A camper at Colville National Forest in northeast Washington is startled by a loud scream near his tent and then hears a large tree fall. The tree blocks the road out of the area.
"My close encounter took place in the Colville National Forest in Washington. In September 2023 I was tent camping 6 miles up Sullivan Creek Road with my dog and things were pretty quiet that weekend. Even the ranger station back in town was already closed for the year. It was my third night camping there and I was supposed to leave early.
Something spooked my dog while we were sitting at the fire that night and knowing that no one else was camping out there I let her bark it out. She hadn't done that on previous nights but she's a sharp dog and I assumed she just heard a deer. However, she didn't stop after 5 minutes so I had to grab her and try to calm her down at the fire but she wasn't. But she was in full guard dog mode. I've been working in the woods as a field biologist for 10 years and I've heard dozens of Sasquatch stories from co-workers but I'm unfortunately someone who has to see to believe it, so to me, they're just good stories.
Feeling like I knew all the critters I could expect out there I didn't think much of her barking. Anyway, we got into the tent and fell asleep around 9 PM. Later, I jumped awake from a dead sleep at the sound of a spine-chilling scream very close to my tent. It's hard to describe or imitate but it sounded angry, loud, and unlike anything I've heard before. I felt like it was screaming with its face directed right at my tent. It only lasted about 10 seconds but it fell like forever and I just sat there listening for movement afterward, trying to imagine what could make that sound, and what I needed to do next.
It went silent so I laid back down hoping it went away. But about 10 minutes later I heard it. A big tree fell from a different direction but still very close to me. I opened my tent. looked up to see if it had gotten windy trying to justify a tree falling, but all the branches were still. That was it for me. I jumped out and did a quick scan of the campground with my headlamp and then threw all my stuff in the back of my rig including my scared dog and I ripped out of my campsite. But I was stopped by the tree that had fallen within 100 feet of my spot fully blocking the only road out. I only had an axe with me and I wasn't about to start chopping in the middle of the night. Not being able to explain all these events I parked back at my campsite and tried to sleep in my car but that didn't happen.
About 5 hours later I saw headlights behind the fallen trees so I walked out to find a group of bowhunters trying to get in. They said they didn't pack a chainsaw because there was no wind in the forecast. I told them it wasn't windy at all but I didn't mention the scream because I felt crazy. They were set on hunting up there so luckily they came back with the chainsaw a few hours later.
Here are the photos I took of the tree to show how big it was and where it broke 5 feet above the ground. I looked for other down trees or branches on my way out but I didn't see a single one.
When I got back into cell service I looked up screams including cougars, foxes, and fishers but nothing matched what I heard. That something spooked my dog, and then she made it mad with her barking, which in return got us screamed at, and a big evergreen falling within 10 minutes of the strange scream really has my head spinning."
Transcribed Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fihfdnP8SXM
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