Australian cases excerpted by Sheryl Gottschall from the publication below produced for the Australian Centre for UFO Studies. (ACUFOS)

Some researchers propose there is a connection between yowies/bigfoot/yetis (giant ape-like creatures) and UFOs. Is it a myth or are there reports that substantiate suggestive evidence that this is true? The following are cases published by the now defunct Australian Centre for UFO Studies in 1980, whose records, in part, are held by UFO Research Queensland. The reports briefly detail a collection of Australian reports which occurred in 1975. The reports predate the internet and were gathered by Mark Moravec from various publications including the Flying Saucer Review, various conference proceedings and books, who published them in a catalogue entitled The UFO-Anthropoid Catalogue, 1980.

22 May – 12 June 1975 Goolma, New South Wales, Australia.

On May 22 at 2200, three witnesses sighted a disc-shaped object which zig-zagged in the sky for approximately half an hour, as if looking for something. Over the next three weeks there were reports of an ape-like creature, cattle and sheep dog mutilations, and a further UFO report. 

On 24 May a farmer sighted a hairy, gorilla-type animal lurching across a paddock and another farmer sighted 15 inch and 6 inch footprints.

On 25 May cattle with broken necks were discovered and a 19 year old girl sighted an ape-like monster in the headlights of her car for 5 seconds.

On 26 May a man sighted an ape-like creature walk out if a thicket of trees. Upon sighting the man it turned and ran back to the thicket. A housewife watching television saw a hairy, large face peering into a large window 7 feet from the ground. The face disappeared when she screamed.

On 3 June a couple sighted a hairy monster while driving.

On 7 June at 2200, two teenage girls heard a strange grunting from outside their farmhouse.

On 12 June at 2135, several people sighted a silver-white disc-shaped object settle in the Goolma area. Other sightings were reported from Wellinton, Gerir and Gulgong.

June 1975 Tailem Bend, South Australia.

Three independent groups of witnesses in separate cars, reported a creature/UFO on the outskirts of Tailem Bend. The first group observed a big hairy anthropoid or ape walking along at the side of the road with what appeared to be a lighted lantern in its hand. The second group reported a hairy ape and a light in a field just off the road. The third group reported they were passing by in their car and observed a huge lit-up dome shape in the field, possibly a landed UFO, but they were not witness to the ape with the lantern. There were additional reports of strange creatures and nocturnal lights in the area the same month.

September 1975 2200 hours.  Scone, New South Wales.

A man observed a white nocturnal light. He heard that a UFO had reportedly been seen over Newcastle. When he flicked on the high beam, he saw a 7-8 foot tall bristle-haired animal.  He was distracted by driving his bike. When he looked back the creature had gone. In another incident one evening in January 1974, the witness was in a caravan when he felt a mighty bump against it, followed by the van being lifted as though something was trying to push it over. The witness yelled loudly and the van was immediately dropped. He then heard a table loaded with cooking utensils being tipped over and the sapping of guy and tent ropes. The following morning he went outside and found some large footprints and white droppings. On several occasions when the witness had gone hunting, he became disoriented and lost; the familiar landscape had changed in appearance and he was hit by “waves of fear”. 

November 1975  1900 hours. Poatina Hills, Tasmania.

Two shooters in the foothills of the Central Plateau heard something in the bush. They then saw a black running figure like a human being. It was 50 yards away and over 7 feet tall, and was running too fast to be a person. Soon after, a big tree fell over near the sighting location, although there was no wind. The area experienced a UFO “flap” during 1975.

February 1977 1100 hours. Oxley Island, New South Wales.

A woman observed a large, black, hairy, ape-like creature down at her wharf. The creature was visible from the waste up and stood with its arms outstretched. It was some 10 feet tall. A week later the woman and her family discovered their 1500 gallon water tank and their fence had been knocked over. In a nearby field they found large footprints going across the sandy soil through the shed towards the tank. Around this time neighbours on a nearby farm heard a high-pitched screaming about 2300 hours and detected a foul-smelling odour in the back yard. The “rotten smell” also hung around the woman’s property for a week. Several 6-8 feet in diameter round patches were found in the grass in the paddocks. Her daughter’s friend thought she saw a “flying saucer” land at Forster some 20 miles away, at the same time as the anthropoid sighting.

While the preceding reports don’t provide us with hard evidence of a connection between anthropoids and UFOs, they do make us wonder if it’s reasonable to say that the occupants of UFOs, supposing there are indeed occupants in these cases, are certainly interested in anthropoid life forms. Given that “flaps” of UFO sightings and anthropoid sightings occur in the same areas at the same time must surely point to these events as being more than a coincidence.

If there is a connection, which I believe there is, are these anthropoids being deposited on Earth for a biological experiment as Moravec hypothesizes, or is his other suggestion, that UFOs and anthropoids occasionally “fall out” from another dimension correct?

Another point made my Moravec which is find intriguing is that there are some differences from the classic yowie/yeti/bigfoot creatures and the UFO associated anthropoids. For example in contrast to bigfoot cases the UFO anthropoids can have a visible neck, exotic features such as pointed ears and fangs, have three or four toes unlike the Pacific Northwest Bigfoot, and display self-luminescent eyes that glow in the dark. So is it possible for the UFO/anthropids to be a different type of creature to classic reports that we’re familiar with?

Further in the introduction to the catalogue, Moravec states that “it is psychologically appealing to lump together diverse, inexplicable phenomena and try to explain them with the one, global hypothesis but proving this would involve much more effort….so further research is required to determine the exact nature of the UFO/anthropoid connection”.