In June of 1971, the Salem, Oregon Capital Journal newspaper carried a story about a local girl and her friend who had found a dead body near Happy Camp, California back in 1967.  A dead bigfoot.

At the time, skepticism ruled the day and not many investigated the story, deciding it was nothing more than a hoax. Most believed that two young girls could not have walked eight miles into the woods, as reported in the story. Also, the girls could not be found to be questioned and it was doubted that the girls had been able to relocate the spot where they claimed to have found the body several years later.

Then in 1976, John Green decided to follow the story a little more vigorously. And luck seemed to be with him as he was able to find one of the girls within 24 hours of starting his search. She was now living near Tacoma, Washington, married, and raising a family. He was able to meet with her and then talked by phone to the other girl. She was living in Norco, California.

Some of John's skepticism in the report was set to rest when he was told that the girls hadn't been wandering eight miles in the wilderness but had been following an old forest road. Therefore, returning to the spot would be easier than first thought.

However, there were differences in the girls' stories.

One girl stated she was quite certain she had seen a dead bigfoot. It was lying on its back with its legs spread out. She claimed she had used a stick to try to turn it over, but it was too heavy and solid of a body.

The other girl said she could only remember a great deal of hair which reminded her of a horse's mane. There was a great deal of it, and it was spread over a large area. She didn't remember seeing a body. While thinking about it, she then added that she must have seen some bones since something had given her the idea that it had been a large creature. She had no idea what that animal could have been.

The first girl said she couldn't remember any face, that it had to have been rotted away, as was the stomach area, and that she could see weathered white ribs.

Further investigation convinced John Green that the inconsistencies between the two stories could be easily explained, and he began to consider the story quite possible.

The two girls were friends while growing up in Salem. One of the families then moved to Kemper Gulch, which was 10 miles north of Happy Camp in northern California. The Salem girl would come to visit the Kemper Gulch girl several times.



On one visit, the two girls took a walk up a road that led to the old Wagner Ranch. The Salem girl had told John that she was sure the visit had been in August yet had insisted that when they found the body it was lying in several inches of old snow. The KG girl said her friend had visited several times and the visit when they found the body was during the Easter holidays. She also said the remains were a little bit below the road while the Salem girl said the body was right on it.

The Salem girl remembered that they had been followed that day by a "mysterious creature" and the dog kept running after it. Since the dog was wagging its tail and seemed unconcerned, the girls paid no heed. The KG girl who owned the dog said it was only chasing deer.

John was satisfied that the two girls had found the remains of some big-boned creature on that forest road. He was most impressed by one detail that one of the girls told him. She said she still remembered quite clearly that she had seen a hand with a thumbnail. The nail was larger than a human nail. It was thick but squared off. It was definitely a nail, not a claw or hoof. The color reminded her of a nicotine-stained finger.

As John Green summed up, there aren't too many animals that could match the description given by either of the girls and almost none that could match both. A larger than human hand with a thumbnail? It could only have been a bigfoot.