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718 encounters
August 1964 Ojai, Ventura County, California Class A #24648

Man retells his close, visual encounter at dawn on Pine Mountain as a young deer hunter

The witness, deer hunting at dawn from a ground position below a relative, watched a tall hair-covered biped step into a fire lane, pause and look toward the witness after hearing the witness speak, then cross and wait in brush before leaving downhill. The witness later found large barefoot-like tracks and noticed a strong foul odor at the crossing site. The witness did not shoot and initially told no one.

Full-body sightingFootstepsTracksOdor
1964 Miranda And Myers Flat, Humboldt County, California Class A #8183

Sisters have a sighting at different times in the mid 1960’s

The witness was walking down a wooded hillside toward a spring on the family property when a large ape-like figure was seen standing across the creek staring toward the witness. The witness backed uphill and left without approaching to look for traces and told no one at the time. The sighting is recalled as a warm Fall afternoon in the early 1960s.

Full-body sighting
December 1963 Strawberry, Tuolumne County, California Class B #1953

Deputy Sheriff sees strange footprints above Strawberry

A deputy sheriff responded to reports from local residents about footprints in Leland Meadow. The deputy reported finding hundreds of tracks in the snow, described as 15 inches long with a 5-foot stride. No casts were made, but the find was reported in the local newspaper.

Tracks
August 1963 Big Bear Lake Resort., San Bernardino County, California Class B #7759

Young man has strange encounter on a dark gravel road at Big Bear Lake Resort

The witness walked alone at night up a gravel mountain road toward a cabin after retrieving a wallet in town. Something unseen below the road in steep brush kept pace, breaking branches and dislodging rocks, stopping when the witness stopped and moving faster after rocks were tossed at it. Before reaching a bend where the road met the canyon, relatives arrived by car and the witness got in and left.

FootstepsMovement only
August 1963 Myers Flat, Humboldt County, California Class A #6961

Teen has daytime sighting near Myers Flat

The witness was hunting with two friends and hid alone in berry bushes to startle them. While waiting, the witness smelled a strong odor and saw a large hairy biped stand up nearby and walk away through thick brush, hearing snapping and leaf crunch as it left. The witness ran to the friends and later returned with them to find a squatted feeding spot and small broken trees.

Full-body sightingOdorFootstepsTree break
March 1963 Coulterville, Mariposa County, California Class A #1643

Two teenagers have late night sighting near Coulterville

The witness and a companion were in bed in a dark room at a ranch at night looking out a window. A large hairy creature looked in the window for about ten minutes, alternating looking inside the room and outside. When the witness went outside to look, nothing was visible.

Partial sighting
28 January 1963 Cold Springs, Tuolumne County, California Class B #2310

Large prints found below Cold Springs

On a Sunday night, repeated shrieks were heard in brushland where a roughly 10-foot-tall grotesque man-like figure was reported. Large prints measuring about 14 to 17 inches were found nearby over the next two days and were followed through a subdivision, park and camp area. A law enforcement leader later described the tracks as shoe prints made before a light snowfall and suggested a mountain lion as a possible source of the noises, while noting fresh lion tracks and no cabin break-ins.

Full-body sightingScream
27 January 1963 Cold Springs, Tuolumne County, California Class B #2309

10-Ft. Shrieking Monster reported near Cold Springs

An anonymous caller told the sheriff's office that a roughly nine- to ten-foot-tall human-like figure was moving in the road near an old gravel pit. A second man on the same call said large tracks had been seen. Responding deputies did not see the figure but stayed in the area for hours listening to loud shrieking that moved around them.

Full-body sighting
Summer 1963 Mendocino County, California Class A #2200

Ceature observed at playground

A group playing noisily on a campground playground at night noticed a strong rotting odor. They saw a tall brown hairy figure standing at the edge of the tree line about 50 feet from the nearest child, watching the activity. After being stared at for a short time, it walked back into the woods.

Full-body sightingOdor
August 1962 Patterson, Stanislaus County, California Class A #25009

Youngsters encounter large, grey creature in a sugar beet field

The witness was riding a bike on a farm road at sunset with a companion and dogs when the dogs became agitated. The witness then saw a large grey-haired humanoid figure standing in a nearby crop field watching them. The figure remained still and silent, and the witness stared briefly before fleeing.

Full-body sighting
April 1961 I Believe Willow Creek, Calif., Humboldt County, California Class B #5232

Hunters have unusual late night experience near Willow Creek

Two companions camped under a large pine beside a mountain dirt road after their car slid near snow. After dark in the tent they heard grunts, loud breathing and bark crunching as something large circled the tent on two feet. After firing shots from the tent and finding nothing outside, they later heard a long loud high-pitched scream some distance away, then slept until morning and found no footprints in the bark.

VocalizationFootstepsScreamUnidentified sound
1960–1999 Hoopa, California #b00b8dcf-40ed-426b-9b0c-73e0d9207aa7

Paranormal encounter near Hoopa, California (1960)

A community story tells of an alleged shape-shifter who terrorized pedestrians from the 1960s to the 1990s. People would see the man, then a dog, then the man again down the road as if he had teleported, reportedly wearing the dog's fur as a coat.

Full-body sighting
October 1959 Marysville And Grass Valley, Yuba County, California Class B #7211

Hunters Have Unusual Night Time Encounter

While deer hunting and camped overnight, the witness and a companion heard a very loud yelling-like scream from nearby woods and followed the companion's dogs with rifles. In a flashlight beam they saw a bipedal figure handling the dogs, throwing one, which then turned toward them and fled into trees with crashing brush and a lingering odor. They left the area that night and heard the vocalization again from farther off while packing.

Partial sightingScreamOdorMovement only
July 1958 Lake County, California #gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/z0Eeje6JvJvDDeP-HxDjlRGDKYzn-xYslP585x3gsfM

Sasquatch sighting near Lake County (1958)

The witness, then a teenager, was riding with his brother and a friend in an old pickup checking irrigation on his father's walnut ranch when they spotted a tall hairy biped moving through the orchard. They chased it by farm roads as it ran uphill diagonally across a 40-acre block, stopped to watch it pass close by, then followed it across more blocks until it crossed a road and disappeared into dense brush on a neighboring property. Afterwards they inspected its long strides in wet ground and decided not to tell his father for fear of losing their irrigation job.

Full-body sightingRoad crossingFootstepsTracks
April 1958 Aptos, Santa Cruz County, California Class B #16691

Man describes possible sighting during childhood in Hinkley Basin

Two boys were riding bicycles down an old fire road when the witness slowed for mud and saw a dark brown man-shaped figure step from behind a redwood. The figure ran down a steep slope toward a creek while the witness heard two-footed steps on leaves for about two minutes. A companion riding behind also glimpsed the figure.

Partial sightingFootsteps
Fall 1956 Truckee, Nevada County, California Class A #4946

Teenager has daytime sighting near Truckee

The witness was waiting on a large boulder while companions attempted to flush deer toward a clearing under utility lines. The witness reported seeing a tall, sandy-brown apelike creature walk down a ridge and cross the utility road about 40 yards away. The witness's dog chased the creature barking into the trees and returned about an hour and a half later. The witness remained still, did not shoot, and said the creature did not appear to notice them.

Full-body sightingRoad crossing
August 1955 Porterville, Tulare County, California Class A #1229

Boy Scout has late night sighting above Porterville

An 11-year-old on a Boy Scout camping trip left his tent around 2:30 a.m. to use the latrine near a small ravine. Hearing brush breaking across the ravine, he shone his flashlight and saw a tall hair-covered biped with a very large head, no visible neck, very long arms, and widely spaced glowing orange eyes. He fled back to the tent in terror and was not believed when he told others.

Full-body sightingEyeshine
July 1950 San Bernadino, San Bernardino County, California Class A #2248

Sighting along Lytle Creek

The witness heard whistling and chomping sounds near a creek and looked toward them. A very muscular, hairy, man-like creature was present for about two minutes before walking into the treeline at the creek edge. The witness later returned to the area and found footprints by the creek.

WhistleUnidentified soundFull-body sightingTracks
1950–1959 California #6628122d-b080-4f0c-bcc1-0ebc04d663f0

Tracks in California (1950)

A construction worker at a Northern California site found large footprints and preserved one in plaster. He carried the cast into town and showed it to a local newspaper editor. The editor's remark about the size of the foot gave rise to the popular term for the phenomenon.

Tracks
Summer 1950 Ojai, Calif, Ventura County, California Class A #3684

Daylight sighting on the edge of Sespe Creek (CA Condor Refuge), in Los Padres National Forest

The witness was riding horseback on a forest trail toward a stream while camping. From about 50 yards away the witness saw three hair-covered creatures crouched drinking, then standing after noticing the witness. After an exchanged hand greeting, the tallest led the two smaller ones away up the trail, and the witness later rode to the stream without seeing them again.

Full-body sighting