YEAR: 1985

SEASON: Spring

STATE: California

COUNTY: Riverside County

LOCATION DETAILS: County of Riverside, California: Anza California and area to the east of Hemet in the San Jacinto Mtns.

OBSERVED: The local paper (The Press Enterprise), ran an article of foot prints being found in the Anza area, near Bautista Rd. This is a dirt road that leads to or near the indian reservation. There really is nothing out there but scrub, Manzanita, Oaks and pines at the higher elevations. I have hunted that area and hiked around there over the years. Many times I have been out there and knew or had some feeling of another presence. I don't mean like small animals or anything of that sort; just some unexplained feeling that someone or something has been watching me or following me. Then the Press Enterprise came out with this article some years ago, and made me wonder if what it might have been was something a bit more unusual than I had imagined at the time.

I worked with the University of California at Riverside here in Riverside as an archaeologist. In my work I have had a chance to work with a few native american monitors. These individuals come along and help to oversee some of our sites (especially those involving human remains). Through these acquaintances I've learned there have been some beliefs and possible legends of hairy creatures even here in Southern California.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Not sure of the exact year the article ran in the Press Enterprise But I do believe it was around the spring. The soil is soft that time of year, and a foot print of something small like a quail would even be left behind in the hard compact clay, and decomposing granite.