Pilliga Scrub
1978
Visit any Australian trucker’s forum and search for “Pilliga”, or “Piliga”. You’ll soon be rewarded with stories of “min-min” lights (an old aboriginal legend), vicious unseen creatures, ruined vehicles and sightings of the Pilliga Princess.
A common sight reported by truck drivers is that of small lights travelling at high speed through the trees, keeping pace with the trucks. Sometimes at ground level, others rising high above the trees. Others talk of localised wind storms, like mini hurricanes that shake and rock trucks and other vehicles, while coloured lights dance and sparkle in the air.
Image of a ruined vehicle in the Pilliga. Note the signage on the
door: Coonabarabran Contracting. Image ©local-legends.net
One story I heard many years ago was that of a truck driver who stopped for a couple of hours sleep on the roadside, right in the middle of the Pilliga. During the night, he was woken by a terrific banging and screeching of twisted metal. His truck was rocking violently and terrified, he cowered in the cabin without a wink of sleep until dawn. When he finally emerged in daylight, he was struck with the sight of the trailer tarpaulin shredded and strewn for a hundred metres up the road. The metal ribs of the trailer cage were twisted and bent beyond repair.
From hankstruckpictures.com (trucker’s forum)
“On a 120 km stretch of the Newell Hwy between Coonabarabran and Narrabri is the Pilliga State Forest… It’s a beautiful drive during the day but at night, some of the toughest men fear to travel along this stretch of highway unless they know they wouldn’t have to stop, even down to hearing about drivers blowing out a tyre and driving it flat until they reach the other side.”
On a late night-early morning Australian radio programme called ‘Overnights‘ (2am – 6am), they held a few special nights dedicated to stories from the Pilliga region. Listeners could call the station and tell their Pilliga stories on the air. On that night, the radio station had two of their people in the Pilliga Scrub reporting live by satellite phone. At one point, the connection dropped and the signal wasn’t restored for some time. When it finally returned, the reporters were OK and the cut signal was unexplained.
During the programme, one caller who identified himself as “Bongo” told a harrowing story of the night he endured in the Pilliga way back in 1978. The ordeal he endured that night affected him in such a terrible way that, to this day, he remains in psychiatric care.
The recording of Bongo’s call is freely available from the radio station’s website, so I’ve put it on the Flash timeline with a play button.
You absolutely must NOT listen to this unless it’s late and night and you have turned off your lights. Good luck!
Here is the map of Bongo’s journey that night. Running low on fuel, I imagine he intended to fuel up in Boggabri, or one of the other small villages outside Narrabri.
I have one other particularly intriguing story about min-min lights in the Pilliga that I’d like to post in the Stories section eventually.
Personally i think that with all the fear surrounding the pilliga it’s understandable how someone might think something like happened to them, i’m not saying that Bongo’s story is fake just that the human mind is powerful and can cause us to have hallucinations when fear is introduced, perhaps he was attacked by an animal and thought it was something else.
The bongo guy had never heard of the Pilliga so there is no reason for him to believe there was anything strange about the place.
What ever happened to that Min-min lights story you intended to add?
Hey I got an interesting story as well but I have actually been forced by friends to never tell another person because of what the repercussions could be.
I live in Sweden and me and my cousin found a really weird creature once few years ago, just outside my cousins house. I don’t expect anyone to believe me (my father didn’t and he has been the only one I have told about it) but I’ll tell about it anyway.
Me and my cousin was outside his house a sunny day and I looked at him while he was playing with his dog when I suddenly notice some weird, white, whip cream-looking mess at the first stair step to his house. It was not well hidden but it was not something to notice that easily either and this mess was about as large as a fist. I walked towards it to take a closer look and saw that the grass that had been in contact with it had died, as if it was poison or something. I took a stick and poked away carefully this mess to see if I could find out what exactly it was when I saw a really creepy thing in there that looked like a thin peace of pink flesh that was a little bigger than a thumb and had almost the same shape as a snail, but was almost flat, without eyes, mouth, legs or nose or whatever that could have made it look like a living creature.
I thought at first that it was some kind of flesh witch had somehow got there in some way (I didn’t know really) but when I carefully poked it with the stick it moved a little. I got really scared since I know a lot about animals but have never seen anything like this before and I called for my cousin to come and take a look. He asked what the hell that was and I said that I didn’t know but it was something living and poked it again with the stick and it started to move again. Slowly both of us started to freak out and my cousin called my brother since he knows pretty much about abnormal things. He had never heard of something like that before and said that we should capture it in something and freeze it down so he could take a look at it. My cousin ran into the house to find something to keep it in while I kept an eye at it. It started to rain a little but it was still light outside and finally he came out with a half cola-can (or whatever you say in english) and succeeded to get in that creature in it.
We looked a little at the almost slimy-looking thing in there as the rain fell down and got truly surprised that whenever a raindrop dropped on it, it started jumping! No shit it started to jump! We heard, saw and felt how it was jumping in there and I don’t really remember but I think it stopped jumping whenever we got inside. My cousin took some plast and covered the half cola and laid it in the freeze.
A week after, when I wasn’t there, my brother visit my cousin and took a look at it. Its flesh-pink uuh “skin” (I don’t know if it was skin but I don’t believe so), had turned into blue. My brother said that it definitive was a spineless creature, but again, he had never seen anything like it before just like the rest of us.
Sorry this was a very long story but I just wanted to have a chance to tell it. I don’t think I will dare to do it again I don’t want to get locked in like poor Bongo but I’m not as frighted, I just cant believe I have seen all this its like a chock in some way. Really strange things is going on in- and outside my cousins house both he and I have heard, felt and seen creepy stuff there.
i listened this at daylight with some lights turned on, so, what would happen to me now?
i listened this at daylight with some lights turne on, so, what would heppen to me now?
I drove through the Pilliga a couple of weeks ago, in daylight, and the forest looked great. I’ve been through the Pilliga many times over decades, and it’s always ultra-scarey at night. This stretch tends to have more stories of phenomena that any other stretch along the entire highway.
It’s easy (and lazy) to dismiss Bongo’s story for whatever preferred alternative. But, he is not alone! Many other drivers have had a frightening encounter with something inexplicable along the same stretch. I hope I never get stuck in the Pilliga at night. Bongo saw something that genuinely unhinged his grip on reality. It’s the first I’ve heard someone say they were taken by something!
Bongo has been in care ever since the event. Some of you think that means he was nuts before he started driving. Some think its due to what he experienced on that trip. Isn’t it fickle that we can’t tell the difference? So I reckon it’s a good starting point to presume a person is telling the truth, then find the facts to support that, if possilbe.
The Pillaga is being explored to mine coal-seam gas – methane. Maybe the Min-Min lights have been balls of methane igniting under certain freak conditions? Violent shaking of cars/trucks could be due to freak weather events, such as willy-willy’s (dust-devils, dry tornados), with atmospheric instability; or possibly minor seismic events.
As for the rest of Bongo’s story, remember this was back in 1978, perhaps he was taken when he went to pee, was drugged and escaped back to his truck? Outlandish altered perceptions are common with drugged victims in shock. Intuitively, I feel Bongo is telling us the truth as he remembers it. Are there any unsolved missing persons in the region? Could the Pilliga have been a hideout for someone, with reason to scare people away?
i don’t have the nerve to listen T.T
……..o man holy@#$%
well sorry bad choise of words i was afraid of leaving my chair and going to the bath room that was RIGHT NEXT TO ME!
One of my good mates worked in a cattle ranch right in the middle of it all for a few years and although we are deeply honest with each other he refuses to say what happened there and has broken down in tears when I have pushed for answers. (hes the kind of bloke who does not cry easily)
Definetly something spooky there :O
P.s Adam dont stop, youre amazing
Just wanted to share my story. My boyfriend and I broke down in the middle of the Pilliga in a BDouble last weekend we were there for 17hrs in total just before sunset all electronics went in the truck so we pull over on the shoulder (not much room and no power steering made it interesting) the truck was covered n fuel something went bust on the block….. sadly we didnt hear or see a thing… not to say there wasn’t and we just slept through it all because we had no no idea of the history of the pilliga hauntings and yowi’s till some days later when we returned home, every noise we figured it was just just the truck settling we probably would have spooked ourselves stupid jumping at every sound if we had know the stories before breaking down…. In the next trip through (which are all at night) I will film and take picks who knows something may get captured by the lens.
I am open minded when it comes to stories cause I wasn’t there I cannot judge . Either way bongo story is pretty awesome real or fake its convincing and gives you a scare. Isn’t that what stories are all about??
fantastic, thanks for sharing! I agree about Bongo’s story. Whether it’s real or not, it’s pretty obvious to me that HE believes it’s real.. either that or he’s a masterful storyteller and actor
Thanks again for the story and I look forward to anything else you can tell us. Strange though that all the truck’s electrics should fail in the middle of the Pilliga. It’s a pretty common thread in Pilliga stories that things to go wrong on that stretch of road.
where this place located? this story was really nice and it is interesting to read! i”ve been reading this site for many times and mostly of my friend was amaze by this story. were fun of reading creepy stories such like this one.
It’s a remote part of Australia’s eastern farming country.
about 4-6 hour hours away from dubbo
A very chilling story.
Won’t be surprised if it is a remnant of some lost giant tribe; even in America, they have unearthed bones of giants 12ft in height..neanderthals were driven to extinction by homo sapiens and these beings could have survived because of Australia’s isolation
over 12ft tall? source?
i suspect he is psycho. listen, there is crazy shit in this world, iknow. but most of these people have some kind of attention-needing, self-centering, self-justifying psychosis that involves serious problems in their earlier life
Oh man. That sounds like a mega bad experience. I mean i haven’t ever come across a situation like that before, the fact that this dude is still in that psychiatric ward really worries me. Also nearing the end of the interview and every time he tried to explain what it looked like he seemed to begin to panic. Horror movies pfft who gives a crap. Hearing this however will most probably keep me up at night. Hope the guy gets better, not that its likely but still.
Well, sounds to me like a scathian of sorts. Powerful creatures, and not to fairly attractive, difficult to describe, terrifing in person, and poorly tempered. Poor Bongo came into contact with what I consider a beast amoung beasts. Never seen one in person but they’ve been explained to me as tall creatures that can rear up on hind legs to ten feet in height. They have powerful gouting jaws, and a neck that hoods out like a cobra. They usually romp about on all fours and have a difficult anatomy to explain. Best one I’ve heard is thier bodies are large and carved with vents, or slits down the “rib” area, long arms made for walking on, and shorter hind legs for hind support. Covered mostly in fur, ranging in color, but a common reference is black fur, or charcol colored fur. Thier eyes also reflect light much like a cats, and the can easily run 40-45 miles an hour, not quite sure what that clocks in as Km/hr. but I’ll tell you it’s fast. As I said never seen one, and I’ve only heard reports of them inhabiting forested regions. Although I remain skeptical as to if they are real due to the inconssistancy of reports. But yeah, keep an eye out for Scathians.
Amazing story. I try to have a healthy dose of skepticism when I hear these things, but it becomes more difficult over the years, having seen enough strangeness myself in Northern Maine. Hopefully, Bongo gets well some day (though given the length of his stay, I find that doubtful, sadly) and he can share this story in more detail. As for me, I’m staying away from remote stretches of forest. Thanks for the story.
I think these people are doing some kind of drugs ? Maybe taking Acid Trips LOL ? I’m really Sceptacal of all these people that clain these things have a little something wrong with thier Brains . One can short of a 6 Pack ?Or maybe they have a full 6 Pack but lack that little plastic thing that holds them all together ?
Yeah who knows, mate? Could’ve been drunk at the wheel, wrecked their truck, difficult to explain to “da buawsse” so cooked up this story to save his hide.
@Chao: More likely he didn’t have enough to drink, and was in withdrawl.
I agree that Bongos story is pretty bone chilling, although I find it strange that he decided to spend the night in the car instead of letting the guy he asked for the nearest gas station give him a ride. And then there’s the part of the yowie bringing him back to the car, eh what?
But yeah, extremely intriguing story and very disturbingly told. I wonder if it was one of the best prank calls ever, if Bongo just believed it had happened to him or if it really did happen to him. For once I really do hope the truth lies within the two first suggestions, preferably the very first.
i don’t even need to listen, but after reading the blogs i know we’ve got the same things in Washington State. I’ve heard countless similar Yeti (bigfoot) stories. They attack your car out on the lonely roads of the reservation. There are many other weird invisible things running around.
My family’s farmhouse was built on the edge of a field that was an old Indian burial ground. There were always ‘people’ standing around beside us when we were out in the field, but when you turned around they were gone. Inviisible things also followed us around on the farm. We could hear things climbing the fences but never see it.
I had forgotten about all this 25 years after the family moved off the farm after university. Then I saw ‘Narnia’, the fauns, and it started coming back to me. A guy from my secondary school lives there now, and said strange things happen there, but he won’t talk about it at all.
My sis and I would walk around in the snow in winter, and hear something follow us. When I would backtrack to see what it was, something would knock me down. We would find ‘goat’ footprints in the snow leading up to the fences, where the tracks stopped and reappeared on the other side of the fence. That was part of the clue of what it was. Later, my gran who could see all sorts of supernatural stuff saw it one day, telling me she just saw a faun, and ‘it wasn’t the deer kind’ she said with disgust. She sounded worried that it had seen her, but wouldn’t talk about it any more than that. I’ve got a million stories about growing up out there, but just haven’t written it all down yet. I would lke to hear if anyone else has a modern ‘faun’ story.
I seem to recall there are many strange stories from the east that deal with goat-like prints in the snow and weird things in the woods. I lived for 12 years in northern Arizona by the San Francisco Peaks, which were once the burial grounds for many of the tribes around the area. That was a creepy place to say the least. But no regular reports of hoof marks, perhaps because we all assumed it was the local ranchers using the land. What do you suppose made the marks? Humans or something that was bound to the area to protect it from being disturbed? Very curious.
Really…a faun…you think you saw a faun…are you sure you didn’t just conviently make this up after seeing that movie. I’m sorry if that’s rude but i find that just a bit out there. The indian ghosts however do sound more possible.
Wow! Lisend to that at 0500, scared me into turing on the lights in the house!
I had to turn it off when Bongo started gibbering in weird falsetto about ‘legs hanging up…oh god oh god” I think another poster likely has the situation correct: Bongo is/was in an institution at some point in life suffering from some sort of inventive delusional state. It’s scary to think that this guy can actually imagine something so terrifying that it reduces him to a babbling psycho. There is no way this guys breakdown is an act.
Can you please add options? Maybe Pause and subtitles? Please.
i have many pics of a little light , the thing is there are animals there as well they are only a bit scared of it. if u want a look at these photos. you can find them on flickr.. then put in ( thylacine pad) in search window. many times these lights have followed me or my brother, this was 10 yrs ago the light was about 20 feet away on these occassion if u went towards it , it moved away. its only now after using trail cams i have got photos of a light very similar to the one of 10 yrs ago . the photo of the light is at the end of about 80 photo i put up. also i have a avi of something the flew behind me at night didnt see it until i watch the avi nects day. i would love to know what it is , i was thinking of sending some photos to csiro , but i think they will only laugh.
pairs of hairy legs hanging up? wtf!
that was pretty scary!!! but i couldn’t really understand bongo without subtitles…….
Wow. Psycho or not its hard for someone to have that kind of a breakdown over something they made up. Whatever Bongo saw scared him and it even gave me the chills. Looks like I’ll be sleeping with the light on.
Poor Bongo – I’ve listened to this a few times and my heart just goes out to him. There are similar well documented lights in Marfa Texas, although I don’t recall twisted metal or physical attacks with the lights. In any case, I’ll be avoiding the Pilliga and whatever lurks there.
I agree with kay, it sounds like superstition combined with animal attacks percieved through someone with a mental instability. Regaurdless i still feel sorry for the guy, whatever he thought he saw scared him shitless.
….Been a while since I’ve visited the blog, but (and this is no joke), the second after I finished listening to this, my TV turned on. By itself.
I must have accidentally put on a timer for it or something but it’s still pretty random timing overall…
Damn that is the strangest timing…
its possible that some creature did do this to Bongo. i heard there are these creatures that are roaming the wildrness in australia called the “Yowie”. their how u say big foot like. all i can say is that there is alot of things in this world that cant be explained and when some ppl dont understand the stories that are being told by someone they assume they where high or psychotic (and i think that’s rediculous).
shit man, this guy’s really fucked up.
I’ll listen this once it’s day and the lights are turned on, I’m not a big fan of horror…
Haha i only listened to like half. I stopped at like half way. and I went back and read this and it said dont listen unless its night and your lights are turned off, and its day time and now im freaked out. nice.
Hold up. hes in pshyco care because of the incident?
…Ever occured to you guys that its the other way round?? Hes a psycho in care whos condition is making up crazy stories
Yes I think that these people are just trying to top the other persons story . All these storytellers are some what unbalanced . Little Lite in the Loafers !
Interesting read!! I really like the audio clip with that. Thanks for the captioning!
Holy crap! this was amazing are there anymore things like these? I really wonder what it looked like?