YEAR: 2007

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: last week of Oct.

STATE: California

COUNTY: Mono County

LOCATION DETAILS: Lundy Lake area

NEAREST TOWN: Lee Vining

NEAREST ROAD: US 395

OBSERVED: I have spoken verbally with an investigator about this incident, but never filled out a report. The more I think about it, the more relevant it seems. So this is my report:

I had been camping on family property for two days waiting for others to arrive. This property once had a cabin on it that was destroyed in the late sixties by an avalanche, but the concrete slab is still there, and we park RV's on it.

I had been sitting in a folding chair reading for a couple of hours when I heard a very large branch snap. It was loud like a gunshot, or at least seemed that way with all of the quiet. Immediately after the snap there was a commotion as some of my nearby items (gas cans and trailer dolly) fell from their spot behind an old wooden shed about 35 feet from me, and something very large moved through the trees for about 30 feet and stopped.

As soon as the branch snapped, I shot out of my chair and then heard the rest of the commotion. It really scared me, and I looked around for the dogs. They were cowering at the door to the trailer, which is strange because they usually go after anything out there. I wanted in the trailer just as bad as they did. As I approached the door, I got the feeling that the animal in question was a short distance away watching. It was very unnerving. We went in and locked the door.

ALSO NOTICED: Several things have prompted me to fill out this report:
First, the resort had closed early for the year and other than 2 or 3 people working at the resort tying up loose ends, I was alone in the canyon.

Second, the dogs ALWAYS go after critters and deer, but not this time.

Third, the animal only moved off a short distance and stopped.
Lastly, this animal had somehow managed to get within 35 feet of me without being heard. Bears are not stealthy, in my experience. It sounded much larger than a deer as it crashed through the trees. I had been sitting there for quite a while when it happened and had not heard a thing until the branch snapped. Also, I never looked for the broken branch, but it sounded very large when it broke.

Several days later when my brother and his family were there, we heard debris coming down the canyon wall above us at night.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me and the dogs.

OTHER STORIES: The posted sightings at Virginia Lakes (other side of the ridge) and the Mono Lake footage.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: appx. 10pm, very dark with only the light from a propane lantern. Weather was cold, in the 40's or 50's.

ENVIRONMENT: The area is mostly aspen groves. There is a creek along the north border of the property, 6 or 7 feet from the commotion.

A & G References: Northern California Delorme Atlas: Page 101, Index of D-7

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

I talked with R.D. on the morning of the 23 of September 2008, and we went over his experiences that took place in the area of Lundy Lake, Mono County. This witness was very credible and believable in his verbal rendition of what took place during those evening hours on the last week end of October 2007.

I will attempt to add a few additional things that were not mentioned in the report. After the witness heard the branch snap, he immediately shot up out of his chair with a flash light in hand and shined it were the sound came from, which was where a real small wooden shed was located about 30 feet from where he was sitting. That's when all the commotion began, like the fuel cans being knocked over that were located just behind the small shed. Then he heard and felt those four heavy foot falls hitting the ground; like something very large was leaving from behind his storage shed and making its way across a small creek that is located just north and west of his location on that property.

The foot fall sounds then just stopped on the other side of that small creek which is lined with a very heavy concentration of trees and brush, and was only located about 25 ft. from his trailer. He felt that whatever it was, was just standing there behind those small trees and brush watching.

As he departed for his trailer he had a very strong sense of fear, and he found the two dogs already there cowering and shivering by the trailer door. He and his dogs all wanting to enter that trailer door as quickly as possible.

Second incident that happened was a small rock, about 1” in diameter, hit the trailer roof later on during the night, and there was just no way that it could have just fell from the steep cliffs that are on the north and south sides of Lundy canyon walls, because no wind was blowing that night.

I know there is not a lot to say that a Sasquatch was there that night, but for the fact of heavy foot falls that made the ground shake and their sounds, then the strong feelings of fear, and how the dogs were acting.

R.D. has been a witness to several strange things that have occurred in the past to he and his brother. One was when he has come across a deer that was torn apart, with its back leg was twisted and broken. Another one was when he observed how other deer have acted around campers, like not being frightened of those people when they seemed to be running from something that was up in the canyon that was possibly chasing them down to where the people were camping. These deer would stay close to the campers and keep their eyes on something that was up in the canyon.

Now for the relevance that sasquatch could be in this area in the first place is the fact that somebody incorporated beavers into this canyon during the nineteen thirties, and they have multiplied to a point that the forest service is now trapping them so they can be removed from that area. The beavers have created several large marshy areas west of Lundy Lake, which are larger than ¼ mile by a ¼ mile in size, and in doing so, they have created several small lakes that has enabled a lot of native fish to be embedded in those marshy areas. With the numerous deer living in this canyon and with all of the caves and mines that were created by the folks who were after gold in this area; this has created a great place for a sasquatch species to survive. They, the forestry folks, are now attempting to make this area into a wilderness area, and thus keeping most folks out of this area.

This witness also has stated that he and his family have been building up some old rock walls that were first laid down by the Chinese’s during the late 1800’s and these rock walls now have many, many chipmunks living in those walls. Yes, there was a town in this canyon during its gold rush era. Also of note is the fact that this Mill Creek, which runs out of Lundy Lake, runs directly into Mono Lake, and we now know of a short bit of video called the Mono Lake Footage. To read the report and to view the footage please see report #23768.

Update:

On the 19th of October of 2008, I met with R.D. and his brother up at their privately owned camp site at Lundy Lake to go over the incident, and to view and photograph the area. What I learned was that this witness has been going to this location since he was a very young man, and he is very familiar with what has taken place in the canyons past, but he has also gathered much information on his own while exploring the many different locations in that deep canyon.

Some of those locations are the many different gold mines that were abandoned over 130 years ago. He showed me a trail that was made by the early settlers who attempted to make this a way through the Sierra Mountains into the Sacramento Valley of California; during mid 1800's. The Canyon proved too rugged for that to have happened.

What I found interesting is that some of those mines that were clustered together were called "The Gorilla Mines." This witness has visited many of those old mines, and he has entered into a few of those mines when he was a youngster. But, on occasions, he had some really bad feelings while he approached some of those mines, and found out if he left those places, he got to feeling much better. Note that at that time he didn't have any ideas that sasquatches even existed let alone that they may have the capabilities that they could possibly chase people away from their locations in that fashion.

Several years ago, R.D. found an old newspaper article that came out of the gold prospecting era that talked about wild hairy men who were in that area during the 1800's. I was hoping that I would have the article or its location for this update. As a youngster he was out exploring one day, and he came across a fresh dead deer that had its hind leg broken and twisted and it was laying in a creek. He then showed it to one of the forest rangers who was working in that area, who said that this deer must have slipped on a rock and then drowned in the creek.

The following five pictures were taken by me during my October 19th visitation of that area and conference with this witness:

In the first two vertical photos, the first one shows one of the first of three beaver ponds that lie about 1/4 mile west of where the witness's camping pad is located. In the second vertical photo is the witness's pad and you can barely see the shed in the foreground behind two trees. The witness had his small trailer located on the left hand side of that cement pad and closest to where the photo was taken. Please notice the steep rock face slope located on the north side of the canyon which is just up and behind the witness's camping pad. The snow in this canyon can get well over 25 feet deep at times, and the snow slides have removed the cabin that was located on this pad several years in the past.

The third photo which is horizontal in showing you Lundy Lake from the east end looking westward up into the canyon. The witness's camping pad is located approximately just above where the green pine trees stop in the bottom of that canyon above the lake.

The fourth photo shows the witness's pad a little closer, and you can see the small wooden shed which is a little over 6' feet tall by about 5' wide. This is what the creature was hiding behind The witness was sitting in a chair next to his barbeque in front of the wood pile that is laying just off of the cement pad in the foreground. The small trailer would have been sitting between that shed and the photographer on the cement pad.

The fifth photo is showing one more beaver pond and one of the mountains that is on the south side of that canyon, and this is where some of those gold mines are located.

One reason that I went to so much trouble to show you a probable Class "B" report is the fact that some folks needed to know where a sasquatch, which was seen in that three second shot that took place seventeen years ago in the Mono Lake film, could have possibly came from. This Lundy Lake is located just up a canyon off of Mono Lake, and its Mill creek runs into Mono Lake.

About BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

• Four years in the United States Navy, 1955-1959 (Combat Air Crewman on P4M Mercator Patrol Aircraft)
• 37 years in the aerospace industry: 33 years with General Electric at Edwards AFB; More than 5 years with the Northrop Grumman Corp. at Edwards AFB (Flight Line Mechanic on the B-2 Bomber).
• During 20 of those years at Edwards he was a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for the County of Los Angeles.

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