Bigfoot Society - It's About Time I Shared This | California

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

In this episode of Bigfoot Society, Lance recounts his astonishing encounter with an unexplained creature in 1967 near the North Fork of the Trinity River in Northern California. As a nine-and-a-half-year-old, Lance witnessed a massive, fur-covered being that closely resembled depictions of Bigfoot. With vivid details of the encounter, including the creature's physical features and behavior, Lance's story offers a compelling and personal glimpse into one of the world's most enduring mysteries. Don't miss this incredible account that has stayed with Lance for over 53 years.A special thank you to Eric from the Willow Creek - China Flat Museum and Bigfoot Collection for making this connection possible.Resouces: Willow Creek - China Flats Museum website - http://thebigfootmuseum.comSasquatch Summerfest this year, is July 11th through the 12th, 2025. It's going to be fantastic. Listeners, if you're going to go, you can get a two day ticket for the cost of one. If you use the code "BFS" like Bigfoot society and it'll get you some off your cost.Priscilla was a nice enough to provide that for my listeners. So there you go. I look forward to seeing you there. So make sure you head over to www. sasquatchsummerfest. com and pick up your tickets today.If you've had similar encounters or experiences, please reach out to [e-mail]. Your story could be the next one we feature!🔴 Subscribe to our Youtube channel and leave a comment here: https://www.youtube.com/@BigfootSociety?sub_confirmation=1Want to call in and leave a voicemail of your encounters for the podcast - Check this out here - https://www.speakpipe.com/bigfootsociety(Use multiple voice mails if needed!)Share this video with a friend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5v75Od-X38Watch more episodes of the Bigfoot Society podcast here – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3t1vwtsKh-MGeHs0XglFJE5LwUHpmJm_&feature=sharedRecommended Playlist – New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3t1vwtsKh-Mk4032IyZtWgP6LVPU8uat✅ Help me help others share their Bigfoot Encounter by joining the community on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsociety✅ Hear ad-free episodes early by joining the community on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7Q/joinLet’s connect:Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bigfootsociety/Twitter – https://twitter.com/bigfoot_societyTiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@bigfoot.societyAffiliate links mean I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. This helps support my channel at no additional cost to you.My Audio Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1q8XYPut some pep in my step by buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bigfootsocietyPick up some merch here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/bigfootsociety/?etsrc=sdtSend mail here:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072Send business inquiries to: [e-mail]

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Lowe's, we help, you save. VALA through 527. Wall Supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for details. Visit your nearby Lowe's on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. Welcome to Bigfoot Society. If you have Bigfoot activity to report from the same areas discussed in this episode, please reach out to me directly after this episode. And if you'd like to be on the podcast to discuss a personal Bigfoot encounter, please reach out to me directly at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com.

Do you wish there was more Bigfoot Society to listen to every week? Well, there is now. If you become a supporting member over at Patreon, you get a special members-only episode every single week on Wednesdays. and sometimes even more episodes. Head on over to patreon.com forward slash the Bigfoot Society. And now let's get on with the show. All right, Bigfoot Society. I've got the privilege talking to Lance today. This is going to be a very unique interview

that I've been looking forward to for quite a while. Eric from the Willow Creek China Flat Museum and Bigfoot Collection reached out to me and said, hey, I have this individual I just talked to. and I would love to try to make a connection with yourself at Bigfoot Society because if you can talk to this guy, it would be incredible. And I was like, I'm immediately interested because I've heard of Eric from Cliff Berrickman's podcast, and he sounds like you really knows this stuff. So thank you to Eric for help setting up this interview and also make sure, guys, if you're in the Willow Creek area, check out the China Flat Museum.

There's a lot of great Bigfoot artifacts over there. You will not want to miss it. But Lance, welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you on here, as I had said. But, you know, I'm going to go ahead and hand things right over to you, sir. It'd take us back back to 1967 to what you experienced back then. And we'll take it from there. You know, she'll get goosebumps telling the story.

It was 1967, I was about nine and a half years old. My family on my father's side a hundred and so years ago I had established a miming claim

up on the North Fork of the Trinity River there in Northern California. And all of his lovely property, big ponderos of pines and Douglas Spurs, I guess, or Douglas and the river great for fishing and swimming and heavy and yeah um i've never seen

any bears up close up there but i know there was plenty but um this comes into this story my uh dad uh was going up to the property to do the assay or work on the property and everything else and I got to go up with them. My mom and dad had been divorced for several years and so seeing my dad and hanging out with it was a big deal. I was excited. So we went up there from Southern California where we lived and long drive.

But we got up there late at night and spent the night the next morning. This mid-morning or so, a couple of dogs came longer and up to the cab. that was highly unusual. And they were bear dogs, bear hunting dogs. They had the antennas on the call her and named an address phone number. And we called the guy who owned the dogs and he said he'll come down that evening and get him.

Cool. I'm just doing the little nine and a half year old stuff, you know, walking around with a stick and hitting stuff and big and bugs and catching the garter snakes by the river. I was in front of the cabin hanging out. Dogs started barking, just crazy barking. And they're looking west. The cabin kind of sits off the east side of the road between the river and the road. I can see this, the dog's barking in that direction.

I look over, and I can see a big dark black thing coming down the cutaway on the other side of the road and crossing the road about time to hit the road i call out dad what is that he looked at it and said let's get in the house right now get in the cabin so i did get in the porch is covered by screen and one by it's no protection and he grabbed his deer rifle and sit out in front this thing came closer closer roads about 150 feet away and this thing came, oh, I don't know, came right towards this. And then I noticed the sunshine and on it. It was kind of a little reddish in there, in that coloring.

And I was just in, mouth open. What is that? And it came closer and closer and didn't really pay any attention to us. It seemed like the attention was over towards the left. And there's been a dredger down there, judging from gold all mornings wow wow it didn't you're sucking the gold off the bottom big gas power engine it was going on all morning since just at the first life and it was very bothersome you could probably hear this thing for a mile a morning and it came towards us got with him oh i don't know

30 40 feet of my dad with that rifle point mad and just he he turned left and he's making these sounds, just growling and grunting. And I couldn't make them now because it's been too long. It's been 53 years since this happened. And I started heading over towards the dread. Well, down up the river where this road kind of turns, just kind of a trail, deep road crosses the river and goes on up above the cabin to the actual mine site in the side of the mountain.

we call it Montgomery Road. Montgomery's lived down the road just a mile and they had the last remaining water cannon, suitcase box, gold bind operating in the United States west of the Missouri at that time.

Anyway, this thing disappears into the willows right along the creek bed. Suddenly, we hear this tractor, his tractor, start up and take off up that road as fast, that old tractor can go. It just went.

And I never saw the creature again. I never met the old man on the tractor. But my dad comes back in the cat, and I said, gee, what was that? Oh, that was a bear. It was just a bear, Lance. Well, I was a young, you know, nine and a half, naive, and I'm very confused now.

Because bear walks on four leg, this thing was on two. I'd never got a good look at his face, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly fur covered. Probably six and a half, seven foot, maybe. It took long. It covered the 200 feet from the other side of the road to the cabin so fast. It probably walked as fast as I could crop real fast.

It's crazy. It didn't even look at us. had two dogs, a rifle, and some man standing out in front of it and just, it was out in the open in the broad sunlight. God, it was hot that year. It was 100 degrees. And there's no trees in the way, bright sunlight, out in the open, 50 feet on each side. And I saw this thing up close and personal.

And, you know, it bothered me for many years. What is it? Well, it wasn't until I heard it turned big, great. and I saw the video of one taking up a cliff and that's it. That's what I saw. And people say, like I said, I still get goosebumps telling this story.

Yeah, the dogs wanted a piece of it really bad. I wanted to know what the heck it was. But the funny thing is, it was a bear. My dad would have shot it. because it was coming towards us. He shot one before when he was younger. He was a forest ranger all over northern California and Washington. And he had one come up and one attacked him.

He ended up shooting it with a little 30-40 Craig rifle, DeVon barrel. This is a, it was a 30 caliber. Lance, sorry. He shot every bear. Sorry, did you say the park ranger shot a bear or a big? foot. No, I bear. He was young.

He had a job and I'm sorry. I get going too fast. You're good. But that was the experience. It was about, oh, 15 seconds of pure wonder. And it's lasted me 53 years. I'm getting older and my health isn't good anymore. I wanted to get this story out to somebody who may not or may believe.

I'm glad you did. I saw it. Yeah. I have definitely a few questions for you. So this area that you were in, how close to Willow Creek would you say you were? Probably as a crow flies, probably 15 miles, I think. Maybe 15 miles. Okay.

And is that north or? It would have been 15 miles east. Yeah, east and a little bit. Gotcha. When you were watching it walk across, did it turn its head at all? Gosh, you know, it's hard to remember that long ago, but not much because I really don't remember too much of the face. Remember, if I did see fingers. And the skin was kind of the cam, very dark cam.

Chams. Feet, I couldn't see much black hair, brown and dark, dark, black, brown hair. Do you remember anything? No, no. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Do you remember anything out of the ordinary about the fingers on the hand? They were long and thick.

And I have fingernails like people. I saw the fingernails. that's stuck with me instead of claws. That's really interesting. So you're saying it looked like the fingernails of that a human would have. Exactly.

Oh my goodness. It's a longer. I'm consulting manager regularly. Right. And I don't know whether it was a male or female. I don't know. You know, you'd mention that you had seen that video, Patterson Gimlin film.

Thinking back to that video and what you saw that day as well, were there any things you noticed that were similar or different or anything like that? Just the way it walked, this hair seemed a little bit longer, but I really, yeah, it was pretty shaggy. The differences, no similarities, yeah, the walk. So long strides, how long would you estimate that its stride was? That would be hard to say. I grew up to about six foot two.

And if I took a leap, I could probably go five feet if I tried real hard. But yeah, this is making big strides, four to five feet. Sure. Did you, do you remember any details about how long its arms were or its arms in general? Well, that's what led me to look at the fingers. because they were swinging. My hands were swinging pretty good. And, yeah, I guess the arms were long.

I didn't notice at the time, but I guess, yeah, and it was kind of slumped over, so the hands were down pretty low. Did it seem to have a neck at all? No. Heck. Were you able to see any muscles underneath the hair as it walked? It seemed like up around, as I picture at my mom,

It's not as vivid as it used to be as a long time ago, but tricep area and calves, I noticed pretty muscular. I noticed that because I just comparing it to the size of my dad and seeing this in the same site picture, it was much bulkier. My dad was six-like and slim. This thing was massive across the shoulders. How wide across the shoulders would you estimate? Oh, I couldn't say.

I really couldn't say it's been too long. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. Definitely. Well, my dad was average width, so it was much wider than my dad. So that's all I've been about said. Okay. So you've already mentioned the details about the fingernails on the hands,

which is a very unique detail. were there any other details you remember seeing that maybe when you realize you're like wow that is really doesn't really make sense it's kind of a little unique and it's just kind of weird yeah it was awesome like I said I wasn't I wasn't all that frightened because I was so intrigued by what the heck that was I was a very inquisitive boy I was always digging up things and looking up things and books about nature and so forth. And yeah, so I was just enthralled by this thing. Did you have any neighbors around that cabin area at all?

No, the nearest neighbor was who I mentioned before was from Montgomery, or two quarters of a mile or so down the road. And they stayed up there in the summers doing their mining them. That's about the only ones up there in that area. Gotcha. Did you ever hear of any other encounters or sightings in that general area where you were at? No, I was only nine and a half. True.

Yeah. That's true, yeah. Yeah, I was just a little kid. When you grew up, did you have any discussions with your father about what happened that day? No. No, we never talked about it. I brought it up once to his sister, my aunt, and they're two kids. They said, oh, well, that was just a bear.

Your dad told us all about it. I said, well, you weren't there. And that got into a little bit of his discussion, but not much. Yeah, he never mentioned it. He never talked about it. Dad was hardly ever around, so I didn't get to talk to him all that in my TV. So it was kind of stuck inside. Growing up, I had shared the story a few times,

and I never got good reactions. I didn't, you know, non-believers, they didn't believe. Or it would be hard to believe. If you've never been, say, if you're not a wimsy person, and you've never been out there in the woods in a while, and see the creatures and how they act and how this one acting yeah you couldn't believe it you mentioned that you heard it make growling and grunting sounds have you heard any sounds since then that come close to what you heard that day uh certainly not a bear um it it growled

and grumbled as if it had um sometimes almost as if it was talking like a darned son of a good, one loud thing, I gotta shut that loud thing down, you know, that compressor for judging that record. And nothing else except for maybe a gorilla is about as close as I could get. Sure. So it kind of sounds like, and this is just my interpretation, it almost was trying to say something, but you really couldn't make out maybe what it was saying. Yeah, kind of like, like I did. R.

R. Like, it was almost talking. That and there, go, ah. It was pissed. Right. He was so mad at that noise. There are no whistles or anything, but yeah. It's mad.

That's very interesting. It's, it's a, it's something that comes, has come out in other encounters, too, where you'll find that these, you know, these Bigfoot will, we'll get kind of really mad at very loud machinery or generators, and we'll just go over and try to take them out. Sometimes they will take them out, you know, and just get it quiet again, which I don't blame them, really.

But now when you heard them making those weird sounds where it may be kind of saying something, but not really. Did that remind you of any other, maybe language or way of talking you've heard over the years? Oh, no. This is different. Yeah.

Okay. I've got to say that that dredge Graham and ran and killed the gastronaut. That guy was never not coming back down right there, I'm sure. Oh, he just was like, I'm out of here. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I'm out of here. He didn't come back down to shut that thing off. It just ran and ran. I don't have a guess.

My dad said, oh, we can't stay the weekend. We have to go now. I said, oh, I got business in town. We got to go. And so we left that day. We're going to stay two or three days. Speaking of weird sounds, would you ever hear anything in the woods that was just hard, to explain maybe things like whoops or something

knocking on a tree or maybe even like weird metallic noises. Is that anything you ever remember

hearing? Yeah, I've heard a whoop once. And I think I was in the

Sierra Nevada from that. Way up. You hiked up 10 miles up Kings Canyon stayed overnight.

And I I was trying to picture what kind of animal goes whoop in the woods. And I never came up with it. And they couldn't figure it out. Wow. Is that also, well, I want to make sure I get this question and about the cabin area. Do you remember going out maybe in the days afterwards and looking around where it had walked? Did you remember seeing any tracks or anything like that?

You know, I didn't go out and look for tracks. Yeah, we had to just get busy and get ready to go. That's true. Yeah, you were getting out there. I wanted to stay and see it again. And I've been intrigued ever since. Just everything is Bigfoot. Well, that's really what I was. Watching some of the videos.

It makes a little easier to pick out the fakes on the own videos, you know. That's actually a great point. I mean, if you've seen a Bigfoot, you can pick out the fakes pretty good. Is there anything... I saw all Bigfoot. Yeah, you were right there. Is there anything you've seen over the years that even comes close to what you saw that day? You know, like there's so many videos out there and different things on shows and movies.

Besides the Patterson-Gimlin film, is there anything else out there you've seen that is supposed to, to be a big foot that you're like, okay, that's kind of close to what I saw. Yeah, so I've seen a few and it's just, boom, that's the real thing. That's a fake. I can pick it out pretty easy. There's a few of them out there that are good, good videos. I don't, I can't remember exactly which ones. No, that's no problem.

So you mentioned that seeing this as a nine and a half year old, really affected you. And in what ways did you become interested in Bigfoot as you grew up into an adult after this? I think it just opened my mind up to what is really possible. And I kind of thought all my life that, hey, if Bigfoot's around, anything as possible. And that's been my belief for a long time. It really did open my mind up to what people say it's impossible. And I could argue the point what is possible, what's not.

So, yeah, it really did affect my life as a whole up to this day. Was going to the China Flat Museum the first time then that you had gone to a place that would have had, you know, Bigfoot-type? artifacts or tracks in it to look at them? It would have been if I went there, but I've never been there. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I got a whole lot of that museum on the phone. Oh, I'm so sorry. I totally missed that part of the correspondence.

Okay, well, that's even more interesting. Do you ever have any desire to go to a place that might have Bigfoot tracks to look at like that museum, or there's actually a few others around the Pacific Northwest as well. I'd be exceedingly interesting. Yeah. I would really recommend. There's, there's, so Eric's Museum he's involved with. And then there's also one up in the Boring Oregon area that Cliff Berrickman runs.

That is an incredible, you know, Bigfoot Museum Center, the North American Bigfoot Center. Yeah, I would recommend checking that out. It's on my list to go to as well. you, before we started talking, I was, you know, saying thank you so much for agreeing to come on the show. And you had mentioned, you know, going on the show is more for me. And what did you mean by that statement? I found that really interesting. The people that listen or pick up things with society are generally interested or are already believers.

I needed to get my story out to someone who believes me before I die. I've told the story. Some people believe me, but not all that much. So, yeah, it's for me to get that release, the relief, and tell a story someone might enjoy it. So we can maybe picture it in their head because there's been a picture in mind for a long, long time. I want to say thank you for entrusting me with your account. That is just a very, very huge deal for me when people entrust my show with that. I do like to ask people, though, so based on what you had seen that day, the details you remember,

would you categorize what you saw as something maybe more ape-like or more human-like or something just completely out somewhere else? Well, you say ape-like or human-like, we are ants. So we're just a clever, hairless ape is all we are. And so looking for intelligent life, we won't find it here. We're not quite intelligent yet. But we're clever. And so the difference between an ape and a human.

It walked a lot, apish, human, apeish design. It's in between. That's all I can say. It's between. It's a fascinating to count, Lance. And thank you for coming on the show to share it and to get it out there into. to the world. As we start to wrap up, I just want to make sure that there was nothing else that you

wanted to. Gosh, that's about the whole story. There's not a whole lot else I can share. I do want to say, thank you so much for letting me share this. Like I said, it was for me. I needed to get this off my chest and get it out to someone who might believe me. And it's been a pleasure. Absolutely pleasure to do this with you. Absolutely. And thank you so much.

If there's anything that I can ever do to help or you have any more questions, feel free to reach out, Lance. You've got my contact information, and I'll definitely help you in any way that I can. But thank you so much for coming on the show today, sir. Thank you. want to take a few minutes to say thank you to you all my listeners for listening to the podcast. Please take a minute to help out the show by subscribing on YouTube, making sure you hit the bell so you don't miss any notifications, and share the episode on YouTube with a friend. Also, if you're listening

to us on a podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you're subscribed, share the show with a friend. really it's all about sharing the show wherever you can if you've had a bigfoot encounter related to the following or know someone who has please reach out to me at bigfoot society at gmail dot com or pass on my email here's the list the subtle lake area of oregon rainbow oregon mackenzie bridge area sweet home pretty much that entire area uh the north part if you get what i mean I'll see you back next time, listeners. Satuitz Summerfest, this year, July 11th through the 12th, it's going to be fantastic. July 11th through 12th in Greenwater's Park in Oak Ridge, Oregon. And listeners, if you're going to go, you can get a two-day ticket for the cost of one. If you use the code BFS, like Bigfoot Society, but BFS, and it'll get you some off your cost. Priscilla was nice enough to provide that for my listeners.

So there you go. I look forward to seeing you there. So make sure you head over to www.sasquatch summerfest.com and pick up your tickets today. If data management is slowing down your business, you need the Intuit ERP. If one entity is here and one here and one here, you need the Intuit ERP. If scaling your business feels like start starting over, you need the Intuit. ERP. Intuit Enterprise Suite is the AI-Native ERP solution that consolidates, migrates, and automates,

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