Location: Doubtful Creek, New South Wales
Date: November 1999
I was reading the newspaper late October when I found an article about some "Wild man" that has harassed three homes in the rural town of Doubtful Creek for the past two years. The article read that it runs like the wind, sometimes on all fours and has a bad smell. They said that it kills animals to survive and lives in the bushland near the homes.
Of coarse I was going to be interested, and contacted the Journo who wrote the story to find out more. I explained who we were (and he knew of us), and he gave me the phone numbers of the people involved such as the residents. After talking to them I found that the Journo had twisted the story completely and the true story had little to do with a "wild man" at all, but some guy who has taumented these people nearly every night for two years.
He turns up around 8pm each night and runs around with a machete while throwing rocks at their houses. He breaks into their homes and steals underwear, even diverted their phone on one occasion. He slashes their fly wire, smashes windows, watches them while they shower and generally causes havoc. These people were at their wits end and had nowhere to turn.
I wasn't really interested in other peoples problems at that stage and pretty well left it at that.
Later that afternoon Today Tonight (Channel 7) phoned and asked if we would join them on location there and have us use our equipment to film this man/beast which I stressed was only some guy with a vendetta. A Current Affair (Channel 9), had been phoning often at that stage wanting to do a story on us, however we felt that ACA wouldn't do a equally balanced story and we kept declining. We also thought that Today Tonight may do the same, but this was something different.
Today Tonight said that they wanted us to be "advisors" out there and I stressed that if we came that we were there just to help them with the equipment and that was it. It turned out in the end to be a "Yowiehunters" story more than the people who lived there - no real matter it was an "all right" angle and story which put us in a good light. (Except for the fact they ran the line that we were there because we thought it was a Yowie.)
When we arrived we got straight into business setting up the cameras in different directions and we had people in the bush tracking and searching for angles where he may survey the houses. You couldn't have met nicer people than the residents, they even cooked us Breakfast, lunch and dinner! They treated us so well we felt like members of the family.
While we were setting up on the first day, some juvenile reporter from the Lismore paper named "Bruce Cutler" was there watching us and writing notes. He wandered around with a camera and asking us silly questions about what we were doing. He brought some feral from Lismore there who had wandered off the street into his office telling them he was an aboriginal tracker. This kid in his tattered clothes brought his dirty old dog also, and I really can't tell you which one smelt worse.
He even asked the people there if he could have their shoes because his had holes, then he killed their pet echidna for dinner and instead of eating it, he threw the blood dripping mess into their pot plant, then asked them for food and money. He thought he was pretty good for being able to catch the poor echidna, the thing he didn't know was that it was a tame pet they had raised from a baby - and he had killed it by cutting its throat. He got scared the first night because when he heard the Click Beetles, he thought it was ghosts of Aboriginals launching an attack - yes I'm being serious! Well that was enough for us, he was out of there even if we had to tie him to the tow bar and drag him back to town.
Back to business and we were all set up for the night. We had people in all directions waiting for this 'persons unknown' but nothing. One by one we did small interviews for Today Tonight, then headed back out again.
Phil was set up in an old caravan on the lower side of the backyard with his I.R lights and cameras. I was in front of the cameras at one stage in the bush and all I could see was one little red dot - but looking through Phils camera I was in a large spotlight giving him the full advantage. If this guy turned up, he wouldn't even know he was being filmed.
The fact that we were dealing with a guy that is reported to be 6'6" carrying a large knife that threatens to cut the residents throats was 'interesting'. The Police said that they don't have the man power or equipment to help these people meant that these people are left to deal with it by themselves.
Ashley monitored the cameras and gave instructions, Phil was hidden in the caravan, Richard was crawling through the thick grass, Trevor was in the next property and I was in the bush behind the homes.
When Richard came along, you didn't know he was there until he was about 3 feet away, I thought "that looks like a plan", and tried it. I lasted about 2 minutes after I came face to face with a black and white striped snake staring me in the face while on my stomach as I parted some grass! Better leave that one to Richard!
The main goal of the first night was not to catch him, but to use the equipment and find where he sits to monitor the movements of the people in their homes and where he enters the property. The residents said that this was the first good nights sleep that they had in almost two years.
It wasn't long before Phil walks in holding a tape. "I think I might have something interesting here", he said. We sat down and watched the monitor and sure enough - there he was. He was sitting behind a bush on the high side of the large property watching the house and he had no idea Phil was filming him! We then headed back out with the cameras but he had gone, no problems, we accomplished the nights surveillance and found where he sits for a good view. He didn't return for the night, the residents had a good sleep and we had a game plan set for the following night.
So far everything was working to plan......
The next morning when we woke, we were face to face with the front page of the Northern Star newspaper showing us a full colour picture of all of us and a detailed description of who we are, what we're doing there and details of all our equipment that we were using. That stupid......stupid reporter BRUCE CUTLER blew our whole operation in one STUPID move. He didn't care that we were there to help these people, he just wanted the story and didn't care if he blew the whole operation. For the entire day we had sight see'ers driving by and needless to say the target didn't turn up for the first time in two years.
We were out of time and had to head back. Not long after, we did some additional home work on the situation and all material that we have sourced has been handed on to our friends at the Police.
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