Oregon L.O.W.F.I

Archive for March, 2009

From the blog “Naveed’s Realm” — Naveed lives in Oregon — this item about a possible strange, dark colored feline spotted on the Oregon coast some years ago. I know exactly where he’s talking about; I have family and friends in that area, plan to
relocate there myself soon, and have driven that road many a time. I’ll be sure to keep my eyes extra open next time I’m out there!

On the heels of the otter post, where authorities acknowledged keeping the information to themselves about otters off the Oregon coast, comes this article in the Eugene Register-Guard: Wildlife Experts On Prowl To Sight Wolves.

I have a deep connection to wolves; it is my personal totem animal, my adopted clan animal, and Wolf has come to me many times in dreams. News of the wolf coming back to Oregon, where I live, is both wonderful yet also cause for anxiety, in regards to its potential fate.

In the Central Cascades area, there have been reports of a “wolf-like” creature seen in the area. This past winter, a wolf or “wolf hybrid” was filmed in the Santiam Pass. Witnesses in January saw “a dark, wolf-like animal” in the Pass. Biologists have been searching for evidence of the wolf in Oregon, mainly in Northeastern Oregon, where it hasn’t been known to exist since the 1940s. According to the article “large canids in the Cascades have brought the search for wolves to Central Oregon.”(There have also been reports of wolf like animal at Crater Lake, and 140 miles away at Suttle Lake.) Presumably, this means there is physical evidence of a wolf (or “wolf like”) animal in the area. But John Stephenson, Oregon’s “wolf coordinator” with the Fish and Wildlife Service, says “It’s a long shot” signs of a wolf will be found. (It’s a bit confusing what he means is “a long shot” it’s either bad writing on the part of the journalist, or intentionally distracting. Does he mean it’s a long shot evidence of wolves will be found in general, or that it’s a “long shot” evened will be found because there are no wolves, despite the film evidence?)

Stephenson and his crew searched for wolves in the area, but didn’t find any; suggesting that since he didn’t see anything, there isn’t anything there to see. The animal caught on film in the Pass was probably a “lone animal” just coming through.

In a particularly bit of Fortean twisty turvy weirdness, wolves are protected; considered an endangered species in Oregon, but only west of Pendleton and Burns. East of there, you can kill all the wolves you like. I wonder if Sarah Palin knows about this? (See my item on my animal blog tëme (tëme means “wolf” in the Lennape language, my grandfather’s tribe) on Palin’s blood lust and wolf hunts.)

Furthering this odd balancing act of wolf assassination vs. wolf reverence, is Oregon’s protection of the wolf “until there are four breeding paris east of U.S. Highway 97 for three consecutive years.” Then it’s okay to kill them again.

Wolves were in Oregon up until the 1940s; by then, they had been exterminated. Now that they seem to be coming back, the fears of some humans are also returning. Ranchers and farmers in particular believe wolves are a danger, not understanding they are predators that kill to eat only when hungry; they are not feral dogs. Witnesses insist they saw what they saw, and are either believed or not, depending on who’s doing the listening. Authorities have their own agendas which vary according to the individuals; a desire to protect the species above all else, greed, kowtowing to land owners, job protection, arrogance, and so on.

In a strange juxtaposition to the cruelty imposed on wolves and the blood lust some humans have for wolves, there are, thankfully, wolf sanctuaries in the Northwest that care for wolves. There is the Howling Wolf Sanctuary in the Grants Pass area. I recently “adopted” a wolf from them: his name is Tishmingo and he is a Timber/Arctic wolf, and the Alpha in his pack.

Another wolf sanctuary, also in Oregon, is the White Wolf Sanctuary in Tidewater, near the coast. In Washington state, there is Wolf Haven International.Let’s hope the wolf can be allowed to be, without a bounty on its existence.

Otters have been seen off the Oregon coast. We’re not supposed to tell anyone though, according to Sea otter sighting raises stir, questions Some biologists prefer the rare sightings be kept quiet in Eugene’s Register-Guard.

The confirmed sighting of a sea otter in Depoe Bay last month generated wild excitement. The species, after all, was thought to have been extinct in Oregon for a century — even by wildlife experts.

But the creature seen lolling in the surf as he munched on a crab wasn’t actually the first confirmed sighting in 103 years. It was just the first one about which the media went and blabbed all over tarnation.

The people who knew about previous otter sightings had kept their mouths shut.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife biologist Roy Lowe knew sea otters had resurfaced in Oregon from time to time, despite the failed attempt to reintroduce a thriving population here in the 1970s. He just preferred that the fact be kept as quiet as possible.

“We’re aware of a number of sightings of individual otters over the years,” Lowe said. “We haven’t published those sightings.”

About eight years ago, we sat in a lovely cozy restaurant in Gold Beach and watched otters in the Rogue River. River otters, not sea otters, although the river otter hangs out on the coast, so I’m not sure exactly of the difference. I’m not a marine biologist, I just fantasize I’m one.

This secrecy from authority as to the otter’s existence has another layer. Understandably, the news the otter is webbily afoot is to protect the otter from those who would do it harm. But I’m reminded of stories about the existence of creatures in areas where they supposedly don’t exist: wolverines, Roosevelt elk, and Sasquatch, in Oregon, where the locals have long been aware of the existence of these creatures, because they’ve seen either evidence of their existence by way of tracks, smell, scat, etc. or have actually seen the creatures. Yet denial continued to come from the authority, who, in many cases, would not come to the area (s) in question to look for themselves. All right, to be fair, about Sasquatch…that’s possibly a whole other area. The point is, people who live in an area, and are familiar with the flora and fauna, are aware of what’s occurring around them.

Of course, all these creatures: otters (sea or river), wolverines, elk in unexpected places, and Sasquatch, are probably just owls, since that’s really what people are seeing when they think they’ve seen something that shouldn’t be there. And even if it is there and not an owl, shhhh…we’re not going to talk about it, remember?

image source.

My husband Jim is writing a novel; it’s a conspiracy/sci-fi/paranormal tinged book, and it’s wonderful to have him read me the latest every week. It’s tenativley titled Product A recent scene in his book has the main character remembering something that happened when he was a child. Staying at the beach with his mother, he is aware of a creature in need. A giant, whale/octopus/leviathan kind of creature, preternatural, that calls to him. The character goes to the creature, who is injured, meets a girl; through a series of telepathic Fortean type events, the creature manages to return back into the ocean. Part of the strangeness of this event was the character’s repression of such a vivid, poignant, eerrie encounter and his dealing with the recovered memory. Something about this passage was very moving; I could picture the creature, with its one, huge orb of an eye, on the wet sand. Jim wrote this at the same time I started this blog but he hadn’t known about the blog or its title. (I was reminded of the movie Whale Rider and how moved I was watching the scene where the whale washes up on the beach.)

Sunday, a fin whale beached itself here on the Oregon coast at Devil­’s Elbow State Park. The smell from the whale made its way up and over Highway 101 and gruesome, gratuitious poachers cut away parts of the whale, so getting the body off the beach was a priority. There was also the “gross out” factor; as Jim Rice with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network remarked:

“There seems to be a lot of concern about grossing people out.”

a quote that the Register Guard felt important enough to display in large font as a header, highlighting the idea that “grossing people out” was the concern, and justification, to quickly bury the whale rather than wait and tow it out to sea.

The problem was how to move the body; blowing it up had already been tried in 1970, when a whale beached itself on a Florence beach. Naturally that turned out to be an unpleasant mistake. This time, the twon decided burying the body was a goog choice. A giant hole was excuavated, the body rolled into it, after scientists had their way slicing away body parts to study why and how it died.

Jim remarked that this all seemed very sad; wrong somehow, the body belonged in the sea, not in a hole. It just seems wrong to bury a sea creature on land. However, the authorities believed the ocean conditions unfavorable to send teh body out:

The early afternoon’s high tide had failed to carry the whale back out to sea, and U.S. Coast Guard officials deemed the rough surf at Heceta Head too treacherous to try towing it out via some kind of boat.

Instead, the whale was buried in a hole, with this memorial:

Parks workers dumped lime on the carcass as the dozers carved out a little extra space for its tail, then filled in the hole. As they worked, Kelly Lucas, whose husband, Dennis, is the manager of Heceta Head Scenic Viewpoint, fashioned a handmade cross from two sticks bound by yellow caution tape. She then stuffed the stems of a bouquet of daffodils she picked from her garden into the cross and laid it against some driftwood.

“We named him Jonah,” she said.

Notes
End to sad tale of whale:Eugene Register Guard

Washed Up Fin Whale Forces Beach Closure:Register Guard
Image source:The Explodingwhale.com
Jim Rich: Yessy.com and blog.
Fin whale image public domain.

I created a new blog for those thoughts and experiences within Fortean and UFO research and events that the individual, (meaning me, mostly, ) is either too embarrassed or uncomfortable to acknowledge. The blog is Octopus Confessional, and I’m not sure why I choose the “octopus” except that the octopus image brings up symbolism that seems to be particularly esoteric. Many tentacles, reaching out, like the millions of threads we find in conspiracy-paranormal-occult stuff. Ink squirts out to hide and deflect. HIdden in the depths. Highly intelligent, aware, and playful, as well as dangerous, even fatal. Eats, and is eaten. And so on. . .

In searching for octopi related news to post on the blog, the first thing I came across were these entries on Octopi weirdness and synchronicity from Naveed’s blog
Naveed’s Realm.

A poetry magazine in Portland, Oregon: Octopus Magazine, and a poem in a 2007 Indiana poetry called Octopus Confessional!

There’s a book that seems interesting by Caitlin R. Kiernan: To Charles Fort, With Love. I’ve added it to my ever growing list.

In Tillamook, Oregon, a place full of Fortean history, once home to the Spruce Goose, legends of a haunted lighthouse (now turned crematorium!) lives the octopus tree. The “octopus tree” is a sitka spruce tree, shaped like an octopus. Native American myth tells that the tree is a “burial tree” and its beautiful, unusual shape holds the canoes of chiefs. As with all myth, there is truth; some tribes in the area did put their dead in their canoes, and put the canoes in the trees. To make sure the trees could hold these canoes, the trees had to be trained to grow a certain way which resembled an octopus. This particular octopus tree at Cape Meares is a good sixty feet at the base; its age is unknown.

Notes:
http://www.capemeareslighthouse.org/Octopus_Tree/octopus_tree.html

In my book The Ghost of Conser Lake, (unpublished) I cite an interesting passage from Ivan T. Sanderson’s book Abominable Snowmen about the creature. (You can read a previous section of the book here. Mention of “Flix,” the Bigfoot like being that appeared in Millersburg, Oregon in the late 1950s -early 1960s, is one of those interesting high strangeness BHM (big hairy monster) cases. Here’s a section from my book, with added comments in parentheses.

Flix Gets Around
Flix made the news for a good two years. He was seen off and on in the area during that time. Clarence Starr, owner of the Owl Cafe in Albany at the time, told Westby (Betty Westby, the reporter who wrote several articles about Flix for the

Democrat Albany Herald

newspaper) that the monster “had trampled down a lot of mint on his farm and that he will not be able to harvest much of his crop.”

An elderly woman “who came from one of the early pioneer families,” the paper noted, walked into theGreater Albanyoffice to give her story of her encounter with Flix:

“That monster was in our pasture last night. My neighbor took a shot at it. He found some blood on the ground, so he thinks he hit it. We saw its tracks, and the women in our neighborhood are scared to go anywhere at night or even sit on porches or leave the doors or windows open. I think he sheriff an state police should Hunt this creature down before it kills someone.”

The newspaper tried to explain to the woman a “big white cow” had recently escaped from its owner’s truck and that this is what she saw, but “she refused to believe our explanation.”

Mrs. Penning in Devers-Conner, about 30 miles south of Millersburg, told Betty Westby she heard “dripping sounds,” even though it was August. It is interesting that Mrs. Penning described the “dripping” sound; remember that Flix’s footsteps were also described as “squishy.” Looking out her living room window she saw a “large, light form,” hurrying away, and heard a “low pitched cry that seems to start from its toes, tapering off to a squeal like a pig’s.” Penning also fond fingerprints on her bedroom window, and Westby spectacled that they were web shaped, due to the four fingered, spread-out shape of the prints.

Three years later, the story of the Creature of Conser Lake was still news. In an article by Martin Clark, Albany Journal staff writer, he comments on writer Keith Sosebe’s upcoming talk on the “monster.”
Leaping from the shadow of a deep gully, the thing stood fully 7 feet tall in the ghostly moonlight. Petrified with mingled horror and curiosity, the young people sat motionless in their car. Suddenly, the apparition took at enormous leap over the gully and slipped away trough a tangle of boughs.”

By October, Flix, or a similar creature, was reported in Stanton, Oregon, 30 miles from Millersburg. (Oregon) It seems that Flix moved within an approximate 30 mile radius. This is assuming it was the same creature of course. Calls came into the Stayton police station of an “eight foot tall hairy monster,” and monster hunters were quick to look for the creature. Fortunately the police stopped a group of teens, armed with guns and beer, who decided to go monster hunting, before they could do any damage.

A Herd of Flixes?
Cryptozoologist and biologist Ivan T. Sanderson discussed the Conser Lake monster briefly in his book Abominable Snowmen:Legend Come to Life, citing a small item that appeared in the January, 1961 edition of FATE magazine, reporting that the “monster” was “still on the loose.” Sanderson also writes in Abominable Snowmen that a source wrote Sanderson in October of 1960, insisting that there was not only the one Flix, but several “Flixes” in the area. According to Sanderson’s unnamed friend, there were more than one BHM, several in fact, and fingerprint as well as footprint casts were taken. Referring to Flix, the letter writer described the creature:

This last part about Flix disappearing into the lake gives some support to the theory about BHM, and/or Bigfoot, living underground. Sanderson also supported this idea. The letter writer mentions a “Hal Starr” who has had contact with more than one of these creatures. In the correspondence sent to Sanderson about the Conser lake “monster,”
the letter writer reports that “Creatures” (italics mine) were still being sighted on a farmer’s farm.” The name given was Hal Starr; is this the owner of the Owl Cafe mentioned earlier?( Cal,or Hal?)

Flix himself verified Sanderson’s source that there was more than one creature. The creature told psychic Jane Waterby (Waterby was a friend of Betty Westby’s and the two visited the lake to try and communicate with Flix.) that he wasn’t the only creature of his kind:

Another typical yet frustrating detail Sanderson’s friend gives is the writer’s comment that a “finger print [was] lifted off a house window including a plaster cast of a foot print.” Sanderson’s friend also said he had physical evidence:

“Have personal taped accounts of this creature . . . this includes photographs.”

But no photographs, fingerprints, footprints or recordings have turned up. As with much of UFO, cryptid and Fortean phenomena, evidence is as elusive as the phenomena itself.

copyright Regan Lee
March 1, 2009