YEAR: 1976

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: ?

STATE: California

COUNTY: Mono County

LOCATION DETAILS: on the shores of Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park

NEAREST TOWN: Lee Vining

NEAREST ROAD: Tioga Pass

OBSERVED: Some friends and I were camping in Yosemite Park in the fall of 1976. At about 10:00 P.M. we were in our sleeping bags in the tents talking when all the animal sounds going on around us suddenly went quiet. Then we heard a loud , low scream that gradually ended in a high pitch. All of us sat up and were asking the usual question ," what was that ?", then as we waited in our tents we heard other campers from around the lake talking and walking our way when we looked out of the tents we saw that they had all there stuff with them and were leaving in a hurry. We asked them what that noise was and they asked us if we had seen the thing run by our campsite ....we were too scared to notice I guess...We watched your special on cable this morning and when they played the vocalizations of what is beleived to be a Bigfoot I got scared all over again this many years later. The only difference was that what we heard ended in an abrupt higher pitch.

ALSO NOTICED: foul smell....kind of like a dirty dog

OTHER WITNESSES: 8 (2 with witness and five from the other camp)

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: approx 10:00 P.M. It was dark and partly cloudy

ENVIRONMENT: next to Tenaya Lake with a mtn next to the lake , the sound came from the side of the mtn. and then apparently the thing came running down by the campsites

Follow-up investigation report:

I talked with the witness by phone. The following details can be added to the report:

--The witness and two other people were camping next to Tenaya Lake. There was a little bit of snow on the ground, but not much. It was very cold, however, that night.
--They packed their camping equipment in and made camp next to the lake but not too far from the road. Some other campers had hiked further in and were next to the mountain.
--The sound started as a low growl that kept going up in pitch until it was a shrill scream, which echoed through the area.
--The scream sounded human, not cat like. It was very loud and very big.
--Witness has heard mountain lions before and this sound was not that.
--After the scream, they heard people talking and when they got out of their tents, they saw the other campers coming down the trail with a flashlight and all their stuff. They said that the scream was right by them and then they saw something running, and thought it had run right past the witness and their camp. These other campers wanted to know if the witness had seen it, and they had not. Since this was the only trail going back to the cars, the people leaving had no choice but to use it.
--The witness only smelled the wet dog smell when they got out of the tent. It was strong but starting to fade.
--The witness and her campmates were too scared to take down their camp and walk all the way back to the car, so they waited until daylight to leave.

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