Incident #1000445
Newman, Stanislaus Cty, California
1869
Account
Anonymous writer said he was camped while hunting about 20 miles south of Grayson, and had noticed several times that something was disturbing his fire. Searching he found in damp sand about 300 yards off the print of a barefoot human, of immense size. (Probably not from the creatures he later saw, which were only 5 feet high) He then hid about 70 feet from camp and after more than two hours heard a shrill whistle and turned to see a hair-covered, erect, heavily built creature fully five feet high grab a stick from the fire and swing it around until the flame went out, then repeat with another stick. It also whistled some more. After about 15 minutes it left, but after a short time returned and was joined by a female. Both walked past within 20 yards of his hiding place. No entry for female, as no description. Also no entry for footprint. Writer said he had told his story often and had found one other man who had seen the creatures and a dozen who have seen their tracks, between Grayson and Pacheco Pass.
When
- Year
- 1869
- Season
- fall
- Time of Day
- day
- Duration
- quarter hour
Where
- State / province
- California
- County
- Stanislaus Cty
- Nearest Town
- Newman
- Direction from Town
- West
- Distance from Town
- 10
- Population of Town
- 2700
- Elevation/Altitude
- 10
- Latitude
- 371---
- Longitude
- 1211---
What was seen
- Individuals
- two small
- Total Individuals
- 2
- Population Status
- wild
- First Seen
- in
- Terrain Object
- camp
- Near or/at
- fire
- Multiple Sightings Y/N
- Yes
- Related incident id
- 1000446
- Shot Hit
- No
- Tracks
- found previously
Witnesses
- Witness(es) Sex
- Male
- Report type
- 2nd person
Setting
- Terrain
- foothill
- Exact Terrain
- open area
- Substratum
- forest litter
- General
- none
- Undergrowth
- moderate
- General undergrowth
- none
Weather and light
- Lighting
- daylight
- Visibility Index
- 10
Source
- Source
- Man from Grayson, Cal., writing to the Antioch Led
- Source Type
- newspaper
- Source Date
- 1870
- Source reliability
- 6
- Incident reliablility
- 5
- Jwg file date
- 1969
- Incident type
- 3
Creature description
- Hair Covered
- yes
- Height
- 5 ft
- Build
- very heavy
- Posture
- erect
- Hair Colour
- dark brown
- Neck Length
- no neck
- Shoulders
- wide
- Shoulder Shape
- square
- Forehead
- low
- Nose
- no snout
- Torso Front
- wide
- Legs
- short
- Arms
- long
- Movement
- staying still
- Later Movement
- made a noise, picked something up, maintained distance
- Arms Action
- hanging
- Arms Used
- for picking up
- Object Handled
- stick
- Sound
- whistle
- Reaction
- did not see
- Attracted By
- fire
- Other Unusual Y/N
- Yes
- Describe Unsual
- First creature, apparently male, played with lighted sticks from fire, swinging them around until the fire went out. Apparently had done it several times previously. No description of female, which presumably had breasts, and not clear whether she also played with fire.
- Second Colour
- red brown
- Additional Movement
- put something down, walked away, approached
- Position when first seen
- erect
- Head Size
- small
Witness
- Wildlife Familiarity
- considerable
- Sex
- Male
- Witness Saw with
- naked eye
- Observer Was
- camping, hunting
- Moving Y/N
- No
- Making Noise Y/N
- No
- Closest horizontal distance
- 50 feet
- Farthest horizontal distance
- 75 feet
- Action on sighting
- studied
- No of witnesses
- 1
- Track witnesses
- 1