Cairns yowie hunters: Mareeba man Lionel Carroll leads paranormal search group

A small band of yowie hunters is venturing into far reaches of the Far North wilderness in search of the paranormal – and they have new hi-tech equipment on their side.

A SMALL band of yowie hunters is venturing into far reaches of the Far North wilderness in search of the paranormal – and they have new hi-tech equipment on their side.

North Queensland Yowie and Paranormal Encounters co-ordinator Lionel Carroll has been on the hunt for Australia’s answer to bigfoot for years.

The Mareeba man has built groups with thousands of members on social media and is now starting to branch out into group excursions to investigate yowie hot spots based on years of reports.

“It’s just in the last few months we’ve started doing stuff ourselves in our own little group,” he said.

“We were planning to go up to Tully and shoot a mini-documentary up there.

“There’s always at least eight of us that go out, and there are a few others that come when they can.

“There are accountants, one member who works at Lotus Glen – it’s a good mix of people.

“I generally take my eldest son out with us too.”

His son has had his own experience with the paranormal, having made headlines after what he believed was a yowie pelted a huge rock at him during a hike.

Lionel's son was nearly struck by a huge rock the size of a football that was supposedly thrown by a yowie. Photo: Lionel Carroll

What started as a near-blind search for bumps in the night has become a sophisticated affair with Mr Carroll investing in special thermal imaging equipment to spot any warm-blooded creatures on the prowl.

“Having thermal is just a massive game-changer,” he said.

“We used to just sit there and we might see things on our other cameras, but never anything definitive.

“With thermal, we can put it straight onto the spot where we think we’re hearing something.

“If we still can’t get anything with thermal, well that means there’s nothing there and we don’t need to waste any more time there.

“It’s really good for ruling out shadows and things playing tricks on your eyes.

“If something’s alive, you’re going to see it.”

The equipment has not revealed any yowies yet but it is still early days, and Mr Carroll is not disheartened.

“I’m pretty confident it’s only a matter of time until we get something decent on thermals,” he said.

“Especially on this trip around Tully – I’m pretty geed up about it.

“There have been a fair few reports.”

Mr Carroll spends a lot of time sorting through first-hand accounts, photos and videos that are sent his way to remove the chaff and only share reports with actual merit.

He was recently sent footage of dairy cows up near Millaa Millaa with large, strange and painful looking claw marks torn down their flanks.

Other sightings include big cats, inexplicable lights and even a large mound of what was believed to be yowie dung on an ant hill.

He also had his encounter near Davies Creek a few months ago and was keen to return on a group excursion to investigate.

“We went to the upper parts of Davies Creek and next thing I know, this thing is charging right at me from about 30m in the bush,” he said.

Suspected yowie territory markers – or simply just a coincidence – spotted in the Far North rainforest. Picture: Supplied

“We got out and sat in the pitch black for hours.

“Nothing much scares me but that night, something put the fear of God in me.

“There is nothing else that large that would run at you on two feet.”

Mr Carroll returned to the site weeks later but wants to come back with his new thermal equipment to see what comes up

“I heard five footsteps at first and something in my mind said just run now,” he said.

“That was what our last trip was based around, I took a group out to where the incident happened.

“We camped about a kilometre down the road, creeping back there at night and scoping it out.

“But we didn’t get anything.”

It is a fickle game, yowie hunting – but that is what makes it so fascinating.

Follow @chriscalcino

Originally published as Cairns yowie hunters: Mareeba man Lionel Carroll leads paranormal search group