YEAR: 1950

SEASON: Summer

STATE: California

COUNTY: Ventura County

LOCATION DETAILS: It is about 4 hours horseback past Piedra Blanka

NEAREST TOWN: Ojai, Calif

OBSERVED: This happened when I was 12 years old, so that had to be in 1950. I was camping in Los Padres National Forest. I was riding along a hill following a trail down to water in the Sespy River. About 50 yards from the streem, I saw 3 Big Foots geting a drink. I knew bears and monkeys,but this was something I had never seen before. I just sat still on my horse and when they saw me, I raised my hand as if to say hi. The largest one raised her hand and in a little while, she took each of the 2 little ones by the hand and walked up the trail. I waited a little while so as not to scare them then rode on down to the streem to give my horse a drink. The big one was about the size of a teenager. I think she was baby siting the 2 little ones. They all had redish brown hair but not on their faces or hands. The teanage one had the begenning of brests. They did not seem to be afraid of me in any way. When my horse finished drinking, I rode on up the trail but didn't see any sign of them. This is all true. I have told a few people but they said I was lying. Thats why I have never told this until now. I think people should leve the alone, but know they won't.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About mid morning. The day was sunny,

ENVIRONMENT: rolling hills, low grass and rocky. A branch of the Sespy River is there

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kevin Withers:

The witness was camping alone in the Los Padres National Forest near her home in Ojai (pronounced Oh' - high) because she had run away from home - behavior that was somewhat common for the witness when she was a child. The first time she ran away, her parents were alarmed enough to have forest rangers out looking for her. However, her subsequent excursions from home eventually left her parents indifferent because they knew that she would return in a few days.

The witness, on horseback, rounded a curve in the trail and saw down below three hair covered creatures drinking from a stream. They were crouched down on their hands and knees on the bank, with their mouths in the water, and did not look up to see the witness for about thirty seconds.

After the creatures rose up, the witness raised her hand, palm facing outward, in a greeting, which was returned in like fashion by the adolescent, while the two smaller creatures stood beside the adolescent and stared at the witness. The adolescent then took the two small ones by their hands and the three of them turned and walked up the trail and over a hill. The sighting lasted about three to four minutes.

Afterwards, when the witness moved down to the stream to allow her horse to drink, she did not think to look for tracks. She did not know what the animals were, because in 1950 most people had never heard of bigfoot. However, she knew that these animals were not bears, because they did not look like bears, and because bears would not have returned her greeting gesture.

Using her own five foot height as a yardstick, the witness judged the tallest of the three, apparently an adolescent, to be about 5' 3" to 5' 4" in height. The two smaller ones were about three and a half feet tall. The creatures had brow ridges, although not as pronounced as a Neanderthal. They had "Kind of Negroid" shaped noses, and the ears were not visible. Head shape was human-like, with no crest or point at the top. The witness is unsure of the hair length. The adolescent had a "Normal build like a teenager," and the creatures walked with bipedal, human-like gaits.

No odor was noticed during the sighting. The witness never felt any fear, nor did she have any feeling of being watched while moving up the trail after the sighting. The horse "Didn't pay no mind at all" to the creatures.

The 219,700 acre Sespe (pronounced Ses' - pee) Wilderness Area is situated in the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. The area is a part of the fourth largest roadless region left in the Lower 48, and it's the one closest to a large metropolitan area. Numerous trails provide access, and human use is heavy. The 53,000-acre Sespe Condor Sanctuary is located here, and there are numerous petroglyphs and other evidence of ancient Indians. Sespe Creek runs for 31.5 miles and is the last remaining undammed river in Southern California.

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