SAY WHAT?

It was a bear, and it talked, says couple

The Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer, July 7 1985

You never know what to expect when you venture into the woods. But a talking bear...?

That's what Greg and Stephanie McKay told authorities they encountered yesterday.

The couple called Pierce County Sheriff's deputies yesterday morning to say they had been attacked by a strange, bear-type animal while on a camping trip near Greenwater in Pierce County, about five miles off Highway 410.

Stephanie, 35, and husband Greg, 33, said it happened just before dawn.

"We were camping and a bear attacked the tent. We were in the tent at the time. You may think this sounds crazy, but the bear talked to us," she said in a telephone interview.

"It asked us what are names were and asked whether we had permission to use the campsite," she said. "We said we had gotten permission, but the bear told us to get off the property immediately. We ran like anything."

As the couple gathered their belongings and took off, the bear - described as 8 feet tall, ugly, smelly and having curly brown hair - threw rocks at them.

Stephanie said the bear stood on its hind feet. "It must have weighed almost a ton," she said. He was big, hairy. It didn't sound human. It had a very high-pitched voice."

Greenwater Fire Department officials visited the campsite yesterday but could find no signs of a struggle. The only tracks visible were those of a large dog, said Sgt. Terry Schmid of the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.

Schmid said an Enumclaw Police Department officer assisted in the case by inspecting the tent, but he could find no signs that the tent had been roughed up by the large animal.

"We pretty well figure if it's anything, it was probably a bear," Schmid said. "It could be a complete hoax, but we don't know. We're investigating."

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SHERIFF DOUBTS THAT COUPLE MET TALKING BEAR

The case of the talking, rock-throwing Greenwater bear is closed, says Pierce County Sheriff's Office Deputy Bob Hoffman.

If we have any more sightings of talking bears or bears that throw rocks, I'm not sure I'm going to let anyone know," says Hoffman. "I'm tired of getting media calls from all over, anywhere from Boston to Hawaii."

The case began Saturday morning when an Enumclaw couple told deputies that an 8-foot, hairy, ugly and smelly bear had kicked them off their campsite near Greenwater, five miles off Highway 410.

The couple said a bear had attacked their tent and told them to get off the property. As the couple was fleeing, the bear chased them and threw rocks, they said.

Hoffman said yesterday he has closed the case because he thinks the couple's report was the result of 'overactive imaginations.'

"On Friday night there were some people of the Greenwater community who told the couple their campsite was on private property and the fire danger was high. The wording the community people used is almost identical to the wording the couple says the bear used," Hoffman said.

"It could be that they did see a bear sometime that night, but there are no bear tracks. The bears that are up there are not 7 to 8 feet tall. And the bears that I've seen have never spoken to me and have never thrown rocks at me."

"My conclusion is that the report is unfounded. It's probably the result of an overactive imagination coupled with the request that they leave the area. The couple was on private property, and they did have a fire."

Hoffman, who has been assigned to the Greenwater area for a couple of years, says the couple's talking-bear story is the best yarn he's heard so far.

"There's nothing that comes close..."

Credit: Mark A. Hall