YEAR: 93/95

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: APRIL

STATE: California

COUNTY: Monterey County

LOCATION DETAILS: THIS LOCATION IS HEAVELY USED BY THE PUBLIC DURING SUMMER MONTHS. IS JUST INSIDE THE LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST. A NATURAL RIVER RUNS THROUGH NARROW STEEP CANYONS. AREA IS COVERED WITH HEAVY OAK TREES, POISON OAK, BRUSH CHAPPAREL. AREA HAS MAN-MADE DAMN AND ONE NATURAL LAKE (ABBOTTE LAKES AREA) TWO LARGE CAMPGROUNDS THAT SIT NEXT TO THE LAKES AREA. A PICNIC AREA SITS .5 MILE DOWN THE ROAD FROM THE TWO CAMPGROUNDS.

NEAREST TOWN: GREENFIELD

NEAREST ROAD: ARROYO SECO RD

OBSERVED: This incident took place early April 1993. I was working for the US Forest Service on the Monterey Ranger District (Arroyo Seco Station). One the first things we had to do before the day began was go on a 2-mile fitness run. I don’t remember the specific day. I began my run about 8:30 am about 3/4 of the way through the run I began to fall behind the crew. I came to area known as the Abbott lakes area. I stopped to catch my breath. I then heard a noise off to my left on the hillside. The hillside was covered with oak trees, poison oak and thick brush. The side of the hill was shaded from the sun so I had really looked hard to see what was hearing. I noticed what appeared to a man walking up the hill about 20 feet in front of me. I then realized that this was to tall and to wide to be a person. It was about 8 feet tall. It stopped, turned its head and stared back at me for about 30 seconds. When it turned the whole upper body turned with head. I could not see its face because of the shade. It turned and walked up the hill. I ran back to the station knowing what I seen was not human. Later that day I was with my supervisor alone and I asked him if he ever seen anything weird near the lakes or the bone yard (trash area). He looked at me and said "oh you seen it to" he later went on to tell that other members of forest service seen it to. He states that the season prior that one employee said he seen close up and it was covered with hair. I just blew it off. A month later I was placed on the night shift with one other person. One of the things was to check the bone yard area for campers. One evening we drove into the bone yard and about 30 feet in front of us was a dark, 8-foot thing walking away from our vehicle. I did not say anything to my partner until we drove out of the area. She turned to me and said, "Did you see that?" I then asked her what the hell is it. She told me she had seen several times in past. That was the last time I seen it that season.

The 1995 fire season came around and due to budget problems only 3 people were on for the season. This made me nervous because this meant I would work alone 3 days a week. I avoided the bone yard area at all cost when I worked alone. Halfway though the season a coworker and myself drove into the bone yard area to pick a picnic table. My partner had a bad habit of wanting to catch a wild turkey for pet so as we drove up he took off running after a turkey that was about 40 feet from our truck. I did not see the turkey once I got off the truck but ran in the direction that my partner was running in. As I got closer I realized that this was not a turkey we were chasing. As I got a better look at it I realized what I was looking at I only seen the upper body of it because it was walking down a slope. It had turtle shaped head and what appeared to be long tail coming from it. It moved at very fast pace away from us. I backed off, as did my partner. I took notice of noise that it made as it walked away. I lost sight of it but I could still hear it running through the brush. That was my last season at this station. I haven’t been back since.

ALSO NOTICED: Yes during one of the sightings later that night multiple campers complained of a high pitch screaming in the area.

OTHER WITNESSES: Several other Forest Service employees.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: I saw it once in the morning, once during early evening, and once mid-afternoon.

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy brush area and oak trees.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Tom Yamarone:

I spoke with the witness and have the following to add to his report:
-The first encounter lasted approximately 1 to 1½ minutes. He was alerted to the presence of something in the bushes by the crackling of brush under foot as it moved.
-He looked to his right and saw the back of a huge, upright animal. It turned to look at him and then walked away, quickly ascending the nearby hillside.
-The area of the sighting was in early morning shade and this prevented him from seeing any facial details. He observed the creature’s legs, waist, torso, arms and head clearly as it turned and walked away from him.
-He said it had a human shape, but “bigger.” He described the build of the torso and shoulders “like 'The Incredible Hulk'.” The head was dome shaped (“like the shell of a turtle”) and what he describes as a “tail” was from the back of the head. We discussed this and assumed it was longer, matted hair, not actually a tail.
-The animal moved very quickly up the hillside. “It moved at an incredible rate – faster than any hiker or athlete. It covered the first 30 to 40 feet in seconds,” he told me.
-I confirmed the details of his report (e.g., distance from the subject and the creature’s estimated height).
-The animal made no noise during the encounter and there was no apparent smell. The witness was up-wind from it.
-During his second encounter, he viewed the creature from the side for a moment and observed the arms swinging as it walked.