The World of Myth Magazine

The drought, coupled with the extremely hot weather, had driven the animals from the high country down to the lower regions where there was water. Head park ranger Allen Deane had just taken the first sip of coffee when he received the early morning call from Jim Hughes, his colleague, informing him of another bear sighting by campers out on the Old Hickory Trail at the north end of the park. “Al, you better come on out here, this one is bad. Whatever it was tore up the campsite and chased the hikers off around three this morning. All six of them are still scared out of their wits.”Shaking his head, Al squared his muscular six-foot three-inch frame and took a deep breath. “Okay Jim, where are you?” “Out on the old trailhead, about three miles up and just off the fire road.” “Got it. That’s pretty rough country up there. It’ll take about a half hour or so before I can get to you. Are you going to need anything for the campers?”

“Yeah, a couple first aid kits, they’re pretty banged up. Some water, energy bars and a few blankets. Oh, and you had better bring a rifle, just in case.”

“Alright Jim, I’m on my way.” Five minutes later, Al was putting the four-wheeler in the back of the pickup truck along with the rest of the requested gear. He switched on100.5 FM country radio and set off.

As Jim Hughes tied up his horse, he did his best to keep the campers calm. He was reassuring them it was just a bear that tore up their campsite looking for food. But each of them insisted it was something else. A very big something else that had scared them last night.The sound was more like a scream and no bear could make that noise. There was a real nasty smell, like a skunk, or a bunch of dead animals. Besides, what about all the tents that were ripped to pieces and everything that was scattered all over the place?

“That’s when we got the hell out of there. Whatever it was, chased us for a good way down the trail like it didn’t want us there. Now Ranger, you tell me what kind of bear can do that type of damage?” asked one of the still shaking hikers. The others shook their heads in agreement. “Okay, we’ll find out just what it was. But for right now, we’ve got some water and food coming and we’ll get those nasty cuts taken care of,” Jim said with all the confidence that he could muster. But down deep he had this nagging feeling that the campers may be right, and it was something other than a bear.

Pulling up to the trailhead, Al wasted little time unloading and packing the four-wheeler. Stowing the large caliber rifle and the box of cartridges out of sight, he started up the trail to Jim and the campers. The fire trail was very rough, even worse than what Al remembered. No wonder Jim took a horse on his trip up here this morning. The trail shook him from side to side, causing him to making a mental note to have maintenance make a pass or two with a dozer once he was finished with this colossal waste of his time.

Twenty minutes or so later, Al pulled up to Jim and the campers. After passing out the food and water plus almost depleting the first aid kits of antiseptic, band aids and gauze, Al pulled Jim aside and ask for his thoughts on last night’s attack. Satisfied that it probably was a bear coupled with the overactive imagination of the campers, Al handed Jim the truck keys.“Get them back to the station and get a video statement of what happened. I’ll take your horse and ride to the camp site and confirm what it was.” Slinging the rifle over the saddle and putting the box of cartridges and a few other things in the saddle bags, Al set off further up the trail.

 Strange how the gentle rocking of the horse gives you time to think. Where did the last fifteen years go? It seemed like yesterday he graduated from college and was sworn in as a park ranger. There was a failed marriage along the way and a few girlfriends… plus the promotion to lead the special park ranger investigation team, which proved to be a lot more intense that it would appear. In the last month or so, the calls were getting stranger. It was either bears or bizarre sightings, plus those foul smells seemingly coming out of nowhere. Now this, a campsite torn up and campers frightened out of their minds. What next?

Al chucked aloud, “The boogieman jumping out of the woods to snatch you away or little green men?” As the horse rounded the top of the slow grade, Al pulled back on the reigns. Below set a large clearing and the campsite. Picking up the radio, Al called headquarters to let them know his location. “Dispatch, this is Al Deane. Can you read me? Come in. Over.”

Repeating the message few times there was nothing but static.

“I must be in a dead zone. Just my luck. Oh well, I’ll try later”

He spurred the horse down to the campsite. It was a mess. The three tents were ripped to shreds, all of the aluminum poles were bent and the camping equipment was scattered everywhere. Odd, but two of the sleeping bags were hanging from a tree as if they had been tossed there. Things were beginning to look less and less like a bear could have done this kind of damage. Trying the radio again with the same results, Al began to make a mental list of things to do, “Okay, find their wallets, look for tracks and take pictures of the site with my cellphone.”

Something did all this, but what? Looking around, he caught sight of a movement about three hundred yards away at the other end of the clearing. A bout the same time, the horse started pawing the ground and acting like something was fighting him. Al, took the reins and tied them around a small tree trunk. Pulling the rifle off the saddle, loading it with a chambered a bullet and raising the rifle scope to his eye, Al scan the tree line for whatever he had caught sight of, starting off in the direction of the movement.

Jim was just finished up with the campers and ask one of the other rangers take them back to their cars while giving them a voucher for the local motel for the night. He assured them that tomorrow they could get their belongings back, or what was left of them. Once they were gone Jim, tried to radio Al but he had the same luck, nothing but static. Strange, the campers said they had to wait until they were at the trailhead before they could get reception; their campsite being a dead zone.

Making his way to the barn, Jim saddled a horse, loaded him into the trailer and eased the pickup truck out onto the hard road to find Al.

Something about this just didn’t sit right with him. Those campers saw something that scared them half to death and they were still shaking when he left. All their talk about a foul smell, loud inhuman screams and they swore, whatever chased them, had yellow eyes shining bright in the moon light. That’s the part that bothered him, a bear wouldn’t have torn up the camp and chased them off, it would have attacked them. This was more of a warning to get outand stay out. Whatever it was, had a purpose and that purpose required thought which a bear wouldn’t have had. If this was something… supernatural, in a national forest, with over a million and a half acers, this thing could have hidden away from civilization for years without anyone knowing about it.

“Okay, that’s enough of those crazy thoughts,” Jim said out loud. “Too much alone time will do that to you,” he thought as he mounted his horse and started off looking for Al.    

 Al hadn’t gone a hundred feet before the horse franticly broke free from the tree trunk and took off back down the trail. The events that transpired next were unbelievable. Something big, massive, lumbered out from the edge of the tree line. Spotting Al, it forgot about the easy horse meal it had planned. Rising up on its hind legs and letting out a blood curdling roar, all seven feet, six hundred pounds of grizzly bear had a new lunch menu in mind as he dropped down on all fours and charged. Instinct took over as the rifle was leveled and the first of three bullets struck its target with deadly accuracy. However, the bear lumbered forward, dropping way too close for comfort as the last bullet hit home, t’s sharp claws still reaching out for its lost pray. Al took a few steps back, leveled the rifle and fired a fourth bullet, killing the bear.Shaking, Al dropped to his knees. He had always thought of himself as a strong man, able to handle almost anything thrown his way, but this was a near death situation that brought him to tears.

That’s where Jim found him a short time later. Hearing the gun shots and stopping Al’s runaway horse, he spurred the horses on at a dangerous pace, given the bad condition of the fire trail and closeness of the trail. He was glad to see Al alive when he topped the slopping hill and dropped down into the large clearing. “You alright?” asked Jim, touching his friend's shoulder.

“Yeah, just give me a minute and I’ll be fine.”

A short time later, the two gathered what could be salvaged from the campsite. By the look of it, the campers were having a party given the amount of whiskey bottles and beer cans littering the ground, plus the ruins of a campfire that was still warm to the touch. Due to the gravity of the drought, this was a serious violation of the state’s mandate.

Taking the ear tag off the bear, the two rangers packed up and started off toward the ranger’s station. When at the far end of the clearing came an inhuman scream. Both rangers saw something large moving slowly along the far tree line. Tying the horses up, Al reloaded the rifle. Unsnapping their service pistols, both men cautiously started off in the direction of the unseen.

As they entered the tree line, Jim stopped short, “Smell that? Smells like a dead skunk or something. Ya keep your eyes open, it might be another bear.” Pointing down, Jim said, “Look, all these tree branches are broken. Whatever it is was left the dry grass flattened. the tracks go off that way, back the way we just came.”

But Al realized the tracks were just a ploy. “Whatever it was is after the horses. Come on, Jim. Let’s go, we’ve got to get back up there!”  The horses were right where they had left them but the bear that had previously laid dead at the campsite due to Al’s keen shot, was missing.

“Al, where in the hell is the bear? It couldn’t have just got up and walked off, it was dead, wasn’t it?”

Looking back to the tree line Al said, “That's just what it wanted, that’s why we were lured to the other end of the clearing. Look Al, that bear weighted over six hundred pounds, now you tell me what could have picked it up and carried it off?” ,As the two rangers stood there searching for answers that made no sense, a blood curdling scream came from the woods behind the two men.

Raising the scope on the rifle, Al scanned the woods in the direction of the shriek but what he saw stopped him in his tracks. Jim took the scope from his frightened friend’s hands and sighted the creature. It was at least seven feet tall and had orangish-brown long hair. Jim, in his astonishment, could not bring himself to squeeze the trigger because it looked more human than animal. Within a few seconds, whatever it was turned and was gone.

To this day, neither ranger has discussed what they saw to another soul but both men share the silent knowledge that Sasquatch is real.

The official report filed by the rangers a bear attacked a group of campers. While at the campsite assessing the situation, a bear charged Park Ranger Allen Deane and was shot and killed. Ear tag number 84060134 was removed. Prior to the ranger’s removal of the animal’s corpse, wolves or some other unknown animal had stripped the carcass clean. The remains were buried in the nearby woods and the case closed. The report was signed by Head of Rangers, Allen Deane and Sergeant James Hughes.

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