My Bigfoot Sighting

It was the mid 1980s. I was living in Redondo Beach, CA. My husband at the time and I went hiking in the Sierras with friends from his work place. We were heading up from about 8000 feet to 11,000 feet to a place called Baboon Lake, a very cool minty blue/green lake with a glacier feeding into it. We were taking some switchbacks to a small lake area, probably around 9500 feet (best guess). Everyone slowed down to take pictures in the woods and take a water break.

I came to the edge of a clearing where I could see the distant mountains and waterfalls spilling down their sides from thaws. It was gorgeous. I had my sketch book tucked under my arm, hoping to sketch at the next stop, but I was half tempted to start drawing. I scanned the trees and tried to remember the look of it for my drawing and a potential oil painting when I got home again.

Down below me on the nearby mountain, I saw a clearing between trees of about 20 feet wide. I started to turn away, but a movement made me keep my eyes on it and I saw something dark seem to come out of the brush on the right of the clearing as if it were going from squatting to standing and then it loped across the clearing on two legs in a loose-limbed gait, large strides, long arms, and very dark brown but some of it seemed medium brown where the light hit the part facing me. It disappeared in only several steps into the woods on the left of the clearing.

My very first instinct when it stood up was that a camper/hiker was on the other hillside. When it stood erect and walked, it did so comfortably. I knew it wasn't a hiker because there was no outline or definition of clothing or backpack and the head was the same color. This thing was dark and appeared to be all the same color. For a flash of a second, I thought "bear" but the shape was completely wrong and the gait went on for several large strides through the clearing.

I took a step back, puzzled, my mind racing to explain it. My knowledge of Bigfoot at this point was the films from childhood in the early 70s and I always assumed he existed only in Washington State. I didn't know California had sightings and even though I had seen film on TV of the Patterson-Gimlin film, I did not recall hearing where it was taken. We didn't have internet then and Bigfoot was not "in" at the time, so no one was putting on specials or documentaries on TV about it.

I baffled a few minutes, afraid to look away from the clearing, wishing it to come back and also scared it would come back. if I yelled to the group, there would be nothing to tell them except a very weird story. The feelings that came to me were like if you walked outside and saw your hairy fat neighbor leaning over for the newspaper with his boxers on, like I wasn't supposed to be seeing this and I felt shy and kind of guilty for witnessing it.

At the time, my (now ex-) husband was not a person who believed in a single thing that wasn't already in scientific manuals and I had not even shared my psychic talent or the stories of the things that happened in my childhood haunted home. I knew better. The group was all engineer nerds and I knew not a one of them would believe me and ask me to show them something that had already left my view.

I just held it in, figuring that I could eventually explain it to myself somehow. We continued on up to Baboon Lake (ironic name now that I think of it) and we camped out, but I didn't sleep. I kept thinking about that "thing" and if it could make it to 11,000 feet and if it had friends.

It wasn't until years later that I let myself use the term "Bigfoot" for it. There simply was no other way to explain what was a very organic, natural, fur-covered, upright walking creature. It was definitely not a man. It was absolutely not a bear. It left me few options. I still recall the weird fluttering in my stomach when I saw it as if I had witnessed something that even I couldn't believe, much less others. I held this in for decades, not wanting to sound like a quack, but finally admitting I ghost hunt in search of answers for unexplained occurrences and being resolved that I have some crazy weird skills in the PSI realm, I had to finally realize; what is one more amazing occurrence in an otherwise serendipitous life?

If you ever wonder why I run a ghost hunting theories blog, then you must not read the blog. I am hounded by my very logic-minded side and the witness I have been to some extraordinary things. Still, I am not one to jump right to the woo-woo or spiritual realm. These things launch themselves in our physical world for us to see, hear, smell, feel and so they work in the natural world. It is that natural realm I hope to pursue answers that ring true.

Hope you continue with me as I make more theories and test them.

Comments

  1. BRAVO! I am so happy you posted this.

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  2. Thank you, Rictor. I felt very nervous about doing it. I've seen UFOs, I've got crazy weird PSI skills, I've encountered what most consider ghostly things, but somehow seeing BF is the most embarrassing of all. I guess because to me UFOs are not from outer space, my PSI skills are nothing more than well honed extra sense that everyone possesses, and ghostly encounters are really science unexplained, but BF is to most a total fantasy. If he were real, why don't we have him in a cage at the National Zoo? So, it's rather irritating and uncomfortable.

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  3. Sweet. I can't wait to learn about what theories you have in mind.

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  4. Good job on coming out of the proverbial closet!

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  5. Thanks. I have to admit an avid interest in the field simply because I secretly wanted someone to get the proof so I could come forward and feel relief and not embarrassment. I figure there's a difference between "believing" and "knowing" and my recent post about the Cult of Bigfoot helped to settle it for me.

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  6. Wow! I had no idea that your particular interest in Bigfoot was based on an actual encounter. That is so cool! I'm really sorry though, that you didn't have anyone you could share this with at the time. That must have been very lonely.

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  7. On an expedition into Death Valley I stayed the evening in a little roadside facility known as the Amargosa Hotel & Opera House. With a name like that I expected a night of polite entertainment and sound comfort, instead I went sleepless; taunted & terrorized by unseen entities - if you'll excuse the phrase the place is haunted to the bejeesus belt!

    Avoid room 20 at all costs.

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  8. I'm happy you posted this Autumn.If everyone spoke of their encounters,we just might realise how often the big guy is spotted.
    This could be said about strange encounters of any kind.
    I find you trustworthy and believeable.
    You've given me no reason to question your experience.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Miss Autumn...

    Thank you for sharing your sighting. I appreciate your well reasoned, courteous and respectful comments.

    My sightings are posted on the BFRO and TBRC.

    live and let live...

    Steve Summar

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  10. That story is still creepy no matter how many times I hear it. The one of the BF stalking you on that path is even more chilling.

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  11. You sound similar to my daughter, who has what i call second sense - she sees and interacts with some strange things. But she has also had two BF encounters - one visual, the other having rocks tossed at her and her fiance.

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  12. I think it's instinct a lot. People are sensitive know when to look up and catch something. I talk often about how it's hard to get proof of ghosts or Bigfoot because when you go looking, your mind is on them and when you're just living in a house or walking through the woods, your mind is on other things and you have more of a chance to run into it.

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  13. Sasquatch have been on this planet since the beginning of time.I have personally studied these creatures for several years,and have a friend that has studied them for 15 and there is a lot more to these creatures than people think there are.You can find them anywhere if you know what you are looking for,state parks,campgrounds etc.
    I have seen many and photographed them also.I was once so close to a baby sasquatch that I could have reached over and picked him up.Here is a link to my facebook page for those who would like to learn more.http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1444628504

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  14. Im going on a Bigfoot Hunt in KY with the guys from Fact or Faked. www.GhostHuntweekends.com

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  15. Chad, I would love to interview you after.

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  16. There is a reason why someone in the past named it Baboon Lake.

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