This report makes me wonder what (if any) tie-ins there might be along the line of the ‘hobbits’ found in th South Pacific?

Before you post in a huff, I know that primates don’t have just three claws. I’m just pondering what the link is, if any, and NOT if these are hobbits.

Why so?

In particular, did you find the report of 3 digits odd? And if so, then how come the book cover shows exactly that?

Does the property owner have some connection with any of the witnesses? If not, then the history certainly is a “pro” as you say. Are you sure that owner was there 10 years ago?

Regarding cameras and horses; I have negligible horse-riding experience, but the last trail ride I went on, I took a camera. It took me about 3 minutes to decide to hand it over to the guides to carry – far too hard to worry about the horse at the same time as worrying about dropping the camera.

I couldn’t imagine actually using a camera when you are scared about an unknown bipedal animal and your horse is nervous and moving around. I have no problems there. (Did we even say she had a camera in the first place?)

I also have no problems with their sketches looking nothing alike. In fact, I disagree – the sketches are almost identical: stocky build, two long arms, lots of hair, no neck, fangs.

Regarding which details you see and remember, and which you don’t – again, who’s to say? Everyone will respond differently. Don’t get on the track of thinking about what *you* would do and then assuming a story can’t be true because the witness clearly did not act in the way you would have obviously acted.

Ordinarily though, I would have said that ultimately all we have is someone’s story. Notwithstanding my earlier question about the owner, at the end of the day all you can say with reasonable certainty is that the primary witness was injured, in all likelihood from a fall from a horse, and several of the riders claim the incident was due to an unknown bipedal animal.

Were there any other people on the ride who did *not* see or smell anything? If so – interview them… ask them what they saw of the witness… how did the accident happen, what did she say at the time? how did she look? like she’d seen a ghost, or not? Are any of the other riders good horsemen/women? If so, can they comment on the disposition of the horse at the time? Do they agree with the owner?

One detail no-one’s commented on which really bothers me – who in their right mind knows what salty blood smells like? Why choose that expression?

Another point – “it was just standing there”. Not moving. Not doing anything. Could it have been an inanimate (non-living) object?

Looking at the report, lets weigh up the pros and cons.

Firstly, the pros.

1. There were 3 witnesses, 2 who saw the thing and one who just smelled it and heard it (Catherine’s husband). I interviewed them for well over two hours together, and they appeared perfectly natural – the way they spoke to each other about the episode just seemed genuine to me. It was 4 days after the sightings and it appeared as if there were parts of each others experience that they didn’t know about as I asked them questions – again, all completely natural.

2. Catherine’s injuries – she had definitely been thrown from her horse. She even came back a weeks later to try and ride again with me but was still in a lot of pain and couldn’t finish the ride. Why bother if its a fake (and it cost her $AUD120 to do the second ride with me and her husband).

3. Why the small yowie? If she was copying the book cover why not go for a big one, like our cover shows. Something memorable!

4. Both women saw the fangs, and on my video interview they way they describe this feature is very convincing.

5. The owner stated (and confirmed to me separately) that an earlier riding group had seen and smelled a similar small-sized creature 10 years ago and come back quite shaken up. So there is a history here.

6. The owner also confirmed that the horse that threw Catherine did not come back to the property until the next day, and it was extremely unsettled when it did. This was, to her, very unusual. Generally when riders were thrown on the trail the horses made it back on same day in quite good shape.

7. When the girls and I did our ‘part’ ride a week later, our trail leaders horse was extremely unhappy about going down the same trail and had to be turned back onto the track several times.

Now the cons.

1. What are the odds of a sighting describing three rarely reported features (canines, claws, holding dead animal) that just happen to be featured on the cover of a brand new yowie book?

2. How could Catherine see clawed feet from a reasonable distance, in the bush?

3. The sketches don’t look at all similar.

I believe that the girls saw something unusual that day. As to the ‘coincidence’ with our book cover – well, it makes you think, doesn’t it!

Cheers Paul

As for photos. I’ve driven past plenty of Horse Riders in the bush. Very few actually carry cameras. I’ve also been camping many time in the bush, most of the time without a camera. Not everyone carries or even bothers with a camera.

Cheers Paul.