‘These things are dangerous’: Dean Harrison claims yowie responsible for missing people

Around 25 years ago, a man had a terrifying encounter with a tall, hairy creature lurking in the Queensland bush. The incident changed his life.

A yowie hunter has made an alarming claim that the legendary creature has killed innocent Australians who have unwittingly entered its territory.

Dean Harrison, who says he has seen a yowie in the flesh, told news.com.au’s podcast I’ve Got News For You, that he believes some missing people may have been casualties of a yowie attack.

“These things are dangerous … and I’ve nearly been a victim or have been a victim a couple of times,” Mr Harrison said.

“And I know that there are other people out there that didn’t get away as fortunately as I have.”

Indeed, Mr Harrison believes that people have died as a result of yowie encounters.

“(There is) absolutely no doubt about it,” he told host Andrew Bucklow.

“We are taken seriously by some of the authorities, whether it be Parks and Wildlife, police, different military levels, and there’s been times in situations where we swapped some information,” he said, suggesting evidence of such deadly attacks.

The now professional yowie hunter recalled his first face-to-face encounter with the Australian folklore creature.

Mr Harrison said he had previously heard a yowie making an “awful noise” in his backyard when he was 25, but it was two years later that he first came up close and personal with the creature in what he described as a near-death experience. He went for an evening run on a fateful Tuesday night in 1997, but he never expected it to end with his life flashing before his eyes.

He was in Ormeau, a town between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and went for his usual run along a bush track an hour before midnight.

Mr Harrison would exercise along this track frequently without a second thought. But what he didn’t know was there was something lurking in the bushes, waiting for the perfect time to attack.

It was an encounter that went on to shape the course of his life.

Dean Harrison and a sketch of the yowie he believes he saw in the Gold Coast hinterland. Picture: Supplied

“I heard all this crashing coming through the bush behind me and it sounded like a group of kids just trashing the place,” Mr Harrison said.

The sound of snapping branches and crushing leaves started to get closer until a large figure emerged about 10m behind him.

“I got these unexplainable chills which are what we call the nameless dread … and like a rabbit in spotlights, basically, my whole body just locked up,” he said.

“I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew I was in danger … and I knew that if I turned around and made direct eye contact, things would get exponentially worse.”

As Mr Harrison’s flight response activated, he broke out into a sprint with the seemingly aggravated creature following closely behind.

“He’s yelling and he’s roaring and he’s doing some sort of almost like a talk over the top and on every footstep … his diaphragm in his chest would bounce,” he said.

“And before I knew it, he’s right next to me. I thought, this is it, this is the end of my life. I’m about to die right now.”

Mr Harrison said the creature plunged towards him, but he managed to get away. He said the yowie then retreated back into the bush as Mr Harrison headed towards a street light.

Infra-red footage captured by Dean Harrison in the Gold Coast Hinterland of an alleged yowie. Picture: Screenshot from video

It was this experience that inspired him to create the database Australian Yowie Research to track the creatures’ movements across the country.

Mr Harrison describes the yowie as a hominid that has indigenous roots, with the first “official” report of its existence dating back to 1790.

From various “sightings”, they are said to have a “baboon-type” face and stand up on two legs.

The yowie hunter said modern yowie sightings have occurred across the Blue Mountains in NSW, and the Gold Coast Hinterland and Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

“We have people coming forward all the time, pretty much every day or every second day, we receive a report from somewhere in the country,” he said.

While Mr Harrison doesn’t necessarily want to capture a yowie, his goal is to get “undeniable footage” to show others that the creatures are real and to help with future research.

Additionally, he uses his experience to support others who come into contact with the creatures.

“People (are) left in shock and we know people who won’t go back into the Australian bush again,” he said.

What is a yowie?

Australia’s answer to Bigfoot, a yeti or Sasquatch, the yowie is a creature based in indigenous oral history.

The Kuku Yalanji Tribe of Far North Queensland claims to have coexisted with the yowie for centuries. They have a long and detailed history of attacks by the yowie in their legends.

But there is no evidence that yowies exist – no bones, no pictures, no specimens. There are plenty of reported sightings across the years and across the country, though.

According to these sightings, the yowie is usually described as a tall, hairy, apelike creature, with a wide, flat nose, that stands upright at between 2m to 3.5m.

It is not to be confused with a bunyip, another creature from indigenous mythology, which is said to lurk in swamps and billabongs.