OK, I've got a bit of a mystery.

It seems that there's something hanging around my house. It started last spring.

Twice, Mrs. Sauron set aside pieces of firewood that I hadn't split all the way and she could not pull apart. The next morning, they were split and laid neatly on the chopping block.

Along with this, items left in the yard or pasture are gathered up and placed at the back door. No one knows who puts them there.

At night, and I mean the wee small hours, if I go outside, I hear something doing bird calls. Now, there's a mockingbird around who does bird calls, every bird in the area, and does them perfect. Once he gets started, you're going to hear them all. He's a show off.

But there's something else that does bird calls too. It does not do them well. You can tell it is not a bird. It sounds like a human imitating birds. And it has a limited repertoire and does not show off.

Whatever it is scares the liver out of my normally aggressive and confrontational dog. She barks and carries on, but retreats to her house. My other dog, an Airedale Terrier who is normally not afraid of anything, will not come out from under the truck when it is around.

It also scares the horses at night if it comes, but in the daytime, they often act like they see someone they know in the woods and don't seem so bothered.

Whatever it is, it is bold. I went out around 0300 the other morning because the dogs were barking and the horses were running around frightened, and there was something moving in the bush, not far from me. Something very large. I shined the light in, but could not see it. I did not fire into the bush because I do not fire on targets that I haven't identified.

The latest peculiar event was this morning. I got up bright and early and walked out onto the porch. There are three horses in the pastures close to the house, and every morning they greet me and wait to be greeted. They usually blow to get my attention and let me know they see me. This sound is like a horse "raspberry". They blow through their lips. Humans can do the sound too. You need lips like a horse or human to make the sound. A deer or a bear couldn't do it, they don't have the lips.

So after the three horses greeted me, something else greeted me. It blew and made the "horse raspberry". It came from the woods up by the pond. The horses heard it too and turned and looked up that way.

If there was a human up in there, I would know. It is not difficult to detect human presence, even if they're trying to be careful. I would have detected a human long ago.

Whatever it is, it's very stealthy.

A brief recap:

1). It splits wood and stacks it on the chopping block if Mrs. Sauron finds pieces that I didn't fully separate.

2). It places lost or forgotten items by the back door in the night.

3). It frightens dogs that are normally aggressive and confrontational.

4). It imitates bird calls, but not very well.

5). It is quite bold, and it is large, judging by the sounds it makes moving in the bush.

6). It can imitate a horse greeting and greeted me this morning along with the horses. So it has the lips to make the horse raspberry sound.

7). It appears to be uncommonly intelligent.

I live in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. There are thousands of acres of forest that begin at the edge of my back yard, untouched and for the most part, unexplored by humans. If you got lost out there, you might starve to death before you found your way out if you didn't know how to survive.

So, taking all these things into account, and the fact that all these separate incidents seem to be linked as the horses react the same way in every case and I'm pretty attuned to the horses, so I believe it's the same unseen creature every time, what do you think I've got out here?

By the way, whatever it is, it always approaches from the woods in back of the house that lead out into the huge wilderness area. It is a forest dweller.

Any guesses? I know what comes to my mind, and there have been lots of reported sightings around here, but I just don't want to think it without a lot more reasonable evidence.

Cheers!

Rick...

Lay a trap. Drop and forget something obviously, then have a camera indoors filming the object overnight.

If you've got some nutcase out there, be sure to use, drop, and forget the bait object in a very realistic way, in case you are being watched. And set the camera up so it can't be seen either.

What kind of bait object? Something that the suspect know you keep close. A hat?

Manbearpig.

"There's a 'squatch in these woods"

Get a bunch game cameras. Place them all over the place in likely areas where you have odd stuff happen. They are motion activated and
will even work in the dark, take video to. It will solve your mystery in no time and then you can show us your visitor. Would be interesting
to see what it is.

It fits the profile of a forum moderator. Just throwing that out there..

I have no idea, but then again, I live in a city in Europe.
Pls, let us know if you find out what it is! I am intriged by what is happening now at your place.
And yes, try what Adlabs6 sugests, set up a camera and drop something like it is by accident and
see if you can film or picture whatever it is that returns your things.
You said you have an idea what it could be, any chance you wanna share that with someone from the old country?
I am always intriged by the unknown and mysterious.
I am not someone who laughs with things like that, I think there are sometimes strange things that can not always
be explained by modern logic.
Keep us updated if you want.
My best regards, Kodiak.

I'm with Adlabs6. Get a camera trap set up.

And remember - The more blurry and uncertain it is, the more hard cash you can probably get from the Discovery channel. They'll pay up for anything by all accounts!

This event takes place every year, right down the road from here:

http://www.bigfootmountain.com/

Whatever it is, it strikes me as a large, intelligent hominid. But I find no evidence of human activity, no tracks, and whatever it is, it's not afraid of me walking out there carrying an AK-47 with a thirty round clip.

Also, the dogs would be on a human in seconds. The Jehovah's Witnesses who come out to leave pamphlets won't get out of their vehicle, and the guy who reads the electric meter won't get out of his Jeep until we secure them. He drives back in here and blows the horn then waits. They're hog dogs, and have no fear of anything. They hunt wild pigs, and I've never seen them back down from an encounter. They're aggressive and confrontational.

But when this thing is lurking in the area, they act like they've seen the devil himself. Their whole personalities change and they cower. That is so ridiculously unlike them, it's actually funny. We've had a couple of panthers come around, but they're not even afraid of those. The effect on the dogs is unique.

I think I'm going to have to invest in some motion detector cameras and see if I can bait it. The guy down the road took a deer off the highway that had been killed by a car and put it out with one of those cameras because he suspected a mountain lion in the area. It turned out to be three of them, not just one. But whatever this is, it does not operate like a mountain lion. And bears are big, clumsy, rambunctious things, they'd be obvious. And the dogs would be on them, too.

It gets very, very quiet at night when this thing seems to be around. I don't think other animals are too thrilled with it.

The kids had some leftover candy apples awhile back and I put them out on the chopping block the day after one of the firewood incidents awhile back. They were untouched in the morning. Normally, a raccoon or 'Possum would have grabbed those in a second.

It's certainly strange. I'll update if I happen to find out what it is.

Cheers!

Rick...