Six years ago, Jesse, a cannery worker from Dillingham, decided to spend his final week in Alaska fly fishing along Silver Salmon Creek. Setting off from Aleknagik Road with a collapsible rod, he hiked deep into the dense brush, catching and releasing silver salmon. On his second night, while frying up a small salmon at his spike camp, he heard a low, dog-like woof echoing from the distance. Later, while fishing a deep eddy, the forest fell completely dead and silent, and he spotted a large, brown mass lurking on the opposite bank. Returning to his camp, he was disturbed to find massive finger impressions dug into the leftover salmon grease in his frying pan and huge footprints pressed into the mud.
Feeling intensely watched, Jesse moved his camp further downstream toward the Wood River. As he settled into a small cove off the game trail, deep, guttural moose-like grunts began echoing from across the creek. Looking through his binoculars, he spotted a dark, chocolate-brown figure swaying behind a tree. Suddenly, heavy, bipedal footsteps began crunching through the brush directly toward him from behind. Panicking, Jesse packed his gear in a frenzy while the heavy, thudding footsteps paced back and forth just out of sight. As he finally turned to flee, an unexplained, paralyzing fear locked him in place. Looking back across the creek, he saw a 9-foot-tall, neckless entity covered in dark, matted hair—with a bare face resembling an old man's beard—staring directly at him.
Mistaking it for a fur-clad trapper, Jesse called out a friendly "Hello." The creature simply turned and walked into the brush, revealing it was not wearing a coat. Realizing the creature was paralleling him down the opposite bank, Jesse frantically bushwhacked his way back toward Aleknagik Road. Exhausted and tripping over his own gear, he fell hard just a mile from the road. As he scrambled to pick up his spilled backpack, he heard a noise and turned to see the massive creature standing less than 20 feet away, leaning against a tree and staring down at him. Leaving his gear behind, Jesse ran blindly through the brush until he burst onto the asphalt, miraculously flagging down a local police officer for a ride back to town.
