YEAR: 1982

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: California

COUNTY: Mendocino County

LOCATION DETAILS: County of Mendocino near Fort Bragg, CA, USA. Incident occurred between 5 and 10 miles inland in a fairly isolated camping area used by a summer camp organization.

OBSERVED: It was dinner time and all campers were summoned to the evening meal outside the main lodge approximately 1/4 mile from my tent. I was not able to make it to dinner on time because I had a bloody nose and needed to lay down for a few minutes.

After about 5 minutes, I returned to the nearby restroom to clean up and that's when the incident occurred. What I didn't see because of high bushes between me and the sound, I did hear very clearly. I heard footsteps in the brush above the restroom. Whatever it was, was moving very slowly. I remember thinking that it was either a person walking very leisurely or something bigger walking at a normal gait. I didn't quite know what to do so, on an impulse, I made a growling sound. Then the footsteps stopped, but resumed a few seconds later. I repeated the growl and the same thing happened. Since I was alone and frankly a bit nervous since there was not supposed to be anyone else up in the woods with me at that time, I decided to go to dinner. I told some fellow campers about the incident during dinner and they were all a bit skeptical.

But after dinner we returned to the area and decided to head toward the exact spot where the footstep sounds were emanating from. I knew before seeing the footprints what I had heard since there had been stories of sightings in the area. The ground was very solid but I managed to make out several manlike footprints in the dirt, only they were much larger. My fellow campers verified what I saw. We decided to try and follow the prints, but since they were so shallow it was difficult to determine the direction the creature had taken.

But within a few minutes, our job was made easier because I once again heard the mysterious footstep noise. This time a fellow camper and myself decided to chase the creature making the noise so we took off running in the direction of the noise. After about a minute of running uphill, I brought us to a halt to listen. We now heard the creature running away from us very quickly. We pursued it for a few more minutes, but the only thing we found was one set of toe-prints in the area where the creature had been running from us. Of special note: I do not recall experiencing the bad odor that it supposed to be associated with the Bigfoot creature.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was lying down before dinner.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: All of this occurred between 5 and 6 pm on a day in the middle of July, 1982.

ENVIRONMENT: The camping area was in the great Redwoods area in Mendocino, CA. There was a creek nearby. Since the camp was called Caritas Creek, I am assuming that was the name of the creek. There were wooden frames for the tents and one main lodge. The area was hilly and there had been prior incidents reported in the past in the same vicinity as this incident.