Humboldt County Man Captures 7-Foot Sasquatch on Trail Camera
Posted Tuesday, September 01, 2026
By Squatchable.com staff
A hunter in the remote woodlands of Northern California may have just captured some of the most compelling footage of a Sasquatch ever recorded, and the story behind how he got it is just as gripping as the video itself.
The footage comes from a man named Jake, who has spent the last eight years living on 40 acres of isolated forest land roughly 15 miles northeast of Eureka. A small-time logger who knows these woods like the back of his hand, Jake runs six Reconyx trail cameras across his property to monitor wildlife. Bears, mountain lions, and Roosevelt elk are regular visitors. What showed up on one of those cameras last month was anything but regular.
While reviewing footage from a camera positioned along an old deer trail overlooking a natural clearing, Jake spotted something that stopped him cold. In the pre-dawn light at 4:23 a.m., a massive bipedal figure stood motionless in the frame. The creature appeared to be at least seven feet tall, covered in dark fur, with proportions that were unmistakably humanoid but clearly not human. Across three consecutive images, the figure stood still for 47 seconds before melting back into the tree line. The clearest shot revealed a heavy brow ridge, dark eyes that seemed to peer directly into the lens, and an expression Jake described as curious, even contemplative.
For researchers and longtime investigators, this kind of trail camera capture is significant. The Pacific Northwest has long been considered a hotspot for Sasquatch activity, with the dense old-growth forests of Northern California providing ideal cover. The region's thick canopy, rugged terrain, and abundant water sources create the perfect habitat for a large, reclusive primate to remain undetected for years, if not centuries. Footage like this adds another data point to a growing body of evidence that simply cannot be dismissed.
But Jake wasn't satisfied with a still image. That same night, unable to sleep, he made a decision that would change his life forever. He packed 60 pounds of gear, hiked a mile back into the woods, and set up camp about 100 yards from where the creature had been photographed. Armed with a Sony video camera equipped with an infrared illuminator, he planned to wait, watch, and hopefully capture something definitive.
What happened next is the stuff of every field investigator's dream and every skeptic's worst nightmare.
Around 11 p.m., the forest went dead silent. No insects, no owls, no rustling underbrush. Just an eerie, unnatural quiet that Jake recognized as a warning sign. Then came the sound of heavy, deliberate footsteps from across the clearing, followed by a low guttural vocalization that was part growl, part whistle, and completely unlike any known animal. The sound seemed to come from multiple directions at once, as if whatever was out there was circling his position.
Through his infrared display, Jake watched a massive figure step into the clearing. The same creature from his trail camera, but now alive, breathing, and moving with a fluid grace that seemed impossible for something so large. Standing at least seven and a half feet tall with incredibly broad shoulders tapering to a narrower waist, the Sasquatch displayed distinctly human proportions beneath its thick, dark brown fur. Every step was deliberate and natural, the kind of organic movement that would be virtually impossible to replicate in a costume.
For five minutes, the creature stood in the center of the clearing, occasionally turning its head to scan the forest. At one point, it appeared to look directly at Jake's hiding spot. Those eyes, large, dark, and undeniably intelligent, locked onto his position across 50 yards of forest floor. Then the Sasquatch began walking straight toward him, not wandering, but moving with a purposeful stride that made it clear he had been spotted.
At 30 yards, Jake could make out individual features through his camera. A heavy brow ridge reminiscent of a gorilla, but with a more pronounced nose and lips that looked almost human. Arms proportionally longer than a human's, but not quite apelike. The creature existed in that uncanny valley between familiar and utterly alien. At 20 yards, it stopped and tilted its head, studying Jake with what he could only describe as curiosity. At 15 yards, he caught a musky, wild scent, like wet dog mixed with something primal that triggered every evolutionary warning signal in his brain.
Then his camera battery died.
When Jake finally got his backup battery working, the clearing was empty. The Sasquatch had vanished without a sound, as if it had never been there at all. But the encounter wasn't over. When Jake hiked back to his truck, he found fresh footprints in the mud around his vehicle, huge human-like prints with a stride length of at least four feet. Whatever he had encountered had followed him back to the logging road.
The video Jake captured that night runs nearly six minutes and is being called by some the clearest Sasquatch footage ever recorded. The HD quality shows muscle definition beneath the fur, the rise and fall of the creature's chest as it breathed, and subtle movements that would be nearly impossible to fake.
For those interested in seeing the footage firsthand, the video is available on the Weekly Terror YouTube channel. It is a must-watch for anyone serious about understanding why so many people in these remote woodlands refuse to dismiss the possibility that something extraordinary is walking among us.