URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

STRANGE ANIMAL AT LARGE

MAN ATTACKED IN PADDOCK

Incident Near Eurobin

MYRTLEFORD, Friday. -- William Nutall, of Myrtleford, acommpanied by his sister and a companion, was returning from Bright last night, and near the Eurobin railway station he alighted from his horse and entered a paddock, holding the reins, the others riding on a short distance.

A strange animal, which snarled, attacked Nutall and tore his shirt to ribbons. The horse broke away, and when Nutall ran the animal followed him to the railway line, where a wire fence apparently stopped it.

Nutall described the animal as being about 7ft. in height, with round, hary head, and four tusks. It stood on two legs. It is believed to be an animal which escaped from a traveling circus when it was at Yackandandah some time ago. The animal has been seen by residents in different parts of the distruct, its track being plainly discernible. It is said to resemble an ape. Parties are out searching for it.

February 25 1932. Night.

EUROBIN (VICTORIA : AUSTRALIA)

William Nuttall was attacked by a 2m tall biped with a round, hairyy head and four tusks. The thing tore his shirt.

Healy and Cropper 2006 p219 case 58 citing The Argus 27 February 1932

North-East Victoria Supernatural

April 24 ·

A YOWIE YARN

Eurobin, Victoria

This page is mainly devoted to the supernatural but will also occasionally delve into the field of cryptozoology, the pseudo-science that studies unknown and legendary animals. Some people believe that some cryptids have a supernatural flavour to them, one of them being the legendary hairy man of the Australian bush, the yowie. On Thursday, February 25, 1932, the Ovens valley suddenly found itself in the grip of yowie mania when a strange encounter occurred near the Eurobin railway station that evening.

A man named William Nuttall of Myrtleford, a 21-year-old drover, was returning from Bright on horseback with his sister and another friend around 10:00pm when they were accosted by a 7-foot tall gorilla-type creature near the Eurobin railway station. Nuttall alighted from his ostensibly to relieve himself when the creature attacked him, ripping his shirt to shreds. Nuttall managed to leap on his horse side-saddle and head for the station. The creature chased the terrified man towards the station where the wire fence that separated the paddock from the tracks seemed to halt it in its tracks. Nuttall described the creature as having a round, hairy head, four extruding tusk-like teeth and standing on two legs. It was well built and agile.

This account was reported in Melbourne’s Argus newspaper two days later and soon was wired around the country. It was believed that maybe it was an escaped bear from a travelling circus that had been based in Yackandandah and Bright two years earlier. Other sightings had been reported in previous weeks of an apelike creature in the forests around local farms. By the next day, a state of alarm had spread through the Ovens valley.

The Adelaide Mail reported over the following weekend that armed bushmen were scouring the valley for evidence of the creature, whilst trying to track it. The three men spent the night camping along the Running Creek Road and next morning were riding home when the same creature startled their horses, throwing the three of them to the ground. They grabbed their guns and fired but the hairy assailant disappeared again into the bush.

By now, certain theories had arisen about what the creature could actually be. Some locals thought it may be a large kangaroo that had been blinded by recent bushfires and was stumbling through the forest. Others referred to a grizzly bear that had been in the circus, not really knowing if it had escaped or not. A further theory related to a very large emu that had been seen wondering around at night.

By Sunday, the Perth Times was elaborating on the story with an interview with the Cherry brothers of Rosewhite who had also been chased by the creature a month before. They had found footprints next day that they thought may have been those of a grizzly bear. Rumours spread wide and far about a ‘monster in the bush’ but after the month-long flurry of apparent sightings, the mysterious bipedal hairy man of Eurobin soon melted into the forests, although horse shying and unusual animal reactions at night were attributed to the creature for years to come.

As a postscript, William Nuttall, a regular at the Happy Valley (Ovens) Hotel, was killed just three weeks after his possible Yowie encounter, when his horse reigns got caught up with a passing motor car, just near the pub. Nuttall was thrown from the horse and died a couple of days later.

Photos - the Bright-Eurobin track Nuttall was riding on; Eurobin station, these days part of the Oven valley railtrail; an 1800s depiction of a Yowie attack