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Geographical Index > United States > California > El Dorado County > Report # 15344
 
Report # 15344  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Thursday, July 27, 2006.
Possible vocalizations heard near Lake Tahoe

YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 22

STATE: California

COUNTY: El Dorado County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was at Sugar Pine Point camp ground, right off of Highway 89. We were at space 124.

NEAREST TOWN: Tahoma/Sugar Pine Point

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 89

OBSERVED: Last weekend my girfriend and I went to join her family at Sugar Pine Point in El Dorado County next to Lake Tahoe for a camping trip. On the early morning hours of Saturday July 22nd I was awakened by a strange whoop/howl. I immediately woke my girlfriend up and asked her to listen with me. We were sleeping in a tent. The howl we heard was not close to us. It was at a distance but was very loud. My girlfriends' aunt and uncle were sleeping inside a camper trailer about 50 feet away from us and they said they heard it pretty clear. They have been camping there for years and we all agreed that it was something none of us have ever heard. The whoop/howl lasted 3-4 minutes with short intervals of rest. At one point during the whoop/howl, it almost sounded like there was two "animals/things" making this strange noise.

ALSO NOTICED: The whoop-howl lasted for 3 to 4 minutes. We have listened to all the sound recordings you have on your wesite, two of them sound very similar to what we heard. 1)1973 Puyallup, Washington 2) 1978 Snohomish County, Washington but it sounds almost identical to the sound recording you have from 1993 Del Norte County, California.

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes. My girlfreind, her Aunt and Uncle. Others at the immediate campsite said they heard it to when I asked them.

OTHER STORIES: No, this was my first time there.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 4:42 AM to 4:45 AM
There was thunder and lightning during the early evening, but was very clear skies by the time we went to bed.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest, mountainess terrain, with a creek somewhere in the area.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator B Brewer:


When asked about how and why it sounded like two animals for a portion of the sequence of howls, the witness said that the sound seemed to be coming from two different directions for at least part of the time.

The witness states that they have heard other large animals in the wild, and the sound they heard was not like anything they had heard before. Three other witnesses in their campsite, including two experienced campers, agreed.

The witness talked to people in an adjacent campsite the next day, and they described the same sound, and also could not identify the animal that made it.

There have been similar reported auditory observations near this location in the past.


About BFRO Investigator B Brewer:

Former student of Anthropolgy and Primatology as part of studies at the University of Oregon. Currently architectural designer/fabricator in CA. Active field researcher in Western states. Attended the following BFRO expeditions: California Redwoods - 2005; California Redwoods - 2006; California Sierra Nevadas - 2005: New Mexico 2005 ; Arizona Mogollon Rim - 2006 , Oregon / California Border Expedition in November 2006. Oregon 2007, Sierras 2008, 2009, Redwoods 2008, 2009, 2010, Bluff Creek 2011, 2012, Shasta 2012.