YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 3

STATE: California

COUNTY: Mono County

LOCATION DETAILS: Exact location withheld for privacy reasons.

NEAREST TOWN: Mammoth Lakes CA

NEAREST ROAD: 395

OBSERVED: just a note re: Report # 2942 (Class B)
Submitted by witness J.B. on Sunday, August 05, 2001....

I was in the area north of mammoth during that same week...maybe 10 miles north of the reports location....

I have been visiting a fly fishing location on the Owens river for five years in a row during the first week of may in the same location...kinda midway between mammoth and june lakes. My friend and I heard 3 very loud...very long screams on the night of the 3rd of may...

We were backing in my truck to get loaded up to go home the next day...as we backed in next to the cabin, we suddenly heard a terrifying scream about 10 seconds in duration...It sounded like it was right behind the truck..and we had the windows all closed....We just sat there and were saying to eachother "what the f**k was that????" We thought we ran over a deer or something big...I immediately turned the truck around and hit the high beams...nothing there so we opened the windows a few inches and just then another scream...this time it sounded off my side of the truck and a bit further away...maybe 20 or 30 yards....once again about 30 secs later one more scream a little shorter this time and further away...it was definitely moving away from us...

At this point we saw some people in a cabin about 200 yards away shining flashlights up and down the mountainside (I questioned one of the ppl in that cabin at 7 am next morning outside as he passed our cabin but he denied hearing anything at all that last night...I KNOW...VERY STRANGE...) i recall him saying it was probably a rabbit...i have heard rabbit screams when they get bitten and it was not that for sure...too loud and long anyway..

Needless to say we were freaked out pretty badly and took 10 minutes or so to get up the (courage) to go into the cabin...hate to admit it but we moved tables against the doors that night....and i moved my bed away from the window to the middle of the room......

Didn't know if i was ever gonna post this but after reading the class B report that occurred during the same week really close by...I didnt know that there were any sightings so far south......

I do have some lingering doubts however that what we heard may have been a mountain lion maybe??? (a link to normal wildlife sounds would be great to at least rule out the possibilities of other noises) The sound was VERY similar to the ohio bigfoot screams but higher in pitch and what i would call "angrier" sounding.....it was a very threatening sound....

ALSO NOTICED: the previous night large splashing sounds were heard in the river by my friend in the middle of the night 1 am or so

OTHER WITNESSES: one other witness (my friend) old college roomate Oh and the 3 people in the cabin that denied hearing anything or seeing anything with their flashlights

OTHER STORIES: none that i know of..except what i read about in the sightings list related to mammoth lakes...i believe in the 70's...Also the softball players story that coincided exactly with our incident.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: about 1:00 am..very dark...moonlight (some)

ENVIRONMENT: large meadow with owens river running through it...surrounded by pines and aspen like trees....very dense forest in the adjacent area.

Follow-up investigation report:

Talked with the witness by phone. The following details can be added to the report:
--Located about 10 miles from report 2942, which happened the same week.
--During the incident, he felt like he was being watched. All of his alarms went off (hair raised on the back of his neck; goosebumps, etc.).
--Did not smell anything during the incident.
--Noted that there are dug out ditches in the area used for raising trout. Witness had the impression that whatever screamed had been at the ditch getting an easy meal, and they may have interrupted them.
--Noted that in previous years, marmots were everywhere. Not so this year.
--After a good conversation about mountain lions and owl sounds/behavior, I believe the scream heard can not be attributed to those creatures.