YEAR: 1980

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: Fall/1980

STATE: California

COUNTY: Santa Cruz County

LOCATION DETAILS: Take Highway 1 north from Monterey, to the Green Valley (Highway 152 East) exit in Watsonville. and turn right on Green Valley.
Take Green Valley east to the intersection with Airport Boulevard (to the left) and Holohan Road (to the right).
Turn right onto Holohan Road and continue until you reach Highway 152. Turn left (East) onto Highway 152. It was a very winding stretch as I was coming around a turn and heading straight slightly uphill. I remember the area was covered in redwoods.

NEAREST TOWN: Watsonville

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 152

OBSERVED: I saw one of these sasquatch-bigfoot things one night walking on the side of the highway. I want to say it was in the early fall of 1980, because my kids were very young. My husband and I were driving up Hecker Pass from Watsonville, on our way to Mt Madonna to meet relatives for what I want to say was a dinner or dinner event. it seems so long ago. It happened very fast, but what I saw looked covered in brown hair from head to toe and was huge, walking just like a man. It scared me to death! My husband wasn't paying attention but he knew I saw something that frightened me terribly because I reacted emotionally so quickly. We were coming around a turn. I remember it being a very windy road, and it was walking with it's back to me. It was a very foresty area with lots of redwoods everywhere.

It was so quick but so clear. I'm absolutely convinced of what I saw and still get shaken up when I think about it. I had great eyesight then and still have it now. I haven't talked about this with many people and am not sure who I told back then other than maybe my immediete family. It's been almost 30 years.

Last week my husband and I were celebrating 4th of July at a party. I was stunned as I overhead Bart Cutino talking to my cousin about bigfoot as he was walking out the door. I had no idea he looks for them and I haven't heard anything in the news in a long time. My eldest daughter used to babysit him when he was very young and I've known his mother my whole life. When I told him what I saw he convinced me to look at this site and report what happened. I wish I could remember more. It's just been so long.

OTHER WITNESSES: No, my husband had either dozed off or wasn't paying attention until I reacted

OTHER STORIES: No, just maybe Discovery or news over the years. I never heard about it so close to where I lived at that time -- Carmel, CA

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Night, was dark but hadn't been for that long

ENVIRONMENT: Was covered in redwood forest, I remember it not being far from Mt Madonna Park because we weren't far from there and that's where we were headed.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Bart Cutino:

The witness is a close family friend. This past 4th of July, the witness and I were at the same party and she enthusiastically shared her experience with me after overhearing me talk about the subject with her cousin. She is as candid and frank as they come.

The sighting location is off one of the many windy turns on Highway 152, which is directly southwest of Mt Madonna (her destination) and turns into Hecker Pass, which follows through to Gilroy. This is considered the southernmost portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the terrain, although varied with mixed redwood, madrone, live oak and chaparral up by Mt Madonna, is primarily covered in redwoods where the witness sighted the subject.

She was able to clearly discern an extremely large, brown, hair-covered biped striding along the driver's side of the road with it's back to her, walking uphill. What she emphasized most was the tremendous size of the subject. Her husband, who was seated on the passenger side of the vehicle, likely began dozing off and didn't have an opportunity to see the subject. He clearly recalls her fearful reaction and her repetitious words "Oh my god, Oh my god." They continued on to their destination of Mt Madonna.

Three months prior (mid-June, 1980) to this incident, two young men had a sighting of a large sasquatch in what was then a dispersed residential area of Scott's Valley, CA roughly 30 miles northwest from this location. The incident was publicized in the Watsonville Pajaronian newspaper, but not in Carmel, where the witness of this encounter had resided.

About BFRO Investigator Bart Cutino:

Part owner of the "world famous" Sardine Factory (Restaurant) on historic Cannery Row, Monterey, CA & Wealth Management Consultant for the NCW Group in Monterey, CA, Bart Cutino has been an enthusiast of large "unrecognized" North American primates for over 28 years.
Is part of CA-BFRO contingent "crew" and has attended/assisted every CA state field effort since joining the organization in 2004.

• Explanation of the report classification system
• Submit a report for the sightings database
• Please send any comments or inquiries to ContactUs@BFRO.net