- Class 1a
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1a A sasquatch/bigfoot specimen has been collected (alive or dead).
- Class 1b
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1b A report investigation results in a sasquatch observation or the documentation of clear tracks or other forms of physical evidence by an investigator.
- Class 1c
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1c An investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot by a very reliable observer is a distinct possibility, tangible corroborating evidence is documented, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 1d
- Class 1, Corroboration: Reports involving a sighting, and accompanied by another form of support.1d A visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility involving two or more reliable observers, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 2
- Class 2, Competency: Reports involving sightings by professionally trained or highly skilled observers.2 Investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility, the observer is exceptionally trustworthy, professionally trained, and experienced in the outdoors and/or is accustomed to looking for and recording details (e.g., biologist, anthropologist/archaeologist, ranger, trapper/tracker/seasoned hunter, bird watcher, game warden, naturalist, law enforcement), and other explanations can be reasonably excluded.
- Class 3a
- Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.3a Investigator determines that a visual encounter with a sasquatch/bigfoot is a distinct possibility, the observer is credible, and all other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 3b
- Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.3b Unidentifiable vocalizations were reported and there is accompanying tangible evidence to possibly indicate the presence of a sasquatch/bigfoot, the observer is very reliable, and other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
- Class 3c
- Class 3, Credibility: Sightings or possible wood ape evidence reported by credible witnesses.3c No visual encounter occurred, but physical evidence was found to indicate the presence of a sasquatch/bigfoot (tracks, hair, scat, etc.), the observer is very reliable, and other sources can be reasonably ruled out.
Case: 23041101
Class 3aFrightening Encounter with a Wood Ape in Modoc County, CA
Report Details
Occurrence date: September/1982
Location: Modoc County, CA
Nearby/Vicinity: Alturas
Time / Conditions: 22:00 — Weather conditions were very good, clear night. I believed a moon was out. My son was carrying a bright flashlight on him.
# of Witnesses: 3
Location: Modoc County, CA
Nearby/Vicinity: Alturas
Time / Conditions: 22:00 — Weather conditions were very good, clear night. I believed a moon was out. My son was carrying a bright flashlight on him.
# of Witnesses: 3
Witness Account:
A large bi-pedal creature, about 8 foot tall by our small travel trailer that my 17 year old son slept in, that was parked down from our cabin and my son walked down there every night to sleep. It had an arm up over a branch of a tree right at the trailer. It was making deep grunting sounds and smelled terrible. The body was covered with hair but not the face and hands. The hands were very large, the skin was like a dark tan like. The head came to a point at the top but not real pointed. The limb of the tree was 7 1/2 feet high off the ground, (measured it the next day) . His head came over the top of the limb. The creatures hair seem to be a dark brown or rust color. The creature attacked my son, he ran for the trailer door and the creature tried to wrench it out of his hands. My son was screaming very loud and we heard him up at the cabin. My husband grabbed his gun and ran out, saw what was going on and ran to the trailer firing his gun. By the time my husband got down off the deck of our cabin the creature had his arm on top or the trailer and tore the roof air vent off pushing his hand into the vent. Two shots connected with the creature, one in the shoulder and one right below it. My son said, “mom it was waiting on me, it had to be watching me, it was trying to kill me”.
Hand/foot prints:
My son and husband saw the foot prints and the blood. I did not.
Additional observations:
Really horrible smell
Investigator's Observations
Investigator(s): Bob Strain
Investigators: Bob and Kathy Strain
Bob and Kathy spoke with the witness on April 27, 2023 via phone. These additional details can be added:
The family consisted of four members, Mom and Dad, and their son and daughter. All were home at the time of this incident.
Son was 17 years old at the time, and slept in a small camp trailer approximately 30ft. from the cabin.
The creature was reportedly hit with two shots, both from a .357 magnum pistol. Blood and footprints were found on the ground the following day.
Approximately one week later, Mom and Dad arrived back from a shopping trip in town to find both son and daughter hiding in the upstairs portion of the cabin. They reported hearing dogs barking and looked outside to see two eyes shining above the level of their 8ft deck. Something banged repeatedly on the side of the cabin as it circled the cabin. The son and daughter reported whatever it was fled when the parents truck returned.
Several days following this second incident, a neighbor which lived nearby in a trailer without electricity or phone, called the couple’s mobile (radio) phone and requested the son to deliver a message to his girlfriend (who also lived in the trailer) for him explaining why he hadn’t returned home the previous night. The son rode his motorcycle up the mountain to the trailer to find it with numerous bullet holes in the walls, all of which had come from the inside of the trailer. Upon entering the trailer, the son found the young woman cowering under the bed in the trailer. She reported something had tried to break into the trailer by banging on the roof and walls. She said she had feared for her life and had fired numerous pistol shots through the walls of the trailer. She said she looked outside into the darkness, but couldn’t see what was banging on and shaking the trailer.
Mom also reported many local residents refused to go up on the mountain on which their cabin was located, as they reported it to be “too dangerous.” Locals also reported many cattle had either been killed or reported missing from the area for many years.
Mom reportedly took her children and moved back to Southern California two weeks later. The parents divorced soon afterwards. The Dad had instructed the son to tell his mother the animal that attacked the son had been a bear, a story they stuck to for many years. The Dad eventually told his daughter the entire true story. The son never spoke of it following the incident, until he was on a family conference phone call with his sister and their mother. At that time, he admitted to his mother it was not a bear that attacked him. He said the only thing it could’ve been was a very large bigfoot creature, and it smelled “horrible.” The Dad had passed away by this time, and wasn’t present on that phone call.
Mom shared one other incident that had been reported to her by the son during the conference call, and that was he was afraid these attacks had somehow been his fault. He confided that a couple of weeks prior to the initial incident, he had been riding his motorcycle in the area and had taken a shot with a deer rifle at an animal that resembled a bear walking on two legs. That incident, and those that followed, plagued him since, and had caused him much guilt and grief, including two decades of nightmares.
We attempted to contact the son, and although he did respond to one text message that he would be willing to speak with us regarding these events, he never responded to any more of the multiple messages we sent him. His mother messaged him urging him to do so as well, to no avail.
Investigators: Bob and Kathy Strain
Bob and Kathy spoke with the witness on April 27, 2023 via phone. These additional details can be added:
The family consisted of four members, Mom and Dad, and their son and daughter. All were home at the time of this incident.
Son was 17 years old at the time, and slept in a small camp trailer approximately 30ft. from the cabin.
The creature was reportedly hit with two shots, both from a .357 magnum pistol. Blood and footprints were found on the ground the following day.
Approximately one week later, Mom and Dad arrived back from a shopping trip in town to find both son and daughter hiding in the upstairs portion of the cabin. They reported hearing dogs barking and looked outside to see two eyes shining above the level of their 8ft deck. Something banged repeatedly on the side of the cabin as it circled the cabin. The son and daughter reported whatever it was fled when the parents truck returned.
Several days following this second incident, a neighbor which lived nearby in a trailer without electricity or phone, called the couple’s mobile (radio) phone and requested the son to deliver a message to his girlfriend (who also lived in the trailer) for him explaining why he hadn’t returned home the previous night. The son rode his motorcycle up the mountain to the trailer to find it with numerous bullet holes in the walls, all of which had come from the inside of the trailer. Upon entering the trailer, the son found the young woman cowering under the bed in the trailer. She reported something had tried to break into the trailer by banging on the roof and walls. She said she had feared for her life and had fired numerous pistol shots through the walls of the trailer. She said she looked outside into the darkness, but couldn’t see what was banging on and shaking the trailer.
Mom also reported many local residents refused to go up on the mountain on which their cabin was located, as they reported it to be “too dangerous.” Locals also reported many cattle had either been killed or reported missing from the area for many years.
Mom reportedly took her children and moved back to Southern California two weeks later. The parents divorced soon afterwards. The Dad had instructed the son to tell his mother the animal that attacked the son had been a bear, a story they stuck to for many years. The Dad eventually told his daughter the entire true story. The son never spoke of it following the incident, until he was on a family conference phone call with his sister and their mother. At that time, he admitted to his mother it was not a bear that attacked him. He said the only thing it could’ve been was a very large bigfoot creature, and it smelled “horrible.” The Dad had passed away by this time, and wasn’t present on that phone call.
Mom shared one other incident that had been reported to her by the son during the conference call, and that was he was afraid these attacks had somehow been his fault. He confided that a couple of weeks prior to the initial incident, he had been riding his motorcycle in the area and had taken a shot with a deer rifle at an animal that resembled a bear walking on two legs. That incident, and those that followed, plagued him since, and had caused him much guilt and grief, including two decades of nightmares.
We attempted to contact the son, and although he did respond to one text message that he would be willing to speak with us regarding these events, he never responded to any more of the multiple messages we sent him. His mother messaged him urging him to do so as well, to no avail.
