The Shadows of Bristol Bay

The elders always warned us. They said: Never whistle in the woods. Never follow laughter unless you know it belongs to kin. And if you hear children’s voices where no children should be, run.

They spoke of the Hairy Man, a towering figure that haunted the forests and rivers of Alaska. To us children, it sounded like folklore—like bedtime tales meant to keep us from wandering too far. But for Fred Roll, born in 1975 in Bristol Bay, those warnings would one day prove to be more than superstition. They would become the difference between life and death.

Childhood Whispers

Fred grew up surrounded by stories. His aunties, uncles, and grandmother repeated the same rules: don’t whistle, don’t follow voices, don’t stray too far. He laughed them off, imagining they were tricks to keep him close to home.

But in 1983, when he was just eight years old, the laughter ended.

He had slipped away to work on a tree fort, about 150 yards from his grandmother’s house near the end of the runway in Dillingham. The trail wound through a stand of alders, and as he walked, plotting how to build his fort, he noticed a silhouette. At first, he thought it was his uncle Leo—a tall man. But this figure was taller than the willows themselves, impossibly broad, swaying side to side.

Then it screamed.

The sound tore through the air, primal and furious. Fred ran, heart pounding, back to the house. Others had heard it too. That was the day the Hairy Man stopped being a story. It became real.

The River Encounter

Years passed. Fred grew older, but the memory of that scream never left him. By the fall of his teenage years, he joined family at Moose Camp, a cabin away from home along the Nushagak River. They traveled by fishing boat, anchored in the river, and hunted moose along the banks.

One evening, as the tide stranded their boat near Angel Bay, the children played in the skiff. Suddenly, shouts echoed from the bluff. Rocks splashed into the water. Then came the scream—ear-piercing even from sixty-five yards away.

On the bluff stood a massive silhouette, hurling stones with terrifying strength. One rock smashed through the tarp covering their moose quarters, knocking meat to the deck. The children were shoved below deck, into the windowless sleeping area, while gunshots rang out above.

Fred remembers the chaos: screams, rocks striking the hull, the thunder of rifles. Yet the creature never came closer. It remained at a distance, a shadow of rage.

For years afterward, encounters followed the same pattern: screams, rocks, warnings. If you left quickly, you were safe. Until 2006.

The Expedition

Fred’s uncle dreamed of gold. He spent two years gathering equipment for a portable sluice, planning to pan along the Newauk River, 248 miles from Dillingham. Remote, wild, and far beyond the reach of help.

On September 13, 2006—Fred’s birthday—they set out: Fred, his cousin, and his uncle. By the 17th, they reached a dilapidated salmon-counting tower, a glorified shack of plywood and two small windows. It was their shelter.

That night, as darkness fell, Fred tinkered with his new Remington 870 shotgun while his uncle and cousin played cribbage beneath the hiss of a Coleman lantern. Then the shack shuddered, as if struck by a sudden wind. Fred glanced at the window and saw movement—darkness shifting. He thought it was a bear.

He grabbed the shotgun, his cousin the .30-06 rifle, and they opened the door. The spotlight beam swept the treeline. At fifty yards, three sets of eyes glowed back—like fence posts marking the night.

Unlike bears, unlike any animal Fred had ever seen, these figures did not flinch from the light. They stood their ground. Silent. Watching.

The cousins slammed the door shut, locking it with a simple J-hook. And then the pressure began.

The Pressure

Fred describes it as if the air itself thickened. His ears felt muffled, as though submerged. Voices sounded distant, trapped in jars. Fear pressed down on them like a weight.

His cousin suddenly collapsed beneath the table, gripping the rifle as if seizing. His uncle froze, muttering nonsense about fishing prices, deflecting from the terror outside.

Fred turned toward the window. And there it was.

Through the narrow pane, only eighteen inches tall, he saw a face. From the nose to the brow, enormous and weathered. The eyes were black marbles, a foot apart, glowing faintly red in the lantern light. The skin was gray, wrinkled like wet cement. The brow ridge heavy, the nose broad and flat. It looked ancient, human yet not human.

It looked at his cousin first, then turned its gaze to Fred. In that moment, Fred knew what it felt like to be prey.

Autopilot took over. He fired three slugs through the wall. The shack shook violently, nearly throwing him off his feet. The creature screamed—a sound so powerful it made the pot of stew ring like a tuning fork.

Then silence.

The Long Night

Hours passed. Fred sat gripping the shotgun, shaking uncontrollably. His cousin lay beneath the table, incoherent, having wet himself. His uncle retreated into the shadows, speaking of anything but the horror outside.

Fred pumped the lantern, terrified of letting go of the gun. The hiss of the Coleman stove became torture, each moment a reminder of vulnerability. He accepted death as inevitable, the only way to stop the shaking.

Five hours later, his cousin stirred. He whispered what he had seen: the creature had smiled at him, baring block-like teeth, canines slightly larger than human. The smile had broken him, sent him collapsing in shock.

Fred realized then that the creature had not simply appeared—it had toyed with them, drawing closer, watching, waiting.

The Black Figure

They debated escape. The skiff lay anchored seventy feet away, dangerous to reach in the dark. They decided to wait until dawn. But curiosity gnawed at them. They shone the spotlight once more.

Behind the outhouse, forty feet away, stood a figure. Hulking, 13 or 14 feet tall, chest rising above the roofline. Its body absorbed the light, reflecting nothing. No eye shine, no sheen of hair. Just blackness, a void in the shape of a giant.

Fred’s words falter when he recalls it. The spotlight revealed nothing but absence, a living shadow. They retreated inside, crossing gun barrels, babbling in fear.

The night stretched on, endless. Every sound threatened to shatter their sanity. Even the flutter of a moth against the window nearly drove Fred to fire wildly.

They survived until dawn. But survival did not mean escape. The memory followed them, etched into their minds like scars.

The Legacy of Fear

Fred’s encounters span decades. From the scream in 1983 to the rocks at Moose Camp, to the night of terror in 2006. Each event reinforced the warnings of his elders:

Don’t whistle in the woods.
Don’t follow voices.
Don’t ignore the Hairy Man.

Among the Yupik and Denaina peoples, the creature is known as the Nakshagak—the guardian of the forest. Territorial, ancient, and merciless.

Fred’s story is not one of folklore. It is one of survival. And though he tells it now with trembling hands, the haunted look in his eyes reveals the truth: he is still there, in that shack, staring into the black marbles of a face too large, too human, and too monstrous to forget.

Epilogue: The Silence of the Woods

The wilderness of Alaska is vast, untamed, and filled with secrets. Hunters, fishermen, and tribal elders know that some places are not meant for man.

Fred Roll’s tale is a reminder: the stories passed down through generations are not always myths. Sometimes they are warnings.

And if you find yourself deep in the woods, with laughter echoing where no children play, or rocks splashing where no hands throw, remember the rules.

Do not whistle. Do not follow. Do not look too long into the darkness.

Because the Hairy Man is still out there. Waiting. Watching.