Big Bird, Big foot, and the Pit

 

Photos, Courtesy of Tracy Gardner

I have an odd story to tell, but before doing so I’d like to ask the readers, if you know this place, please reframe from publicizing the location. I have done an interview regarding this story but have not yet wrote about it… Hope you enjoy…

In the skirts of the Uinta Mountain there is a odd formation puzzling to  geologist, a non thermal vent which appears to have been as a result of water pressure, but where did the water come from? From above, its appearance is that of a crater from a past meteor strike, but I’m here to tell you it is no crater, and there is nothing volcanic about it. The site is covered with conglomerate filled with river rock of all size.

 

Regardless of how it was created it attracts those who find it. One such case was sometime around the 1950’s when a prospector was passing by and this unique feature, a crater of sort with strange cobblestone hoodoo's  caught his attention and lured him in. Investigating this old and odd geologic feature... he passed through its seeming creepy gateway to an ancient lost city like entrance and was examining the bottom floor of it when suddenly he broke through the surface falling into a cavern below. Stunned and bruised I’m sure but he managed to avoid serious injury having fallen about 15 feet below the surface. 

It was devoid of light other than what was coming from the small hole above that he had fallen through. His immediate concern was how he was going to get out as he could not see how he was going to be able to reach the hole being to high above 

Feeling around he found something that after moving his hands over it determined that it was some type of armor, a breast plate likely of Spanish origin. Putting it down and feeling around again picked up something that he described as a bar, gold, silver, copper or lead is unknown as he could not see for the darkness.

At that moment he notice a rope dangling through the hole and wasting no time he grabbed it and shimmied his way to freedom. Climbing out of the hole, dusting himself off and standing up he was met with a Tribal Native of the area who was staring at him with disgust and his arms folded. “Dam good thing I seen you come in here or you would have never left,” he said, “and if you ever come back you will never leave!” he added. The prospector never returned.

Some 40 plus years later a veteran of the Desert Shield war if I am not mistaken, heard the story passed down and decided he was going to investigate the site. When he arrived at the mysterious entrance and passing through he noticed up on the ledges to his left were dear heads which looked as though they had been thrown up there, strangely the heads looked to be from different stages of time showing different stages of decay. 

He also mentioned seeing humanoid footprints which were much to large for any man. At some point he found a cave in the ledges in which he found a human leg bone which he took with him and later discovered it had a musket ball lodged in it, other events also mentioned… Suddenly he heard a strange and loud noise which he describe as the sound of wood binding up in a radial arm saw. As I recall something began throwing smaller rocks at him and at this point he was ready to leave and in a hurry he did. He later mentioned his experiences in war and that it was scary, but he said this place scared the hell out of him and he will not go back. 

There are other incidents experienced at this place by others, two of which I will share, several incidents concerning a large raptor type bird, one particularly was experience by a personal friend about 8 years ago. I have known this man for some time and find him as genuine and honest. He told me that him and his nephew decided to go check out the previous stories. He and his nephew were hiking towards this odd looking crater, they separated and his nephew headed up the hill on and angle and my friend decided to approach the site from directly below it. About the time his nephew reached the base of the crater my friend not able to see him from below, heard a couple of shots fired. He started up the hill and soon spotted his nephew up ahead… “What are you doing? Lets get going” he said, his nephew replied, “We’re not going anywhere” his nephew gesturing up ahead of him where my friend notice a huge bird standing in the path leading up to the entrance of this crater. “Shoot the dam thing” my friend said, “I already put rounds in him” his nephew says, “give me that gun” my friend says and he empties the clip shooting at the bird and presumably hitting it several times… but the bird does not move. They tried circumventing around the bird but it would move into their path each attempt. His nephew grabbed a long stick and tried poking at the bird to get it to move and my friend said, it reached out with one talon and pulled the stick from his hands and discarded it to the side…

At this time the two were a little freaked out and decided to leave. As I recall he also said that at some point they had heard a load noise come from the crater and described it similar to the description in the previous story. 

The previous story about the big bird was about the 3^rd I had heard in this area regarding an encounter with some strange unidentifiable large bird. 

Not long after my friend told me the previous story I had relayed it to another friend of mine, within days of telling him about it, he called me up and said, you are not going to believe this…. “what” I said… then he told me that he was just talking to a friend of his who hunts that area all the time, having not yet told him the story I had relayed, his friend offered up the following…

He said that one fall in the past he was hunting dear hiking up the very ridge which leads to the crater like feature… nearing the site a dear ran up the side of the ridge topping out right on the rim of the crater, seeing it was a good sized buck he took aim and as it took of running he fired but he didn’t know if he had hit the dear as it ran to the edge of the crater jumping off the ledge disappearing in the trees below. 

He and a companion hiked over the where the dear would likely be laying dead not only from gun shot but the fall the dear could not have survived. Sure enough there it was… not to far from the entrance of this strange crater and to the side. He and his companion began the processes of dressing out the dear when suddenly a few cantaloupe sized rocks came rolling down the hill at them from the trees above next to the entrance… Not thinking much about it thinking the dear must have knocked some rocks loose, he continued… pretty soon here come a few more but now it was obvious something was throwing them. Adding to the already disturbing situation they here a strange growling which they could not describe… not willing to abandoned the dear, they grabbed the hind legs and began dragging it on an angle down hill to get away from what ever it was, but as the moved down the hill what ever it was match there travel from above, growling and throwing an occasional rock… he said it wasn’t until they got all the way to the bottom and out in the clearing  that it  finally stopped and they were able finish dressing the dear and take it back to camp.

“Did you tell them my story prior to this?” I asked… “No”, he said,  “but I did right after he told me his story!” 

I don’t know what has happened at this place in the past, but we have had two expeditions into the crater since with no real strange occurrence, one friend took some video and took some good shots, at one point he noticed what appeared to be a very large nest up in the ledges/trees estimating about 6 foot or better in diameter, when he got home to review the footage, he noticed something moving and peaking out from the nest. He has yet to go back…

In one case as a result of the description of the bird given, we have decided the bird could have been a Harpy Eagle, but they are not known to be this far North....