Coos County, New Hampshire 1973

Just happened to run across your web site (Yeti: King Salmon, Alaska) and was surprised and very interested to read the article about Wood Devil sightings in New Hampshire. I did not see a wood devil but I was very close. Stan, my hunting partner gave a hair-rising account of his sighting and what happened. This is what he told us. The year was 1973.

We were hunting Stratford Bog in Coos County, which is one mountain west of the Nash Stream / Drummer Pond area. Stan and I (Peter) were up at the end of an old logging road now known as Gay Brook Rd. At that time the area was uncut with areas of dense pine along with mature hardwoods. About 2 pm, Stan and I split for a nightstand and agreed to meet back at that the logging bridge at 4:30 pm.

The day was cold and when the sun set over Spruce Mt. the temperature dropped fast. Starting to shiver, I left my stand early to warm up and got back to the bridge at 4:20 PM. 4:30, 4:45 and no Stan. Finally at 5 PM the glow of hunters orange appeared on the road about 75 yards above me. Stan was walking rather fast, not like him, as he is big guy. When he walked up to me, his eyes were wide open and he had a strange look on his face.

Stan said, "you wouldn't believe what I saw".
"What did you see?"
"I saw this thing that was 7 to 8 feet tall with covered with hair walking up the mountain."
"Big bear?" I said, "...and you did not shoot?"
"It was not a bear," Stan said, "the thing was covered with hair, had long arms and no neck. The head was right on top of its shoulders."

Stan continued to say that the thing seemed drunk, like it has eaten a lot of fermented apples. How long were you watching this thing? About 10 minutes Stan said. Where did it go? Up over the mountain. When we got back to camp Stan told his story again and again to the other guys and really took some heat, ribbing and everything else. However, it was obvious that Stan was upset and kept locking the camp door, something we never do. Next morning, our plan was to hunt the same area from the front side back.

Stan would have nothing to do with the area and stayed down low. I am still-hunting the area and have not had another incident like this again. I will say however that we talked to many of the locals and yes three people confirmed sightings and one other talked about large tracks that he found in an area he called 'the britches.'

In town at Emerson's Hardware Store we talked employee named junior and he mentioned that there was an article in the local paper about something big and hairy roaming the area. However, he could not find the article. He did mention that other locals had talked about it. Bigfoot, Yeti or Wood Devil? Who knows, this is the way it happened.

It would be interesting if other people from Coos Country N.H. have anything else to say
Peter
peter.hincman@ae.ge.com
Report filed with Bobbie Short 12/31/03