A field interview by Ken Coon, 1977 Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff
I feel this is the most important witness interview I have ever done because it contains so much information from so many witnesses and the activity continued over such a long period of time.
The original incident occurred sometime in 1970 and was on going when I interview the informants in Colville, Washington in 1977. The witnesses were a family living on a ranch several miles from town and the nearest neighbor was about a mile away.
There was no adult male living there during that time, just the informant and her several children, teenage and younger. They are part Native American, which may explain the somewhat accepting attitude about the whole thing.
In the first incident the children ran into the house hysterical about a bear in the backyard. This was at dusk. The teenaged boy grabbed a .22 rifle and went out and fired one shot at what was obviously a bigfoot.
By the time the mother got everyone calmed down, it was dark, but she went out in the yard and observed three sets of very large yellow-green eyes reflecting from the hillside above the house. There after, every period of late summer and early fall the bigfoot returned apparently for the fresh water spring in the back yard. This was the only year round spring in the area. At first the horses were so frightened they injured themselves trying to get to their corral. The two Doberman dogs nearly strangled themselves trying to get out of their leashes. Apparently all of these visits were at night and footprints were found.
As time passed, the horses lost their fear of the bigfoot and the dogs calmed down a bit but still wanted nothing to do with the nighttime visitors. The informant pointed out that none of the animals have been harmed and the giants don’t seem to mean any harm.
Some evenings the informant walked out into the yard and whistled to the bigfoot and sometimes they would answer back with a whistle. If she walks toward the sound they move away. If she retreats, the sound moves closer.
She also says the bigfoot mimic sounds of various birds and animals including pigs and chattering. She has also heard a whining sound but never the high-pitched scream or the growling reported by others.
The informant sometimes will notice a very strong sulfur odor, but more often than not there is no odor. She states that she believes they have a sense of humor, as they will occasionally hear a loud thump on the side of the house followed by the sound of heavy running feet; it's like a game.
On other occasions they hear scratching on the window screens and the sound of something heavy moving near the house. On one occasion a large black face was seen peering in a window. The bigfoot was apparently standing over to the side of the window leaning over to look in. The face would have been about seven feet off the ground.
The family tried to get the bigfoot to take food and although they have tried food of many kinds they have never taken any. On the other hand, the bigfoot have left gifts on several occasions. The informant has found neatly arranged seen pods, always opened and always arranged in a specific manner. She has also found her firewood on the front porch arranged in the same manner.
To me the most interesting event occurred at 4 a.m. in the late summer of 1974. She observed two of them leaning against the bank next to the spring. The informant had by this time installed a light in the backyard and the bigfoot were clearly visible. She says they were black, shiny and almost oily looking.
When they turned they turned their whole body. The faces were more human. She says they were obviously carrying on a conversation, although she could not hear them. She describes their mannerisms as very human like. At the sound of the toilet being flushed, they quickly disappeared into the darkness. The latest event they reported apparently occurred in the late fall of 1977.
The younger boy spotted one while riding horseback in the late afternoon. He observed the bigfoot watching him
from a grove of trees. The boy turned his horse and headed for home. The bigfoot followed him for some distance but did not seem to be trying to catch him. They state they have only found one pile of fecal droppings and that it was a very human like but several times larger.
I did keep in touch with the informant for some time. They eventually moved away and I then lost touch with them. I promised not to give the exaction location or her name as she had a very protective attitude toward the bigfoot.
There were apparently several different bigfoot involved over the years. In addition to the black one, there was also one very tall, slender one with a very short brown hair. In case you are wondering, I was totally impressed with the straightforward attitude of the witnesses, adults and children.
My interview covered a period of five hours and at no time did I observe or sense anything to cause me to doubt the witness; no sideways glances, no whispered conversations in the background, no one trying to out do the others with their information. The children were in and out of the house, but when they did contribute to the conversation, it fit perfectly with other information I was getting. They were all simply relating what they believed to be true.
This old detective bureau commander was totally convinced!
Ken Coon, Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept. Ret. 1970's
