You could be forgiven for thinking that a peaceful early Summer afternoon fishing in Washington State would be one of the least likely settings for a monster encounter, and yet this is allegedly exactly what happened to Chris and his cousin when they were twelve years old. They would soon come face-to-face with the Lion King - and this same hairy monstrosity would seemingly follow Chris for the better half of his life.
Not a Bear[]
Concept art depicting the Löwen from Grimm
It was a clear day in the Summer of 1980, and Chris (then 12 years old) and his cousin Eric (roughly the same age) decided to go trout fishing in a nearby creek. Chris lived on Kermahan Road in Ashford, Washington, and his cousin lived on the other side of said road - it was all very homely little arrangement. They hiked out roughly 2 miles into the forest (exact location linked here), and were presumably preparing to set up their fishing gear when Chris caught sight of what he took to be a bear. It was sitting on the other side of the creek, just 40ft away from the kids, and was sitting with its back to them while it rubbed its back on a treestump. Chris said 'hey look, a bear' - prompting what was certainly not a bear to stand up and turn to look straight at the two boys.
The hirsute humanoid was described as being between 6-7ft tall, and had 3ft wide shoulders. It was covered in well-groomed brown hair everywhere except for its face, which was instead decorated with shorter, blond hair. Its head was round and was crowned with a blond, hairy mane like that of a lion - and its face was said to be flat and to have a human-like nose and eyes. When the bigfoot investigator Charlie Raymond (from whom the information about this case comes) asked Chris, he recalled not being able to see the mouth of the creature, likely due to its hair. Apparently, Chris didn't notice muscles or genitals on the creature, implying that it must've had a very slender physique. The arms were human-like, and were specified to not be abnormally long. Although it certainly had hands, Chris didn't remember if it had claws or fingernails.
The children engaged in a very brief standoff with the monster, only lasting about 10-15 seconds before both children dropped their fishing gear and ran back through the woods - never returning to retrieve their gear out of what was presumably hysterical fear.
A Hairy Silhouette and a Menacing Den[]
However, it seems that the feline frightener might not have been completely done with Chris. He reported having two other run-ins with similar entities or the traces left behind by them. When he was 18, he was camping with his girlfriend, and they both saw a large, hairy silhouette walk between the side of the tent and the campfire. As it did so, it ran its finger along the top of the tent. Understandably intimidated by the beast's bizarre behaviour, the young couple retreated from their campsite soon afterwards.
His next, and seemingly last, potential brush with the cat-like character was when he was 27. He and his friend were wandering through the forest when they found what appeared to be a shelter made out of hug timber with a pine-needle floor. They briefly stood inside the shelter, but soon got an uneasy feeling and were compelled to promptly leave.