YEAR: 1976

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

STATE: California

COUNTY: Los Angeles County

NEAREST TOWN: Azusa

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy. 39

OBSERVED: This the first of three so-called sightings. Me and my fishin' buddy, Greg, were fishing the back side of Morris Dam, knockin' shi_ out of Smallmouth bass and an occasional huge trout or crappie. It's not legal to trespass there, so we are very quiet and do not use lights. We are one with nature, so-to-speak.

At around 3:30-4:00 a.m., we started back to the car. A quarter mile walk through dense brush, across the river (up to waist deep). We used deer trails, like tunnels, to get through the thick brush. We grabbed our hefty stringer (no fish story) and headed into the bush, without really speaking. We knew the routine well.

About 50 yards into the bush, Greg and I both noticed that someone (human) was walking in front of us, about 20 feet ahead. We both stopped. The footsteps took two steps more, then stopped. Greg and I looked at each other, surprised, and simultaneously, drew our Buck knives. We couldn't see anything. We proceeded cautiously, our knives drawn.

The footsteps continued in front of us. After about 30 feet, we came to the edge of a clearing and stopped. Two more steps and "it" stopped again. Only this time in the middle of the clearing. We looked at each other, looked back at "it", and, simultaneously, said "Who's there?" "It" turned 90 degrees up river and took off running through dense brush, in the black of night, like a halfback for the Rams, like no human can!

OTHER WITNESSES: My friend Greg and I. We were fishing.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 3:30-4:00 a.m. clear, very dark, no wind.

ENVIRONMENT: Steep, rugged mountains. The back side of Morris Dam. Wilderness. Lake's edge.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

Ron J. and I talked for over one hour on 4/16/00 about his encounters. Ron lives in Mt. Baldy village and he loves to fish for Bass and Trout. To me, Ron was very sane, sincere, and articulate about his three different encounters that he and his friends had in and around the Morris Dam lakeside wilderness area over the years. I took a few notes on Ron's other two encounters that occurred between the late 1970's and about 6 years ago. On one of these occurences, it absconded with a backpack and ran up an impossible hill. On the other occurence, it stripped his fish stringer.

Note: Ron never observed these critters in good light -- only by the light of the moon and stars. He usually observed their movements and heard their sounds in the very early morning hours, which was around 2:00 to 4:00 AM in the morning. The reason Ron and his friends fished these hours was because they were fishing illegally in the reservoir and the fishing was great. Ron and his friends never smelled anything strange.

Note: In this area, you can go from being in civilization to being in a complete wilderness area in just a few steps.