April 6, 2014

Bigfoot In Los Angeles?

The History Of Sasquatch In So Cal

Written By: Ken Hulsey / Terri Pressley

‘Huge, scary, aggressive, fast, and threatening’. These terms are used to describe several Bigfoot-like creatures said to inhabit the desert regions of southern California. These mysterious giant apes go by many different names, The Borrego Sandman, The Speedway Monster, Zoobies, Devils, and the Yucca Man.

It may come to the surprise of those who follow stories about Bigfoot and other mysterious creatures that the first report of these creatures by European settlers did not come from the East Coast, Midwest, or even the Pacific Northwest. It actually came from southern California. In 1769, Spanish priests founded the first mission in San Diego. Local Gabrieleno Indians told the padres about “harry devils” that lived nearby. In fact according to written accounts, the Indians lived in fear of these large, foul-smelling, “wild-men” and refused to anywhere near their reported home called “towis puki” (camp of the devil) on the southern bank of the Santa Ana River. The area of “Deadmans Hole” near Holcomb Village, just west of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was a water stop on the old Stagecoach lines during the mid to late 1800s, and is the reported site of several alleged murders blamed on Bigfoot. In 1876, one the passengers who ventured out of the safety of the coach while it’s horses stopped to take a drink reported seeing a large, naked, hairy “thing” watching him from behind some scruff. After that, several people met their demise at the site, either strangled or beaten to death by an unknown person or thing. They blamed the monster of course, regardless of the fact if it actually killed them or not.

In April of 1876, the San Diego Union reported an encounter with a “missing link” near Warner’s Ranch, also west of Anza-Borrego, by a young man named Turner Helm. According to Helm, the creature had dark fur like a bear and a face like an American or Spaniard.

In March 1888, two local hunters, Charles Cox and Edward Dean, set out to hunt down the monster and finally put an end to the murders. According to the San Diego Daily Transcript the pair found, and killed, what they were looking for. A creature described as a gorilla with the face of an Indian and fangs like a bear. The creatures’ body was to be transported to San Diego where it was to be on public display but mysteriously disappeared before arrival.

Undoubtedly, it was the discovery of gold deposits that first lured the white man to this desolate area and it is from one of these fortune hunters that the first report of Bigfoot or the Borrego Sandman as it has been called in these parts, originated. Reportedly in 1939 a prospector, who when interviewed in the 1970s wished to remain anonymous, was attacked by a large group of ‘upright-walking-apes’ as he camped near the Borrego Sink. The frightened man described the creatures as very large, covered in white fur, with glowing red eyes. The only thing said to have saved the man was the fact that the monsters were afraid of his campfire.

Read More @ A Brief History Of Bigfoot In Southern California

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Folklore, Monster Island News, Sasquatch