YEAR: 1998-2004

SEASON: Spring

STATE: California

COUNTY: Santa Cruz County

NEAREST TOWN: Aptos

NEAREST ROAD: Eureka Canyon

OBSERVED: We have had various incidents over the past few years since 1998-2004 including 3 sightings, one amazing vocalization occasion, wood knocking, and one footprint. First I must say that I don't think a bigfoot lives real close to where I live but I do think we live within it's (plural) normal range or migration route.

The first sighting was in 1998 in the winter, we are not really sure... My brother was driving home and was on our private driveway when he drove by something that he could not describe. He walked in andsaid he had just saw a bear or a big black person wearing animal fur, or a cow... Basically his mind could not fit what he saw into any specific category and he was very confused. Upon questioning him he said it looked like a homeless person wearing animal skins. He said they passed right by eachother going in opposite directions. Since our road is a graveled one lane road they must have been within a couple of feet from eachother! He told me it had just happened so we went to investigate. I was thinking there was a homeless person passing through... But then we turned a corner and I saw the footprint from about 50ft away! I was so amazed that I stopped my truck and got out and immediately took off my shoe and sock to compare sizes... I was not thinking about a bigfoot, it didn't really cross my mind until a couple of years later actually... I was still thinking it was a homeless person with huge barefeet! I'm a size 12, I put my foot inside this track... It was 4-6 inches longer and 3-4 inches wider than my foot. And it was sunk into a hard pack dirt road about an inch or more. Being 200lbs myself, I jumped around trying to make an impression an inch deep in this strata but to no avail. I couldn't sink my own track at all! I mean no inches, nada! So now I was thinking about a homeless person wearing animal skins with huge feet and that was significantly heavier than me... But there were two problems to this obvious bigfoot sighting (in hindsight)... Number one, bigfoot do not live so far south in California (or so I thought), and my brother did not come in and say, "I just saw a bigfoot!" So it never occurred to either of us that this was a bigfoot sighting!!! It wasn't until a couple of years later that I asked him if what he saw could have been a bigfoot and he said," oh yeah, that makes sense now..." It took us awhile to put 2 and 2 together but we finally did with the help of this website. I found it while web surfing and his sighting started to make sense... Then I became more aware of my surroundings in relation to bigfoot. We live in a typical second growth redwood forest with all the typical animals that I see quite often. But I was never looking for bigfoot until now.
2004 was an exciting year. We had 2 more sightings and a very loud vocal performance! So, I was watching tv outside in the covered porch/ gazebo. If you turn down the tv you can hear all of the night sounds as if you were outside. Around 11:30ish pm I heard something so I turned the tv off. I then heard a very loud screaming roar right in front of my house. And judging from the location of the first sound I heard that was distorted by the tv, I deduced that whatever this was was walking down my driveway and was very close! It roared twice more while following the road. I was dumbfounded!!! And then I got scared... I've lived in the woods my whole life and think nothing of walking around in the dark with out a flashlight. You couldn't have dragged me outside at this point! I'm 6'3, 220lbs, and this thing sounded huge. I compare the roar to the decibel level of a siren! It just echoed off the hills. I have compared it to the recordings on this sight and it is very close to the Washington recordings, especially the one from 2005. I am so glad that my dad and mom both heard this! It just gave you the impression that it had huge lungs to make such a loud noise! But interestingly enough the last roar was ended with two very clear dog barks that I presume were mimicked... All of the dogs in the vicinty were going crazy except the dogs that were the closest to where this thing had traveled...
Two nights later was the second sighting. This time it was in the front yard of my Dads house. I was leaving in my Suburban. I was just edging down the driveway when I got something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and looked at what appeared to be a large pile of redwood bark lying in the yard as if my dad had cut down one of his trees and had raked all the bark into a pile. Redwood bark is reddish... As I passed slowly by I realized that my dad had not cut down any of his trees and that there would be no reason for a large pile of redwood bark to be piled there. What I have deduced is that a bigfoot was balled up hiding from me! And it semi worked. There was a fence between us and if I were in a smaller car I wouldn't have seen it, but I was very high up in a raised Suburban so I could see over the fence. It looked as if it was on it's knees hunched over with its head on the ground and it's arms over it head. I say semi worked because I kept driving and didn't realize what I had seen until a couple of minutes later. When I went back my pile of redwood bark had disapeared. I was so disapointed because I was only about 15 ft away! The next sighting I again missed out by seconds! My wife and I were driving on our driveway and she said she had just I contact with someone... I had driven about 30 more ft and stopped. I asked her and she said she saw a dark face with deep inset eyes and a shaggy head looking at her from behind a tree. The windows of the car were still dewed up from the cold morning so I backed up and got out. I heard bi pedal footsteps walking away through the oak leaves. It was a very definitive sound... I would have followed if I was not in business clothes...
So I think a bigfoot or more lives in the area. There are 60-70,000 acres near by and I believe we are in a corner of their range that they visit every once in awhile since the occurances are not everyday.

ALSO NOTICED: There more details, including wood knocking, and observations...

OTHER WITNESSES: 5 different witnesses, although not all of them are willing to admit it...

OTHER STORIES: yes but not close by...

TIME AND CONDITIONS: two daylight sightings and the rest at night...

ENVIRONMENT: Redwood forest, around 1200 ft in elevation.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jimbo Fay:

I went and spent the afternoon with the witness and his family along with another BFRO investigator. I was shown the various sighting and vocal encounter locations. Witnesses are very knowledgeable of all local wildlife and associated sounds. The reporting witness is an Eagle Scout and third generation resident of the ranch. All bigfoot related stories were repeated several times without variance. When you first hear of the location most people scoff at the idea of bigfoot being found in that area as it is thought of as being densely populated. I was impressed with the amount of terrain suitable for hiding and providing a bigfoot. The family ranch is bordered by miles of uninhabited forest.

About BFRO Investigator Jimbo Fay:

Jim "Bobo" Fay is well known and well liked BF investigator in the north coast redwoods region (from Sonoma thru Oregon Coast, inland to Bluff Creek and Marble Mts.). He supports his BF investigations through jobs like crab fishing and logging. He was one of the notorious roadies with the rock band Sublime. Before that he was at Humboldt State University where he majored in Political Science.

BFRO Expeditions that Bobo has attended: California 04 (Redwoods - Bald Hills), Washington (Oly Pen -1), New Mexico (Jicarilla Apache), Washington (Oly Pen -3), California 03/05 (Redwoods - Coastal), California 05/05 (Redwoods - Coastal), California 03/06 (Redwoods - Coastal)