YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: Dec 15

STATE: California

COUNTY: Mendocino County

LOCATION DETAILS: Was on a Covelo residents property, up a hill, he had 2 horses. Not sure where it was exactly, we were asked to go there to look over this. Please dont list this, Im still not sure what happened yet.

NEAREST TOWN: Covelo

NEAREST ROAD: Not sure

OBSERVED: Id like to do it this way, still not sure exactly what happened.
Im with a paranormal invest group, earlier this monthwe went to Round Valley (Covelo) In calif. One of the investigations was a night time walk up a hill at a rancher's property in Covelo; earlier in the week, from what I remember hearing, was a Bigfoot had been interacting twice with his horses, which he chased off, so we hit that spot. Except me, I stayed in the car with a video game and a flashlight onhand. Maybe 10-15 mins after everyone else took off up the hill, I noticed a movement by the rear passenger window at the driver's side of the car, something a gold-tan color was standing by the back window. Turned off the interior light in the car and sat in the dark a little while, maybe 4-5 mins, then turned it back on. Whatever it was came back to the window again; this time I heard what I guess has to be described as 'patting/palming' the door of the car. I about lost it then, ( I dont scare, so this is really strange), and turned off the light, didnt turn it back on till everyone else came back down the hill. Just before people returned, I saw something run past the car really fast, up toward the front of the car line ( we had 4 cars there, I was in the last one). No one else saw the running whatever, they checked the door but didnt see any muddy handprints or anything on it. Im still frazzled, been dealing with all types of wild animals since I was a kid ( aunt worked witha zoo and Ive done wildlife rehab since I was a kid). Heard from someone in town there that BF's have a way of sort of mentally 'fear-paralyzing' animals; this sort of explains why I tried to turn myself into a tall thin stick when I was sitting there. Any ideas? Im stumped.

ALSO NOTICED: After, I went back during daylight the next day to take pics of where it happened; on the side of the car where it ran off, was a narrow path, maybe 2 feet wide, between where the cat was parked and a pile/row of rusty scrap metal.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was the only one who saw this; everyone else except for one other person were up a hill, with flashights and hitting sticks on trees.

OTHER STORIES: Heard there were lots of sightings up there; they were considered about as common as any other wild animal, in town. Friend of mine ran into one coming around the side of her trailer maybe a month ago, according to her.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 9pm I think. Dark, there was an interior light from a car parked 2 cars away in the line we parked in. A little glow to barely see nearby.

ENVIRONMENT: Hilly foresty area with a property with 2 penned horses; there were piles of scrap metal around ina sopt as well.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Brandon Kiel:

I spoke with the reporter for close to 45 minutes regarding the encounter she had. She is part of a Northern California paranormal group and they were in the area investigating the report of a bigfoot seen playing with a local man's horses.

She was driven to the area and could not remember the exact location but stated that it was outside of Covelo and had a large stand of trees nearby. The group, consisting of about 10 people, disappeared into the tree line with flashlights hoping to find the animal while she stayed behind in a car (the last in a line of about 4 cars).

She stated that she was seated in the front seat on the passenger side playing tetris with sound off when out of the corner of her eye she saw a golden tan color move to the back window on the driver side. She never heard animal approach car. She turned in her seat and looked directly at the animal and as she moved it stepped back a couple of feet. She says she was clearly able to see the chest/belly area as the animal was standing close to the door. She turned off the light and shined flashlight light in the direction of the animal but only saw the lights reflection on glass.

Th reporter says she then sat in dark for 3-4 minutes very scared and then turned the light back on and began to play her game again. Within a minute the animal returned to the same spot and this time patted the door twice with it hand. She immediately turned the light off and the animal steps back again out of sight. She then decided to not turn the light back on.

About 10 min. later she began to see the lights of the party on top of the hill. This was when she saw the animal run past the drivers side of the car very fast "much faster than a human ever could; a bear could never run that fast on two legs and it wasn't a horse or a big cat". She told members of the returning party but they dismissed her accounts saying that she "hadn't been with the group long enough to be taken seriously".

She returned with a few people the next day and they looked for tracks but found none as the cars had all driven over the spot where the incident had occurred.

The investigator has consented to have her report published with the caveat that certain personal information be removed to conceal her identity and the location.

About BFRO Investigator Brandon Kiel:

Brandon Kiel is a professional photographer and naturalist living in the Bay Area.

He was the chief coordinator of Northern California Expeditions for 7 years and has planned/attended more than 20 expeditions throughout the US.