

    I did send an email to Dean once saying I could think of 3 reasons why the bruises had occurred – harming himself with a rock was not included…but saying those reasons here would embarrass him quite a bit. His forum post as a result of that email was “Now they are accusing me of self harm” I was banned long before this and could not reply to any of his ridiculous accusations.

    That’s quite an interesting statement by yourself cryptidsrus that I would like you to clear up for everyone…now you are amazing me.

  14. cryptidsrus responds:

    Ok, Neil…

    I was going by the report above about a “first timer” saying Dean hit himself with a rock.

    Somebody’s lying here. It indeed could be Dean. I stated that before. Let’s see ALL the evidence.

  15. YowieLover responds:

    cryptidsrus

    I agree ALL the evidence should be put on the table. I have the only sound file of the entire night and when I get written permission from Dean to put it up it will be done.

    I am a little starved for time at the moment but in time every reporting inaccuracy and the glaring inconsistencies will be displayed and the correct information will eventually be brought out into the open.

  16. mbw responds:

    I believe Mr harrison has answered the queries in this post.
    People were banned for stalking him and his family.
    We have had a gut full of the two brothers YL1 and Sooker.

    They are both two obsessed individuals. Time for them to get jobs and focus on something important.

    Basically – we made a mistake by inviting them out with us.

    Setting the story straight…….

    That night, I wondered off to a place we nickname “The Arena”. Dubbed due to a fight between two male Yowies there many years ago.

    The location is also the site of Aboriginal and Yowie birthing pools. Therefore a sacred site. I had an encounter there a few years ago. Three of them came down from the hill and stood behind us. That’s a story for another day…..

    Back to the story, I wondered away from camp to escape the noise so I could listen to the forest, as I do. It was somewhere between 1 and 3am. I walked up the track above Base. To my left is a hill and to my right is a gully where the granite cascade (The Arena), is. The entire location is pine forest with parts encroached by Lantana.

    I cut my way down to the right into the gully and made my way up the cascade. It was a still night with little to no breeze. The cloud cover was thick, as we had rain that afternoon and the moon was nowhere to be seen. It was an extremely dark night.

    Suddenly I was hit with an overwhelming smell of Sulphur that ran its way up my nostrils. It was pungent.

    I radioed to base and reported it. I am the first to wave my hand and admit I obviously wasn’t thinking, as I didn’t put two and two together. Sulphur odours and the Yowie come hand in hand and have done so since the first reports centuries ago. I began to smell the rocks and cracks to in an attempt to find the source to no avail.

    A few minutes later, I sat on the granite with legs crossed listening to the forest sounds.

    I had not been there long, when on top of the hill came something marching like a soldier. It came over the hill and was walking along the ridge line without a care on the World. I stood up and radioed base asking if this person was one of them. ‘No’ was the reply. I patched back and stated that I had company. It was marching with intent. The first thought was it was definitely heading towards Base to survey the situation and the noise factor.

    The moment I stood up and spoke, it changed direction and ran like a freight train all the way down the hill in my direction. It ran, leapt and sprinted down the hill at a great pace with total ease not missing a step. How it could have done such a pace in harsh terrain in total darkness bewilders me. I have not witnessed such an event since Ormeau in 97’.

    My Maglite was on the ground, UHF in my left hand and I was skipping backwards, while yelling at it to keep back. It leapt onto the track and leapt again onto the bottom slope at full speed directly at me.

    Before I knew it , he/it/she struck me on the right side of my chest and shoulder landing me into a rock pool behind me.

    While yelling into the UHF, my back was arched and legs kicking directly up into the air in attempt to keep it off me. From time to time I would throw a miserable right fist, which would have got me nowhere if connection was made.

    Frantic, I kept yelling for backup. Within no time there was flashlights coming in my direction and the Yowie stepped away. When the boys arrived I pointed in the direction where I thought it had left.

    YL1 and Joe headed after it. Mikka helped me up and dusted me off before we joined the others. We caught up with it and began to follow. It’s eyes glowed in the darkness like they were illuminated by batteries. They were a white/grey colour. When it’s head was facing forward, we saw nothing other than total darkness. When it looked back towards us, there they were, blinking.

    Not totally in charge of all my faculties at this stage and obviously still in trauma mode, I was loudly voicing my disapproval at it and invited round two.

    We were all amazed at the eye shine and commented about it.

    The Brother reports, Quote: “The other night after observing the eye shine with Mikka, I was on my way back to base with Joe going up the steep rock slope and had the worst chills of my life. I told Joe about this. I don’t know why he didn’t feel it but i didn’t feel safe without my finger on the button at all.

    There was a few walking around that night 70 to 100 meters from the camp. The popping of sticks underfoot was unmistakeable.

    I have never had chills in the bush before, apart from when the big hairy guy was walking towards us before it growled at us in one of my experiences. That time I had chills because I heard the footsteps and thought a crazy man was in the rainforest stalking us. At that time before it growled I hadn’t thought it could be a Yowie at all”.

    We had radioed to Base to wake up my partner so she could witness what we were seeing. He refused on 2/3 occasions. Later in a recording he used, we hear him saying “F’ that”. He had no interest in the events that were transpiring, as alcohol had taken over the majority of his mind space.

    Joe and YL1 had wandered back to base to get Lasso, as that was far to labour intensive for Sooker.

    Mikka and I sat there watching it watching us, while it began to cough.

    Later that morning, I pondered over the entire event. I ran the scenario over and over in my mind time and time again trying to makes sense of it all and figure what triggered it to behave as it did.

    During the morning although it was drizzling, I decided to head out on a short hike while the twins sat there moping and staring at their feet.

    While out on my hike, I attempted to find the Rangers huts, as there were a couple staying there and I wanted to know if they experienced anything that night, however I couldn’t find it. I spent an hour searching for it, to no avail.

    On my return as I approached the beginning of the Creek towards camp, something caught my eye to my left. It was a dark figure, either dark grey or black that was either squatting or sitting in the long grass. The form was Human, yet thicker. It gently lent forward into the undergrowth as I walked towards it. Still not in the best frame of mind after the events of the previous night, this was something that I certainly didn’t want to know about. Lasso and Joe had gone to town, she with our camera, never the less, I doubt I was going to linger about not knowing if it was the same one that hit me.

    I walked some meters further towards the creek, as I was becoming somewhat dehydrated. I then heard a noise from the direction of the “it”, therefore I chose to move on. As I made my way back to the track, there was a loud “Whack, Whack, Whack” on the right side of the track just ahead of me.

    This was a noise that I was more than familiar with.

    It took me a good 10 minutes to walk past it. On my way passed, I picked up a fist sized rock in my right hand. It was better than nothing.

    It remained uneventful all the way back to camp.

    Mikka said that he went for a wander back up the hill and came across something that broke out in coughing, as we heard the previous night.

    This is when things began to change.

    I was approached by Sooker. He told me that the previous night never happened! Totally gobsmacked and dumbfounded, the best reply I could muster, was “HUH?” He said not to tell a soul or he would come after me and destroy my reputation.

    I asked why he would do this and he said because he will (?).

    At first I thought he was joking. I told everyone else and they were rather shocked, especially considering he wasn’t even there with us. Here was this odd person telling us that nothing happened and to leave it! Even his brother at the time had found it hard to fathom.

    I asked “Why would you say such a thing?”

    His reply was “Because I know all”.

    By now I had a firm grasp on the fact that he wasn’t quite all there.

    He then added that “He was the Yowie”. We were apparently following him! I enquired how could that be so when he was at base and we were on the hill. The then replied “I can be at all places at once, I can be everywhere at all times”. Okay…….. Now I knew I was dealing with someone “not quite right”.

    He added that the illuminated eye shine was his due to cataracts beaming light out of them? I asked why we never saw that during the night when we were all sitting together, however that seemed to be a hard one to answer.

    Continuing his rants, he mentioned that he foresees World events, predicted Princess Diana would die, 9/11 and can shape shift etc etc…… and………. that we made all of this up (not that he was there).

    So here we were in a situation with some guy who we have met once that turns into a fruitcake and threatens us. He bragged that he has no friends as if it were something to be proud of, yet all we can see is the reasons why he has no friends! Certainly nothing to be proud of and remember that it was Sooker that first said to me that YL1 has issues (as seen in the emails I have been receiving).

    He then tells everyone that the bruises that I had all over my body was a result of me beating myself with the rock I brought back to camp. Seriously – he claimed that!

    Then he begins phoning and emailing everyone telling them that we made the entire story up. His brother, then decides he will change his story also and then sends me volleys of threatening and abusive emails. Some of which I may post.

    I then receive a barrage of complaints from people asking why this lunatic is phoning/emailing hassling them all the time. Emailing and phoning people they don’t even know!

    It’s continued for 5 months now and we have all had enough. Time to grow up boys and get yourselves a life. Focus on your own issues and perhaps seek some professional help. We don’t lose any sleep over them, as they’re not important enough.

    They are obsessed. We are so important in their lives that they feel the need to focus on us 24/7. They continually tell us that they will ruin our credibility and try to destroy us – why???

    Thats pretty much the story.

    Below is Sooker on the nite and keep in mind he didn’t have the capacity to even leave camp with the rest of us that night…….. yet he seems to be an expert on what happened because he was teleporting! Oh, they have also threatend to edit copy/paste audio to make us look bad. I’m sure it will happen. No matter. YL1’s initiail report was correct – why change the story?

    Its the same story that the rest of us have – because…….. it happened.

    Grow up, get lives and stop behaving like deranged little School girls. We have better things to do.

    DMH

  17. YowieLover responds:

    Hi Loren,

    Please just leave this MBW post up as it will work in our favor in future.

    Thanks Mate.

  18. Loren Coleman responds:

    This sentence, “Even Loren has emailed asking why they are bothering him,” has been removed from the MBW post because it is factually incorrect.

    Please, no one speaks for me in this fight between the debating factions. I will continue to post comments from both sides, but I will not tolerate being characterized for what I feel about this. Thank you.

  19. Woodenbong responds:

    The further this crap goes on the deeper Williams and Harrison are getting. This fabricated story isn’t helping the yowie research in Australia.
    Harrisons forum has followers that tend to hang onto everything he says and treat it as gospel, when in fact what ever comes out of his and Williams’s mouth isn’t anything but BS.
    For the sake of the genuine researchers here in Australia, drop the subject. The only people believing this tale are the dedicated followers Harrison and Williams, get a life.
    I put these to guys in the same catagory as Biscardi, the body in the freezer guys and bulletmaker.

  20. bccryptid responds:

    Just goes to show you, ALWAYS do a full interview with any new potential expedition member prior to the expedition!

    Good luck Dean, you appear to have found them several times now in the pitch dark, maybe time to save up for an infrared camera.

  21. OzCrypto responds:

    There are 2 major problems highlighted with this case.

    Firstly, that the physical evidence does not support the claims – Harrison’s displays deep bruising on his thighs yet nothing on his chest (the point of impact which allegedly knocked him back 12 feet), no odorous residue was left behind on Harrison’s skin or clothing, and the footprint cast is clearly that of a human (the heel of which slid uphill before the forefoot with toes spread is placed on the ground – a wholly unnatural striding motion yet perfect for a hoaxer to distort the foot’s proportions).

    The 2nd problem is one that affects “yowie research” as a whole – that of story-based research. Anyone can invent a yowie story. Repeat it often enough and it becomes part of the yowielore. In his unusual explanation above, Harrison has created more yet yowie stories (documented nowhere previously by anyone) in an effort to enhance his story’s credibility – “The location is also the site of Aboriginal and Yowie birthing pools. Therefore a sacred site. I had an encounter there a few years ago. Three of them came down from the hill and stood behind us. That’s a story for another day…” and “I wondered off to a place we nickname “The Arena”. Dubbed due to a fight between two male Yowies there many years ago.” Sacred yowie birthing pools? Yowie fight? More stories but no actual evidence. The plural of STORIES is not DATA.

    The fact that all Harrison’s alleged yowie encounters occur when alone or with anonymous participants and conveniently all without cameras is highly suspicious for an experienced researcher. His dishonest attempts (highlighted by Loren above) to discredit the 2 dissenting participants smacks of desperation. Clearly, Harrison is not used to having his stories challenged.

    This is a hoax. Harrison needs to come clean about what really happened that night. Until then, questions will remain about just how many of his alleged yowie encounters are just stories – fictional stories.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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