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Geographical Index > United States > California > El Dorado County > Report # 6868
 
Report # 6868  (Class B)
Submitted by witness B. C. on Wednesday, September 10, 2003.
Campers hear late night screams near Pollack Pines

YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 17

STATE: California

COUNTY: El Dorado County

LOCATION DETAILS: Campground on Union Valley Lake. From Highway 50, take Ice House Road and follow for at least 12-15 miles into the hills. Some of the areas around the lake looked like it had been destroyed due to a fire a few years back.

NEAREST TOWN: Pollack Pines

NEAREST ROAD: US 50, Ice house road

OBSERVED: The weekend of August 16th my family and I went camping on Union Valley lake. We had three tent sites about a 100 yards from the shore. On Saturday night my 2 year old son had trouble sleeping and kept me up. I'm guessing it was around 1 or 2 am because of where the moon was. About 200 yards to the south of our site in the woods this very loud and drawn out scream rang out. I immediately stopped moving to try and see if I could hear any movement. Then, from the west across the cove, the same sound responded. The scream from the west continued at least 15 to 20 times. There were other campsites and I remember seeing someones shadow as they walked to the bathroom. The screams got louder and the individual hurried to the bathroom letting the door slam behind him. The screams stopped and did not return. My wife and two kids slept through the whole thing which surprised me considering how loud the scream was. The next morning I asked my father-in-law and my wife's uncle, who were in the other sites, if they heard the screams. Both them and their wives heard them as well. My father in-law, and my wife's uncle thought it might have been a group of coyotes, but we all agreed that we never heard anything like that before in our lives. I can usually immitate any sound, but this scream was impossible for me to mimic. It was too loud for me to do. I have listened to all of the audio that I could find and the recordings in Pallyup Washington are similar.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing else.

OTHER WITNESSES: 4 in total that heard the screams.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 2 am, clear sky at least a three quarter moon.

ENVIRONMENT: Pretty thick forest. I have only been living in California for a month now so I am guessing that the trees where mainly Pine. What was surprising was that the campground was packed with people and the sounds where so close. The lake was really low as well, I guess at least 20-30 feet from the high water line on the lake.


Follow-up investigation report:

The campground mentioned was either Sunset or Fashoda Campground. This location is not far from Lake Tahoe, the Desolation Wilderness, and the Rubicon watershed.