Fresh yowie sighting prompts expert to warn ‘more Gold Coast encounters are expected’

Australia’s answer to Bigfoot, the yowie, has apparently returned to the Gold Coast after a new sighting. But do you believe the hairy hype? VOTE IN OUR POLL

Giant footprints, a strange guttural growl and a peculiar odour.

Yowies have returned to cast their menacing shadow over the city again.

And while the rest of us are rugged up in our homes as a cool winter descends on the Coast, the furry creatures have come back out in full force, according to professional yowie hunter Dean Harrison.

Yowie Research administrator Dean Harrison has been compiling hundreds of accounts of Yowie sightings for more than two decades following his first encounter with the elusive creatures cemented in Australian folklore. Picture: Supplied.

The most recent sighting occurred at about 4.10am on Wednesday morning in Witheren, just near Canungra at the gateway to The Scenic Rim.

The mountainous region has long been heralded as ground zero for paranormal sightings on the Gold Coast, with UFO’s, yowies and ghost encounters galore.

Yowie spotting: Interactive map reveals every sighting of infamous beast from across Australia

On the Facebook page Australian Yowie Research, a post on Wednesday read: “Yowie sighting this morning, 4: 10am near Witheren … It (the yowie) was squatting in the middle of the road as he (the spotter) rounded a corner on his bike. He corrected his driving line and just brushed it as he passed.”

Yowie hunter Dean Harrison.

The man who encountered the yowie, Shannon, described the yowie as a juvenile, “around five years old and covered in black hair, with long arms and no neck."

Mr Harrison said like all yowies, “they travel in groups and wouldn’t be too far from a big, menacing parent.”

“They can turn quite violent and aggressive if their young are threatened. I’ve seen it first-hand,” he said.

Wednesday’s post from the Australian Yowie Research Facebook page. Picture: Facebook.

He said the encounter, which was the first significant sighting on the Gold Coast this year, was “an encouraging sign of things to come.”

“After this sighting – from a very credible source as well – we can expect to see much more”.

Mr Harrison said the Gold Coast hinterland had some of the tallest yowies ever recorded, with some measuring approximately nine feet tall.

Image captured with thermal technology revealing a mysterious creature, reportedly a Yowie, hiding behind a tree. Picture: Dean Harrison.

In May 2021, the yowie researcher captured his most concrete evidence to date that Australia’s answer to Bigfoot actually exists.

The thermal footage shows what appears to be two of the creatures in Springbrook National Park step out from behind a tree.

After the most recent sighting, Mr Harrison said he is excited to go and investigate the area as soon as possible, which is apparently the exact same spot a trucker had a significant yowie encounter in 2018.

In 2019, a Currumbin Valley family said they were being terrorised by a yowie and were considering selling their home after "living in fear”.