Molong man claims witness to sighting 'reverse walk' Yowie near creek

Known as the Aussie version of Bigfoot and rooted in Aboriginal folklore, there are thousands of people who claim they've seen the creature in-action.

One of those reports came from the outskirts of Molong in 2021, when a man (anonymously) relayed his Yowie sighting to the The YowieHunters website.

What started as a father-and-son trip, the duo were bow-fishing for carp at nightfall down by a nearby creek at the time.

"That's when I saw something on the ground, it was relatively flat and it was a very square shape, very hairy and shaggy [with] sort of shambly hair," the man said.

"It was quite dark, but you could still see a little bit of brown and red ... I turned the torch up one more time ... that's when it looked up and I realised that it was actually facing me on its belly, but off the ground, so it was supporting its weight.

"I told mum [at the time] and she said 'just letting you know that if you mention our names, that we will discredit you openly' and I started to laugh."

The man described coarse hair on the Yowie's body, shabby and around four inches-long, which appeared to shed in patches like an animal's winter coat would.

He said the creature, around three-metres tall, appeared as if it had a rear knee joint that had "completely reversed or dislocated", with a backward-facing stride that had a similar pace to that of a person walking.

"As it started to step backwards, that's when it growled and for me it was just a warning, I wasn't worried and I'm not traumatised," he said.

"But I am fascinated by what I've seen and heard ... the front arms. they seemed to operate quite well going backwards, there wasn't any problem, it was more of a natural fluid action like you'd expect from any normal primate, I guess.

"It was the back legs that were extraordinary to watch, they were going through a huge range of movement and they were rolling as they moved and they did it really quickly.

"They were almost rotating through a sort of a 280-degree range of motion to allow that reverse walk to happen, it was quite extraordinary."

Asked whether he got a feeling for the Yowie's gender, the man described it to have a range of crossover traits - typical to male, female, and teen-aged in his opinion.

A mix of strong charisma, a sense of wanting to connect and a lingering curiosity, he couldn't pinpoint a specific gender or age - though he was certain he'd lose a fight if it came to it.

"The confidence that it carried clearly indicated to me that it was either older or strong enough to know that I posed no threat to it in any way shape or form," he said.

"[But] if it was a one-on-one punch-up, I was going to come off second best."

Though his son was with him, the man said the boy hid behind him and refused to look at the creature, reporting a sick-like feeling in his stomach.

The interviewer, Sarah Bignell, said people have reported "their insides rumbling and shaking" during Yowie sightings.

She likened it to very low frequency sounds, drawing on a theory similar to technology with sonic weapons used by those in the police force and army.

"I [asked my son] 'do you remember the growl, do you remember what noise it was?' He said he did, but I think he's a bit shaken up, because he said his insides ... he could feel everything vibrating and rumbling," the man told Ms Bignell.

"I didn't get that experience, I did get a little bit of a tummy tickle, but I certainly didn't get the same experience that he had, he's really really shaken up.

"[But] it's not the first time that something strange has happened ... I don't see them as strange anymore, I just see them as it just happened. I've seen plenty of UFOs."

The Australian Yowie Research group's founder, Dean Harrison sent the Central Western Daily another interesting snippet of information.

Dated 1905 and featured in the Molong Express newspaper, a Euchareena reporter wrote of a "hairy man" rumour causing commotion, after people claimed they had seen "an immense gorilla" in town.

"It is stated that the man, beast, or apparition is no myth for it's tracks are clearly visible," the article reads.

"Considerable speculation is rife as to what the object really is. A good rifle shot should be able to solve the question."

The equivalent of America's Sasquatch, research from the Australian National University says the word "Yowie" may come from the Indigenous word "yuwi".

Of the Yuwaalaraay language of northern New South Wales, it means "dream spirit".

Though it could also be derived from the word "yahoo" - which is a title given by Aboriginal people to a spirit that is evil.

Whatever the truth may be, it's fair to say the many mysteries of the Yowie for droves of people, certainly continues.

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