I’ve spent a lot of time in Santa Cruz. I used to live there, many years ago, and my first job, in 1970, was at the John Ingalls brussel sprouts cannery that used to be on Laurel Street near the railroad tracks. It was torn down years ago.
I’m well aware of how spooky the old forest north and west of Santa Cruz can be. It is a charming yet shadowy and sometimes eerie area with a narrow two-lane highway winding through it. The redwood trees and dense, lush undergrowth make a trip through this forest an experience to savor. Yet I never thought of that area as a place where there might be a Bigfoot lurking in the woods.
Why? Because the Santa Cruz area is densely populated by human beings. There are miles of unpopulated forested hills there in the California Coast Mountain Range, so I know it is possible that Sasquatch are living there, but if they’re there, I’ll guess they’re feeling fairly well penned in by now as human civilization encroaches on all sides.
I was surprised to receive the following sighting report in my email, but the woman who wrote it is willing to put her name next to the claim. That’s always a good first step toward making a sighting report believable. She also told me she discussed this with Mike Rugg, owner and curator of the Bigfoot Museum in Felton (a small town in the forest near Santa Cruz) who told her there have been other sightings in the area.
Colette Alexander’s sighting report:
June 1999: Cypress Grove (on Pocono trail) 1 mile up Highway 9 from downtown Santa Cruz, California – at San Lorenzo Creek.
My friend and I were having lunch by the creek. There is a well worn trail in the first pull-out on the right hand side of Highway 9 just up from Highway 1 and Highway 9 intersection in downtown Santa Cruz.
It was a weekday around lunchtime and there was one other person, a fisherman wading in the creek and fishing less than 50 yards away. The brush is fairly heavy there, so I do not think he even noticed us.
We were eating sandwiches and enjoying nature. I looked to my right, “spacing out on the forest” when I noticed about 20 yards away a pair of big black eyes. At first I thought it was a person, maybe a homeless person (there’s lots residing in Santa Cruz), but as I focused I noticed that it was a large gorilla-like hominid “Mimicking me – eating my sandwich!” It appeared to be a juvenile female – lifting a leaf to its mouth in the same motion and speed as I was eating my sandwich. Except when I saw it do that and realized this was happening – I slowed down my bite to the sandwich in shock and so did it – with an expression of amusement and kindness at mimicking me! I wasn’t scared, but definitely in shock.
I slowly turned to my left to nudge my girlfriend to show her, and no sooner did I do that, when I looked back it was gone. It could have just closed its eyes! It’s camouflage was incredible! It was as tall or taller than me. I was sitting down and it was sitting or squatting. I could not see it’s legs. It had black/brown fur – noticed no neck and huge shoulders. Hand and face looked gorilla like except that the front of its face was flatter than that of Primates known. I could see it had straight, white teeth. No fangs. I also noticed that it seemed to have had gray moss on its fur, definitely did not bathe, but did not smell anything. (And I’d never seen a homeless person with moss on them – soot, maybe, but not Spanish moss).
The expression of amusement and the mimicking me eating a sandwich was probably more shocking than just the mere sight – although that was incredible in-of-itself. The intelligence was not animal-like! It was eating what is believed to be the Cypress leaves (young growth there in the spring). Also note: next to a creek. Seems like most sightings are in the creeks. It is imperative that migratory patterns and food sources are noted in our sightings. I studied primate anthropology in college two years after I saw a Bigfoot and it’s taken me years before I thought it important to report this and I would take a lie detector test to prove this was a truthful encounter.
In a follow-up email Colette added: “I was a firefighter in Humbolt county for two years and have been way back in the woods, Shasta/Trinity fires in 1987. Only seen/heard coyotes. Never even thought or necessarily believed in their existence until I saw it myself. . . . Natural man – the meek – may in fact – just inherit their earth back.”
Now there’s a thought that brings up goosebumps on my arms. How do you feel about that?
Does anyone in the Santa Cruz area want to research this more? Let me know if you need contact information.
[Update: This is being investigated and documented further by David Paulides of North American Bigfoot Search.]
Here’s a map of the area.
More Bigfoot sightings in that area: Campers Claim They Saw Bigfoot
the bigfoot team will be showing their flim on sunday nov 17 and will be in santa cruz ca wish I could join them maybe my life would be worth something then. I should have been a crytozoologist, I believe in all hidden creatures land and sea. LOVE THIS woodboogers…
When Mike Rugg showed me the incident map he has on his wall at the Bigfoot Discovery Museum I noticed that there is a huge amount of sparsely-populated and virtually unpopulated wilderness in the mountains to the south of the Santa Cruz area. So, even if the mountains near Highway 17 are located between Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley, it could be a better Bigfoot area than one might think. If you travel on 17, you will see that there are plenty of areas that have no human population immediately present – places where a person could get lost if they were to walk in with no map. If a Bigfoot moves around a lot, as many people theorize they do, it could fairly easily travel through these corridors without detection, and still have access to broader areas of open wilderness.
Please contact me at leftybass-at-att.net ASAP regarding the Big Sur event in 1998 if you are a credible person.
I would like to meet with an expert about my one encounter with Bigfoot in a canyon near Big Sur in early summer 1998. There were 2 adults and one dog that morning hike. I’ll never forget the sound and location of where the event occured.
I also know where a lean-to is located and where they hunt or share a creek with the deer. Really have only mentioned my story to non-believers and am frustrated about this. Even the person who was with me that day goes into a hypnotic state when I try to ask them about it and I wished I could get them to talk more.
Donna, there’s a Bigfoot museum in Felton, CA … that would be a great place to contact experts in your area. Also in David Paulides’ book Tribal Bigfoot he documented sightings in your area. See Tribal Bigfoot: Santa Cruz County.
Feel free to contact me on FaceBook or email colette-alexander[@]sbcglobal.net
I live in Bel Air, MD and that is what makes this very hard to explain. I live in a townhouse community that has wooded areas across from me and there are four schools with an open field that is used for soccer and football practice for the younger children. My first experience was two years ago and until last week I didn’t really believe there was any reason to report this sighting as I didn’t think it could be a Bigfoot. My neighbor gave me reason to re-examine my thoughts. I heard what I thought was a Woman screaming and went outside to see what was taking place. This was about 1:30 A.M. and the screaming was coming from the area of the woods about 200 yards from my house and I could see nothing. I phoned our town Police and while waiting for them to arrive, I saw the biggest being I have ever seen walk from the area of where the screaming was coming from. This being was not only tall but massive in girth and looked to weigh between what I thought was 300 to 400 hundred pounds. The gate of this being was more of a lumber with arms swinging and head down. I mentioned this to the police when they arrived. What they found was a Fox’s den that had been disturbed and the screaming was coming from the pups which they put back into their den. Now what I didn’t mention was that this being walked past a swing set that the elementry school has erected and what I didn’t take into consideration was where this being’s head was as he or she walked past. After what my neighbor reported I decided to see how tall the swing set in from the ground. I estimate it to be between 9 and 10 feet tall,and this being I saw walked past it and it’s head was about 3/4 of the way up the support , making this being between 7 to 8 foot tall.
My neighbor told me he has seen something that really freightend him and this is a 270 pound ex-Marine. My friend said on two ocassions he was taking out the garbage about 1:00 A.M. and he saw on the grassy hill that is by our dumpster a huge creature standing next to the creek and it turned and went into a heavy thorned bunch of bushes which over hang the creek. These are so thick no one in their right mind would walk into them as the thornes was cut one to pieces, but this creature just disappeared into them. The second occurance was one that has stopped this friend from putting out the trash late at night or early in the A.M. About 2 weeks ago my friend went to put out the trash and said he heard a lot of grunting which he found very odd croming from somewhere near the Dumpsters, which we have two large one’s side by side. After his first sighting he was on guard and didn’t go all the way up to the sliding door which is on either side of these dumptsers. He said from a distance of about 6 feet he slung the plastic sack into the opening and started to turn to go back to his house. He claims that immediately he saw a huge head appear above the dumpster which is about 6′ 6″ in height. My friend said this creature came around to where he had been and that it was huge and looked really hairy. He reported this to our management and they dismissed it as a homeless person eating from the dumpsters. Our Townhouse community has 8 dumptsters and all of these are in a position next to wooded areas. These dumpsters could feed several homeless people and often you will see bags of garbage outside the dumpster torn open. I have seen Racoons in the dumptster and thought that was the obivious answer but now I am left with another thought. I cannot say for certain what I saw but my friend is convinced what he saw was a bear or a being that he has never seen before and would not care to see again. There is a good size creek that suports rabbits, foxes, Deer and an ocassional Beaver, so there is no shortage of food and water in the community. The other thing as far as food goes the two elementry schools, Middle school and High School are all within 1/2 mile of each other and all serve lunches which provides another source of left over food. I have seen no tracks smelled any foul odor and do not want to experience first hand what my neighbor did. You are welcome to contact me.
I would be very interested in getting togther with the person who had this great experience. I am in Santa Clara area presently, but also lived in Trinity County. Would love comntact iinformation, Thank you,
J
about 25 yrs ago I and 2 of my friends witnessed something Ill never forget would like to tell an expert feel free to email me thankyou very much