The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word cryptid as “An animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.” For the following witnesses to living cryptids, there is no dispute. In this series of National Cryptid Society’s case files, you will read what the witnesses have experienced in their own words.

Keep an open mind when reading these accounts, and also remember one’s perception and memory of an event can be influenced by the emotions felt at the time of the occurrence. The contributors to this series of articles are doing the best they can to recount what are in some cases very shocking and traumatic experiences.

If you have a personal cryptid sighting story you would like to tell us, our contact information is at the bottom of this article.

Location: Mammoth Pools Reservoir, California, Sierra Nevadas, Fuller Meadow, along the French Trail.

June 2013

Our family and friends have been camping at Mammoth Pools Reservoir every June for more than 30 years. We usually arrive on opening day, June 15th, and always camp at China Bar, located several miles up the lake from the boat launch. Mammoth Pools Reservoir, located on the backside of Kaiser Peak (from Huntington Lake), is not easily accessible and China Bar is only accessible by boat. There is another campsite near Fuller Meadow, also only accessible via boat, but we have never camped at that site. On this trip, we boated to Fuller Meadows and put down our crawfish traps, as usual. But we noticed clothing strew along the bank and along the trail leading to the campsite.

Alarmed because the lake had just opened for recreation, we tied the boat, got out and walked to the campsite. There, we found the campsite abandoned with all camping gear onsite except for sleeping bag(s) and ice chest(s.) The tent was intact but turned upside down. We, seven adults, assumed a bear had caused the campers to flee. We spread out to search for anything else unusual but each of us felt unsafe, as though we were being watched and returned to China Bar. Either the next day or following day, my husband and I returned to Fuller Meadow in the afternoon to check the traps and do some fishing. He fished off the back of the boat, tied to a rock at the point while I went ashore, walked toward the meadow and sat down along the bank.

It was about 4:00pm, the sun was still above the mountain to the right of where I was sitting. At the meadow, there are large trees that create a horseshoe around the meadow. The grasses come to the water’s edge and there are bushes near the shoreline where I was sitting. We were the only persons at the meadow and no other boats were noticeable. The weather was beautiful with no clouds in the sky. While fishing and reading my book, I caught a shadow, out of the corner of my eye, on my right, casting from the West.

Immediately, assuming it was a bear, I looked to see what was walking near me but it was NOT a bear. I have seen more bears than I can count while hunting, camping [or] fishing. I saw a creature I have never seen before walking just inside the trees closest to where I was sitting: its shadow caught my attention. It was probably no more than 50′ from me. It was dark brown in color, and covered in hair/fur. It was 8′-9′ tall, powerful, walking upright, on two legs. It seemed confident and casual as though it knew the route it was traveling. It was very muscular, its shoulders were huge and it swung its arms and upper body with each step. It was not clumsy but surefooted, easily walked through the trees and did not turn its head to look side-to-side.

I did not see its face as it had just passed me. It did not have clothing or any ornaments on: it was not carrying anything. I was terrified, felt that I was in danger and immediately rolled onto my stomach, trying to control my breathing. I don’t know if it saw me or not: I assumed it had excellent hearing but I may have been camouflaged by the bushes next to me, or it may have seen my husband in the boat and thought he was alone and not a threat. I watched it walk away in the direction toward China Bar, along the French Trail (the meadow and China Bar are not on the same side of the lake). As soon as I felt that it was safe to flee, I gathered my gear, ran to our boat [and] told my husband “We have to leave right now! There’s something back in there!” He asked me what I saw but all I could say was, “Some sort of witchcraft, some kind of creature.”

I was still physically shaking when we returned to China Bar and everyone was alarmed by how scared I was. The next morning… At 6:00am, a few of the men in our camp got up to go fishing. There was a fire, on the steep hill almost directly across the lake from our camp. When I say, “across the lake,” the distance is less than 1/4 mile. There is just no possible way for a fire to start there: the weather was clear, not a cloud in the sky. It’s not possible to camp there, it’s steep terrain and none of those camping at China Bar had a campfire as we were in a severe drought.

The men in our camp, most active or retired Firefighters, including a Fire Marshal, were able to contain the fire until the Sheriff and Forest Service arrived. Our camp became the base camp for fire personal so we packed up, ended our trip early, returned home and have yet to return. I believe the creature I saw started that fire, confronted or threatened the campers who abandoned their campsite at Fuller Meadows and ultimately is very dangerous and capable of harming humans.