Not long ago a friend of mine asked the members in an online group chat if we’d ever heard of an ape cat. An ape cat? I’d never heard of it but it reminded me of something I’d heard from a guy I ran across a few years ago at a Squatchfest. He told me a story about an ape-faced panther-like creature he encountered once in a farmer’s field on the outskirts of nearby Ridgefield, Washington. He hadn’t used the term ape cat, but it sounded like something really similar.
My friend shared a link in the group chat to a podcast interview with a guy who claimed to have spotted one in Klickitat County, Washington. He owns an outdoor store that has since become an ape cat epicenter, having received some one hundred plus ape cat sighting reports. It was a fascinating interview, and he had some compelling ideas behind the origin of the creature. He’d even given it a name; the Klickitat Ape Cat. After listening to the podcast, I knew I needed to check out the store, and the story.
Margie’s Outdoor Store is a cool locally owned store in Bingen, Washington a small town nestled in the rocky hills along the Columbia River. It doubles as a sort of convenience store, camping outfitter, and a place for locals and tourists alike to report and discuss the weird things they encounter in the gorge. I decided to pay a visit and was pleasantly surprised with the friendly staff and lots of interesting inventory. Where else can you get a snicker’s bar, tarot cards, bag of chips and a sword all in the same purchase. It’s truly a one stop shop for those who appreciate the strange and unusual.
About eighteen miles east of Bingen is a steep-sided basalt mountain named Horsethief Butte. It overlooks nearby Horsethief Lake and is reported by some locals as an ape cat habitat. There’s a walking trail that loops around the hill beginning at a small parking lot. I surmise that if the ape cat does exist and if this is habitat there’s bound to be nesting areas around the butte. There would also be trails and signs of travel between the butte and the closest water sources which would include the Columbia River and Horsethief Lake.
Along the shore of Horsethief Lake is Horsethief Lake State Park which aside from some good camping, is also home to a fascinating collection of local native petroglyphs. I’ve been there several times to shoot still photos of the glyphs in different times of day. Interestingly enough, I’ve noted one of the glyphs seems to show the head of a mystical cat with an almost human or apelike face.
So what exactly is an ape cat? As far as I can tell it could be one of a few things. It’s either a mutant version of a panther, an extraterrestrial, a paranormal or mythical creature, or as the many critics say a clever marketing tool fabricated to boost local commerce. As you know, SteveSearches does not deal in conclusions but searches for evidence and lets the viewer decide.
As far as it being a mutant, it has been suggested in the related podcasts that the Klickitat Ape Cat could be a mutated fugitive from the Hanford nuclear site. Perhaps I’ll investigate this possibility in more detail in a future video.
Like many of my research constituents I share a deep belief in the existence of extraterrestrials. In fact, it’s one of the few controversial ideas I openly and enthusiastically support. Considering the billions of stars in existence with their own planets, the belief we’re alone in the universe to me seems absurd. So far, I haven’t been on board with cryptids being extraterrestrial. I will admit though that lately I’ve been entertaining the possibility more than ever before. Considering recent video evidence and documentation becoming declassified it seems that yesterday’s conspiracy theories are becoming today’s realities. If this trend continues, and I believe it will, these will eventually become common knowledge. So, is the ape cat an extraterrestrial being? I don’t know. What I do know is a question worth asking is worth looking into.
People that know me are aware of my lifelong interest in the paranormal, but when it comes to cryptids, I tend to first look for answers in the natural world. I took an anthropology class when I was in college and remember a fun conversation we had about the difference between natural and supernatural explanations. One example our instructor used as a natural explanation was the incredible hulk. The hulk character was a result of an accidental overdose of gamma radiation. True, he’s a fictional character but a mutant is not supernatural by definition and therefore falls inside the realm of the natural world. The idea of course was to demonstrate that many explanations can be natural and still be highly unconventional.
Mishipeshu is a powerful and often malevolent underwater panther-like creature described by indigenous people as having the head and paws of a giant cat. It’s commonly said to live near the Manitoulin Island in Lake Superior and is often associated with storms and death. Though the Mishipeshu originates in the Great Lakes area, similar mythical creatures can be found in the lore of many other places and cultures. Could locals and tourists visiting the Columbia Gorge be encountering a flesh and blood Mishipeshu? It’s an interesting question that I believe will take more work to properly answer. I should note, however, I am not one to argue with people that have lived in these areas for twenty thousand or more years.
I haven’t found much information on ape cats in any other area of the country, so they seem isolated to the Columbia Gorge and maybe a few outlining areas. This fact could arguably lead to it being a marketing ploy but I’m personally not willing to come to this conclusion given I’m relatively new to this creature.
In the case of the ape cat, for me the jury remains out until a physical specimen or at least more solid evidence is discovered. In the meantime, I will continue to search for evidence and keep a watchful eye out for new sightings and information.
Steve Searches 