I recently received a telephone call from a logger ('JH') in northern California, who has had encounters with Bigfoot. He also tells me about an earlier incident experienced by a group of miners.
JH states that his father was a miner and was working along Coffee Creek in Trinity County. At the time, JH was 9-years-old. One day while his father worked JH went hunting for rabbits. He was carrying a .22 automatic rifle. As he was walking along the trail, he noticed a tall reddish-brown hair-covered being standing about 200 feet ahead of him. This was his first encounter with a Bigfoot. He hightailed it back to his father, leaving the rifle on the trail. JH states his father didn't say much, but that he did believe what JH told him.
When JH was 21-years-old, he was driving near Big Bend, California at around 10 pm. His truck suddenly broke down, so JH decided to walk home in order to grab some tools he needed to fix the vehicle. As he walked along Big Bend Road, he heard grunts above him on the hillside by a long chain-linked retaining fence (used to stop boulders from falling onto the road). He pointed his flashlight in the direction of the noise and witnessed a 7+ foot dark figure with reddish eyeshine, which he identified as a Bigfoot.
JH pulled out his revolver and let off one shot into the air, hoping to scare the Bigfoot away. Instead, the beast let out a high-pitched continuous scream while grabbing and violently shaking the retaining fence. JH said that the fence literally shook along its length of about 500 feet! JH once again fired in the direction of the Bigfoot hoping it would leave, which it finally did.
JH said that his father told him an earlier account several years later. He had been working with a crew of miners along Coffee Creek. They had built a camp with several cabins where they would sleep at night. One day, while they were working, a juvenile Bigfoot had gotten close to the camp. A miner was scared by the young Bigfoot and killed it with his rifle. The body was kept in a vacant cabin. They planned to take it back home with them the following day.
That night, the camp was literally attacked by a group of Bigfoot. Rocks and tree limbs rained down onto the cabins, and breached several of the dwellings. JH said that his father believed that the group numbered 7-8 Bigfoot and that the attack lasted about 15 minutes. None of the miners were killed, but a few sustained significant injuries. During the attack, the dead juvenile Bigfoot was taken.
JH states that every logger he works with is aware of the Bigfoot. Each carries a weapon in case there is a need to protect themselves. JH doesn't condone killing Bigfoot, but he acknowledges that they do exist and that there have been instances of aggression.
JH has agreed to keep in contact with me. Lon
The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California
Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist's Search for Modern Apemen
Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot
Bigfoot Terror in the Woods: Sightings and Encounters, Volume 1
Lon's Suggested Reading List - Books & Films / DVDs
