Yosemite California - The wildman of Yosemite National Park has finally been captured and is currently being held by Federal officials in Mariposa California.

Park rangers struggle with "the wildman of Yosemite"

The wildman was first reported to park officials in April. Two visitors from Los Angeles reported seeing a tall man with ragged clothes running past them on April 12th while they were in the Tuolumne Meadows section of the park. Park rangers dismissed the claims and said it was possible that a recently awakened bear might have been the cause of the sighting.

Then on April 17th Lee Nathaniel and his family had stopped on the side of Highway 120 to take photos. While they were out of the car they could hear a man screaming from the woods that bordered the national park. Lee's 16 year old son thought he saw someone running through the woods. They reported this later to rangers at the Valley Visitor center who then drove out to the area to see if someone was in need of help. No one could be found.

On May 10th concession worker Betty Crawford was removing trash when a man suddenly knocked her down, screamed at her in an unknown language, and then grabbed the trash bag and ran off into the woods. Crawford described the man as 6'6" with long blonde hair and not wearing a shirt. Park officials quickly got a team to search the area but all that was found was the trash from the bag which had been strewn over a small area of the woods.

The Crane Flat concession stand was closed down and the area was put off limits to tourists as expert field guides and park rangers with bloodhounds began to search the area more thoroughly. It seemed however that the wildman was one step ahead of them as he was next seen by a park ranger on May 26th along Tioga Road in the park. Rangers quickly moved their search and on May 30th a man was captured in the Tuolumne Meadows campground.

Officials said the man matched Crawford's description, and was wearing only tattered canvas slacks with no shoes. He was suffering frostbite on several toes and had numerous scratches on his body. The most curious aspect was the fact that the wildman did not seem to speak English but only kept repeating several Russian phrases that were translated into meaning "The cosmonauts will find me." and "Mir, never again."

He is being held by Federal authorities until such a time as he can be identified. As yet no one has claimed to know the man.

sources

-phone interview with Yosemite National Park spokesperson Lindsay Nogart May 31st 1999

-phone interview with Yosemite police officer Blake Hopkins May 30th 1999

-phone interview with Mariposa Ca. police officer Tom Hammock May 31st 1999

photo courtesy of Yosemite National Park Security Office