At the time, though, he was purported to be a dangerous killer. He never went looking for people, but he was hunted by others. All killings could be considered self-defense, depending how the stories are told. Over the course of about 18 months, he was suspected of killing at least six people who went looking for (or shooting at) him. He may have learned the skill of traversing great distances from tree to tree, never touching the ground in between.īut as much as he retreated from civilization, people pursued him. He was quiet and left virtually no tracks. He was an expert marksman, a crafty woodsman, and was said to move through the woods with stealth. These are my woods.” He lived as a hermit with minimal human contact - much of it limited to visits to his sister’s home on the edge of the forest.īy 1911, Tornow was a 30 year old giant of a man: 6′ 2″, 200 pounds, and wearing an unkempt beard and long hair. He wanted to be alone and was quoted as saying “I’ll kill anyone who comes after me. He escaped from the latter and quickly made his way back to the woods along the Satsop and Wynoochee Rivers. They conspired to capture him and leave him at institutions in Vancouver, Washington and Salem, Oregon. Tornow spent most of the rest of his life living off the land in the Chehalis County* woods north of Satsop and Montesano. It has been suggested that Tornow first turned away from an interest in human contact when he was ten years old and his brother killed the boy’s dog. By the time the guns went silent on April 16, 1913, two things in this were clear: Tornow was dead and so were at least six of his pursuers. He was a suspected killer who perhaps acted only in self-defense.

He was a loner that the world would not leave alone. Category: Politics & GovernmentĪmong the legends of the Northwest is John Tornow, a man who was both feared and probably misunderstood. The Wild Man of the Wynoochee Published by Steve Campion.

Beast-man by Michael Fredson