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BadInfluence
Mountain climber
Dak side
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Jan 24, 2008 - 10:54am PT
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cool someone email directions on how to get to Bodie or sonaro sightings. i want to go camping there. mtn. lion / bobcat screams are pretty load and scary. i had a large cat circling me once while hiking at night.
did have something take a swipe at my propane can, when camping off of Tioga Pass. the can was close to my head and it woke me up when it happened. i didn't think anything of it until next morning when i noticed a claw mark in the propane can.
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deano
Trad climber
sonora
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Jan 24, 2008 - 12:55pm PT
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dude. Not a bobcat.
This thing is soooo fukin unbelievably real its not funny at all.
So many have encountered it at that very spot, most claim to know what it is.... Ie: chupacabra, bigfoot, spirit or whatever.
The only thing that I will claim is that I don't have a clue what it is.
What I do know, from working with a wildlife biologist who has studied the sonora pass area for over 40 years and describing the event to him, is that the behavioral patters of the animal are very typicly PRIMATE.
Most things in the wilderness, or at least sonora pass wilderness, (post grizzly bear that is), will do one of two things.
1. stalk you and kill you, Ie: big cats.
2. run away as to not get killed by you, Ie: everything else.
this thing literaly jumped around us and went Yeeeet Yeeeeet!
So loud man, so fukin loud.
It was, no doubt in my mind whatsoever, trying to scare us away.
make you own opinon based on that.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:34pm PT
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"dude. Not a bobcat.
This thing is soooo fukin unbelievably real its not funny at all.
So many have encountered it at that very spot, most claim to know what it is.... Ie: chupacabra, bigfoot, spirit ...... typicly PRIMATE. ...this thing literaly jumped around us and went Yeeeet Yeeeeet!
It was, no doubt in my mind whatsoever, trying to scare us away.
make you own opinon based on that. "
IMHO....Harpole
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kev
climber
CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 01:49pm PT
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Ok it was either Chongo, the man-bear-pig, or what ever you were smoking that night....
Seriously though, great stories.
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AllezAllez510
Trad climber
PDX, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2008 - 02:17pm PT
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Yo, deano.
Everyone here likes this story. I think I will write a post on "Fettucini Man" of Mickey's Beach. That was BY FAR the scariest thing I have seen while climbing.
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JerryGarcia
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:09pm PT
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Its someone who lives out in the mountains and wants no visitors. Sonora is one of the few places someone could get away with it.
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MountainMama
climber
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:12pm PT
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I'm not a climber, but spent a lot of time in the woods & hiking. I think you heard a cougar taking a deer. People think when they hear such loud screeching and screaming that it's the predator, but it's actually the victim. Deer, and rabbits, can scream or shriek incredibly loud when injured or frightened. Cougars don't kill immediately, but like all cats, let the injured victim go and chase it some more. There would no doubt be "thuds" involved. Twice I heard this near our cabin in Eastern Oregon below a salt lick. Both times the intermittent screams cames from different directions over a space of 5 minutes or so. I was outside & could hear branches cracking & loud thumping noises that continued downhill. When all was quiet, I saw a mama deer come down, hesitating, but continuing cautiously in the direction of the commotion. A deer would not normally head towards the scene of danger, but a mama deer having lost her fawn might. This was in the daytime while I had a cabin for security, but if I'd been camping in the night, I would have jumped in my car pretty fast too. Checking the area afterwards, only once did we see some broken branches, never saw blood or fur.
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:23pm PT
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My friends who grew up in the valley used to make a contracption with a big coffee can with a string coming out of the bottom of it. You wet your fingers and slide it down the string and it makes an unwordly howl. They'd hide in the woods just outside the campgrounds and do it. Then one would say "it's got me! what the hell is it?" It would FREAK the city folk out.
I was in a bivy sack in Hetch Hetchy, my buddy went to his tent to crash. Then I saw him walking around the camp. I asked him what he was doing, suprised he got out of the tent without making a sound. Then I heard his voice IN the tent. A big bear was visiting. I had to go back to sleep, in a bivy sack in the open with the bear walking around. I was so tired I crashed no problem, but my buddy was tossing in his tent all night.
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Yaro
Trad climber
Philadelphia, PA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 03:30pm PT
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After all those stories it's probably going to sound like a blasphemy, but I think all those stories about the same dude -- Scuzzlebutt. I once saw a TV show about him.
Here is the picture:
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BadInfluence
Mountain climber
Dak side
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Jan 24, 2008 - 04:30pm PT
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"There is something to this. Indeed. Can't talk here though"
"Hmmm, I'm not really at liberty to say too much. But.... "
give up the goods or it's just a bunch of BS
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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Jan 24, 2008 - 04:36pm PT
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In 1976 I did a solo hike down the length of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, from Santa Rosa Peak in Riverside County to Jacumba, near the Mexican border. I buried water at five places along the route, each two days apart. My folks drove me up to the shoulder of Santa Rosa to drop me off. The next day I hiked past Toro Peak and down the ridge to the head of Nicholias Canyon. On the way off the ridge I spooked a huge owl out of a big bush. I was so close that I had the palpable sense of being pushed back as he spread his wings. I emerged from the canyon into the broad valley at the high end of Rockhouse Canyon where the springs and the indian ruins are, and set up my first camp.
That night I was dozing in my tent when I heard a non-human scream. It sounded angry. I sat bolt upright and opened my pocket knife. Another scream got me up and out standing by the tent door with my little knife, heart pounding with fear that I was about to meet some creature out of Castaneda’s awful dreams. It screached again in my direction, but the beam from my flashlight couldn't reach it. It didn’t sound like anything I had ever heard.
After a few more screaches I heard an owl’s “w-h-h-ooh” from the same location but fainter, like his head was pointed away from me. Then in my direction it gave me the irate, unearthly scream. I heard a faint “whoooo” from far away, and then others from different directions. They were all over the place. I was the intruder in the valley of the owls, and this one really didn’t like having me there. But it left me alone eventually, and I was able to sleep. But I kept the knife open and in reach.
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cowpoke
climber
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Jan 24, 2008 - 04:55pm PT
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great stuff!!! I love the cougar killing deer theory -- even scarier than monsters!
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Beatrix Kiddo
Mountain climber
Denver
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Jan 24, 2008 - 06:09pm PT
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I really love these stories!!!!
Anyone ever experience anything strange in Choco Canyon in NM? My friend believes she had an encounter with a skin walker. he's a scientist, very logical and grounded but also very tapped in, if you know what I mean.
Keep the stories coming. These are great!!!
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Claystone
Trad climber
Sonora Ca.
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Jan 24, 2008 - 07:37pm PT
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Ok ya'll, here's the scoop on Chupie,
Back in the day when we were putting up the first lines at Lost World, the place had a very erie feeling about it, as if someone was checking you out the whole time you were down there.
A couple of years later, while talking with Deano and Yerian about their experiences I was intrigued.
Dave said I called the thing in after establishing "Green Monster", but I just laughed.
So after hearing more accounts of this being, which I totally believed could be real, get this, the thing shows up in my neighborhood here in Long Barn, and actually in my yard, 5 out of 7 days a week, for about 3 months, just ending when the cold came in. Never actually seeing it, but sat out in my yard with my gal for hours just listening to the most wild sh#t you could ever imagine hearing, definitely not of this world. I've got endless stories after it's visit.
I refer to this being as Chupie, short for Chupacabra, For you skeptics, this thing is for real, what ever it is. Google it up.
Peace
David Clay
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fareastclimber
Big Wall climber
Hong Kong & Wales
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Jan 24, 2008 - 07:52pm PT
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Yikes, there are some creepy stories here... and I was just about to go to bed. There must be an explanation to all these? Reminds me of some scary moments frolicking around in the jungle (tropics) after climbing, you hear so much sh#t out there it's hard for your head not to run somewhat wild when you are by yourself... especially in reminding yourself the jungles where I usually am have hidden the odd killer and Japanese soldier. I remember one time coming down from a climb at night by myself I had a good long walk back and heard a growl in the bamboo brush. It was just a dog (wild), but I couldn't see where it was and it had that psychotic quiver in its growl that scared the sh#t out of me. I slowly crept past with my machete in front ready to chop it's f*#king head off and sh#t down its wind pipe.
Worse though, but completely explainable was kipping under a tree about 15 minutes walk out of a small town and as the sun is going down there comes a man from the trail very inadequately dressed and definately not on a hike, far too casual... I look up and say 'good evening' and he grins deeply at me with a fiendish glare in his eye and finally let out a much delayed 'hello.' Man, that dude did not feel right at all... just that vibe... So I ditched camp there for the night and ran to hide in some bushes near the town. I felt stupid in some ways, but who knows maybe I could have just become another pointless statistic of a 'camper gone missing'.
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cintune
climber
Penn's Woods
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Jan 24, 2008 - 08:08pm PT
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"Local legends in the area of Columbia, Pennsylvania speak of a creature called an "albatwitch." The albatwitch is a small (about 4 feet tall), manlike creature which supposedly lived in wooded areas. Their main area of residence seemed to be near Chickies Rock, a heavily wooded area along the banks of the Susquehanna River about a mile or two north of town.
"Albatwitches were also reported from wooded areas all along the river's shore. The creatures are named for a habit which they possess. Their bizarre common name is short for "apple-snitch", as they are reputed to have a taste for apples. Legends speak of how the albatwitches would oftentimes steal apples from picnickers, occasionally even throwing them at the startled people. Legends also record that the creatures often sat in trees, coming down only to find food.
"Legend also says that the albatwitches either became extinct or were driven nearly into extinction in the later years of the nineteenth century. Chickies Rock, where the creatures supposedly lived, does have a tradition of strange sights and sounds - in the 1950s and 1970s, a manlike figure was seen several times, and local legends also speak of sounds like the crack of a whip heard in the woods at night."
http://www.bfro.net/legends/iroquoian.htm
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 08:21pm PT
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I have the hairy attributes for big foot, and maybe at night I look taller than I am in the light...
...but I'm not involved in any of these stories (at least as far as I can remember).
And for all the time I've been in the outback, never really had something that creepy happen, just the occasional "eyes on me" feeling, which was probably happening. How efficient to be eaten, though, recycled to carnivore pop in one digestive track cycle, appreciated down to the last tasty bits. A sweet memorial.
I wasn't implying that DMT et al. actually intentionally scared people, just that nocturnal activities might have been going on which sounded out of place and perhaps scary. But maybe not...
disclaimer: I have no actual knowledge of DMT activities with this regard, all my comments are just uninformed speculation... BS as it were... for the fun of it...
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Risk
Mountain climber
Minkler, CA
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Jan 24, 2008 - 10:12pm PT
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If ever there were a time for the spooks of Sonora Pass to come out of hiding, it would have certainly been the evening before the road closed for the season in October/November 1978. Myself, and two good friends camped at the meadows just 1/2 mile west and north of the pass, off an unofficial dirt road. We awoke in the chilly morning and milled about camp and the fire, then took off north up the mountainside right along the crest. The outcrops up there, we found, are like volcanic Swiss cheese; there are caves all over the place, including at least one that passes all the way through the mountain. One cave, I recall, was a pretty small opening on the outside, but opened up into a room where we could all stand up. It never occurred to me up that anything there was spooky. We began to get concerned with the billowing clouds and wind near sunset, so we decided to head west in my VW back to Twain Hart. We were very lucky, as snow came that night and the road closed for the season right behind us. Perhaps the new inhabitants had not yet arrived or were elsewhere that day?
Nearby however, I have had bone-chilling spasms run up my spine on two noteworthy occasions. One in Virginia Canyon and one at Upper McCabe Lake. Something odd certainly inhabits that area. Once, I arrived near the end of the day near dusk from a long hike from Benson Lake when I came upon the carcass of a fawn. This carcass amounted to a completely eviscerated animal minus all organs in the peritoneal cavity. Whoever or whatever had butchered the fawn had done so perfectly, without any mess, and as if with a laser knife. The animal was very warm and its death had been so recent, that its eyes were still entirely wet to the touch. I have always assumed this the work of a cougar, but the condition of the animal, so perfectly cut, has never squared completely with me. Why only certain organs? How so quickly and perfectly? Who? What? How? What for? I did not sleep well that night.
On another occasion, I was caught completely off guard while in total solitude above Upper McCabe Lake. This time I was terrified by the most unusual sound I have ever heard. The sound scared me to the bone. I cannot properly translate it nor fully recall it, as I have never heard it before or since. Perhaps a potential spelling would be a soft and nearby “hoorthieyth-whiielsh” but not quite as a voice, but an artificial sound from something and somewhere unknown. It came from out of the air within 50 feet of me. I searched the immediate area, but found nothing but rock. I always attributed this weird voice-like sound to be the combination of the wind and the shape of rocks right there, like an unusual whistle. However, the wind, it was not, as there was none that day. Who or what was it? What did the sounds mean? Why or how were these odd sounds made?
My most terrifying wilderness encounter took place in the Ishi Wilderness near Chico. We were on a group outing to find Ishi’s last hideout – a cave named “'Wowunupo:’ Grizzly Bear Hiding Place'“ Our group hiked overland on the mesa above the canyon for miles before splitting up owing to flat-out fatigue by some of the group. I led the retreating group back to camp, but we decided to drop into the canyon and hike back upstream along the creek. Once down along the creek, we picked our way. I spotted a hillside cave above the creek, and decided to investigate it, but the others took a rest instead of following me up the short scramble to the dark entrance. I entered the cave, and with a flashlight shimmied and stooped as I went about 30 feet back. At the end was a small room. I sat down inside and shined the flashlight upward to find the ceiling covered in soot from fire and smoke. Then I felt it; this was a place of dire sickness and likely death for someone whose soul visited me right then that day. I felt overwhelming sadness and grief, knowing that Ishi or his family had been there as his people were slowly slaughtered or sickened by disease. I felt the illness too as I crouched in the little room, imagining the horrible scene this place had once witnessed. No one in the group found Ishi’s cave “Wowunupo” that day, but my little excursion bought his life close to me forever.
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Jan 24, 2008 - 11:33pm PT
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For someone who does not believe in so much..
Are you still talking about that? From a year ago...
You sure you don't believe?
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Chris Woolley
Social climber
Colorado
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Jan 25, 2008 - 03:31am PT
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Back in 91 my brother and I were climbing the west side of Matchless Peak above Taylor Park in Colorado. As we cleared timberline there was a lot of willows ahead of us with patches of open ground in between the clumps. We were pretty winded as we pushed up toward the summit so we decided to take a break half bent over trying to regain our breath. I looked up the mountain and felt a little frustrated because there were people a little ways ahead of us. I nudged my brother and said "there's hikers up there," and he acknowledged their presence.
We started up again walking toward the people which were about 75 yards ahead of us. When we hit the next spot where we could see ahead we realized that it wasn't hikers but Big Horn sheep ewes and lambs. Once again we acknowledged this to each other a little puzzled as we were quite sure what we saw before. Off we pushed again toward the sheep and again as we found a place to see up the hill we realized that it wasn't sheep but turkeys. We looked at each other in amazement because,
a. there usually aren't any turkeys up there and,
b. we were sure of what we saw before.
Now we were determined to really see what this was. The turkeys had moved over a ridge not to far ahead of us so we pushed up as fast as we could go. As we crested the small ridge we looked ahead of us, in the open hillside were a flock of ptarmigan. From the vantage point of the ridge we could see a long ways up the mountain, on the sides and back down into the willows from where we just came. No people, no sheep, no turkeys.
I've lived in Colorado all my life, half of it climbing up mountains. How in the world do you get from people to ptarmigan? I have to say it sure made my head spin because of how sure we were of what we saw.
I really think that because of the original misconception and the light and the extreme exertion, our minds just played tricks on both my brother and I.
Maybe.
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