Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “I’d been meaning to send this in for a while but wasn’t sure it was much of anything. Just can’t quite wrap my head around what it was that we heard.

At thanksgiving in 2019 my now husband and I travelled to Anza Borrego desert state park for a weekend out of the city. I remember it being exceptionally cold when we left Los Angeles, which stuck with me as I haven’t seen it get into the 30s before or after this. It’s only about a 3 hour journey out there but with all the stops on the way (I had just moved to LA) we took most of the day getting there. We stopped for lunch in the town of Octotillo Wells before heading to our Airbnb which was a decent sized ranch style house on a large piece of land. As we arrived I received a message from the Airbnb host telling me that the heating had given up and the lights in half the house wouldn’t turn on. Ok well that’s weird but we’re a young couple just trying to spend some time together so who cares about some lights? We had a wood burning fireplace and plenty of booze. We were going to be fine. Especially as the heavens had opened up and we were now stuck in a downpour. Well like I said, we had cocktails, a fire, and a Christmas movie.

What we didn’t have was any battery power on our phones. But with the downpour and the dark we weren’t going to venture out to the car to grab the chargers. JUST in case of an emergency I went looking for a landline, which I found in the kitchen… with the wire cut… weird again but see above, young couple, we don’t care too much. So we’re snuggled up by the fire watching the movie with our cocktails when we start to hear some animal noises in the distance. Anza Borrego desert state park is famously known for its population of big horn sheep, and I’m sure one can find coyotes and deer, as well as the occasional fox, bobcat, and mountain lion. Knowing all the wildlife was out there we didn’t pay much mind to the noises while we watched the film. But as the film ended the animal noises continued and we just couldn’t pin down what they were. At time it would sound like a deer scream, but also a sort of bark, maybe a yip or a yelp… was every animal available out there conversing?? Well then it started to sound like a bird. And it sounded close. I tried looking through the sliding glass doors to the backyard but that was fruitless.

If you don’t know, Anza Borrego is an international dark sky community meaning there are literally no lights. No streetlights. No porch lights. Nothing. It is darker than dark out there. My husband got up to go to the bathroom and I grew more curious over the noise so I opened the back door and stepped outside into the pitch black backyard. I could hear the bird noises and it sounded CLOSE. My husband sticks his head out the door and asks what I’m doing and tells me I should probably come inside but I’m too curious. This bird is kind of “hoo-ing” like an owl. I say it sounds like a bird! I don’t know what kind of bird… sounds like a BIG bird… is it on the roof?? At this point the owl-like “hoo” literally sounds like it’s coming from right above my head but the hoo got deeper, and then sounded very off! I said out loud “well that sounded like a man!” As which point my husband literally grabs the back of my shirt and pulled me inside with a deep, firm, but kinda of quiet “get inside now!”. Now I have never heard a bird sound like a person. It went from “hoo” like an owl to “hoo” a bit off and then “WHO” like a man said it kind of trying to sound like a bird. My husband was SPOOKED! I’ve never seen his eyes get so big or his skin turn so white – and my husband is not Caucasian.

So I obviously was officially banned from going outside again that night and our phones were destined to die, so we decided to wait till morning to venture outside.

Outside we took a look around the ground was like really compacted grit and kinda sandy (see: desert) so we didn’t see too much.. must husband thinks he could make out a footprint but I’m not so sure. The property was surrounded by a tall wall with nothing between us and the wide open desert so if something was poking it head up above the wall 1. We would never have seen it due to the dark sky community bit and 2. If they wanted to get away quickly there’s nothing that could stop them. But to be honest, the sound came from kind of above and to the right of me, which was the roof top area available for star gazing. I don’t recall hearing anything on the roof, but I’m telling you that’s where the sound was.

Any way, I don’t know what to make of all of this.”