Thomas Siebold was considered to be a well-trained survivalist. He had hiked and lived in the harshest conditions of the wilderness. It seemed that he reveled in attempting new challenges and remaining for long periods of time by himself in the remote forests of national parks. Thomas usually informed family when he would undertake another of his expeditions into the wild and when he expected to return, which is a cardinal rule anytime someone plans an extended outing in places where starvation, exposure, predatory encounters, and the unknown can render a person on the pages of a missing person’s report.

In early September of 2012, Thomas headed for Alaska’s pristine beauty where bears, cougars, moose, and mysterious entities known to the local tribes exist. What seems to be superstition without logic or science persists where the indigenous people refuse to trespass on forbidden lands. The dangers are already numerous much less adding the eerie existence of those that science refuses to acknowledge, but on this last personal excursion into nature’s vastness, Thomas will leave some frightening evidence as to the cause of his disappearance.

Gateway Arctic National Park is a vast swatch of greenery, rock face, and glacier landscape, beautiful, rugged, and a potential pitfall for the novice, but Thomas is an accomplished survivor and welcomes the challenge. One might wonder when people who have simply been lucky little realize just how vulnerable they really are. From fighter pilots, to test pilots, from hunters, to heroic soldiers, we have seen those who might think they’re invincible once they have racked up an amazing number of successes, and now think themselves to be impervious to failure, but the call of the Grim Reaper is undeniable.

September fifteenth beckons the adventurer to his planned journey and into the mouth of nature he ventures. In the first few days all seems relatively normal. He makes it to his first leg of the trek. A wilderness station which is cabin providing a sheltered area sleeping quarters and food preparation. However, something unplanned happens. Thomas is equipped with a cellphone, camera, and diary journal to document his adventure. That night something or someone tries to get into the cabin! Thomas is awakened and makes sure to secure the doors and windows thinking it’s a bear that smelled his cooking. Although he is startled by the experience instead of turning back, he decides to leave the next day thinking that he can shake the bear off his trail if he puts distance between himself and whoever or whatever that was.

Thomas reports in his diary that he is worried. He had begun hearing howls that don’t sound like any animal he’s familiar with and he’s familiar with a lot of them! He writes that something feels wrong and that now he is being followed. He pushes on, but with a sense of foreboding. After all his experiences, why he is feeling threatened is very unusual. He’s been around and seen bear and cougars without panicking or provoking them to attack, but something is different now. He senses the imminent danger.

He arrives at his next objective, another survival station that looks like a mobile camper that someone set down on the ground from flat bed of a truck. It gives him temporary shelter and a place to cook for himself. Although he’s relieved to be able to sleep within an enclosed area, the unknown is out there lurking! The hands of something or someone very powerful begins to pound on the camper and attempts to get through the door! Thomas is panicked thinking once again his cooking has attracted unwelcome company, but he fears more than that.

Siebold finds huge tracks twice the size of his imprints around the trailer and indicating that he was being followed prior to spending the night in the survival station. Now he has a better idea of who he’s really dealing with. He makes entries in his diary trying to be hopeful that he is close to the lake where he will fish salmon for his dinner, but the sense of impending doom has become stronger now! After the banging against the trailer stops, he manages to settle down for a fitful sleep, and decides on putting distance between himself and the shelter to achieve his objective-the shores of the lake!

Thomas mentions in his diary that he finds a thatched shelter obviously not made by animals and strange rock patters placed on the ground that defy anything natural but rather intelligently constructed. He feels the weight of something ominous weighing in on him. Soon there will be an awful climax to this tainted adventure.

In one of his last entries he states that he will prepare his last provisions for dinner before he reaches the lake to fish for his next meals. Writing that he has some steak and sausages left before he runs out of his rations, Thomas leans heavily on his hopes of the lake providing for his needs after he arrives. That night after making his last meal on the camp fire and settling down he hears someone walking around his tent. A huge shape presses against the canvass in the shape of a large hand! It’s unclear why Thomas, a seasoned survivalist did not bring a sidearm for protection! He enters that into the log, intruder backs off into the forest and Siebold tries to find rest again.

Late in October there is no sign of Thomas Siebold. Family call upon the Park Rangers to organize a search! Volunteers gather to assist the official search party. Still the family re-assures themselves, “If anybody can survive in the wild it’s Thomas!” They tell themselves.

Days go by and still no trace. Authorities try and pick up Thomas coordinates based upon cell phone pings but still nothing. Apparently, Thomas was so confident that he did not include a personal locator beacon among his gear! According to David Paulides, this would be a major error if one dares to hike alone in the wilderness! The search and rescue goes on until park rangers finally locate Siebold's final campsite! It’s a scene of disarray, shredded clothing, a collapsed tent, his cell phone, his camera, and diary journal are all collected and examined by the authorities to find clues to Siebold's fate!

Cell phone camera footage reveals a chilling indicator of what happened and who may have been responsible! Two photos show a massive dark figure covered in hair partially obscured by foliage but clearly not a bear! A second photo shows two such entities within close proximity to one another. Are they closing in on Thomas? Apparently, we have a good idea who was responsible for the vanishing of Thomas Siebold. No body was found. It is unclear if cadaver dogs were used, but where Sasquatch is concerned, hunting hounds or tracking dogs don’t like following the mysterious bi-pedal primate! Why this information is not being widely broadcast is probably due to the reputation of the national park system being in jeopardy and tourism suffering if people feel as though they’re going to be stalked and killed out in the remote wilderness by cryptid entities that science refuses to acknowledge the existence of. As for Siebold’s family, all they have to remember him by are the remnants of his final camp and the haunting footage of what his cell phone snap shots captured before he slips into the ether of the unexplained.