Over the years Idyllwilders from all walks of life have contributed a wealth of eye witness accounts to our archives. As I often say, "you can't make this stuff up." At least I can't. Below for your consideration and edification the report of one long-time Idyllwild resident.
Witness: Pat Ladd
Interview date: 1/5/2010
This happened 5 or 6 years ago. The first sighting was off
of Fobes Ranch Road. Down the dirt road off the right-hand side 2-3 miles in.
There was a creek back there where we went to look for rocks, me and John Schroke.
You can polish and sell them. We saw multiple tracks, different sizes, big and
little ones. They weren’t bear and they weren’t human, they were too big.
Little ones all the way up to ones too big to be human. They were fresh. We
went and brought the ranger back to show him. He didn’t know what they were, no
idea. John made plaster casts of them with dry-wall plaster he had in his
truck. Those cast are now lost, lost in a marriage break-up thing.
A
month later we came back to the same area. There are some really beautiful
rocks for carving and selling there. Crystals too. I saw something move out of
the corner of my eye. That’s when I tapped john on the shoulder, I said:
“look over there!”
“No that’s just red shank [a kind of tree]” he says.
“No, look right there”
“Oh my God.”
We backed out of there slowly. It was not growling but
sneering, showing its teeth like a dog threatening or warning. So we backed out
and split, a half mile to the truck.
The next sighting happened probably 4 years ago, maybe 3 and
1/2. I was going down to Clifford Dorn’s by the Boy Scout camp. Back side of
Garner Valley, over the Hill off Morris ranch Road, We were driving along and I
said “Stop the truck right here.” I pointed to it and he saw it.
“That’s just a tree trunk.”
I said “Watch this!”
I got out of the truck and shook my hands and butt, and it
did the same thing right back, raised its hands and shook its butt, like it was
mocking me. It didn’t look angry. It just turned and walked off. It was just
sunning itself watching the road, across the canyon about 200 yards away, close
to the Scout camp.
Another one that happened 3 or 4 years ago, we were living
on South Circle. Jeff (Harron, Harrison?) was camping out over on Strawberry
Creek, by the Church Camp. One morning, sun barely up, he came pounding on the
door, saying “Pat, Pat, you’re not going to believe this!”
“What?”
“A Bigfoot stole my sleeping bag!”
It shook him by the feet and he back-pedaled out of it
thinking it was a bear. Then he saw it was not a bear, it was upright. Not a
bear, not human, it was Bigfoot. He was pretty adamant about it.
He
told other stories; one of them stole a chicken from his open fire, that same
year. He heard something in the
bushes. He went to his tent to get his gun… and turned to see this thing take
the chicken off his fire. He also
recalled the time one of the creatures spooked a horse he was riding.
Another
person that’s seen them is Old Bruce, of Val and Bruce’s market down by
Mountain Center. He sells roasted nuts and beef jerky down by the highway. They
broke into his store. He thought it was people and went upstairs to get his
gun. It was this big hairy thing. Lots of incidents, cabins broken into.
Clifford
too has seen a lot of them. He was a trailblazer, knows every inch of the back
country up here. So did I, back in the day. He’s seen whole families, groups of
them.
