The Sounds of Sasquatch?

Here's an odd one for your files.

About 1994 I was working as a medic at a dirt racetrack in Glen Helen, CA. It was around 2AM on a spring night. Five of us were sitting on the bumper of an ambulance waiting for another unit to return so we could all go home. One of the five of us was seeing a female medic on the other unit and we all waited together, talking about the day's events, venting. Adjacent to the parking area was a road construction-staging yard full of graders, pipes, bulldozers and big piles of sand and coarse gravel. This yard was fenced in chain link with those white strips of plastic woven in it so you can't see the inside. We'd been sitting there for about ten minutes when I heard what sounded like footsteps. Normally this would have meant nothing to me except that we were miles from any habitation, in the high desert. Nobody but nobody would be passing through there. I heard what sounded like heavy foot falls in the gravel just on the other side of the fence. Maybe 20 feet from us.

I didn't want my friends to think I was a kook so I listened without saying anything until the faces of my friends all reflected the fact that they heard it too. They stopped chatting and we all listened. Heel-toe, heel-toe, crunch, crunch. This was spooky not because we were out in the middle of nowhere at night unarmed but because we were medics and liked to think we had seen and heard everything there is. This was new. The sound was of a heavy biped strolling around in the construction yard near the fence. And I do mean strolling. Desert night air carries sound very well so I was 100% sure this was not a deer, rabbit or any other 4 legged animal.

One of us started to yell something like "Hey, who are you?" No response.

After a brief pause, continued footsteps. Heel-toe, heel-toe. Well, being young and male we decided to meet our visitor in person. We started our one ambulance and pointed its high beams and Unity spotlight towards the construction yards gate. It was unlocked, so we opened it wide. The only self-defense we could find was two tire irons. So we three people armed only with the irons went ahead, with two female medics standing back by the unit. The yard was full of equipment and shadows. Lots of shadows.

We walked about 30 feet inside with nothing hairy in sight. Those shadows though were getting much closer to us with every step we took so we decided to retreat with honor. Whatever made those sounds, that yard was his territory, not ours. We backed out and closed the gate. The sounds continued shortly after but fainter, from the far side of the yard. We stood in the headlight glow until the second unit showed. We turned off the oxygen tanks and set the extra battery switch to off so we could all depart for our homes in our personal vehicles. When we told our story to the other crew they laughed, until they saw we weren't laughing along. No joke, guys, listen. They wisely chose not to listen but to hit the road with the rest of us.

Now I know you might say it was a bum or an animal. I don't think so. When I walked in there and stepped on the same gravel I couldn't make the same crunching sounds, and I weigh 175lbs. Sasquatch? What would he drink out there, or eat? Where would he hide in the daytime when it's over 110F? I have no idea. I do know none of us ever accepted a night shift out there again. Fooled me once...

Matt Davies - ICQ: 19763483

Posted: Thursday, May 11, 2000 10:58 PM

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