Location: Kilkivan, Queensland
Event: Yowie Sighting
Date: January, 2009
Time: 1am
Witness: Dean Harrison
Camping at Kilkivan (Oakview State Forest), when I had ventured away from camp to listen to the bush sounds. I wandered down a granite cascade and sat with my Maglite and UHF radio beside me.
To my left was a large hill. The entire area was pine forest. There was heavy cloud cover and no moonlight or star light. It was very dark. Suddenly on top of the hill something started marching along the peak from right to left. I radioed camp to see if everyone was there. I then added, “Well I have company”.
The moment I said that I had company, the creature turned and proceeded to sprint directly down the hill towards me at a great speed in total darkness. This is terrain I could not walk down without tripping over. It leapt over obstacles and jumped down onto a track above, then leapt again on the last decent directly at me. Its eyesight and agility was incredible.
At this stage I was yelling for it to stop with my hands out in front of me, and a couple of the guys were coming to me from the camp below. The creature hit me directly in the chest sending me backwards into a small pond of water. I was rocking from side to side, kicking my legs in the air in every direction trying to keep it off me and throwing futile punches. As the guys with their flash lights came down the cascade, it walked off into the bush behind me.
Myself and a couple of the guys followed it. It kept distance. Each time we stopped, it stopped and turned to look at us. Its eyes glowed a dull grey. There was absolutely nothing possible to make its eyes glow the way they did. It was like they were self-illuminating. The eyes were blinking. When it turned its head away, it was totally black. When it turned back to look at us again, there they were.
The rest of the night was uneventful. A couple of the guys said they heard noises during the night, but that was about it.
The next morning I set off for a hike, still rattled and shaken from the night before.
As I was returning to camp, about 100m down the track sat a dark figure in the long grass. It was black and of heavy set. I could see the top of the torso, a thick chest and shoulders and large thick head. As I came closer, it lay forward in the grass. If there was any other option/route to get back to camp I would have taken it, but I had no choice other than to walk passed it. I didn’t know if this was the same one that attacked me the night before. To say I was scared to walk passed it is an understatement. I had no idea what it was going to do or react.
I picked up a rock, as anything was a better option than throwing dry grass. As I came closer, I stopped. It was hard to pass it. I couldn’t see it laying down in the long grass, and frankly, I didn’t want to see it. It would have only been 5m away from where I stopped. Then I bit the bullet and double timed it straight passed.
THEN…… Directly to my right only metres away were 3 mighty WHACK WHACK WHACK’s on a tree. Now I had one either side of me. I almost jumped out of my boots. From there looking straight ahead I did a half walk, half trundle as quick as I could without looking like I was running or scared.
I really had no idea what was going to happen. I was certain one of them was responsible for the night before.
Returned to camp without further incident. Vowed never to venture alone in the dark in the bush again.
It took a good 8 months to get a good night sleep afterwards. The question still remains why it hit me. What wold have happened if I was totally alone without help. I doubt it had finished with me. The rule book, or all my passed experiences with them was worthless.
Speaking out about it online at the time resulted in a lot of ridicule and some deemed me as a liar. But it happened. Peoples opinions can’t change the truth. As a result of feeling like I had almost lost my life to these things for the second time (first time in 1997), I find it very hard to do field research as I used to. The fear factor remains and is overwhelming. Not just the fear, but the reality really set in. I feel that if I was alone that night, I wold simply be yet another missing person.
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