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605 encounters
September 1980 Weaverville, Trinity County, California Class B #7773

Hunters hear late night screams in the Trinity Alps Wilderness

Two hunters camping overnight on a ridge to be positioned for opening day heard a single extremely loud scream that shifted from high-pitched to deeper growl-like tones from the direction of a nearby tree line. About half an hour later their tethered mule became highly agitated and was found favoring a front leg that later swelled markedly despite no visible wound. Searches that night and the next morning revealed no source, tracks, or sign of trauma.

ScreamGrowl
August 1980 Bridgeport, Mono County, California Class B #13613

Hikers find footprints, hear sounds, etc., near Leavitt Meadows

While camped in high alpine forest, the witness went to a snowdrift above camp and found two lines of large footprint-like impressions that had not been there the day before. The lowest prints showed clear toes with a deeply impressed big toe, while higher prints were smeared sideways as if the makers stepped into their own prints ascending the steep slope. The group followed the two trackways, spaced about eight feet apart, to the top of a cliff.

Tracks
August 1980 Butte County, California Class A #1547

Sighting by bow hunter / motorist at 6:30 AM near Butte Creek

Around 6:30 a.m. the witness was driving down into a campground area when they noticed a large dark shape moving through willows along a creek about 200 yards downstream from a bridge. The figure first looked like a person but moved with a very fluid walk and pronounced arm swing unlike a person. By the time the witness alerted a companion the figure was gone, and a later check of the gravelly area found disturbed rocks but no footprints.

Partial sighting
16 May 1980 Big Pine, Inyo County, California Class B #21684

Man describes childhood incident, a possible approach at Seven Lakes

The witness reports camping overnight in a tent with a relative in a remote glacial valley during a snowstorm. Around 3:45 a.m., they heard very heavy bipedal footsteps approach and stop a few feet from the tent, remaining silent for about five minutes before continuing toward a frozen lake and rugged ridgeline. The pair did not see the visitor and did not check for tracks, but left quickly at first light feeling frightened and unwelcome.

Footsteps
May 1980 Green Valley, Los Angeles County, California Class A #21674

Sasquatch sighting near Green Valley, California (1980)

Two teenagers were camping for a week in mountainous pine forest to train for military service. On the second evening at dusk while walking armed along a dirt road, they encountered a very tall dark-haired bipedal figure standing on the road watching them. After a brief staredown the figure turned and walked unhurried into the forest with heavy breaking-branch footsteps, and the next day large footprints were found leading away across a creek.

Full-body sightingFootstepsTracks
April 1980 Sonoma County, California Class A #2864

A Young Man, While Camping with 20 Others, Comes Face-to-face with Creature

At a youth camp at night, the witness was inside a dorm getting ready for bed when campers in another dorm shouted about someone outside. Minutes later the witness watched a figure near a dumpster walk toward the dorm and peer in through a window from about 12 feet away for 20 to 30 seconds before disappearing. The next morning a discarded box was found on the ground with large footprints nearby.

Partial sightingFull-body sightingTracks
February 1980 Bakersfield, Kern County, California Class B #13096

Possible nighttime road crossing sighting by motorist near Lamont

The witness and a companion were driving at night on a rural road through farmland when they saw a dark, hairy figure cross the road ahead of them. The figure moved quickly from one side to the other in long, smooth strides without looking toward the car and disappeared into a field. The witness turned back to look with bright lights but saw nothing, and a search the next day found no tracks because the ground was wet and muddy.

Road crossingPartial sighting
October 1979 BLACK ROCK, Tulare County, California Class B #12328

Hunters are awakened by loud, repetitive vocalizations in Monache Meadows

The witness and a companion were camped overnight during a hunting trip when they were awakened around 2 a.m. by very loud howling from a meadow. The sound was described as sad but not threatening and continued intermittently for about an hour while they searched with a spotlight from a vehicle without seeing anything. They then returned to camp.

Howl
October 1979 Hilt, Siskiyou County, California Class A #5284

Hunter/Logger has a sighting in a closed logging area near Hilt

The witness returned to a secluded previously logged area to hunt with a dog. About 100 yards away, a dark brown hair-covered figure was seen crouching behind brush and staring at the witness and dog. The dog froze with raised fur and refused to advance. After a brief look through a rifle scope noting human-like eyes and black facial skin, the witness smelled strong body odor and quickly left the area.

Partial sightingOdor
September 1979 Weed, Siskiyou County, California Class B #5220

Son and step Father have a strange encounter on the north/east side of Mt.Shasta

The witness and a relative were camping in a remote wooded area when the witness was awakened around 3 a.m. by noises around the truck, including an ice chest being knocked over and a violent impact that rocked the vehicle, followed by a loud piercing scream-like sound. The relative also woke, and in the morning they found the camp in disarray with a dozen eggs missing, the empty carton later found away from camp, and a dent in the truck. No creature was seen and no tracks were found, and the pair stayed up until morning before leaving.

ScreamVehicle contactProperty disturbance
July 1979 Lake Shasta, Shasta County, California Class B #2770

Couple Has Frightening Encounter Near Lake Shasta

A couple drove to a remote meadow near Squaw Creek and camped overnight. After the campfire burned low at night they heard loud breaking branches, rushing movement circling and approaching the camp, and a loud howl-like vocalization, while their dog growled and a strong foul odor was present. They kept the fire large, shone flashlights into the woods without seeing eyeshine, and left at daylight, later associating the incident with Bigfoot after a friend's comment.

HowlFootstepsMovement onlyOdor
May 1979 Desert Hot Springs, Riverside County, California Class A #24936

Sighting off Indian Road behind isolated (at the time) Desert Hot Springs Condo complex

Late at night the witness was leaving in a small car when the headlights illuminated a large hairy biped standing in the desert. Both the witness and the creature froze briefly before the creature took steps backward and sideways out of the light and disappeared. The witness reported intense fear and returned home.

Partial sighting
May 1979 Del Norte County, California Class A #1664

While sitting around a campfire witnesses saw a set of red glowing eyes

The witness and four companions were sitting and talking around a campfire at night when they heard loud crashing and rustling about 50 feet away in the woods. They reported seeing a pair of red glowing eyes about eight feet high that watched them for about a minute, though no body outline was visible in the dark. The source of the eyes then turned and moved away through the woods making crashing sounds.

EyeshineFootstepsAnimal behaviour
January 1979 Hiouchi Is Not Really A Town,so Crescent City Would Be Closer., Del Norte County, California Class A #12917

Vehicle passenger's daylight sighting near Hiouchi

The witness was riding as a passenger on a road toward town in the late morning when the driver pointed to the side. The witness then watched a very large, muscular, long-haired creature walk across an open dried creekbed, apparently unaware of the car. The side view was unobstructed but the face was not seen.

Full-body sighting
16 December 1978 Avery, Calaveras County, California Class B #5477

Teenager has a nighttime close encounter and then sees tracks in the snow in Avery

The witness spent a winter night sleeping on a couch in an unfinished hillside cabin while two dogs slept nearby. During the night a large-sounding movement was heard outside that agitated the dogs for about fifteen minutes, but the witness did not look outside. The next morning the witness found a line of large five-toed footprints in snow that appeared to pass the cabin, step over a barbed-wire fence, and jump a creek before continuing uphill, but heavy snow later covered them.

FootstepsTracks
December 1978 Alpine County, California Class B #803

Tracks found by vacationers

The witness was playing in the snow near a river when they noticed a set of large tracks. The tracks led from the river into a patch of low trees. The witness did not follow the tracks out of fear.

Tracks
October 1978 Hayfork/Hyampom, Trinity County, California Class B #2581

Very large, black, human-looking sihouette seen

After dark, two riders on horseback were traveling on a back trail from the fairgrounds toward a friend's house. One horse alerted to something ahead, and the riders observed a very large, silent, human-like silhouette that moved diagonally into the brush. One rider greeted it, initially thinking it was a person, and they continued to the house without discussing it until morning. The next day they returned and found flattened dry grass where it had stood.

Silhouette
September 1978 Strawberry, Tuolumne County, California Class B #7676

Hunters have strange night experiences near Groundhog Meadow

A witness and his son were camping by a horse corral after building deer blinds. Early in the evening they heard two loud low-pitched screams from different directions, then later watched a pair of red eyes about six to seven feet off the ground for about an hour. Later that night something struck the side of their truck-mounted camper hard enough to shake the truck, but they found nothing outside.

ScreamEyeshineVehicle contact
July 1978 Strawberry/Pinecrest, Tuolumne County, California Class A #1301

Three witnesses have daytime sighting near Strawberry

When the witness was a child, they were walking in the woods with two other children when they noticed a brown conical-shaped head with deep-set eyes watching them from behind a tree uphill about 100-120 feet away. The shape remained motionless while they watched it for about a minute. The younger companion became upset and the children ran from the area. The witness remains uncertain what was seen.

Partial sighting
June 1978 Grass Valley, Nevada County, California Class A #3421

Family has unusual experience outside Grass Valley

A group gathered around a late-night bonfire at a rural ranch heard an extremely loud screeching howl from a nearby canyon and heard brush breaking as something large approached. The group fled to the house, and the witness briefly left her young child outside before going back to retrieve her. The child later said a very big, very hairy figure walked up to her, looked at her, and then walked away.

ScreamHowlFootstepsFull-body sighting