A Northern California woman says she spotted what she believes was an approximately 8-foot-tall Bigfoot in Fresno County in broad daylight, and investigators say they consider her account highly credible.
The reported sighting was submitted July 1 to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), which classified it as a Class A sighting—the organization’s highest category for reports involving a clear visual observation.
According to the report, 72-year-old Linda Dixon-Smith said she encountered the creature around 11 a.m. on June 28 while driving her grandson to his summer job at Camp Chawanakee, a Boy Scouts camp near Shaver Lake.
Dixon-Smith said she noticed a large figure standing motionless in a grassy clearing beneath power lines near the intersection of Dinkey Creek Road and Camp Chawanakee Road.
“I saw a figure standing in the field,” Dixon-Smith wrote in her report. “Brownish red hair that I could plainly see skin through it. Small head like right on its shoulders. Long arms past knees.”
She said the figure never moved as she slowly drove past.
“It didn’t move. Stood frozen as I very slowly drove past,” Dixon-Smith wrote.
The witness said she delayed filing the report until she returned to the location to make sure she hadn’t mistaken a tree stump or another object for a living creature.
“Nope. 100% I saw what I saw,” she wrote.
According to the BFRO, Dixon-Smith’s grandson was also in the truck at the time of the alleged sighting, although the report does not indicate whether he also observed the figure.
Investigator says witness has extensive outdoor experience
BFRO investigator Matthew Moneymaker, founder of the organization and former co-host of Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot, interviewed Dixon-Smith after receiving her report.
Moneymaker described her as “a very credible witness.”
According to his investigation, Dixon-Smith has spent much of her life working with horses on Northern California ranches, previously served as a supervisor for the U.S. Census Bureau during the 2000 Census and later spent four years as the equestrian director at Camp Chawanakee—the same Boy Scouts camp she was driving to when the alleged encounter occurred.
Using aerial imagery, Moneymaker said Dixon-Smith pinpointed the exact location where she believed the creature was standing.
He said she estimated it stood roughly eight feet tall, with thin reddish fur that allowed lighter-colored skin to show through.
Moneymaker said Dixon-Smith later returned to photograph the location and confirm there was no stump or other object that could have created an optical illusion.
Area has long history of Bigfoot reports
According to the BFRO, the forests surrounding Shaver Lake have generated numerous Bigfoot reports over the years and are considered one of California’s longtime alleged Sasquatch hotspots.
Moneymaker said several unpublished reports have originated near Dinkey Creek Road, including one roughly 350 yards from Dixon-Smith’s reported sighting.
He also said the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot filmed in the area more than a decade ago because of the number of reported encounters.
Moneymaker further claimed a local sheriff’s deputy privately told him about a separate daylight Bigfoot sighting near Shaver Lake during that production, although the deputy did not appear on camera.
The BFRO, founded in 1995, maintains one of the largest publicly accessible databases of reported Bigfoot sightings in North America.
While the organization investigates eyewitness accounts, no scientific evidence has conclusively established the existence of Bigfoot.
