- WITNESS: Dr. Matthew Johnson, PhD
- YEAR: 2000 SEASON: Summer
MONTH: July
DATE: 7-1-00
TIME & CONDITIONS: Just after 5pm
-
- NEAREST TOWN: Oregon Caves National Park STATE/PROVINCE:
Oregon
-
- ENVIRONMENT: National forest at the Oregon Caves
OTHER WITNESSES: Myself, my wife, my three children OTHER INCIDENTS: No
-
- DIRECTIONS TO LOCATION: Oregon Caves National Park in
Southern Oregon
-
- OBSERVED: This is a true story and it just happend to
us 5 hours ago, just after 5pm Pacific Time
-
- Where to begin? Rochelle and I took our kids to the Oregon
Caves National Park in southern Oregon. We ate lunch at a picnic table
and then took a tour of the caves. The caves were spectacular. If you haven't
seen them before, they are a must see experience.
-
- Upon our exit of the cave, everyone usually turns to
the right to go back down to the gift store and lodge. However, we are
fresh from Alaska and love to hike in the outdoors (i.e., we just moved
from Alaska to Oregon earlier this year). We decided to go left and hike
up to see the Big Tree (i.e., a Douglas fir tree with a circumference of
40 feet that is about 800 to 1,000 years old). We hiked for about 2 miles
into the forest up the mountain. As we were hiking up the trail, we smelled
a very strong pungent smell. It was as strong as a skunk but it wasn't
a skunk (i.e., we know what a skunk smells like and it wasn't a skunk even
though it was as strong smelling as a skunk). We were standing down wind
of the smell.
-
- We continued to hike up the trail and the trail started
to switch back to the right as we climbed the mountain. There were plenty
of tall trees and brush. I heard a faint sound (i.e., "Whoa, Whoa,
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!). At first I thought it was the blood vessels pounding
in my head because it was a constant sound/rhythm and I'm out of shape
(i.e., it was a big mountain and we were constantly walking up, up, up,
up). We kept walking up the trail. I heard the sound again except it was
louder. Then I thought, "This sound is external - not internal."
We all stopped and I asked, "Do you guys here that sound?" Rochelle,
Levi, Hannah, and Micah looked at me and nodded their heads in affirmation.
-
- Don't ask me why but we continued to walk up the mountain
through the very tall trees and brush. The sound continued in cycles of
five to six repetitions (i.e., Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa). Louder
and louder. Now the sounds were behind us.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- I started putting one and one together in my mind and
my biological "fight or flight" responses kicked in. I stopped
my family on the trail. I told them to stay quiet. I hiked up the hill
to our left because I had to go poop ASAP (i.e., this happens when the
biological "fight or flight" response kicks in). While I was
doing my duty, I was scanning the woods down the mountain on the other
side of the trail my family was standing on. That's when I saw it. I swear
to God I'm telling you the truth. I saw it come out from behind one tree
to the left and walk to another tree to the right. Then it looked back
and was watching my family while they were standing on the trail.
-
- I've hiked through the woods in Alaska numerous times
and believe me, I know what a grizzly bear looks like and I know what a
black bear looks like. I was actually chased by a grizzly bear on the Russian
river in Alaska about six or seven years ago.
-
- What I saw was not a grizzly bear or a black bear. What
I saw walked upright on two legs like a human and it was much taller than
a grizzly bear or a black bear. What I saw was Bigfoot (otherwise known
as Sasquatch). I swear to God I saw it. I'm not lying.
-
- I pulled up my shorts immediately, walked fast down to
the trail and got my family moving up the mountain. I sure as heck wasn't
going to go back down the trail where we came from and go right to it.
I didn't tell my wife or children what I saw because I didn't want them
to panic. At this point, the adrenaline was rushing and I was very hypervigilent
(i.e., constantly looking behind us and through the woods). The sound stopped
but I wasn't convinced we were safe.
-
- When we got to a place where the kids could stop and
sit on a fallen log to rest and drink some water, I pulled Rochelle away
and told here that she wasn't going to believe what I saw. She believed
me right away. She smelled the smell and she heard the repetitive cycles
of "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa" and she knows I'm not crazy.
I told her to keep the kids going and that I would stay at the back to
keep my eyes on what was behind us. I told her that if anything came up
from behind us or through the woods from the side of us that I would run
interference to protect them. I told her that if this happened, I wanted
her to run the kids on the trail, don't stop, and don't look back. We agreed
not to tell the children because we didn't want to panic them.
-
- We never heard the sounds again and I never saw anything
after that. We finally made it out of the woods about 1? hours later. We
sent the kids into the gift store to look for a gift because we had promised
to buy them something if they were good hikers and didn't complain. Rochelle
and I sat on the bench outside the gift store and talked about the pro's
and con's of whether or not to report what we smelled, heard, and saw (i.e.,
I don't want people to think we are crazy). Rochelle said it was up to
me.
-
- I decided that I wasn't going to keep this a secret because
it was real and I know I'm sane. I remembered reading about how the albino
gorilla was a myth/legend in Africa for quite some time until someone finally
captured one. Well, I'm here to tell you today (and the world) that Bigfoot/Sasquatch
is not a myth/legend. The creature/animal really and truly does exist!!!
-
- After we made our decision, Rochelle went into the gift
shop with the kids. I walked to the Park headquarters and reported what
I saw to a ranger. I sat in the chair stunned and then I began to cry.
All these emotions that I was stuffing due to the adrenaline began to surface
now that my family and I were safe. You don't know how vulnerable I felt
being so far out in the woods without the ability to protect my family
in that kind of situation (i.e., no gun). I told the ranger that I was
not crazy. I gave her my business card (i.e., I'm a licensed psychologist
in private practice). I told her that I have two master's degrees and one
doctorate degree and that I was an intelligent person. I told her that
I know what I smelled, heard, and saw. In between the tears and my shaking,
I told her that I saw Bigfoot. She believed me! She didn't think I was
crazy. She said that there is a lot about our world that we don't know
and that we are discovering new species all the time.
-
- She took my story, Rochelle's story, and Levi confirmed
what the noise sounded like. I was the only one who saw Bigfoot because
I had hiked up off the trail high enough to see it. I can't tell you what
it looked like other than it was very tall, looked half-human and half
ape, walked upright, and had very dark hair (i.e., a mix of very dark brown
and/or black hair). It happened way too quick and all I could think about
after I saw it was to get my family the heck out of there. I've done some
surfing on the internet and what I saw looked a lot like this picture below.
-
- Around 8:30pm tonight, the park ranger called and left
a message in my voice mailbox. She said that I might want to purchase the
following book: Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide by Robert
Michael Pyle (1997). I'm going to order/buy this book ASAP. They are going
to check out the area that we reported the smell, sounds, and sighting
tomorrow morning before other curiosity seekers arrive. I'm sending this
to you because I have to tell others what we experienced. This animal is
real. It does exist.
-
- Rochelle and I are willing to talk with anyone. We don't
believe that it is right to have this kind of experience and to hide it
from the rest of the world. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone
you think would be interested in hearing the truth. I swear to God that
this is a true story that just happened today (7-1-2000 shortly after 5pm).
-
- Signed
-
- Dr. Matthew Johnson, PhD,
Psychologist
-
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|