A WILD MAN OF THE WOODS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2511, 23 January 1877, Page 3

A WILD MAN OF THE WOODS.

The Milburn Creek correspondent of the Sydney Evening News, under date the 11th November, 1876, writes as follows :—"Who has not heard, from the earliest settlement of the colony, the blacks speaking of some unearthly animal or inhuman creature, that inhabited some part of the wildest, inaccessible, rugged, and sequestered haunts of rocky mountains and gorges in" the colony, namely, the Yahoo Devil Devil, or the Hairy Man of the Wood, which to this day they stand in fearful awe and terror of. I, for one, sympathise with the superstitions, or aboriginal sayings, of those wild and unsophisticated denizens of the Australian bush—that their aboriginal traditiou of such unearthly mongrels of monsters have and do now exist— though so rare, and not as yet often seen or believed in by white men. Four.'een days ago, and not more than ten miles from here, towards the head of the. Lachlau River, on Coolamba station (Hemmond's), in one of the most secluded and melancholy-looking spots imaginable, imperceptibly a terror of awe creeps over every one who has to pass through this far and wide known gorge or death chasm of the river. While a lad of the name of Porter (a son of Porter, a settler on the Lachlan) was shepherding a flock of his father's sheep, near to the dismal rocky bridge or gorge, as so called, an inhuman unearthlylooking being was seen by the lad coming direct towards him from the high, rugged, and precipitous rocks. The dogs, on observing such an unknown monster, would not attack, became timid, and crouched around the lad's legs, who became horrorstruck with fear; he left the sheep to their fate, and ran together with his collies for home. On relating the inhuman sight he had seen, which was not credited by the father and others at home, they, however, at last mustered courage, and went to the exact place described, but could find or see nothing of the hairy man. On Saturday last, however, a fishing party of young men and young women went to the Rocky-bridge waterholes for a night's sport. These waterholes are famed fan and near for : quality and quantity of fish. It. is customary for those bent for ! good sport to remain for the night, and j as a matter of course a large fire is made. On the evening of this memorable day, two hours before sun-down, the young men and some of the young women went to set their lines, leaving one of their young friends to • boil the billy and prepare supper. While engaged, a young women was suddenly startled by observing a man, as she naturally imagined at first sight, one of their own party coming towards the fire, but, on walking closer, discovered * the appearance to be ' unsightly and inhuman, bearing in-every •way the shape of a man with a big red face, hands and legs covered with long, shaggy hair; from fright she became almost spell * bound, screamed and screeched, but was unable to run. The men on hearing such unearthly cries, left their fishing lines and ran with all speed towards their comrade.

"On reaching the fire, the monster of alarm was only distant some fifty yards. On their appearing it stood, for a minute or two and turned away and made for the rocks. Two of the men armed themselves with a tomahawk and cudgel and followed thia extraordinary phenemonon of nature for a short;distance up the rocky and rugged mountain; when suddenly it turned round and stood viewing the men as they were approaching. They also halted, being then about sixty yards from the object of terror, commanding a full view of his whole shape and make, resembling that of a big slovenly man. The head was covered with dark grisly hair, the face with shaggy darkish hair, the back and belly, and down the legs, covered, with hair of lighter color. The devil-devil, or whatever it may be called, doubled round, and hurriedly made back towards the fire and women again. On seeing him coming, a fearful commotion amongst the females, and a kind of supernatural terror among the men took place. In the meantime, before reaching the camp, it stalked away towards the inaccessible rocky mount. The names of two of the men who witnessed and took part in the scene are Porter and Dunn, well-known settlers on the Abercrombie and Lachlan Kivers. Mr Laner, another settler from the Lachlan, was informed the other day that the neighbors all round hare organised a party to go in search of the human monster and hunt him down dead or alive. It is not many weeks ago that I recorded the remains of a>- similar animal or creature being found in the Walla Walla Scrub. It is well-known to the old settlers for the last thirty years that the blacks will never camp within miles of this deathlike chasm of the Lachlan, though they come distances every year to fish in the adjoining waterholes, butleaTe before sun-down to camp miles away. Whether this be the blacks' veritable Yahoo—, devil-devil —or the white man's Hairy Man of the Wood, time, it is hoped, will now shortly tell."