Class A First-hand BFRO #2183

Backpackers hear loud screams in the distance on the same day a crew of trail bridge builders has an encounter with a screaming bigfoot a few miles away

October 1988 dusk Tulare County, California 2 witnesses

Account

Two companions on a multi-day backpacking trip were sitting in camp at dusk at a high lake when they heard a single loud unearthly screaming howl from a distance. They described it as having huge volume, trailing off rather than stopping abruptly, seeming sad rather than threatening, and unlike any human, bear, or other known sound. Exhausted, they slept in the tent and forgot the incident until days later when they read a newspaper account of a close-range sighting reported the same day a few miles away.

Summary drafted by AI from the source report and checked by code before I publish it. The witness's own words remain with the publisher — read the original report .

What was reported

Every kind of observation in the account. Select one to find other encounters with it.

Sounds

Facts & provenance

Each value names where it came from.

Date
October 1988
Stated BFRO report #2183 · BFRO report, labelled fields: Year, Month
Time of day
dusk
Stated BFRO report #2183 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Place
Tulare County, California
Stated BFRO report #2183 · BFRO report, labelled fields: State, County, Location Details
Map point
36.5661, -118.6237 (± 5 km)
Geocoded BFRO report #2183 · gnis:254594 · read with 45% confidence
USGS GNIS flat 'Bearpaw Meadow', Tulare, matched from place name 'Bearpaw Meadow'
Account type
First-hand
Stated BFRO report #2183 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witnesses
2
Derived BFRO report #2183 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Witness was
backpacking and camping
Stated BFRO report #2183 · BFRO report, “Observed” section
Source classification
Class A
Stated BFRO report #2183 · BFRO classification label

Evidence & investigation

What the source says was found or done. Claimed evidence is listed as claimed; the Anomadex has not examined it.

Tracks

A ranger accompanied the men back to the site the next morning and saw some large footprints in gravel that were not suitable for casting.

BFRO report, “Observed” section
Follow-up

A ranger accompanied the men back to the site the next morning and saw some large footprints in gravel that were not suitable for casting.

BFRO report, “Observed” section

Source timeline

Every record this entry is built from, earliest known first. Records are versioned and never edited in place.

  1. Published 1997-01-24 Retrieved 2026-09-24 Version 1 Hash c9b6b5021390
    BFRO - Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization