Files From the Edge

by Philip J. Imbrogno

  Fifteen minutes passed when Bill got my attention and gave me hand signals that something was in the woods coming our way. I sat up and looked where he was pointing but saw nothing. Charlie had woken up by then, so the three of us stood motionless with our eyes transfixed on the dark jungle as we heard the sound of something big slowly approaching. The foliage was so thick that nothing could be seen, but the creature sounded like it was walking on two legs. We had spent quite a bit of time in the bush on ambush at night, and after awhile we learned to tell the difference between the movements of an animal and a human. Whatever this was, it was bipedal, very large, and headed in our direction. Charlie ran over to Bill and said, “Give me the light.” As he shined the beam into the heavy foliage, the noise stopped. When he turned the light off, the creature resumed moving toward us.

  The storm was intensifying and rain started to come down heavily. Bill was still the closest to the jungle barrier while Charlie and I started pulling sleeping bags and supplies into the temple. While my back was turned, I heard Bill scream, “What the hell?! What are you?!” I looked around and saw a tall dark humanoid figure about 10 feet from where Bill was standing. As I watched, it turned its head toward me and its eyes flashed a deep yellow. It was very dark and all I could make out was a shape, but it dwarfed Bill who was 6’2”; this creature had to be at least 8 feet tall! As I raised up the camera to take a photo, the creature turned and jumped into the jungle as if it bounced off a trampoline. Strangely, we didn’t hear any plants or branches rustling or snapping, it seemed to have floated right through the thick brush. All this action happened so fast I didn’t even get a chance to take a snapshot. Our flashlights were fading quickly; the only real light we had was the occasional flash of lightning. This was also strange since we just changed batteries before the creature was spotted. In those days, there were no long-lasting lithium or alkaline batteries—just plain old dry cells—but the ones we were using should have lasted much longer. After countless investigations many years later, I would discover (like many others) that portable DC power sources seem to drain very quickly in areas active with paranormal events.

  Although we could no longer see the creature, Bill stayed outside in the pouring rain. He was jumping around excitedly yelling “Whoop—whoop!” I called out to him asking what the hell he was doing. When he yelled back at me his voice was barely audible through the rain that was coming down so hard and the nearly deafening thunder. Bill said that he was trying to “entice the thing” to come back out so we could all get a better look. From my location inside the temple, I shined the beam of the flashlight into the jungle and was quite startled when my light illuminated three pairs of glowing yellow eyes—no bodies could be seen—only eyes. All six eyes seemed to be staring at Bill imitating an ape; they must have been amused because they didn’t move. Charlie started to panic, saying “Why did we leave our guns at the village?!” I replied, “Because the villagers knew you would shoot the creature if it showed up.” Charlie then picked up a good-sized rock and threw it in the direction of the center pair of eyes. There was a loud thumping sound as if the rock hit a very dense animal body. Then all the eyes blinked out at once and nothing more was seen or heard. We all stood by the entrance to the temple looking out into the torrential storm for the rest of the night.

  At sunrise, I went to the location where we saw the dark figure jump into the brush but found nothing—no footprints or broken branches. Bill got the best look at the creature in the encounter and described it as being more than 8 feet tall with long, reddish brown hair. He didn’t remember what its face looked like, but said it had eyes that glowed yellow. Bill wanted to stay another night armed with his gun; his intention was to lure the creature out and kill it. When we returned to the town, the elders got very angry and said they had a “peaceful” relationship with the creatures for more than fifty years and if one was killed, family members would no doubt seek revenge and destroy the village. The village’s shaman-priest was worried for Bill; he was the only one who had looked into its face and stared down the creature. The shaman said that anyone who looked at the creature directly would die within six months. The three of us all left the village late that afternoon still talking about what took place the previous night. Both men really wanted to return to the ruins with firearms, shoot this creature, and bring it back to base. About three months later, Bill was killed by enemy fire on a helicopter rescue mission in Cambodia. Charlie died from gunshot wounds in a firefight soon thereafter. As for me, I was injured several times but of course am still alive today. Why? The shaman and the elders of Phimai would say it was because I didn’t make full eye contact with the creature, unlike Bill and Charlie.

  Follow-up

  Approximately four months after our encounter, I made an appointment to see Dr. Kamiah Sutadsanajina, a zoologist/anthropologist at Bangkok University. I told him of our encounter at the Phimai ruins and he seemed interested. He said that it was possible we saw a family of orangutans. I replied by saying that it was my understanding orangutans weren’t found in Thailand. He said that no one knows for sure; although then (1970), the orangutan was only found in Borneo and Sumatra, fossils have been found indicating they once lived in many parts of southeast Asia including Thailand and Vietnam. He said it was possible a small family still existed in the forest of that area. When I told him that the creature we saw was more than 8 feet tall, he laughed and said, “We know that the orangutan is the descendant of the extinct Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus, both quite large, ape-like creatures, but I doubt very much if they are still alive.” The good doctor suggested that perhaps our eyes and mind were playing tricks on us due to the storm conditions I described. I thanked him for his time and left. In my remaining time in southeast Asia, I discovered there were other legends of similar creatures in many of the small villages in northern Thailand. It puzzled me how a large creature like the frequently seen Thai hairy wildman could just vanish without a trace? Once again, the answer may lie in the theory of parallel realities.

  It’s been almost forty years since that night at the Phimai ruins, but my memory is as clear to me as if it took place yesterday. I was surprised to learn that Phimai village is now a small city; the ruins are a national tourist attraction complete with a gift shop, paved roads, and even a McDonalds. I guess you can’t stop progress, but what of the hairy wildman? It seems the creature is still talked about in legend, but hasn’t been seen in more than twenty-five years. Perhaps encroaching human civilization scared it away, and the beast and its kin are still hiding somewhere deep in the hills . . . or perhaps they may have returned to their own world!

  The Yeti of the Himalayas

  Courtesy of the U.S. military, in 1971 I was able to visit India, Tibet, and Nepal—a country that seemed to me like another world. Nepal lies northeast of India and most of it is very mountainous. The northern part of the country contains eight of the world’s ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest. Although a majority of the population practices Hinduism, the nation also has a strong Buddhist tradition. During the late sixties and early seventies, Nepal was quite isolated; most of the country very difficult to reach. Today it is quite the opposite: tour packages will take you to the most remote temples in the northeast mountains.

  In August 1971, I spent five days in Nepal with a unit gathering “military intelligence” for the Southeast Asian war. Fortunately, I still had plenty of free time to explore. I was told the village we were staying in was a little more than a hundred kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, the country’s largest city. In 2008, I obtained a detailed map of Nepal and to my surprise, no village was listed in that part of the country. The village I visited may still be too small and unnoteworthy to be on any map, or perhaps it had since been abandoned or destroyed. I remember seeing fewer than twenty small buildings in the center of town in addition to a Hindu temple.

  While there, I was in constant amazement at how close I was to the Himalayas—t
he home of the Yeti. As an East Coast native, the mountains seemed impossibly high—the peaks disappeared above the haze and clouds. I thought perhaps this very village could have been part of the story in Half Human. The unit I was with would often hike through the Himalayan trails, so for the next five days, we hired a Sherpa to ensure we wouldn’t get lost. This Sherpa became a friend to us for our short stay, and I’ll never forget his name: Kamsadiak. “Kam” always had a smile on his face and was eager to make our stay as productive as possible. It is important that while in an isolated area like the mountains of Tibet and Nepal one seeks out a trustworthy guide. We would have dinner with Kam and his family every night and developed a close friendship. One night after dinner, I asked him about the Yeti and if he had ever encountered one in the mountains or heard any stories from other Sherpas. As I asked my question and waited for his response, Kam’s face went from a smile to one that was very serious. Please remember that although he spoke English, Kam was not very fluent and to get precise details of the story he was about to tell was difficult.

  The shadow in the storm

  Kam said that the Yeti is more than a legend; he knows it exists because he and others have encountered the creature in the past. The Sherpa people stay away from paths in the mountains where a Yeti family is known to live. This is done not out of fear, but respect. They believe that the Yeti is an ancient spirit that takes physical form when it comes into our world. Just like the people of Thailand with the “wildman,” they believe that to look directly into its eyes would mean a premature death. Kam said he knows of at least one cave in the mountains that is home to a Yeti. When I asked him to take me to it, he quickly replied “NO!” Kam then told me of the encounter he had in 1956 with what he believed was a Yeti. The experience had a great impact on him—he claimed the creature saved his life.

  Kam is a Sherpa; he makes a considerable amount of his income guiding people through the southeastern part of the Himalayas. Often, he would go into the mountains alone to find new paths and check that the most commonly used ones were still passable. A trip through this area is always dangerous; the weather can shift very quickly from a sunny day to a blinding snow squall. On one of his solitary journeys, a snowstorm began out of nowhere. Kam said the snow was coming down so heavily and the wind was so violent he had to cover his face. As he tried to make his way back to the village, the snow intensified and he was blinded in a complete whiteout.

  The snow was accumulating quickly so Kam stopped in his tracks; he knew he could easily take a wrong step and fall hundreds of feet. As the wind intensified and the snow continued to fall, the temperature also began to quickly drop. He had two options: stay where he was and freeze to death or try to make his way down the trail and hope he didn’t take a wrong step. Kam began to move in the direction he came, but the visibility was so poor he lost his orientation. Kam knew he was in serious trouble and thought of his family and what they would do without him. He stopped dead in his tracks ready to accept his fate when ahead of him, a large shadowy figure appeared. He said the figure was much taller than a man and stood upright. Although the figure was only about 20 feet from him, Kam could only make out a dark silhouette and he knew this was a Yeti; he thought for sure his death was near. As he watched, the creature stood motionless as if staring at him; then it seemed to wave its arms and make a gesture for Kam to follow.

  The creature turned and walked very slowly; Kam followed, always keeping the same distance. The snow and wind continued to worsen but the figure led him to what appeared to be a cave. Kam walked into the cave for protection, but the creature did not follow. He looked in the cave and found primitive tools and the bones of a number of different animals, Kam knew this cave was a Yeti’s home. A short time later the snow stopped and the sky cleared. The sun emerged from the remaining clouds and Kam left the cave. Looking at some of the nearby mountain peaks, he determined he was about 6 miles from the village on a back pass he had never previously used. Finally, Kam made his way back to a familiar trail and found his way home. He told his family and friends the story of how that Yeti saved his life. Kam knew that if it weren’t for the Yeti that led him to shelter, he surely would have died that day.

  There is no doubt in my mind that Kam’s story was true and that he did indeed encounter the so-called Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. I asked if he had seen anything more recently, found any tracks, or heard sounds. He replied, “For years we would find their tracks in the snow and hear the echoes of their cries calling to each other in the night, but we do not hear them anymore.” Kam and his people believe the Yeti left the area because of the trouble men brought to the mountains. They also believe that the creatures are still somewhere hiding in the highest areas of the mountains patiently waiting for man to disappear so they might come down once again and claim the world.

  The Texas Bigfoot Cattle Rustler

  The year 1972 found me back in the United States and living in the Austin, Texas, area. At the time, I was attending the University of Texas studying astronomy and was still a member of the military. While driving to class one day, a news story on the radio caught my attention concerning a Bigfoot sighting in the Bandera Hills, about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio. The story was quite brief but mentioned that cattlemen and ranchers had seen a 9-foot-tall hairy creature in broad daylight. The creature came down from the hills, hoisted a cow onto its shoulders, and ran back into the hills. I thought this was quite fantastic: a cow weighs quite a bit so I thought to myself that if this story was true, then it must have been Super Sasquatch! After class, I called the sheriff’s office in Bandera; the officer (a deputy) who took my call was very cooperative and willing to share information. He informed me that a similar creature was also seen in the Medina Lake region walking by the reservoir. I explained to the officer that I was a science student at UT and would like to come out to investigate the sighting and get more detailed information. The deputy said he would be happy to show me the sighting location and possibly let me interview some witnesses.

  I drove to Bandera the next weekend feeling a little worried as I walked into the sheriff’s office. I was from New York and knew Texans were quite clannish back then. So when the sheriff came out and asked me “Where [are] you from, boy?” I replied in my best Texan accent, “San Antonio, sir.” The sheriff then shook my hand and said “You just let the deputy over there know what you want.” To make a long story short, I was taken to the sighting area in the patrol car and introduced to a number of cattlemen who saw the creature. The descriptions were all the same: a creature that was very large, with black hair all over its body. They also said that it walked upright like a man but must have been 8 feet tall and weighed more than 600 pounds.

  I listened as multiple witnesses described how the creature grabbed a cow, hoisted it over its shoulders, and ran away with it. Such a feat was incredible to even imagine. One cattleman told me he ran inside to get his rifle, jumped in his jeep, and drove in the direction that the creature was last seen, but it was gone. “There is no way that thing could have got[ten] away,” he said. “It just vanished.” A similar incident that took place a few days before this one was in the afternoon; none of the witnesses had any doubt about the creature they saw that day: it was not a bear, a wild cat, a coyote, or anything they had ever seen. I also learned other nearby ranchers also saw the creature on their property as far back as two years ago. One person actually took a shot at it and the beast brushed its shoulder in slight annoyance and continued to walk away unaffected. As I was wrapping things up, my escorting deputy got a call on his radio to visit a location about 5 miles north; someone had found footprints!

  We arrived at the location: a home with a great deal of acreage and about two dozen horses. The property owner was a forty-year-old man who lived there with his wife and two sons, ages fourteen and sixteen. The man said the horses in the barn started making noise during the previous night’s storm, something they only did when a predato
r approached. The man grabbed his rifle and told his wife and children to stay inside. The rain was coming down quite heavily as he went outside. He looked around and heard a grunting sound coming from the barn area. He then projected his high-beam flashlight to where he heard the noise and was shocked to see a large figure running up the hill, away from his farm. The creature was moving so fast he lost it in the darkness in a matter of seconds. He cautiously walked to the barn where the horses were still panicked; it took several minutes to calm them down but they seemed fine. In the first light of morning, the man and his sons walked over to where he saw the creature vanish and found several prints in the still-soft mud. To preserve them, the man instructed his sons to place a box over each one.

  We walked to the barn and he showed us the prints: they were huge! Whatever this thing was, it sure earned its “Bigfoot” name. The deputy returned to his car and radioed for assistance. Two hours later, another officer arrived with plaster and we proceeded to make a cast of the footprints. The deputy gave me one to take home—I still have it in my study today. I wanted to stay in the area for two more days and one of the ranchers kindly introduced me to a family that lived in a new development called the Flying L Ranch. The family graciously put me up while I continued my investigation. I spent most of my time there staking out the back roads and hills but never saw or heard anything. As far as I know, the creature never returned to that part of Bandera County, and still remains an unsolved mystery in the case files at the sheriff’s office.