You may have heard about that oarfish that washed up on Aliso Beach in 1922, giving rise to talk of sea serpents. But have you heard of "Santiago Sam," the bigfoot/sasquatch that shows up occasionally in the Santa Ana Mountains? Rumor has it that he's only about 5' 2", which makes him the shortest bigfoot ever recorded, but he still leaves enormous 20" footprints behind. (The photo below is an example of a similarly sized footprint.) Sam's short stature has probably allowed him to remain mostly hidden in the scrub brush of the Santa Anas. 
There have been four sightings (reported to me by Rangers who preferred not to be idenitified) in or adjacent to Black Star Canyon, with other sightings scattered across both the Riverside and Orange County portions of the Cleveland National Forest. .
In his Boys Book of Bear Stories, historian Jim Sleeper points out that although bears have long been considered exterminated from our mountains, there are still occasional verifiable sightings. If animals as large as bears can remain well hidden in that terrain, it's certainly reasonable that a critter the size of Santiago Sam could keep a pretty low profile.
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If you know of any additional local cryptozoological lore, please let us know in the comments section below.
7 comments:
I grew up in Orange County, and have never heard of Santiago Sam. I was a boyscout, and camped in some of the places you identified as possible locations for this short-bigfoot. Nobody ever mentioned Sam. Mountain lions were sometimes on our minds. Interesting article. Thank you.
Ha! I've never heard of Santiago Sam either. intriguing blog post.
Wow! I remember going with my dad to some motorcycle event at Cooks Corner when I was a kid. Some guy who lived near there was telling us he'd seen something that looked like a big ape near his cabin and that it really freaked him out. My dad and I talked on the way home about how that might have been a bigfoot. I'd totally forgotten about that until I saw your post.
I have seen 2 different ones in Modjeska Canyon both in 1985. A black one drinking from a stream at about 40 ft away, thick forearms, black hair about 2 -4 inches long all over. Not a bear. Brown tall one accross on a ridge standing up looking at me. Hot summer day, at first I thought who the hell would be wearing a fur coat and hat.
How recent were these sightings? The footprint photo looks like it was taken very recently.
I believe the footprint was discovered fresh on April 1, 2010!
I have not seen or heard of this interesting creature before, but I would be willing to say that I have seen it, if given the right incentive.
John Earl
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