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Bigfoot sighting
on Highway 101 - 20081107
By Linda Williams/TWN Staff
Writer
During the height of the smoke from Mendocino Lightning Complex
fires, a Laytonville man had an encounter with an apelike
creature while driving north of Willits on Highway 101 near
Shimmins Ridge Road.
"This animal stepped onto the southbound
lane near where the guardrail stops," says LoPinto. "It
was very smoky and incredibly hot, at least 100 degrees but
still daylight. It ran really fast, directly into the path
of a small truck, which had pulled out to pass me, after the
lanes had expanded from two lanes to four.
"The creature was completely black and
looked all freaked out. I pointed at it so the other driver
could see it and hit my brakes, hard. I didn't think I could
stop in time and was sure I was going to hit it. Miraculously
the passing truck missed the creature and sped out of sight.
"As the creature ran toward me, I saw
it was least seven feet tall. The animal never slowed down
as it ran on its hind legs like a man.
"I thought, 'it looks like a guy in a
gorilla suit.' When it got to middle of the freeway, I could
see it clearly. Its whole head was covered in black hair.
I couldn't see any ears. As I was braking hard to make a panic
stop the creature put its arms down and started running on
four legs, bounding across the freeway. It had giant arms;
they were very long and covered with fur.
"When my car finally stopped, I looked
out the windshield and it stopped about 25 feet in front of
me at the edge of the road. It was at eye level with me as
I sat in the car.
"I had no idea what it was. It was covered with hair
down to the ground. I looked at its face and it was completely
flat without a nose. It turned his whole body toward me-its
neck was stiff. We made eye contact. Its face was yellow or
gold like a ripe banana. It had holes for its nostrils and
a smooth and shiny forehead with ridges instead of eyebrows.
It had a simian face.
"I saw a red glow coming back from its
eyes; it may have been a reflection from my headlights. Its
mouth was closed and it had thin lips, it didn't show any
teeth and made no sound, at all. Then it turned and leapt
down into the ditch and up the hillside. I was freaked out."
At first, Chris LoPinto had no idea what he
had seen; he thought it might have been an escaped zoo or
circus animal. He called the Department of Fish and Game biologist
and found there were no apelike animals native to North America
and that no such creature had been reported lost in the area.
LoPinto filed an incident report with them. LoPinto also filed
a police report with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department.
After finding no help from official sources,
LoPinto began researching the internet to find answers and
found groups devoted to tracking big foot.
He contacted a Bigfoot Society group to report
his sighting and was contacted by a Bigfoot field researcher
Tom Yamarone.
"I've interviewed 40 eyewitnesses and
spoken with at least a dozen others," says Yamarone.
"Chris' account is consistent with other reports, and
it was spotted in a likely area. The red glowing eyes are
also consistent with others' observations. The unique aspects
of Chris' account are the close proximity to the creature,
that he had a good look the face and eyes and that the creature
propelled itself with its front arms."
LoPinto still doesn't know what he saw, but
he is sure of the details. He also thinks, whatever the creature
was, it was obviously disturbed by the heavy smoke and fires
throughout the area.
There have been a number of Bigfoot sightings
in Mendocino and Humboldt counties according to various Bigfoot
sighting lists.
A "paranormal" observer in December
2007 reported seeing a large animal standing on two legs at
her car. She reported it patted the window of her car several
times before running away at high speed.
In May 2004, a group of six hikers north of
Highway 162 near Murry Range reported finding a series of
unusual large tracks. One of the witnesses said, according
to the report written by Yamarone, "a friend saw one
[a Bigfoot] cross Highway 162 just outside of town as he was
driving to work in Willits." Yamarone also notes there
are many Bigfoot stories about extending across generations
in the Round Valley area.
In 1961 and 1962, a series of Bigfoot tracks
were reported by a Bob Titmus northeast of Covelo. In 1962
in a remote area near Fort Bragg, Robert Hatfield reported
seeing a Bigfoot standing head and shoulders above a six foot
fence. Hatfield later rounded the corner of a house and walked
right into the creature. Hatfield was "knocked to the
ground and scrambles to the house on all fours.
A neighbor in the house tries to close the
door to prevent the creature from getting in. Bigfoot then
runs off leaving a large muddy "handprint" on the
door.
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