The videographer was originally offering copies of the clip to any interested forum members reading the discussion thread who requested it. Two of the people who received the clip then posted versions of it on the Internet which are still publicly available at this time.
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE VERSIONS OF THE VIDEO: The clip posted by B. Green at Google video appears to be the original 1 minute video as sent out by the videographer along with the full audio of the witness's reactions after sighting a glimpse of the moving animal. Go to Original version of Yowie video.
An enhanced version of only that portion of the video which shows glimpses of the animal's movements was posted by Black Sheep at YouTube. This version unnaturally brightens up the background and washes out the colors, but does provide more visible details to be seen than what was apparent to the witnesses at the time by the naked eye. Go to brightened but shorter film clip.
SUMMARIZED BACKGROUND STORY GLEANED FROM THE FORUM POSTS: A laser light enthusiast was toying with a new Elite Laser device near the National Park in the mountains at Katoomba in New South Wales on Saturday evening, June 24, 2006. He was with a couple friends as they were filming how the green laser looked against the winter sky (this is the southern hemisphere) and outdoor night backgrounds when the videographer noticed someone standing near them. He pointed the laser/camera at whoever it was and ended up capturing film of what they believe to be a Yowie as it first hides behind an ironbark tree then runs away from them in the dark.
They get their best video of it standing behind the tree when one of them shines a flashlight at the tree. The best glimpses in the film seem to be taken within 15 feet of the subject. This is not a distant shot of a blobsquatch but upclose images which show its flowing hair as it moves. However, its facial features are obscured by the high-contrast lighting conditions, the quick movement of the creature and possibly because the animal appears to be shielding its face with its left arm (best seen in the brightened but shorter film clip posted on YouTube).
The videographer provides a precise time, date and address for where the video clip was made. He was on holiday with other witnesses to the encounter (his wife and wife's friends) and states that although he has often vacationed in this area during his life-- this was the first time he had ever seen a creature like this.
The laser enthusiast who posted the video operates Nero Designs, Inc., a laser art company in Australia. In one of his posts he identifies himself as having been the designer and matte painter for the Farscape series and his claim to fame is that he was once interviewed by a film crew for the SciFi channel when they did a piece about Farscape several years ago. Among his replies to forum members discussing the experience during the first several hours after he launched the thread he expresses his concern that because of his connections with the special effects industry and his wife being a costume designer, some people may instantly dismiss the video as a hoax.
DOCUMENTATION FOR THE BACKGROUND STORY: Following is a transcript of the comments made by the videographer himself (unless otherwise noted) about the circumstances behind the video which I've copied from the discussion thread at Wicked Lasers:
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ORIGINAL POST on 26-Jun-2006: We don't know what it was but it was just on 6 feet tall and was watching us test an Elite Laser last weekend in the mountains at Katoomba. This is a location believed to be occupied by the elusive (mythical?) Australian Yeti which is known locally as a Yowie.
I can send the video on to anyone if they want to take a look. I't about 4.9MB.
We turned off the laser and chased it. No idea what it was but it was watching us curiously from about 15 feet away. It ran off when we turned the camera and torches on it. Could have been a prankster I suppose but it was a quiet road overlooking a massive canyon/gorge and the temperature was close to below zero at the time.
I can send the video on to anyone if they want to take a look. I't about 4.9MB.
We turned off the laser and chased it. No idea what it was but it was watching us curiously from about 15 feet away. It ran off when we turned the camera and torches on it. Could have been a prankster I suppose but it was a quiet road overlooking a massive canyon/gorge and the temperature was close to below zero at the time.
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27-Jun-2006 - Let me know what you think it is. It's not very brightly lit but you'll see how we stopped lasering to see what it was. I'd mounted an INOVA 5 whilte LED to the camera and mounted a <110mW Elite (not usually available) to the top of the camera.
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27-Jun-2006 - It's a pity the video appears a bit darker... but the thing against the tree was there for a good 15 minutes before we saw it there. It remains perfectly motionless until I walked closer and then it just took off. There was no way we were about to run into the thick bushland (hundreds of kilometers thick I might add).
No way we were going after it since it was taller than me. If it was a guy playing a prank, they were in a remote location after dark in nearly subzero temperatures. We all had chillblanes on our fingers when we got back to the house. (where your skin stings as it heats up).
No way we were going after it since it was taller than me. If it was a guy playing a prank, they were in a remote location after dark in nearly subzero temperatures. We all had chillblanes on our fingers when we got back to the house. (where your skin stings as it heats up).
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27-Jun-2006 - Remember that it was almost zero degrees out there... We were freezing at the time. If the video was a little longer at the beginning, you would have hear endless complaints from the other guy with me. The girl is a nurse and didn't complain since they had both come outside with me to see the laser and the stars (they were extremely clear there in the mountains). Anyone devoted enough to stand next to a tree on the edge of a huge National Park in soon to be subzero is pretty tough stuff. There's a 400ft drop not far back into the bush.
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27-Jun-2006 - Was with two friends of Rena's (my wife). She was back at the house we had rented for the weekend with her girlfriends figuring out what to get for dinner. I had told Steve I'd photograph a laser out overlooking the ranges if I could which is why were were out there. But the light had gone from the sky early (it's winter here) so we were just testing out the different lasers.
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27-Jun-2006 - I've sent the Vid to those on the list that asked... sorry about the delayn - I'm based in Australia as you know.
I just emailed Black Sheep on the subject and I'll include the following Cut Paste because it relates to the issue at hand:
Hard to say exactly what it was although it spooked us when it moved and then ran off. I recall being a boy scout years ago and the Park Ranger coming by to ask us if we'd seen anything since he was acting on reports by other campers at the time. Was probably in late 1977 at the time.
I just emailed Black Sheep on the subject and I'll include the following Cut Paste because it relates to the issue at hand:
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In Katoomba, there have been numerous Yowie sightings (it's an aboriginal name). According to the natives here, the Yowies leave their haunts after dark in search of meat.
Hard to say exactly what it was although it spooked us when it moved and then ran off. I recall being a boy scout years ago and the Park Ranger coming by to ask us if we'd seen anything since he was acting on reports by other campers at the time. Was probably in late 1977 at the time.
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27-Jun-2006 - The SciFi channel send a film crew out to film me for the Farscape series a few years ago. I used to be the designer and Matte Painter for Farscape.
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27-Jun-2006
That's great! Can see details not visible in the actual footage from the shadowed areas. What did you use for the enhancement? I tried that in iMovie but no dice. Whilst not as normal looking as the original in terms of colour schemes, it's great to see what was lost in the shadows.
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LaserLight wrote:
I just brightened up the clip so that I could see what is going on. I also put part of it in slow motion.
I just brightened up the clip so that I could see what is going on. I also put part of it in slow motion.
That's great! Can see details not visible in the actual footage from the shadowed areas. What did you use for the enhancement? I tried that in iMovie but no dice. Whilst not as normal looking as the original in terms of colour schemes, it's great to see what was lost in the shadows.
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27-Jun-2006
Rena (my wife) is indeed a seamstress and a costume designer but she specialises in Rennaisance and period clothing... like chainmail, 70s and even leather garments + anime costumes for the local Animania conventions. The kind of material needed to create a hairy costume would be in the many thousands of dollars... even if relatively cheap pieces were used. I can assure you that she had nothing to do with the critter since she's pressured for time these days and was also indoors at the time back at the property we were renting for the weekend. I don't think she quite believed us until I gave the camera enough time to defrost (climatise) - which took about 30 minutes - and then showed her the video. She couldn't see much on the LCD screen and just said it looked "cool". Remember that it was like 5 degrees outside and felt like it was absolutely freezing. We were hoping for a rare bout of snow and were also killing time waiting for our dinner to be delivered by two of the girls who had gone to pick it up. I took some daylight shots from the same location - can upload those when I get home tonight. Might give you an idea of where I was in relation to the National Park.
I was going to post the vid under my birth name (I changed it by Deed Poll many years ago) to read B. Green instead of Nero_Design?
If my current name is on it, the video may be debunked based on the simple fact that I work in visual digital effects although a sensible person can probably tell that the critter was not digitally added to the footage. You may also want to mention that the locan creature is called a Yowie here in Australia... and that the location was Katoomba in NSW, Australia. Time was 7:40pm on July 24, 2006
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LaserLight wrote:
.... This did not look like any commercially available suit to me. Is not your wife a custom maker? I do believe this could be authentic. It's the best footage I have ever seen and I have seen most of the footage that's out there.
.... This did not look like any commercially available suit to me. Is not your wife a custom maker? I do believe this could be authentic. It's the best footage I have ever seen and I have seen most of the footage that's out there.
Rena (my wife) is indeed a seamstress and a costume designer but she specialises in Rennaisance and period clothing... like chainmail, 70s and even leather garments + anime costumes for the local Animania conventions. The kind of material needed to create a hairy costume would be in the many thousands of dollars... even if relatively cheap pieces were used. I can assure you that she had nothing to do with the critter since she's pressured for time these days and was also indoors at the time back at the property we were renting for the weekend. I don't think she quite believed us until I gave the camera enough time to defrost (climatise) - which took about 30 minutes - and then showed her the video. She couldn't see much on the LCD screen and just said it looked "cool". Remember that it was like 5 degrees outside and felt like it was absolutely freezing. We were hoping for a rare bout of snow and were also killing time waiting for our dinner to be delivered by two of the girls who had gone to pick it up. I took some daylight shots from the same location - can upload those when I get home tonight. Might give you an idea of where I was in relation to the National Park.
I was going to post the vid under my birth name (I changed it by Deed Poll many years ago) to read B. Green instead of Nero_Design?
If my current name is on it, the video may be debunked based on the simple fact that I work in visual digital effects although a sensible person can probably tell that the critter was not digitally added to the footage. You may also want to mention that the locan creature is called a Yowie here in Australia... and that the location was Katoomba in NSW, Australia. Time was 7:40pm on July 24, 2006
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27-Jun-2006 - Fireball920 writes:
Holy crap, just watched it. I didn't think you got that close to it. Wow, you were like 2 feet away, that’s the best video I have ever seen of one.
Something I noticed... has anyone here ever gotten a direct hit in the eye with an X5 at that close of a range? *whistles* Lets just say bye bye to any remote chance of having useful night vision for the next few minutes or so. Whatever you encountered was face to face with your camera and mounted X5 and still managed to take off running, over what you say was dangerous terrain, without any artificial light of his own. Any human in that situation after exposure to that torch would be essentially blind, and to top it off if it was a costume it was a massively hairy one that would make running difficult, especially if you were blinded.
Conclusion, what took place was one of two things:
- A prank that Nero or his friends planned out, having someone in a costume waiting there and with a pre-set plan/path on where to run; for a casual prankster that just arrived on the scene would have been screwed in that situation.
- Or that was some animal/thing that lives out there with sharpened abilities to live outdoors, this would include better eyesight and natural knowledge of the terrain.
Quite the catch Nero, nice film.
Holy crap, just watched it. I didn't think you got that close to it. Wow, you were like 2 feet away, that’s the best video I have ever seen of one.
Something I noticed... has anyone here ever gotten a direct hit in the eye with an X5 at that close of a range? *whistles* Lets just say bye bye to any remote chance of having useful night vision for the next few minutes or so. Whatever you encountered was face to face with your camera and mounted X5 and still managed to take off running, over what you say was dangerous terrain, without any artificial light of his own. Any human in that situation after exposure to that torch would be essentially blind, and to top it off if it was a costume it was a massively hairy one that would make running difficult, especially if you were blinded.
Conclusion, what took place was one of two things:
- A prank that Nero or his friends planned out, having someone in a costume waiting there and with a pre-set plan/path on where to run; for a casual prankster that just arrived on the scene would have been screwed in that situation.
- Or that was some animal/thing that lives out there with sharpened abilities to live outdoors, this would include better eyesight and natural knowledge of the terrain.
Quite the catch Nero, nice film.
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28-Jun-2006 - Davidgojr (Texas, USA) writes:
Thanks for sending me the video, Nero. I've also had the chance to take a look at some of the enhanced versions and I've also viewed the video frame by frame. As a scientist, I tend to remain skeptical but it is still an intriguing video. Could you perhaps post a map with the exact spot of the sighting or some exact Lat/Lon coordinates? That way, I can examine the topography of the region and pull up some satellite images to get an idea of just how remote the site was. This may help rule out a prankster outside of your group. I think it's important that you talk to everyone who was there to make sure that this was not a practical joke pulled or arranged by someone in your group.
If you are genuinely confident that this was no hoax, the next step would be to attempt to identify what kind of creature was there. It would be critical for you to return to this site as soon as possible. Treat the area as a sort of crime scene and photograph the exact location around the tree that the creature was hiding. You'll want to do this during the daytime of course so you can have excellent lighting. Look for any obvious features such as prints from boots or shoes that might indicate that it was a person wearing a costume. (Or any prints of any type)
In the video, the creature appeared to be very hairy. It made a quick getaway into the thick bush and would have certainly snagged numerous hairs. All mammals loose thousands of hairs in a typical day and there is a good chance that you could find them caught on briars, bushes, trees, etc. Purchase some inexpensive latex gloves and clean ziplock-style bags. It is important that you do not touch even the outsides of the gloves since even minute amounts of oil or dead skin cells could contaminate any evidence collected. Carefully examine the area through which the creature made its escape and place any hairs you find into the bags. Even a single hair is often enough to obtain enough DNA to make an identification of known animals at a laboratory. This can also reveal if the hair was synthetic (indicating a costume) or the hair of an animal that is used to make a costume. If DNA found on the hair turns out to be unknown, this would be very important.
Here in Texas, we had a case in which someone thought they had shot a Chupacabra. DNA was collected from the mysterious creature and tested at a laboratory for possible matches. It turned out that the creature was a coyote who was infected with a disease causing its hair to fall out and alter its appearance. (Thus making it appear as though it was an unknown species)
Let me know what course of action you plan to take. You might also contact any local scientific laboratories or cryptozoology groups in your area to show them the video. In some cases, these organizations might even attempt to examine the evidence for you. Let me know what you decide to do.
Thanks for sending me the video, Nero. I've also had the chance to take a look at some of the enhanced versions and I've also viewed the video frame by frame. As a scientist, I tend to remain skeptical but it is still an intriguing video. Could you perhaps post a map with the exact spot of the sighting or some exact Lat/Lon coordinates? That way, I can examine the topography of the region and pull up some satellite images to get an idea of just how remote the site was. This may help rule out a prankster outside of your group. I think it's important that you talk to everyone who was there to make sure that this was not a practical joke pulled or arranged by someone in your group.
If you are genuinely confident that this was no hoax, the next step would be to attempt to identify what kind of creature was there. It would be critical for you to return to this site as soon as possible. Treat the area as a sort of crime scene and photograph the exact location around the tree that the creature was hiding. You'll want to do this during the daytime of course so you can have excellent lighting. Look for any obvious features such as prints from boots or shoes that might indicate that it was a person wearing a costume. (Or any prints of any type)
In the video, the creature appeared to be very hairy. It made a quick getaway into the thick bush and would have certainly snagged numerous hairs. All mammals loose thousands of hairs in a typical day and there is a good chance that you could find them caught on briars, bushes, trees, etc. Purchase some inexpensive latex gloves and clean ziplock-style bags. It is important that you do not touch even the outsides of the gloves since even minute amounts of oil or dead skin cells could contaminate any evidence collected. Carefully examine the area through which the creature made its escape and place any hairs you find into the bags. Even a single hair is often enough to obtain enough DNA to make an identification of known animals at a laboratory. This can also reveal if the hair was synthetic (indicating a costume) or the hair of an animal that is used to make a costume. If DNA found on the hair turns out to be unknown, this would be very important.
Here in Texas, we had a case in which someone thought they had shot a Chupacabra. DNA was collected from the mysterious creature and tested at a laboratory for possible matches. It turned out that the creature was a coyote who was infected with a disease causing its hair to fall out and alter its appearance. (Thus making it appear as though it was an unknown species)
Let me know what course of action you plan to take. You might also contact any local scientific laboratories or cryptozoology groups in your area to show them the video. In some cases, these organizations might even attempt to examine the evidence for you. Let me know what you decide to do.
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29-Jun-2006 - Location: Large Ironbark tree (there's only one) Directly oppostite 37 Wellington Road/Drive, Katoomba.
That's a two hour drive from here. Elevation if probably a few thousand feet. You should be able to figure out the Longitude and Latitude within a few feet based on this address.
DNA evidence would not be admissible after so many days have passed. Cost of DNA analysis would be about $2000+ with the possibility of an inconclusive result, assuming such. I think I'll leave it to the "experts" in Crytozoology to define.... the location was about two blocks back from where I took this picture some years ago: videographer's panaromic shot of national park- I'd say that's a pretty remote location. The bushland we were standing on when we took the video leads directly to where this picture was taken.
All the best,
Marco
That's a two hour drive from here. Elevation if probably a few thousand feet. You should be able to figure out the Longitude and Latitude within a few feet based on this address.
DNA evidence would not be admissible after so many days have passed. Cost of DNA analysis would be about $2000+ with the possibility of an inconclusive result, assuming such. I think I'll leave it to the "experts" in Crytozoology to define.... the location was about two blocks back from where I took this picture some years ago: videographer's panaromic shot of national park- I'd say that's a pretty remote location. The bushland we were standing on when we took the video leads directly to where this picture was taken.
All the best,
Marco
REMARKS: I registered as a new user on the Wicked Laser forum and tried to establish communications about the video with the videographer. So far, he has not replied to my PM or postings. There has been no further discussion of the video made by the videographer on his forum since June 29-- as if he isn't really interested in what comes of it.
QUESTION: Is this a prank that was played on the videographer and his friends? Or did they catch a glimpse on video of what Australians call a Yowie while they were testing their new lasers? And what do you make of the videos and narrative discussions between the videographer and his mates on the forum?
:icon_eek: 
please keep me informed. i hope dean harrison & other austraila researchers are realy studying this filmfootage. the forest area in this footage does look like good habitat for a yowie or any wildlife. i wonder what the weather conditions were like when this footage was taken of this yowie creature.
