Yowiehunters Forum

Hi Community,

I had an experience last year March 2016 while I was camping alone at Basket Swamp State Forest, NSW (Just out of Tenterfield). The first afternoon I arrived and set up my tent. I was in an isolated part of the forest and set up camp near the water. I needed to drive into town to get some supplies and I came back to the camp at night-time so I arrived with the headlights on. After spending some time at camp I heard some loud howling. I thought to myself, geeze that sounds like a werewolf!...I know what howling dogs sound like but this was different, it was a very intense and loud howling. It was also 1 day before full moon which made me wonder even more whether werewolves were real!!...It sounded like it was in the distance so I was not concerned and just let it go. Soon afterwards I went down to where the water was (beautiful water holes and waterfalls) with my water container to collect some water. The water was about 20m from my camp. I walked down with my headlamp on and collected the water. Then I decided to sit on a rock area in the middle of the waterholes and take in the feeling of being in the middle of a forest, waterholes, waterfalls, nearly full moon and so on...to take in the whole experience. So, I found a place to sit and then after sitting down I went to turn off my headlamp and as I did this the light caught the reflection from 2 HUGE orange eyes looking at me from the other side of the waterholes, about 20m away from me. I was frozen in shock at what I was looking at, because what I was looking at was definitely large, and had huge massive eyes, nothing like any animal that I have seen before. I then continued to look at it while it was looking back at me, then the eyes turned towards the north (it was looking at me from across the waterholes, looking west - I was looking at him towards my east)...It started walking along a path running next to the waterholes in the northerly direction. I could see the eyes in the headlight and where it was facing. Then after a few steps it would stop and look at me, and then walk a few steps and then stop and look at me again and so on. After about 20 or 30 seconds of watching the animal walk closer and closer towards where I was, I immediately responded to a "flight" response, grabbed the water bottle, and ran as hard as I could through the bush (I bounded through trees and scrub not even trying to find the pathway back) until I got back to my tent and hid inside. I was freaked out. I didn't know whether to run into my car and escape or just stay in the tent, I was pretty hypersensitive to any noises around me and was super super alert, scared. After a few minutes I heard the howling again, and this time I could detect 2 distinct howls (from 2 locations). One was closer and another a bit further away. I then connected to the howling I head earlier and understood they were communicating to each other. Everything was ok for the evening, and the next morning I found a camper who was somewhere nearby in the forest, she had a dog. We took the dog to the exact location where I saw this being. The dog, as soon as it went to the location started freaking out! It was running up different paths trying to track a smell, it was sniffing everything with so much energy and hyperactivity, it was chasing up different paths. Very interesting. The dog was usually pretty chilled out and inquisitive, but not normally behaving like this. I wonder if what I saw was a yowie? Apparently this area has a lot of yowies, close to Woodenbong. I have heard so many accounts since this incident and no-one ever mentions this werewolf like howling, so it makes me wonder if it was something else? I have also head something about a dogman and wonder if this is like a werewolf? What's with the howling, could it be a yowie? Appreciations for any information...

Hi missbee3, it sure sounds like a yowie. Yes they howl, roar, hiss and can make many other sounds.

There are also a lot of wild dogs at Basket Swamp.

How high off the ground do you think the eyes were? And how far apart were they?

Yep that fits the bill.

agreed - if the eyes are high up - he's ( or she's ) your man!!!

Could be a fat junjudee if its short... The stop start stalking thing while she was walking off sounds very yowie also.

Thanks for sharing your encounter.

I spent January in Glenn Innes northern nsw, Stanthorpe, Qld. and did a little gem fossicking.
I got talking with a fellow fossicker who said he saw a hairy man in nearby Torrington while fossicking
Its funny he just said theres some strange things in the bush up in Torrington.
I said Yowies ?
He said Yes...how did you know that ?
He also said that many locals know not to go into certain areas in fear of them.

Fear them or not but that whole northern nsw highlands and southern qld granite belt has had many sightings
There certainly is plenty of out of the way habitat thereabouts

I hope everyone had a great Easter and some time off.

vic wrote:There are also a lot of wild dogs at Basket Swamp.

Yes I know there are dogs in this area, and I know what they sound like when they howl. This was different. The sound was extremely powerful and loud, was not a regular dog sound. Also the sequence in qhich the howls were heard was interesting. Initially I heard the howling about 5 or 10 minutes before the sighting, and then I heard the next howling about 5 minutes after the sighting. The last incident was distinctly from 2 beings as they were heard to be at different distances, as though they were communicating.

Wolf wrote:How high off the ground do you think the eyes were? And how far apart were they?

Hi Wolf. The eyes were massive, I would say they had the diameter of about 7cm + (each eye), and this was seen as huge orange eye shapes which were the reflection from my light. The shape of the eyes were not like a big circle, but were stretched on the inner and outer eye area so they had the shape of an eye. It was hard to judge how far from the ground they were because it was dark and the being was hidden behind trees and bushes.