It's October and that means one thing...time for the annual Grumble Jones Halloween Scenario. Fresh from your mama's basement press comes the 2024 edition. But first comes the backstory for this year's scenario. Because as you know...these scenarios are loosely based on historical events...largely made up by yours truly.
As the war slowly wound its way to a bloody finish, the Japanese embarked on a strategy to inflict damage on the American homeland. Between November 1944 and May 1945, they would launch nearly 10,000 hydrogen filled balloons into the Jet Stream to find their way to North America, where they would explode and create forest fires in the Pacific Northwest. roughly 300 bombs found their way to the US where they cause almost no damage but for one tragic incident.
Stories about these balloon bombs were aggressively censored by the Federal Government. This censorship would reap benefits as the Japanese would abandon the program altogether in the belief that it was a total failure as there were no stories reported in the American Press.
But eventually one of these bombs would result in a tragedy. A pastor, his pregnant wife and five children from his Sunday school class were on a picnic in the woods outside of Bly, Oregon. As the pastor unloaded lunch from the car, his wife and the children had walked towards Leonard creek when they came across a parachute and then the bomb. The bomb would detonate killing all six. The US Government would keep the full details quiet until June 1st, when they revealed the Japanese threat to the general public.
Mrs. Elsie and Reverend Archie Mitchell
But this wasn't the only incident to be hidden from the US Public regarding Japanese balloon bombs. Another event the following day, May 7th, 1945 would entail equal measures of tragedy and disbelief at a sequence of events still classified as Top Secret nearly 80 years later.
May 7th, was a Sunday and much of Oregon was in shock and mourning the strange tragedy that had taken six lives the day before.
The weather was clear with blue skies, which were perfect of Air Force spotters to locate balloon bombs that had fallen into the deep forests of Oregon.
From his Ranger tower, US Forestry Service Lookout, Howard “Razz” Gardner, could see smoke rising to the west of his position. He had heard a loud explosion earlier that morning had deduced that it was likely a Japanese Balloon bomb. He quickly got on the phone to the 123rd Observation Squadron. They would dispatch Flight Lt. Bill Severs to take a Piper Cub over the forest and help searchers locate and deactivate any balloon bombs in the area. As Severs was gearing up for his flight. Razz Gardner would also call upon the men of the 249th Coastal Artillery Regiment. With the danger of a Japanese attack on the coast deemed highly unlikely, these men had been routinely deployed to assist the Forestry Service with the location and disarming of these bombs. The men knew the drill and quickly boarded trucks for the short drive into the dense forest to meet up Razz Gardner and put out the observed fire and find any other bombs that might have landed with the one that exploded that morning. The 100 men of D Company were proud of their efforts and kept a tally of balloons stenciled on the side of their trucks. To date, they had located and disarmed roughly 25 of the bombs. But none of them were prepared for the terror that would befall them on this seemingly routine mission. A great many of them would not see another day.
The men of the 249th Coastal Artillery Regiment had been activated in 1940 at Camp Clatsop. They would eventually man the Harbor Defenses of Columbia. In 1942, an attack from a Japanese submarine would break up the doldrums of otherwise mundane garrison life for the men.
By 1945, the men knew the war had largely passed them by and they could expect to return to civilian life minus the trauma and physical scars of those men posted to the Pacific and European theaters. But like many assumptions...they would be incorrect. Their trauma would be unique among WWII soldiers and one that none could ever speak about. They would never look at the beautiful Oregon forests the same for the remainder of their lives.
Situated on Mt. Emily, a fire tower was in place to watch over the forests of western Oregon.
Towers like this one dotted the area and prior to the war gave the Forestry Service advance notice of fires.
During the time of the balloon bombs, Howard "Razz" Gardner would call this tower home and from here observe the arrival of many bombs.
Spotting fires was a very manual affair in the early days of the Forestry Service.
It took great orienteering skills to properly pinpoint on the map the location of an observed fire. The early lookouts were an intrepid group of men dedicated both the work and to the goal of preserving the forests. The job also entailed long...sometimes endless hours of isolation and loneliness. But over time these men gained an intimacy with the forests that served them well as they observed weather patterns, bird migrations and the movements of various animal species within the dense forests.
And though they were hesitant to ever mention it...they also knew that the forests had secrets of their own...the late night howls and wood knocks indicated the presence of something else...not yet catalogued in the great books of genus and species.
As the war dragged on following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Forestry Service lookouts would be tasked with observing for more than fires. They would scan the skies for aircraft and the coastline for submarines. The in November of 1944, just as their duties had begun to calm into boredom, came the arrival a new threat carried by the Jet Stream from Japan itself...Balloon Bombs. By arrival of 1945, the bombs had become a bit of a common place nuisance. It became a bit of routine monotony as the lookouts worked together with spotter planes to locate the bombs and then have ground troops reach them and deactivate them. Up until May of 1945, this routine had worked rather well, with no major fire incidents and no known fatalities.
On May 6th, this would change as a church group out for a picnic would accidentally trigger a bomb and six people would lose their lives. The incident shocked the lookouts and the military back to the realization that the balloon bombs were a serious threat. This sobered thinking would be put to the test on May 7th.
Razz scanned the skies to the west and worked to pinpoint on his map the exact location from which the smoke was rising. In a few minutes he could hear the drone of a Piper Cub flying overhead. His radio crackled to life and Lt. Bill Severs familiar voice was heard. "Hey there Razz...you copy old man?" "I copy you flyboy." responded Razz with a smile. He and Severs had developed a great working relationship and prided themselves on well they located the bombs. Both men imagined that today was be no different than other day.
But beneath Severs, looking up at the strange aircraft with eyes burning with rage were the great creatures of the forest. A juvenile member of this group had been the cause of the morning explosion and subsequent fire. The young creature had fiddled with the shining metal of the bomb and set it off. The blast had killed the creature and its other group members now stared up at the sky with barely contained fear and anger. Soon enough, they would find objects upon which to vent their grief and wrath.
About 45 minutes after Razz's call, the men of the 249th Coastal Artillery Regiment began to arrive on the scene. Captain Jim Russell would confer with Razz on the routes to take to the fire. Up above Severs had already located several chutes and passed on the coordinates to Razz.
Razz hopped in his jeep and followed the 249th as they began going up the fire break trails to fight the fire.
The fire had created a lot of smoke, but otherwise was too large and was fairly easy to contain. A platoon of men worked to put out the fire while the other platoons continued to search for the other bombs.
Razz had worked his way up towards the peak of Mt. Emily and noticed some large footprints. They appeared similar to human tracks, but much too large. Some nearby grunts and wood knocks raised the hair on the back of his neck. Something else was nearby and an overpowering smell assailed his nostrils.
Clearly it was time to move and warn the searching troops that a mysterious danger was in the forests today.
Even as Razz jumped back in his jeep and headed downhill to warn the others...a group of soldiers had investigated near the site of the explosion.
A horrible smell and hordes of buzzing flies would lead the troops to the body of an unknown creature. At first, they thought it was a bear, but the feet and hands were human like as was the face. Intrigued, the squad decided to move the body back towards their squad leader's jeep and take their find back to the fire tower.
But then strange howls and wood knocking started all around them. Then rocks began to pelt the group. The rocks were large, and several soldiers were injured. Suddenly, the men began to panic as more, and rocks hit them. Dropping the body, the men grabbed rifles and took up defensive positions. At the jeep, the radio crackled a warning from Severs, high above the forest. Severs could see large, hairy creatures closing in from around the small squad of soldiers. Severs could see three distinct creatures. Horrified he watched as one destroyed the jeep with a huge log. The radio was destroyed and the soldier manning it was bludgeoned to death by the creature. Helplessly, Severs watched the entire squad be killed by the beasts, before they faded into the trees and disappeared from view.
The other platoons had found and deactivated five of the bombs and were headed down the mountain, when Razz's jeep drove up. Razz told the men to move as quickly as possible and get back to their trucks and meet up at the fire tower. Severs and Razz also spoke and Severs explained what he had witnessed. In shock, Razz, realized that they had to get out of these woods and now.
On the other side of Mt. Emily, the last platoon with Captain Russell had begun deactivating their first bomb, when rocks began to pelt them. Then growls and wood knocks filled the woods. Captain Russell radioed Severs to see if saw anything. And like with the first attack, Severs could see three large creatures working their way around the soldiers. Severs screamed over the radio for Russell to hit the gas and get the hell out of there. Russell yelled at the men to retreat back to the tower. He had barely spoken those words when a tree truck hit him square in the chest killing him instantly. Then the jeep was flipped over by enraged giant creature. The driver was hurled from the vehicle and also killed.
As the other soldiers began to fire their weapons, a tremendous explosion occurred. Severs saw the blast and its effects as limbs and heads were strewn about the woods. Apparently, the soldiers deactivating the bomb had panicked and set it off. Running low on fuel, Severs radioed Razz that he had to head for home. He would radio again once he was back on the deck.
In the forest, the explosion had destroyed an entire squad of soldiers. The creatures, shaken by the explosion had ceased their attacks and melted back into the forest for good. Wounded survivors picked themselves up and made their way down the hill in a state of terror. Razz had gone up the tower and was searching the edge of the woods frantically for escaping survivors. Of the 100 men that had gone into woods, only 70 were accounted for and Captain Russell was not among living either. Another 25 of the survivors were badly injured either from the blast or from thrown rocks. Most of them had not seen their giant attackers but had heard the howls and grunts.
The men of Company D, 249th Coastal Artillery Regiment were severely shaken and in a traumatized state. Razz put them into the old CCC barracks for the night as medics treated them as best they could. Fortunately, none of the injured would succumb to their wounds. Razz and a few of the soldiers spent an anxious night guarding their comrades and hoping against hope that the creatures described by Severs would not make an appearance.
The arrival of daybreak brought relief to Razz and the others. But shortly US Army MP's began to arrive along with Army Intelligence officers. Razz was questioned and separated from the troops. Razz indicated that he had seen nothing, but had heard and smelled things that were not normal in the woods. He was told not to discuss the events of the previous day.
Next, the MP's rounded up the D Company survivors and drove them back to base for debriefs similar to the one given to Razz. Over the next couple days, US Army Graves Registration details would comb the mountain to recover the dead troops.
A week later on the 14th of May, the Army would issue an official communication citing an unfortunate effect whereby 30 US servicemen were killed by a chain explosion of Japanese balloon bombs. Even in the local Oregon papers, the event was reported matter of factly as an unfortuante acccident and then forgotten.
In the following months, the members of Company D would find themselves reassigned to occupation duties in the pacific, Alaska and others sent to the Panama Canal. Flight Lt. Bill Severs was similarly reassigned to the airfield on Attu Island. The events of that day would haunt Razz for the remainder of his life. He would stay on with Forestry Service and spend many hours riding around Mt. Emily looking for any signs of the creatures that Severs had seen. Over time, he postulated that they must have been Sasquatches. He also wondered why they had not attacked him that day. He would never again hear, smell of see any sign of the Sasquatches. Only the occasional finding of a helmet, rusted M1 rifle or web gear would indicate that anything had ever happened in those woods. But Razz knew that something had killed over thirty young soldiers that day...and that something was still out there in the Oregon wilderness.
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