I FOUGHT THE APEMEN OF MOUNT ST. HELENS, WA.

Told by Fred Beck of Kelso, Washington; written September 27, 1967 by his son
Ronald A. Beck, 1967

What are Abominable Snowmen? Fred Beck is qualified to tell what they are. He was one of
a party of five miners attacked by them in 1924, the most famous of such incidents in North
America. The incident has become a legend in the Northwest. He tells the real facts after 43
years of silence.

Introduction
It is my intention in this book not only to tell you about the historic encounter I had with these
mysterious creatures, but also to reveal to the public what I believe they are. Truth often is
stranger than fiction, but the strangeness comes from the clouds surrounding our minds, not
from the mystery itself.
This is not a large book, but may the largeness be conveyed by the picture I hope to paint of
truth. Much has been written about that day in 1924, and I feel it right that I express my views at
last.
To avoid embarrassment to the relatives of the other four men involved in the 1924 incident, I
have not directly mentioned their names. The name, Hank, is a pseudonym of one of the main
characters in the incident.

Fred Beck with the gun he used at Ape Canyon

Chapter One - The Attack

First of all, I wish to give an account of the attack and tell of the famous incident of July, 1924,
when the "Hairy Apes" attacked our cabin. We had been prospecting for six years in the Mt.
St. Helens and Lewis River area in Southwest Washington. We had, from time to time, come
across large tracks by creek beds and springs. In 1924 I and four other miners were working
our gold claim, the Vander White. It was two miles east of Mt. St. Helens near a deep canyon
now named "Ape Canyon" which was so named after an account of the incident reached the
newspapers.
Hank, a great hunter and good woodsman, was always a little apprehensive after seeing the
tracks. The tracks were large and we knew that no known animal could have made them: the
largest measured nineteen inches long.
It was in the middle of July, and we had received a good assay on our claim, and everyone
was excited. I remember I had a tooth that was aching, and I suggested to Hank that he should
take me to town to see a dentist; but he was so enthused in the prospects of the gold mine, he
barely took time to answer me. He replied that "God or the Devil" could not get him away from
there. We had all come up in his Ford, and I had no way to get to town unless he took me. So
when we went back to our cabin, on the north side of the canyon, I had a nagging tooth ache
and little appetite for our evening meal of beans and hotcakes.
Hank, though apprehensive, was still determined. We had been hearing noises in the evening
for about a week. We heard a shrill, peculiar whistling each evening. We would hear it coming
from one ridge, and then hear an answering whistling from another ridge. We also heard a
sound which I could best describe as a booming, thumping sound just like something was
hitting its self on its chest.
Hank asked me to accompany him to the spring, about a hundred yards from our cabin, to
get some water, and suggested we take our rifles to be on the safe side. We walked to the
spring, and then, Hank yelled and raised his rifle, and at that instant, I saw it. It was a hairy

creature, and he was about a hundred yards away, on the other side of a little canyon, standing
by a pine tree. It dodged behind the tree, and poked its head out from the side of the tree. And
at the same time, Hank shot. I could see the bark fly out from the tree from each of his three
shots. Someone may say that that was quite a distance to see the bark fly, but I saw it. The
creature I judged to have been about seven feet tall with blackish-brown hair. It disappeared
from our view for a short time, but then we saw it, running fast and upright, about two hundred
yards down the little canyon. I shot three times before it disappeared from view.
We took the water back to the cabin, and explained the affair to the rest of the party; and we all
agreed, including Hank, to go home the next morning as it would be dark before we could get to
the car. We agreed it would be unsound to be caught by darkness on the way out.
Nightfall found us in our pine-log cabin. We had built the cabin ourselves, and had made it very
sturdy. It stood for years afterward, and was visited by many sight seers until a few years ago
when it was burned to the ground the circumstances of the fire, I do not recall.
In the cabin, we had a long bunk bed in which two could sleep, feet to feet the rest of us
sleeping on pine boughs on the floor. At one end of the cabin, we had a fireplace, fashioned out
of rocks. There were no windows in the cabin. So darkness found all of us in the cabin, more
calm now (and my tooth was better, somehow the excitement seemed to work a temporary cure
on it). We were sitting around, puffing on pipes, and talking about the trip home the next day.
Each of us settled down in his crude, but welcomed bed, and soon fell asleep. About midnight,
we were all awakened. Hank, who was sleeping on the floor was yelling and kicking. But
the noise that had awakened us was a tremendous thud against the cabin wall. Some of the
chinking had been knocked loose from between the logs and had fell across Hank's chest. He
had his rifle in his hand and was waving it back and forth as he kicked and yelled. (Hank always
slept with his gun near by it was a Remington automatic, my gun being a 30-30 Winchester,
which I still have).
I helped to get the chinking off him, and he jumped to his feet. Then, we heard a great
commotion outside: it sounded like a great number of feet trampling and rattling over a pile
of our unused shakes. We grabbed our guns. Hank squinted through the space left by the
chinking. By actual count, we saw only three of the creatures together at one time, but it
sounded like there were many more.
This was the start of the famous attack, of which so much has been written in Washington and
Oregon papers through out the years. Most accounts tell of giant boulders being hurled against
the cabin, and say some even fell through the roof, but this was not quite the case. There were
very few large rocks around in that area. It is true that many smaller ones were hurled at the
cabin, but they did not break through the roof, but hit with a bang, and rolled off. Some did fall
through the chimney of the fireplace. Some accounts state I was hit in the head by a rock and
knocked unconscious. This is not true.
The only time we shot our guns that night was when the creatures were attacking our cabin.
When they would quiet down for a few minutes, we would quit shooting. I told the rest of the
party, that maybe if they saw we were only shooting when they attacked, they might realize we

were only defending ourselves. We could have had clear shots at them through the opening left
by the chinking had we chosen to shoot. We did shoot, however, when they climbed up on our
roof. We shot round after round through the roof. We had to brace the hewed-logged door with
a long pole taken from the bunk bed. The creatures were pushing against it and the whole door
vibrated from the impact. We responded by firing many more rounds through the door. They
pushed against the walls of the cabin as if trying to push the cabin over, but this was pretty
much an impossibility, as previously stated the cabin was a sturdy made building. Hank and
I did most of the shooting the rest of the party crowded to the far end of the cabin, guns in
their hands. One had a pistol, which still is in my family's possession, the others clutched their
rifles. They seemed stunned and incredulous.
The attack continued the remainder of the night, with only short intervals between. A most
profound and frightening experience occurred when one of the creatures, being close to the
cabin, reached an arm through the chinking space and seized one of our axes by the handle
(a much written about incident and a true one). Before the thing could pull the axe out, I swiftly
turned the head of the axe upright, so that it caught on the logs; and at the same time Hank
shot, barely missing my hand.
The creature let go, and I pulled the handle back in, and put the axe in a safe place.
A humorous thing I well remember was Hank singing: "If you leave us alone, we'll leave you
alone, and we'll all go home in the morning." He did not mean it to be humorous, for Hank was
dead serious, and sang under the impression that the "Mountain Devils" as he called them,
might understand and go away.
The attack ended just before daylight. Just as soon as we were sure it was light enough to see,
we came cautiously out of the cabin.
It was not long before I saw one of the apelike creatures, standing about eighty yards away
near the edge of Ape Canyon. I shot three times, and it toppled over the cliff, down into the
gorge, some four hundred feet below.
Then Hank said that we should get out of there as soon as possible; and not bother to pack our
supplies or equipment out; "After all," he said, "it's better to lose them, than our lives." We were
all only too glad to agree. We brought out only that which we could get in our packsacks. We
left about two hundred dollars in supplies, powder, and drilling equipment behind.
I tried to persuade everyone not to relate the happenings to anyone, and they agreed, but
Hank soon let the cat out of the bag. We made our way to Spirit Lake, and Hank went in to the
ranger station. He had told the ranger earlier about the tracks, and the ranger had replied, "Let
me know if you find out what they are." That was just what Hank did, to the puzzlement of the
ranger.
When we were back home in Kelso, Washington, he told some of his friends, and somehow the
story leaked out to the papers, and the Great Hairy Ape Hunt of 1924 was on.
Local reporters interviewed us. They came from Portland and Seattle even a big game

hunter from England came asking questions, and he had a large gun with him that must have
been an elephant gun. Many people flocked to the Mt. St. Helen's area looking for the "Great
Hairy Apes", or "Mountain Devils." I, myself, went back with two reporters and a detective from
Portland, Oregon. We found large tracks, and they photographed them. We did not see any of
the Apemen then, nor could we find the ones we had shot.
So people were asking questions: Was it true? Or was it just a wild tale? I can assure you it is
true. Are they human? animal? or devils? I will answer that question in this book. That was a
great "Apehunt" in 1924, and the last few years, more and more people have reported seeing
them. There is an Apehunt being revived again, and another man has written a book on the
subject and has formed a club whose purpose is to find evidence to prove what they already
believe: that abominable snowmen of America do exist.
A wealthy person has offered a large sum of money for anyone that can capture one alive.
Sightings have been reported in Canada, Washington, Oregon, and northern California. But
the purpose of this book, is not only to relate my experiences, but also to bring to light my
knowledge about the Abominable Snowmen. I do not wish to embark upon an expedition, but I
wish to tell what these beings are.

Chapter Two
Longview Daily News (Sat-Sun, June 27-28, 1964)
LEGENDARY MT. ST. HELENS APEMEN CALLED LEGITIMATE
The legend of the apemen of Mt. St. Helens returns, like hay fever, with summer weather.
The story of the apemen of the beautiful conical mountain situated in the Cascade Range of
Southwest Washington, is a favorite in the area, but it just may have some basis in fact.
There is more basis to support it than Nepal's Yeti or northern California's "Big Foot" and
probably as much as Loch Ness' monster.
Last summer, two different Portland groups who visited the region reported sighting the
monsters, usually described as from 7 to 10 feet tall, hairy and either white or beige-colored.
Three persons in a car on a lonely forest road said they saw one of the creatures when it
flashed across the headlight beams of their car near the wilderness area which includes such
places as "Ape Canyon."
A Portland couple fishing on the Lewis River south of the mountain saw a huge beige
figure "bigger than any human" amble off into the brush.
Old timers aren't surprised, just amused. The apeman legend actually is older than the white
man's habitation of the Pacific Northwest.
Indian Legend

Forestry employes have investigated many reports of the strange creatures. According to Indian
legend, the "apes" were the ferocious Selahtik Indians, a band of renegades much like giant
apes in appearance who lived like wild animals in the secluded caves of the Cascades.
The first recorded encounter of the apes with white men was in 1924. A group of five
prospectors rushed into Kelso to report that a group of great, ape-like creatures had attacked
them in the middle of the night.
The miners said they had been working a mine on the east slopes of Mt. St. Helens. During
the daytime, they saw some of the apes and fired at them to halt an apparent attack. One of
the apes appeared to have been hit and rolled into a deep ravine. That night, according to the
account, the apemen hurled rocks onto the cabin and "danced and screamed until daylight."
Then came the "great ape hunt 0f 1924." Law enforcement officers and a flock of
newspapermen made up a posse that went into the area. The armed searchers fired at anything
that moved, so the report went. They returned to tell of finding huge footprints, but no apes.
The legend grew from that point for several years, then subsided with only sporadic reports of
traces of the apes. Responsible persons, experienced mountaineers and skiers, have given
credence to the story.
Bob Lee of Portland, a leader of the 1961 Himalayan expedition and adviser to last year's
Himalayan expedition, said last year he had a strange experience. Lee has never claimed
to have seen the apes, but said "there was something strange on the high slopes of the
mountain."
He was a member of a party that searched for Jim Carter, an experienced skier and
mountaineer, who vanished on the mountain in 1950. His disappearance remains a mystery.
Somebody Watched
At the time, Lee was a member of the Seattle Mountain Search and Rescue unit. He described
the search for Carter as "the most eerie experience I ever had." He said that every time he was
cut off from the rest of the search party he felt "somebody was watching me."
Carter, he said, had climbed the mountain with some companions on a warm, clear Sunday. He
left the group to take a picture and said he would ski to the left of the group. He was never seen
again.
His tracks, however, indicated that he suddenly took off down the mountain in a wild, deathdefying run that no experienced skier would make unless he was pursued, Lee said.
The track went in the direction of Ape Canyon. But no trace of Carter or his equipment was
found although the area was combed for two weeks. Lee recalled stories of about 25 persons
who claim they had encountered the monsters during a 20 year period.
The canyon named for the apes, is a lonely, ominous spot in a wild area. It extends to a point
near Ape Cave, thought to be the longest unitary lava tube in the world.

There have been many reports of footprints in the area. Some are described as being about 18
inches long and seemingly human.
Unless the creatures are really fuzzy throwbacks, the lost Indian tribe theory seems most likely
to some of the fans of the mystery. It has given rise to some suggestions, one of which is to
leave well enough alone. The government might take over and shove benefits and subsidies at
them retroactive to the Ice Age.
And that, as well as costing a lot of money, would ruin a very good legend.
Chapter Three - Background Events
In the first chapter I told about the attack, and now I want to go into the background, and tell
a little concerning our activities. They will be colorful, and from them emerge a spiritual and
metaphysical understanding of the case.
First of all, I hope this book does not discourage too much those interested souls who are
looking and trying to solve the mystery of the abominable snowmen. If someone captured
one, I would have to swallow most of the content of this book, for I am about to make a bold
statement: No one will ever capture one, and no one will ever kill one in other words, present
to the world a living one in a cage, or find a dead body of one to be examined by science. I
know there are stories that some have been captured but got away. So will they always get
away.
I say this confident by the evidence of my experiences, things that I have not before revealed
to the public, and I also say it from the knowledge gained on the subject later. In this book I
will reveal thoroughly what I know them to be. First of all I will say that 'they are not entirely of
the world.' I know the reaction we experienced as these beings attacked out cabin impressed
many with the concept of great ape-like men dwelling in the mountains. And I can say that we
genuinely fought and were quite fearful, and we were glad to get out of the mountains but I was,
for one, always conscious that we were dealing with supernatural beings, and I know the other
members of the party felt the same.
The events leading up to the ape episode were filled with the psychic element. Since a young
man I had always been clairvoyant. When just a boy I was in the pasture playing with my
beanshooter. I had bought it with some long earned coins. It had a twisted wire handle. I lost it,
and as I was crying, a kindly woman came up to me and put her arms around me. I felt warm all
over. "Little boy," she said, "don't cry. Go home, you will find your beanshooter there."
I went home and found it, and as far as I knew then it was the same one. But years later I found
the one I lost. It was weather beaten and the rubber was rotten.
I would be sleeping on the hard benches of the Adventist Church my folks used to attend, and I
would have my head in a lady's lap, only when I mentioned it to my folks, they said there was no
one else there and took it to be a boy's musings.
As I grew older, I saw visions and eventually I was holding spiritual meetings. After 1924 I spent

many years in healing work.

Our time spent in Mt. St. Helens was a series of psychic experiences. The method we found
our mine was psychic. I am mentioning these facts to help build a background of understanding
in a case which has been wholly explained in a material sense. As I will explain the mysterious
realities of the Abominable Snowmen, so must I show some of my inner experiences, for in my
mind the two have always been closely connected together; and as I will show, these beings
bear a direct association with the psychic realm.
In 1922 we found the location of our mine. A spiritual being, a large Indian dressed in buckskin,
appeared to us and talked to us. He was the picture of stateliness itself. He never told us his
name, but we always called him the Great Spirit. He replied once, "The Great Spirit is above
me. We are all of the Great Spirit, if we listen when the Great Spirit talks."
There was another spiritual being which appeared to us more in the role of a comforting
friend, and we learned her name. One of our party suggested later that we name our mine after
her; and so the mining claim we later filed bore her last name. The big Indian being told us there
would be a white arrow go before us. Another man, who was not present during the attack in
1924, could see the arrow easily and clearly at all times. And I could see it nearly as well.
So we started by the Lewis River, south of Mt. St. Helens, and went up the Muddy River, and
in all we followed the white arrow four days. The going was slow, for in those days it was very
rugged territory. Hank's temper was growing short as he climbed the hills. He had always been
a believer of spiritual things, and afterwards he was a believer. But he lost his temper and
cussed. He swore at the spirit leading us. His face was red and we could not stop him: "Just
a wild goose chase," he exclaimed, "they lied to us, and got us running all over the hills, and I
want nothing more to do with them." He went on and on.
Then just when he had started to calm down, we all saw the arrow soar up high, change
direction and swoop down. We had to follow in the general direction before we could find it
again. It hovered near the top of the north cliff of Ape Canyon. That was the site where we later
blasted out our shaft.
We got a little closer, and we all saw the image of a large door open, and the big Indian
appeared in front of it. He spoke: "Because you have cursed the spirit leading you, you will be
shown where there is gold, but it is not given to you."
With those words, he disappeared. Then we saw the door slowly close. There was a huge lock
and latch, but as the door shut, the lock did not latch: a closed door but it was not locked! "We
just as well pack up and go home," one of the party said.
And that is just the way our gold mine turned out closed but not locked. We worked that mine
for two years, and one assay showed well over 2,000 dollars a ton. But as it turned out, what
we had actually done was to cut the leaders. There is a pocket of gold in that cliff if someone is
fortunate enough to find it. We gave up looking for it.
The picture I am trying to paint for you is a picture of manifestation. In this book I have showed

also some of our high manifestation, as we had many of a high nature the six years we spent in
the Mt. St. Helen's area. Of course, the lower or grosser manifestations were in the appearing
of these hairy creatures called Abominable Snowmen also called Hairy Apes, Bigfoot and
Sasquatch, according to the region they are seen in. I believe they have always existed,
although our encounter with them in 1924 was the first major report of anyone coming in contact
with them. Other writings have documented the cases very well. I just like to show the reason
for their appearances.
For six years all had been peaceful. We were simple men and hard working men, and an aura
of good or spiritual power surrounded us. We had seen the tracks, but the makers of them had
left us alone. No one was really worried about the tracks as regarding any threat to our safety.
But after one of us had lost his temper and denounced the spirit leading us a liar, from that time
on, a quiet apprehensiveness settled over us. We continued working our claim, but down deep
we felt it would avail to no good end. We had bursts of enthusiasm but no success. And yet we
did have success, because we learned. Nothing can replace experience as a teacher.
There are a couple experiences which show some light or evidence on the psychic nature of
Abominable Snowmen: the same thudding, hallow thumping noise we heard at night preceding
the attack, we also had heard in broad daylight, although not nearly so loud. One of our party
was a little irritated with me. On our excursions, he usually led the way and I followed a little
behind the others. We kept hearing that sound, and occasionally he turned around and would
say, "What's that!" After six or eight times of him doing this, and after a few general discussions
about the noise, he quickly turned around one more time and eyed me, and said, "By golly
boys, it's not Fred making that noise after all." But he decided to give it a double check. He
made an excuse and wandered away from camp. When he came back, he said, "Now I'm
certain it's none of us. I walked for half an hour and everywhere I went, I heard it. Sounds like
there's a hollow drum in the earth somewhere and something is hitting it."
There is no doubt in my mind that these beings were present and observing us, but they had
not yet appeared in physical form.
Another very striking experience which shows that they cannot be natural beings with natural
bodies: It was before we made our cabin, and we were staying in a tent then. The tent was
below a little cone shaped mountain called Pumy Butte. A little creek flowed nearby, and there
was a moist-sand bar about an acre in area. We would go there and wash our cooking utensils
and bring our drinking water back. Early one morning Hank came back to the tent. He was
rather excited. He led us to the moist-sand bar, and took us almost to the center. There in the
center of the sand bar were two huge tracks about four inches deep. There was not another
track on that sand bar!
There we were standing in the middle of the sand bar, and not one of us could conceive any
earthly thing taking steps 160 feet long. "No human being could have made these tracks," Hank
said, "and there's only one way they could be made, something dropped from the sky and went
back up."
There was no third step. This is certainly another indication of what I'm saying about
manifestation. I have heard it said that many ages ago the Rocky Mountain and Cascade

Mountain Ranges were a center of a great civilization. I do think the mountain areas are extra
sensitive to spiritual vibration, usually of a higher order, but sometimes lower. We ourselves
being extra sensitive to spiritual vibration, probably had come into contact with the manifestation
of these being easier than, perhaps, the average person would have.
On the subject of the Snowmen I am not going to say Masters told me this or that. It would
perhaps look impressive, but I want to keep the record straight. Masters have appeared in our
home and talked with us, but not once do I recall asking them anything on the subject. Since
that day in 1924, I have went on and progressed and have learned much, and now I can look
back and put the puzzle together from the reservoir of knowledge I have learned.
In the true sense everything in the material world is a manifestation. Ever since the time the first
essence of consciousness formed from the Great Void we cannot describe, different planes or
dimensions of being were created or manifested. Occasionally we of this dimension of space
can be conscious of other beings of a different vibration and consciousness.
The The Abominable Snowmen are from a lower plane.When the condition and vibration is at a
certain frequency, they can easily, for a time, appear in a very solid body. They are not animal
spirits, but also lack the intelligence of a human consciousness When reading of evolution we
have read many times conjecture about the missing link between man and the Anthropoid Ape.
The Snowmen are a missing link in consciousness, neither animal nor human. They are very
close to out dimension, and yet are a part of one lower. Could they be the missing link man has
been so long searching for?
The Human Soul once dwelled in a spiritual body, and eventually incarnated, at the fall of
man, into bodies like we have now. The beings we call Abominable Snowmen were not of the
necessary high development to incarnate in human form. They had not reached that scale of
spiritual evolution.
They are the easiest beings materialized as evidenced by the many reports of their
appearances to more people in recent years. In fact, if the vibratory influence right for them is
present they can manifest without any human being present at all. This accounts for the many
tracks being seen along the mountain ranges of the West Coast and Canada.
When this age or cycle of life that we are in moves on eventually to a higher cycle, and all life
moves forward, these beings may stay and move up in consciousness in some other world
in the far distant future. Perhaps the Ape Beings will toil the road of intelligence in that world
which none of us can even imagine, and perhaps they too will lose nothing and gain by their
experience.
Most theories picture the Snowmen as material beings hiding in caves, and scampering over
the mountains. The law of probability would be that eventually one would be found if their
bodies were of physical construction only. If one claims only the physical laws to explain
their existence, then we can use a material logic to prove or disprove the premise. If they are
material life definite material evidence would surely be found.
What material evidence we do have, in my opinion which I believe firmly to be true, only shows

material extrances into this plane, followed by the supernatural exits back into their own realm.
I and my companions have shot them, but could find no trace of them. If they were material life
like we know it to be on this globe, one would die naturally or accidentally and the remains be
found.
The easy way out for lots of people is to just consider it a wild tale. But too many people have
seen them and the evidence is piling up to definitely prove this. The same line of escapism
of thought concerning phenomenal sightings of Flying Saucers is evident. A report recently
showed 5,000,000 Americans claimed to have seen Flying Saucers.
Material things usually make a big splash in the material world, and spiritual things often do not
make a ripple there. Why? We can give proof of a phenomenon, but its nature is immersed in
the Spiritual and can only be explained by laws of the spiritual.
But these happenings that seem strange to people is serving a very useful purpose it is
causing more people to think, and that is a path in the right direction.
The Abominable Snowmen are just one small mystery among many. Some day more people
will conceive that the greatest proportion of life is a mystery, and he will seek and find solutions
to them, and then the mysteries will be unveiled in their pure forms; and from that unveiling man
will find greater life.
Manifestation is made possible by vibration of power and certain fine substances. Beings
manifested can be seen, heard, and take a definite form sometimes less tangible but also,
under other conditions, take a very tangible form.
I want to tell you a very amazing experience I had in my mining days at Mt. St. Helens. I was
walking from Spirit Lake on the trail. It was in the afternoon and I was feeling a little lonely. As I
came around a curve in the trail, I met a very pleasant, beautiful young lady.
She began talking with me just as though she had always known me and had casually met me
again. She said her father was hunting and that she was headed back to her camp. She had
a jacket with her, and she let me pack it as we walked along the trail together. She told me
all about herself and her father stating that she and her father came up every summer for an
outing, to hunt, and to enjoy the beauties of nature. She was one of the most pleasant persons
I had ever talked to in my life. When we parted, she told me where she and her father were
camped, and asked me to visit them that evening.
I went, and had to walk about a mile. Her camp was east of ours, and quite a distance for a
young lady of eighteen, I thought, to wander around in away from her father.
When I arrived at her camp, I did not see her father, and never did see him. She had a fire
going, and a light colored blanket was spread out and she was sitting on it. It was a warm
summer evening, and we held another pleasant conversation. I remember her telling me how
she liked the fresh air of the mountains, and how wonderfully she loved nature.
She would be talking on a subject, then pause and say, "Isn't that right, Dad?" This she said

several times. There was no tent, cooking utensils, no food, and certaiply no visible father. The
most amazing thing was I did not at the time think her different than any other person. When
she spoke to her invisible Dad, I felt just like her Dad was there.
I left her and walked back to camp, but my mind seemed like it was a thousand miles away.
I could hear the other men talking, but it seemed like they were below me, and their voices
sounded soft and distant.
I do not know anyone who had seen her but myself.
One day we needed a pencil to make a description of our claim. We found we had not brought
one along with us. Everyone was a little put out. But then it came a pencil was in my hand. It
had tooth marks all over it. When that trip was over and I was home, I showed the pencil to my
wife, and she said, "Why, that's a pencil I bought when you were gone. How did you get it?" She
said my oldest son, then a young tot, was chewing on it and she took it away from him and had
put it in a drawer. She went and looked and she found no pencil.
It is the time for the world to picK up its ears about the subject of psychic phenomenon, and
this more people are doing, but if there is a phenomenon, there is also a world from which its
qualities are manifested.

Chapter Four - (Part 1) Questions and Answers

Question: "What is the purpose of this book?"
Answer: "To set the record straight. The incident of 1924 needs explaining that people can see
it in fact. I was involved in it. I am 78 now and wish to put the facts before the people. I have
never earned one cent from my experiences, and this is the first time I have written anything on
the subject."
Question: "Can you tell of any colorful experiences you had on your trips to Mt. St. Helens?"
Yes, but I cannot remember everything that was over 40 years ago. I wish I could write more
of such happenings, but I must keep in the central theme of my book. I remember one very
dangerous thing: we were bothered with rats in the cabin, and we would shoot at them with a
pistol. One of us would hold a lantern while another would shoot. Hank had packed half a sack
of dynamite inside the cabin, mistaking it for some potatoes one of the party had packed in. He
shot several rats off the sack before any of us realized what was in the sack. He turned white as
a sheet and had to sit down. And let me add another thing, if you boil beans in the mountains,
put on a good lid and be patient."
Question: "How come you don't use all the names of people in the story?"
Answer: "To try and keep family harmony. I'd shout the truth from the housetops, but some
people are sensitive about their past experiences when confronted with their present
circumstances"
Question: "What purpose could Abominable Snowmen have for existing? How can they fit in the
plan of things?"
Answer: "Sometimes that question is asked about all life, and more particularly about life other

than human. When we speak of purpose we usually think of ourselves. I think the main purpose
lies in the beings themselves. They are a partof life, though different than we know life to be by
our five senses. I believe their main purpose is their desire to rise up higher and be something
better. If this is the case, then their life can be identified with the general progression of all
life. I am convinced by my own experiences and the many accounts I have heard from others
that they are very curious creatures, I think if we had not shot at them they would have left us
alone. I think it possible that the curiosity is an instinct, or a search for a higher consciousness,
possibly foreshadowing their coming into human coasciousness in another cycle of life. My
advice to anyone who happens to see one is to be calm, and walk away, if on foot. Offer no
threat of force and I'm convinced no harm will come to you."
Question: "Do you think the 'blasting' had anything to do with them attacking you?"
Answer: "No, but it made them curious. Our mistake was shooting them."
Question: "Could you explain what you mean by search for consciouness? Aren't they
conscious of something?"
Answer: "All life has some order of consciousness. Some one might call the Snowmen a
delayed race, awaiting for the highest expression of consciousness. That is the human
consciousness. They seem to be curious about human beings more than anything else; and I
think it possible, as time passes, they will manifest farther and farther away from the mountain
ranges (which has been their natural, attractive habitat) and the time may come when you hear
stories from cities of people seeing strange hairy like creatures. This is a distinct possibility. Just
four days ago, I received a letter from a friend from Seattle, Washington, and in it she told me
of a lady who just recently had seen an Abominable Snowman right on the outskirts of Yakima,
Washington. And as the letter stated, "it was in or near her yard'."
Question: "Do you think people will see them in great numbers like they see Flying Saucers?
And do you wish to say anything about Flying Saucers?"
Answer: "I doubt very much that they will be seen by tens of thousands of people like flying
saucers. This is not a book on flying saucers, but I will say that the nature of flying saucers
is very high and lofty, and their purpose is important to us, the purpose of the Abominable
Snowmen does not fit the aims of the life purpose in the degree as what the world calls
U.F.O:'s."
Question: "How many apemen, by count, can you remember seeing?"
Answer: "I saw six I could definitely count by number. I realize now that I had seen one years
ago when I was'a young man working in a logging camp near Kelso, Washington. My brother
and I were quartered in a tent. One night I heard a rustling outside, and I heard something
pushing its way under our tent. A tall hairy figure stood before us watching us. It scared my
brother, who afterward said it was a large bear. But I have seen enough bears to know that it
was no bear. There was nothing else he knew to call it. Usually the mind will provide, in such
a case, what seems like the only logical answer, even though what is seen does not fit the
explanation at all. They think they must find an answer in the manner they are accustomed to
finding it or the mind is not at rest. Unfamiliar things tend to disturb people. To learn of higher
things of life there must be a shaking of concepts, Man can then rise to a higher consciousness
which is really his natural state. He will begin to test things in the test tube of wisdom. Wisdom
is the best medicine for man-kind."
Question: "You speak of telling the truth. Do you think you telling people the truth about
Abominable Snowmen will help them understand truth?"
Answer: "Somehow I was given this experience, and it can only be to use for good. For years

I never gave it much thought. I grew in wisdom and came to understand many spiritual things.
Somehow I have received a key, and what I can open with it, people need badly. I look on my
experience as a little mustard seed. Explain it to people, and it should certainly be explained,
and many other doors (or people's consciouness) will be opened. This is just one purpose of
flying saucers. It is the Divine confounding the wisdom of the proud and material minded."
Question: "Can you tell a little more about the Apemen's physical appearance?"
Answer: "They are about seven feet tall, but many people have seen larger ones. They had
large ears and a head that was in proportion with their large muscular body. Their shoulders
were tremendous but they had slim hips. They were hairy but not shaggy. In general they
possess a very stout physical frame, but looked more like a giant human than an ape."
Question: "Do you think you and your companions hit the Apemen you shot at?"
Answer: "We certainly did. Our eyes were keen in those days, and we were expert shots. When
Hank shot the one peeking around the tree, he exclaimed, 'Don't worry about that devil, Fred,
I got him right in the head!' Later on I examined the tree and there were three nicks where the
bark had been grooved by his bullets. The one I shot by Ape Canyon, I had plainly in my sights.
He just tumbled over into the deep gorge. Some people think the melting snow water, which
flows heavily summer afternoons, washed him away. Some others think the creatures came
and packed their own away, and retired with them back to hidden lava caves. My views are
plain on the subject."
Question: "Did you say another Apehunt is on now similar to the one in 1924?"
Answer: "This I have heard. There is some difference in as much as this one will be an
organized expedition and the one in 1924 was a wild array of confusion. On my trip back a man
even took a shot at me. He was on a hill above me. I shot right back, my bullets kicking the dust
up around his feet. There was a ranger with me and he was quite put out and scolded me. The
man came down the hill he was carrying a gunny sack full of bread with him. Such was the
confusion then, The expedition now is a good thing let the young men explore, nothing could
better than for them to try and solve one of life's little mysteries. It should in time lead them to
the gates of psychicism."
Question: "What do you mean by other dimensions?"
Answer: "It is hard to classify a spiritual subject and apply a system to it. It is a difference in
time, space and the movement of matter. They are different planes of consciousness. Human
consciousness is the highest form we know because all human life has the spark of the Divine
Consciousness in their soul. But this world in which we live is not the only dimension that
has human life. There are other planes of life, immaterial in comparison to our materiality.
Some of these planes, such as the ones mentioned above, are high, but there are also lower
dimensions."
Question: "I wonder what people would have thought if the Apemen had killed everyone of the
1924 party?"
Answer: "That is a very hypothetical question. There was enough physical force present to kill
more than the number of our party. If that fate had fallen on us in 1924, they probably would
have found five wrangled bodies and a disheveled cabin, and strange large tracks around the
area. Of course, there would have been an investigation, but a so called logical explanation
would have been given."
Question: "How would you feel if time proves you wrong, and shows the Hairy Apes to be
physical beings?"
Answer: "To me that appears to firmly be an impossibility. But just say it did happen: it is no sin

to be wrong just as it does not make a person a saint to be right. I am confident that they are
mainfested beings, and I offer that as fact."
Question: "Is it not claimed that some people found their excrements in California?"
Answer: "Yes, that is what I heard; but it does not change my mind at all, but strengthens what I
believe and know."
Question "How can it possibly do that?"
Answer: "If it is the excrements of Abominable Snowmen, this is what happened: did not I tell
you there was a distinct possibility of them appearing greater distances away from the mountain
ranges? Physical evidence such as this shows a greater predominance or presence on the
physical plane. They take on the physical nature for a time, and the excrements, having been
derived from physical elements, remain. All this just proves a stronger physical manifestation by
these beings which should result in more sightings as time goes on."
(Part 2) Miscellaneous Selections
An Indian once told me if I ever saw a "Selahtik" to make sure I expressed to them that I was
friendly, and the way to do it, he said was to take some cedar boughs and wave it at them, and
in that way they would know I had come in peace.
When I speak of Abominable Snowmen as being an lower order of life I was not inferring that
they are evil or bad. They just function on a plane lower than the human plane. Neither are they
completely dull minded with no sense of what they are doing. In some of their encounters with
people, they have displayed quite a degree of cleverness.
A colorful incident occurred when we reached the ranger station at Spirit Lake after the attack
on our cabin. The ranger, Bill Welch, is dead now, but I had the honor to meet him again at my
son's house in Amboy, Washington, several years ago, and we reminisced the incident again:
Hank had walked to the ranger's quarters looking for him. Mr. Welch was outside in the barn
where he had his pack horses. Hank, after speaking to Mr. Welch's wife, started for the barn
and met Mr. Welch half way. Hank told him he had shot a mountain devil, and Mr. Welch asked
if he did not mean a bear. Hank said, "No, a mountain devil!" And Mr. Welch asked if he meant
a wolverine, and Hank answered again, "No, a mountain devil!"

Some people have claimed to have been kidnapped by Abominable Snowmen. I can neither
affirm nor deny this by any knowledge I have on the subject. Is it not one of the hardest tasks
of life to separate precious pebbles of truth from out of the quarry of profession? Yet it is our
supreme task to separate them by our enlightenment, forsaking the shadows with light that
will banish the shadows.
I once found a cave which is located near the point where Ape Canyon Creek empties into Bear
Lake. It was about 12 feet wide and 20 feet in length. The cave was just a few feet above the
waterline. I entered the cave and found a whole heap of fish bones. Bones of other animals
were plentiful too. What is the diet of the Snowmen? This incident could possibly shed some
light on the question.

Of all the newspaper articles written about the experience in 1924, I only have two. In
another book out now there are dozens of reprinted stories telling of people's encounters with
Abominable Snowmen. The main purpose of this book is to tell my experiences. In the early
articles there was much skepticism expressed, but down through the years the experience has
evolved into an attitude by the local papers of fond, though mildly skeptical, folklore. It is a story
that sounds interesting to many people, and they have revolved it into a legend. Recenty I have
heard that there are plans to make the Ape Canyon location into a State Park.
Our mine, The Vander White, was located on the cliff of Ape Canyon, north side, and we had
to use ropes to get up and down. There was a small ledge there, but we blasted a larger one.
Some stories state we used pack horses to pack our ore out, but the fact is that we never took
any out. A few nuggets was the only gold I ever obtained, and they were found in different
locations.
Some stories say thatwe must have experienced a rock slide, and fabricated a tale of Apemen
attacking our cabin. This could only have been written by someone who has never been there.
As previously stated there are very few rocks there and there was certainly no slide.
When I returned with the reporters, we found the things we left behind all strewed around in the
cabin. To this day, I do not know what became of the blasting powder we left behind.
Even before our experience in 1924, I heard reports of little sapling trees being twisted apart.
And I, myself, saw the same things in the Mt. St. Helen's area. Some I saw were freshly twisted.
Work of the Abominable Snowmen? No man had that much strength.

Chapter Five - Theories on the Origin of Abominable Snowmen

When I wrote of the psychic nature of these beings, I showed how people had come to see
them. The manifestation takes place as a result of an energized substance surrounding these
beings. To what degree the average person sighting them has a part in this, I am not prepared
to say. But I do know that some persons who are psychic have a degree of involvement in a
sighting and help trigger the phenomenon. Now, for a little while, let us look backward in time
and consider the origin of Abominable Snowmen. As we are departing from our understanding
of what we know them to be today, and are going back infinitely in time, we are looking into a
past land unexplored except by a few adept ones. I received this glimpse of time by inspiration
but present it to you as a theory for such it has to be. A man would be a fool if he stated such
intangible explorations to be absolute fact. But an exploration is a starting point right or wrong
in its conclusions. Someone may challenge it by presenting a better concept or add to it, or
take a little away.
So let us look back many thousands of years in time: Before man incarnated in a physical body,
the earth was much different than it is today. The air had much moisture and you and I, of today
would not have been able to breathe it. Strange creatures were roaming the earth and flying
through the air. These creatures were all intermingled many, many kinds of materiality. Some

were conscious of the other and some were not conscious of the other. The appearance of
these creatures was such that we could only call them monstrosities. Some of these imperfect
creatures slowly died out, or their kind of materiality ceased to exist in the same form and
changed and went back into the universal source. Their form of consciousness incarnated
again ages later in a higher life, namely primitive animal life. In the case of others of a different
construction they evolved into nature spirits. Some retained their nature, changing very slowly,
and remain on lower planes.
The beings we are considering in this book had their origin in this period of great chaos,
evolving very slowly to their present nature.
I do not wish to go beyond this point, and so let us return to the present. I have found that
most Indians know more about Abominable Snowmen than one white man in a thousand. After
the incident of 1924 I visited a dentist to have a tooth pulled. It was a little town in Eastern
Washington. As I was coming out of the dentist office a man came up to me and asked: "Are
you the man who I read about in the papers who was attacked by Apemen?" I told him I was.
"Could you come with me?" he asked. "There is someone who would like to talk with you."
He took me to a tavern where he introduced me to 10 or 12 Yakima Indians. They wanted to
make sure I was the man, and when they were, and after asking me some questions, they told
me about the "Selahtiks", the name by which they knew the Abominable Snowmen.
They said the Indians knew about them, but white men never believed the tales of Indians. They
said they were very careful never to go where they knew them to be, and if they ever found
themselves in their presence they were doubly careful not to offend them.
"If you ever harm one, they will get even,"one Indian said. "They never forget."
They told me the "Selahtiks" migrated into Canada, and in fact traveled the mountain ranges
nearly to Mexico. One of their favorite methods of traveling was floating down rivers at
night, "like logs". They told tales about them running away with squaws.
When I asked them what they were, they replied, not like a man and not like a spirit, but in
between. One Indian, who must have been pretty well educated, said, "They have not come out
of evolution." With all the profound sightings reported it is probable that many sightings remain
unreported.
A friend of mine was fishing, He strung a number of trout on a stick and laid them on a rock. He
walked down-stream and waded out into the river to continue his fishing. A little later he looked
back and saw one of the hairy creatures picking up his string of fish. He was thrashing them
against the rock.
Some other friends were camped in the area. One morning they awoke to find their fire wood
scattered along the trail, for a quarter mile.
Once a friend and his wife saw an Apeman on the main road leading to Spirit Lake;
Washington. He looked as though he was basking in the afternoon sun about 70 yards from the

road. When his wife saw it, she began screaming. Then, my friend said, the thing just got up
and walked away.
I have told of my past experiences, and have tried to explain about the present sightirigs.
What does the future hold regarding the Phenomenon of Abominable Snowmen? Perhaps
some psychic will enter into their investigation. He will probably keep records and have reliable
witnesses to observe his work and to report his findings to the world. Sightings of Abominable
Snowmen have been reported at various times from every major continent. They were of
different appearances and sizes and the records of them date back many years.
Is there an interrelated race of these beings awaiting their proper day of evolution? I am of the
opinion that evolution is not only a law of the material world, but also the law of all the worlds we
cannot perceive by the medium of our five senses. Everything seen and unseen is life and all
life is progressive and changing.
Are these beings even now evolving by stages into a higher consciousness? Could they,indeed,
be the missing link between man and the anthropoid? A link between material life and
immaterial life? Will these beings who are wandering the earth today, and who present a weird
image to us now, some day, some distant age from now, evolve into the noble ranks of human
intelligence?
The answer to these questions cannot be answered by expeditions. It can only come by man
knowing more about his true self and more about the universe in which he dwells. Science has
reached near perfection in material knowledge, but has reached the borderland through which
no finite intellect can pass. All life can be studied, but man will have to look into himself to tap a
spiritual power and realize the spiritual laws and reason with a spiritual mind.
Man will have to break the little material shell he has around himself, which says this far you
can only go and there is nothing more. What is outside that shell is pure life and it is even
above and of an higher order than material life, though material and spiritual life would work in
harmony if we would let it work.
I have lived this experience with Abominable Snowmen. I have encountered them on the slopes
of Mt. St. Helens. I have looked deep into myself to tell you of their nature.
I have had both the earthly experience of encountering them by Ape Canyon, and the spiritual
experience of knowing and telling what they are.
I have walked through the messy cliffs of Ape Canyon, and seen a primeval loneliness,
reminiscent of life as it must have been years ago.
I have explored the distant future which beckons to us with hope. I have told you my story and
it is true. Abominable Snowmen are a part of the creation. Will we hear much more from them?
Will their habitat change from selected mountains to nearer our populous cities?
I think they will. They are just one little mystery from the ocean of mysteries.